Dirty Mother (The Uncertain Saints MC Book 5)

by Lani Lynn Vale

  “Oh yeah?” I asked, pressing my lips against his.

  He kissed me softly, then nodded.

  “Yeah,” he agreed.

  “Get a room!” a man called from behind us.

  I turned my head slightly to see Wolf, his son at his side, heading towards us.

  Then my eyes widened even further to see Hannah, and Hannah’s daughter, trailing behind him.

  And behind Hannah and their kids was Raven, a woman who I only knew the bare bones about. A woman who was in hiding until some trial she testified at was over.

  She was what I would consider a ‘man hater.’

  Or, at least, her ex, anyway.

  She never had anything nice to say about the man, and I couldn’t blame her. Not after hearing the little bit about the man that I’d been told.

  But her eyes, those beautiful green ones, were staring totally and completely adoringly at Wolf.

  However, the moment he turned towards her, her eyes shifted to the ground, a blank expression sliding into place on her pretty face.

  Uh-oh.

  Hmmmm.

  “’Sup,” Ridley said, offering his hand to Wolf.

  Wolf took it, returned the shake, then turned to me and Cori.

  “Trade me,” he said, passing Nathan’s hand over to Ridley.

  Ridley took Nathan’s hand, then bent down and swooped him into his arms, and immediately acted like he was going to drop him, eliciting a squeal from the boy.

  I smiled, handing Cori over to Wolf without protest.

  All of The Uncertain Saints adored Cori, and it was heartwarming to see all those big, strong men become little softies in the hands of a little girl no bigger than their hands.

  And as I turned, studying my husband, I couldn’t help but think I’d lucked out.

  I’d been handed two of life’s greatest gifts.

  A black butterfly fluttered past in my line of sight.

  The sight of it so rare, that my eyes were transfixed on it.

  It landed on the top of Cori’s head, just for a few short seconds, before it flew away again, almost as if it’d never been there to begin with.

  My breath caught, and my eyes followed the butterfly’s movements until I couldn’t see it anymore.

  And I looked up to the sky, and smiled at my brother.

  Butterflies had been his favorite, and I’d teased him mercilessly. Black butterflies in particular.

  I love you. I looked up at the sky. And I miss you.

  Ridley threw his hand around my shoulders and pulled me into his chest as he caught the look on my face, dropping his head to press his lips to my forehead for a few long seconds before returning to the conversation that had been going on around me.

  Me? I ignored the conversation.

  Instead, I basked in the greatness.

  The perfectness.

  My perfect greatness.

  Then I took a deep breath and expelled it, doing so easily, contentedly for the first time in a long time.

  What’s Next?

  Prologue

  Guess who got their life together! Not me. But someone, somewhere, probably did.

  -Coffee Cup

  Raven

  “Get your filthy fucking hands off her!” I screamed.

  In fact, I screamed so loud and hard that I felt something give way in my throat, but that didn’t stop me.

  Especially not when I saw them tie July’s hair to a hook about a foot above her head. The move put her head straight up, and forced her to keep it that way.

  Even with a fucking sword right through her belly.

  Her pregnant belly.

  “Oh, God,” I moaned. “Don’t. Don’t do it. She didn’t mean to keep it from you. It was my fault. My idea.”

  My cries were ignored, and Jensen brought out a fucking knife the size of my forearm and walked up to July where she was being held up by nothing but her hair and the sword through her stomach.

  The moment he was close enough, he stabbed July straight through her left wrist.

  July screamed, and I screamed with her.

  “Get it over with already. We don’t need all this fanfare. We need her fucking dead. Do you really think this is necessary?” Barrett, my other captor, asked from his seat across the room.

  We were in Jensen’s brother’s garage; his big rig truck, the one that’d transported July and I here, was just to the left of us.

  The truck—void of its usual cargo trailer—smelled like cow shit.

  Although, cow shit was a better smell than chickens; never again, in my life, would I ever complain about smells. Not after smelling what chickens smelled like up close and personal.

  “This is necessary,” Jensen said. “But, since we’re in a hurry, I’ll finish up here really quick.”

  He stabbed July three more times, once more in each limb, and then stepped back to admire his handiwork.

  I must’ve made a sound, or made a move to draw their attention, because the next thing I knew I was standing up; my hair wrenched back so hard that I saw stars.

  Nothing could compare to the pain that July was going through. The pain was evident in her posture, as well as her eyes when she managed to open them.

  Oh, God. There’s so much blood!

  “I thought I told you to shut the fuck up.”

  With that he raised his fist, then slammed it down so hard against my face that my vision blurred.

  Black started to dot the edges of my vision, and the next thing I knew I was dead to the world.

  I woke up some time later, confused and disoriented.

  And that was the first time I looked into those dark eyes belonging to a Wolf.