VOODOO, 1st Edition Copyright 2020 by Kristine Allen, Demented Sons Publishing.
All Rights Reserved.
ISBN-13: 9798646991851
Published in the United States of America. First published in June, 2020.
Cover Design: Jay Aheer, Simply Defined Art
Photographer: Eric McKinney, Cover’d by 6:12 www.612photog.com
Cover Model: Gus Smyrnios
Editing: Olivia Ventura and Ginny Gaylor, Hot Tree Editing, www.hottreeediting.com
Formatting: Champagne Book Design, www.champagnebookdesign.com
The purchase of this e-book, or book, allows you one legal copy for your own personal reading enjoyment on your personal computer or device. This does not include the right to resell, distribute, print or transfer this book, in whole or in part to anyone, in any format, via methods either currently known or yet to be invented, or upload to a file sharing peer to peer program, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses. It may not be re-sold or given away to other people. Such action is illegal and in violation of the U.S. Copyright Law. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000 (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/). Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content. For information, contact the author at [email protected]. Thank you for supporting this author and her rights.
Warning: This dark romance book contains offensive language, violence and sexual situations. Mature audiences only, 18+ years of age.
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Royal Bastards MC
About This Book
Royal Bastards Code
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Epilogue
Other Books by Kristine Allen
Acknowledgements
About the Author
To Ms. Sherman. I don’t know where you are now, or if your name is still the same, but you’re the reason I’m addicted to reading. Thank you for holding me enthralled as you read to us in your third grade class in Okinawa, Japan. I’m sorry my taste in books got a little dirty and twisted over the years.
Royal Bastards MC
Where loyalty is king!
27 Authors. 26 Stories. One Hell of a ride!
Visit us here: royalbastardsmc.com
***The books in this series are standalones and can be read in any order. ***
Bonus Holiday Releases:
Crimson Syn—A Biker for Christmas
Nikki Landis—The Biker’s Gift
Glenna Maynard—The Biker’s Kiss
2020 Release Schedule for the Royal Bastards MC:
Erin Trejo Jan 7th
Chelle C. Craze * Eli Abbot Jan 14th
K Webster Jan 21st
Esther E. Schmidt Jan 28th
Elizabeth Knox Feb 4th
Glenna Maynard Feb 11th
Madison Faye Feb 18th
CM Genovese Feb 25th
J. Lynn Lombard Mar 3rd
Crimson Syn Mar 10th
B.B. Blaque Mar 17th
Addison Jane Mar 24th
Izzy Sweet & Sean Moriarty Mar 31st
Nikki Landis Apr 7th
KL Ramsey Apr 14th
M. Merin Apr 21st
Sapphire Knight Apr 28th
Bink Cummings May 5th
Winter Travers May 12th
Linny Lawless May 19th
Jax Hart May 26th
Kristine Allen Jun 2nd
Elle Boon Jun 9th
Ker Dukey Jun 16th
KE Osborn Jun 23rd
Shannon Youngblood June 30th
Special thanks to Crimson Syn, Nikki Landis, Sean Moriarty, Izzy Sweet, Shannon Youngblood, Khloe Wren, Teagan Brooks, M. Merin, and Elizabeth Knox who loaned me characters from their books or who have characters mentioned in Voodoo.
Crimson, thank you for being my sounding board through this book. Nikki, thank you for helping me spread my paranormal wings. I’m dang near giddy about this book’s release! Thank you for all your hard work in the RBMC organization. It’s appreciated more than you know. Y’all have been amazing and I’m so glad to call you friends after this project. Bring on round two!
Sean and Izzy, I love y’all to pieces. I’m stealing you and claiming you as my friends after this whether you like it or not. After all the FBI worthy discussions we’ve had, we can’t be anything less. Izzy, thanks for being a good sport about the unicorn ornament. LOL.
Teagan, I know you aren’t in this round, but you’re awesome and I’m so glad we’ve become friends. The next signing we have together will involve alcohol and lots of it. You truly are my soul sister.
Kristin, thank you for being the best damn PA a girl could ask for as well as keeping this rowdy bunch of authors in line! I’m so glad you love Voodoo. It makes my heart happy.
I’m Ogun “Voodoo” Dupré—Enforcer for the Ankeny RBMC. There’s no pretty way to put it, I do the dirty work for my club. Without question, I follow the direct orders of my president.
Except when my services were required for a particularly delicate situation, I found myself hesitating for the first time in my adult life. That hesitation was my downfall.
With the Bratva gunning for me and my own father out for my blood, I didn’t think I’d survive. Yet, come hell or high water, I’d keep her safe—because she was meant to be mine.
The rumors about my chapter are true, yet things aren’t always what they seem. We don’t play fair, and we don’t leave witnesses.
Sometimes you gotta work a little black magic to come out alive.
PROTECT: The club and your brothers come before anything else and must be protected at all costs. CLUB is FAMILY.
RESPECT: Earn it & Give it. Respect club law. Respect the patch. Respect your brothers. Disrespect a member and there will be hell to pay.
HONOR: Being patched in is an honor, not a right. Your colors are sacred, not to be left alone, and NEVER let them touch the ground.
OL’ LADIES: Never disrespect a member’s or brother’s ol’ lady. PERIOD.
CHURCH is MANDATORY.
LOYALTY: Takes precedence over all, including well-being.
HONESTY: Never LIE, CHEAT, or STEAL from another member or the club.
TERRITORY: You are to respect your brothers’ property and follow their Chapter’s club rules.
TRUST: Years to earn it… seconds to lose it.
NEVER RIDE OFF: Brothers do not abandon their family.
The average person walking aro
und in society today lives in a self-imposed bubble of ignorance. Like if they pretend their little reality is all sunshine and roses, the darkness of the world doesn’t exist close to them. They choose to ignore the necessary evil that exists around them every single day. Close enough to touch. In their backyard. Maybe even in their own bed.
My first initiation into evil was when I was younger than most. Then again, I was born with a piece of it in me. Simmering deep under the surface. Though my grandmother had taught me to control it, there was no eradicating it. So I’d learned to embrace it when the need arose and bury it when it wasn’t necessary.
Sometimes I buried it in alcohol, sometimes drugs, other times, women. When those things weren’t available, I kept it tightly leashed. Gnashing its teeth, straining at its tethers, and burning relentlessly.
I’m Ogun “Voodoo” Dupré, and this is my story.
Six Years Old…
“Ogun, get your backpack, baby. Hurry. Granmè is waiting for us.” My mama was rushing me, and I was dragging my feet. I was hungry. I wanted a snack before we left.
“Mama, I want a snack.” I pouted as my shoulders hunched.
“Not now.” She glanced over her shoulder to the front door. The rumble of Papa’s bike was coming down the road. The ever-present blend of fear and excitement bubbled in my belly.
Papa terrified me, but I wanted so badly to earn his approval.
“Shit,” Mama whispered. “Go to your room. Don’t come out until I tell you to.”
“But I want a snack,” I whined.
“Ogun! Go! This is not the time.” Mama looked scared, and I hated it. It scared me when she was scared. That’s why I went to my room. Not because I wanted to.
When I heard the door crash open, I scurried into my closet. In the darkness, I hid as Mama cried and Papa screamed.
“You leave me and you do it without my son, bitch!” Papa shouted. I didn’t want to stay without my mama. I didn’t understand why Papa would say that. There was more he said that I didn’t hear.
Once the front door slammed and I heard Papa’s bike start up, I crawled out of the closet and went to find Mama. She was curled up on the floor. Crying but quiet, she stared into space.
“Mama?” I whispered. Pushing her hair out of her face, I kneeled down to make her look at me.
“Ogun.” She coughed, and blood came out. It ran onto her chin and the floor. “I told you not to come out.”
“Mama, you’re hurt.” Fear swirled and churned inside me. Except that time, it started to mix with something powerful. Something bigger than me and angry. So terribly angry.
The glass of water on the coffee table flew to the wall and shattered.
Startled, I jumped. Mama’s eyes went wide, and she pushed herself up on her arms, then to sitting as she winced. Shaking hands grabbed my arms. “Ogun,” she choked out.
That was the first time I knew my Papa might not be the man I thought he was. He’d been my hero until that day. Then again, what did a six-year-old know? That was also the first time I saw something that terrified me—and it wasn’t my mother’s battered face.
“Mama?” I questioned as my vision distorted. As if I was in a haze, I knew she held my hand and I knew she was calling my name, but I couldn’t respond.
The room went dark around me, and only a small frame of light shone. It was like watching a movie. First, I saw my father drive a large knife into my mother’s chest. Everything went black for a moment. Then, I saw my grandmother rushing me and my mother into a car. We ducked in the back seat, and I crouched on the floor while Mama lay across the seat, a large red mark on her white shirt.
We drove and drove until we met with men I didn’t recognize. Everyone was talking, but I couldn’t hear them. Then, everything got fuzzy.
Feeling disoriented, I blinked as a frown furrowed my forehead. My words sounded slurred even to my young ears. “Mama, Papa hurt you but Granmè is gonna take us away.”
My mother’s eyes went huge and she looked out the window. There was a man on a motorcycle with the same vest as my Papa. I’d seen him before, but I didn’t know him. Mama made me stay in my room when Papa’s friends came over.
“Get me my phone, Ogun,” she whispered and pointed to her phone under the chair across the room. It took a few seconds for my arms and legs to work right but once they did, I scurried to bring it to her.
Whimpering, she scooted herself to lean against the couch. She put the phone to her ear, and I heard her say, “Ma, I need your help. It’s Ogun. He saw something.” Her eyes darted to me, then out the window.
The entire situation scared me, because I had no idea what was going on. Because I didn’t know what else to do, I sat down next to my mother and curled into her side. Her arm wrapped around me, and we sat in silence.
A knock at the door sometime later brought my head up quickly. Glancing in fear toward the knock, I then looked to my Mama for guidance.
“Go see if it’s Granmè,” she said. Scrambling to my feet, I ran to the window and looked to the side to see the front porch. A wide grin took over my face as I squealed.
“Granmè!” With excited hands, I unlocked the handle and swung the door open. The woman who had helped raise me stepped into our home with a jovial wave to the man out front.
After she was inside and the door locked, she rushed to my mother. With worried eyes, I watched as she gently ran her hands over my mother. “Is Mama gonna be okay?” I asked, worry eating me alive.
“Yes, my sweet boy. Mama will be fine. Why don’t you go have some of the cookies I baked you?” She motioned to the container she’d set on the table by the couch when she came in. Excited, I scooped it up and took it to the small table in the kitchen. If my grandmother said Mama would be okay, then it would be as she said.
Though I was busy stuffing my face, their words carried into where I sat.
“Ma, you need to get Ogun out of here.” My ears perked up and my chewing slowed.
“I’m taking you both. I’ll get your father and his boys to get you out of here. It’s time, Julia. I’ve let this go on too long.” My grandmother’s harsh whisper carried further than she realized.
“Ma, Ogun is all that matters. He has the sight, I’m sure of it. But there’s more. The glass….” She trailed off and I knew she was talking about the glass of water I knocked off the table. Though I didn’t remember touching it.
A sharp intake of breath preceded my grandmother’s muttering, and I wondered what she was saying as I slowly chewed the cookie.
“There is no time to waste. Are you able to pack a bag for yourself?” I heard my grandmother ask. Then I heard her say she would pack stuff for me.
My mother and my grandmother hid our bags after they were stuffed full. Then Mama and Granmè tucked me in. “You be a good boy, Ogun. There are powerful things coming in your future.” Her soft hand feathered through my hair as she sat on the edge of my bed. Mama was sitting down by my feet with her hand resting on my ankle.
“Okay,” I said, though I had no idea what she was talking about. They both kissed my head and closed my door on the way out.
I slept, but my dreams were plagued with dark images and a woman with long golden hair. I’d never seen her before, but she reached out to me, begging me to help her. No matter how hard I stretched my arm, I could never quite touch her fingertips.
When I woke up, Mama was cooking breakfast. She limped a little and she had purple bruises on her face, arms, and around her neck. I didn’t like it. I’d figured out that my father had done that to her.
“Mama, when I’m a papa, I won’t hurt my ol’ lady.” I’d heard my father call her that, so I knew that’s what she was to him.
She laughed her beautiful laugh and ruffled my hair. “You, young Ogun, won’t have an ol’ lady. You’ll have a wife and a normal, loving family.”
At the time, I hadn’t understood what she was saying.
My father came home long enough to change his clothes. He paused ou
tside my bedroom as I read a book. “Boy, what are you doing?”
“Reading, Papa! My teacher said I’m the best in our class!” My teacher’s praise had made me very happy, but my papa didn’t seem happy and my smile dimmed.
“Quit wasting your time on that shit. I’m not raising you to be a pussy. You hear me, boy?” His dark eyes narrowed as he stared down at me. It was hard to swallow, and I could only nod.
“Good. Come here.” Nervous, I stood and walked toward him as he demanded.
He pulled a shiny gun from the back of his pants. He set it in my hand and I almost dropped the unexpected weight. His rough hand clutched the back of my neck and drove me down the hall to the kitchen where Mama was washing dishes.
At our footsteps, she turned toward us. When her eyes lit on what I was holding, I saw fear in her face.
“Giles, what are you doing?” she asked my father, but he ignored her and squeezed the back of my neck. I squeaked, and he shook me a bit.
“Shoot her,” he said matter-of-factly. Confused, I blinked up at him.
“Papa?” I asked.
“You heard me, boy. Shoot. Her,” he bit out in a quiet demand. My gaze flickered to my mother where she stood frozen with a dish towel in her hand.
“I don’t want to do that,” I said as my bottom lip quivered.
“Do it!” he screamed in my ear as I fought the tears that I instinctively knew he’d hate. My mother was shaking her head, and her mouth hung open but no words came out.
Pleading with my eyes, I looked at my father. Disbelief flooded me. I knew guns killed people because my dad let me watch movies with him where people would shoot other people. There would be lots of blood and then they died.
I didn’t want my mama to die.
Voodoo (Royal Bastards MC: Ankeny IA) Page 1
