Cobra: Reapers MC Book 8

by Knox, Elizabeth

  “I will take care of Onyx tonight. Sakura will stay here for a few days until things blow over with my business colleagues, and her family.” Eduardo tells me, then looks to Damon. “You may not trust me yet, but you will. I firmly believe we will be great allies to one another. It’s a rarity to find such honorable men in this part of the States. I know the reputation your club holds, Damon. Your patriarch did a fabulous job with that and so I must say I was saddened to hear of Fist’s death.”

  My brows furrow in confusion with almost everyone else in this group minus Sakura. He’s talking as if he knew him personally. “Did you know him?” Damon asks.

  “Yes, and so did Sakura.”

  “You see Reapers, you were not the only people who lost someone. My eldest sister suffered in a great way because of her association with you. But she also lived a happy life because of you.” Holy fuck. I wonder if I’m right. There’s only one woman who was happy yet went through hell. The entire room grows silent as she utters the words I knew were going to spill from her mouth. “My sister was born as Asami Kobayashi, but you knew her as Saffron.”

  7

  Sometimes you don’t need to hear their excuses or what they have to say for themselves because their actions already spoke the truth.

  ~ Unknown

  Cobra

  We get back to the club in no time. It’s a little past nine in the evening and only a few lights are on in the various trailers which is odd. Typically, the brothers are up until about eleven or so depending on who they are, if we have company and if we’re partying. Out of the entire group Dixon and Mouser stay up the latest alongside me.

  I pull my bike up in front of the trailer I share with Boog and Camila, noticing a flash of light come from the clubhouse doors along with cursing. There’s only one man who curses around here like he was the son of a sailor. That man would be Kade Monroe. Now, don’t get me wrong. None of us are saints in this place, but this guy just irritates me most of the time. Maybe it’s because he’s pretty much royalty around here and I hate bastards who take the limelight away from me. Yeah, that’s probably why. He’s not a bad guy, though. Hell, I even like his ol’ lady, Ivy. If she keeps makin’ that buffalo chicken ranch dip I won’t ever say a bad thing about her.

  She’s super pregnant right now. My guess is she’s gonna pop any second so maybe he’s cursin’ up a storm ‘cause her water broke and he’s about to become a father. That’d be my guess anyway.

  “You guys seen Ivy or Onyx lately?” Kade asks in a distressed way.

  Boog pulls up beside me and gives me a look. Only a handful of brothers know Onyx is a traitorous bitch. Kade wasn’t included in on that information, nor would he have advised his super pregnant woman to avoid being with her. “No, why?” Boog asks his friend.

  “They went out a few hours ago. Ivy was complaining about having some cramping and I didn’t think anything of it. But I looked it up on the internet and did you guys know contractions can set in like cramps? I sure as hell didn’t! If I had known I would’ve told her to prop her feet up on the couch and watch some movies.”

  “Do you know where they went?” I inquire. There’s no time to fill him in on shit. We need to get to Ivy as soon as possible.

  Kade comes closer into view and the light from my porch illuminates him. He nods once, “Yeah, they went down to the strip mall. Said they were gonna grab a late dinner and get some shopping done for the baby.”

  “How long ago?” Boog shoots out his question, sounding a bit frazzled. I watch Kade’s expression shift from concern to anger. Before any of us realize what’s happening Kade’s shoved Boog into his trailer and has his hands wrapped around the front of his cut, snarling out at him.

  “Now why in the fuck would you ask me that?” Shit, this man’s instincts are on point. That’s for damn sure.

  I take a step and prepare myself to tell Kade we need to go, that we don’t have time to get into the specifics when he turns toward me and gives me a look that guarantees my death if I so much as lay a hand on him. “Whatever you’re about to do, you’d better fuckin’ stop in your tracks.”

  Fuck this. Fuck it all. No point in keepin’ a damn secret from anyone. “We caught Onyx double-crossing us with the Diaz brothers. She can’t be trusted with anyone here, especially your woman. Now, we need to find Onyx and Ivy as soon as possible.”

  Kade draws his brows together, “Did you say Diaz?”

  “Yeah, why?” Boog comments.

  Kade releases Boog and takes a couple steps back, running his hand through his hair. Shit, this isn’t good. “Mouser, he was flapping his jaws to Chaz earlier in the clubhouse about some guy named Diaz. Said he overheard we had a meeting with him today and that’s why we’d be gone. Onyx was in the fuckin’ clubhouse.”

  “She heard.” I state, lookin’ between Kade and Boog.

  Kade nods, “Yeah, now we need to get going right now. There’s no time to waste. Ivy hasn’t been responding to me for the last two hours but I have her GPS on my phone. I know where she is, or rather her phone is. Cobra, you come with me. Boog, can you gather a couple of the others and go with us?”

  “Go where?” Damon asks out of the blue, approaching us.

  “Onyx took Ivy with her and she knew we met with one of the Diaz brothers today.” I state, filling him in quickly.

  Damon’s eyes widen, but he’s quick to give out orders and not waste anymore time. “Chaz, Hawk, Dixon,” He roars out. The doors to various trailers open almost instantly. “Get your asses on your bikes. We need to find Ivy and Onyx.” Since Dixon was one of the only ones with us, he shares the same concerns.

  “What do you want us to do with Onyx when we find her?” I ask.

  Damon snarls out his response, “Ask me that when we have the cunt. She’d better hope nothing was done to Ivy.”

  Kade gives directions to the guys, stating which strip mall the girls were going to and tells us he has the GPS location for his girl. He tells everyone that he and I will go together while they need to split up, search the mall and the surrounding area.

  It takes us twenty minutes on our bikes to get to the strip mall, even going well over ninety. Kade pulls over to the side once we’ve gone through the entrance and shuts his bike off. I follow his lead and do the same while our brothers roll around to the different entrances, going into stores and around buildings.

  “What’s the matter?” Kade isn’t an overly talkative guy, but something about his silence makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

  He shows me his phone, “Ivy hasn’t moved since we’ve been riding.”

  Neither of us have to say a thing. We kick our stands up and run like our own fuckin’ lives depend on it. We dart behind the strip mall and head back further onto the pavement. There are barely any lights out here and I’m sure as hell confused on where Ivy could be, until I see a large structure off in the distance. Seems to be some sort of dumpster, or recycling container. Fuck. I send up a silent prayer hoping she’s not chopped to bits inside the damn thing. Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve seen something like that happen.

  We run up to the dumpster, coming to a halt when we don’t see anything that would be out of place. “Where the fuck is she?” Kade asks, voice choking from emotion.

  “K-kade?!” There’s no mistaking who it belongs to. Ivy’s voice is coming from behind the dumpster and we rush around, seeing her in nothing but a bra, holding a baby in some sort of cloth. My guess is she took her shirt off to wrap the baby up.

  “Ivy, oh my god. Baby. How is he? Is he okay?”

  Ivy cries, “She stole him. She fucking took our son!”

  “What?” Kade replies. Meanwhile I’m staring down at the baby who seems to be resting comfortably in his mother’s arms.

  “I just gave birth to twins, Kade. Go get our son. She came after him. Onyx left me here to fucking bleed after he was born.”

  Now, I’m not sure if I’ve lost my damn mind but I was pretty sure these two told me th
ey were expecting one baby. Not two.

  “I need to stay here with you. Cobra, go—” Kade starts off, but Ivy interrupts.

  “No!” She hollers, “You go get that cunt. Cobra can stay here with me and call for some help.”

  Kade doesn’t argue with her, just kisses his girl on the lips and his baby on the top of her head before running off in the distance. Meanwhile, I’ve already texted Kat and told her what the fuck happened and where we are. My guess is she’ll be here as soon as possible.

  “Are you alright?” I ask Ivy, kneeling down beside her.

  “My son was ripped from my fucking arms. Do I look okay to you, Cobra?” She cries as she has a vice grip on her daughter.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be an asshole. Just trying to help.”

  “You can help me when Fate and I are safe. You can help by finding that sinister monster and making her pay.” I nod at what she asks.

  “We’ll find your boy and trust me when I say Onyx will suffer for what she’s done.”

  “She’d better,” Ivy has never sounded so feral to me since I’ve met her, but there’s one thing you don’t do to women in this life— mess with their children. If you do, their fuckin’ humanity switch shuts off.

  8

  “You are free to choose but you’re not free from the consequece of your choice.”

  ~ WeNeedQuotes.com

  Cobra

  “So, you pick a name?” I heard her say somethin’ a few minutes ago to Kade but I wasn’t payin’ too much attention.

  Ivy looks down to the girl who seems to have dark, full locks of hair. “Yes, Fate Cora Monroe. Kade and I didn’t know we were expecting twins, and Orion’s name honors his great-uncle, so Fate’s will honor my mother.”

  “That’s amazing. I don’t mean to be a dick . . . but how did you not know you were having twins?”

  Ivy cringes as she redirects her attention back up to me, “I’ll be the first one to admit I didn’t go to the appointments like I should’ve. I made sure to eat healthy, take my vitamins and all that. I went to maybe two or three appointments. One of the first ones they told me there was another sac, but it looked empty. Told me about vanishing baby syndrome. It’s this thing that happens with twins sometimes. Well, looks like something was wrong with their machine and Fate was just a good little girl who loved to play hide and seek.”

  I chuckle, “Only Kade would be so lucky as to be blindsided by an extra child. Couldn’t they tell at your first appointment?” I don’t really care they had twins, but I’ve been around too many bitches who hold shit back from their men. I doubt Ivy is one of those, but it makes me wanna ask her anyway.

  “Honestly, I think my doctor in Montana missed it. Even though I want to say I understand sonograms I don’t. That combined with the lack of appointments I actually went to and . . . here we are. An unexpected blessing.”

  I sent Kat my physical location through text a little bit ago and hear something heading straight for us. Turning back I see one of the SUVs we have at the club come rolling up. It stops suddenly and the lights turn off while Camila hops out the other side. “Oh my God. What happened!?” The Latina spitfire rushes over to Ivy, mutters a bunch of shit that isn’t English and calls for Kat to come over.

  Kat jumps out of the driver’s seat and walks up to me, “We grabbed the baby’s car seat from their trailer. You need to figure out how to fucking get it in the seat because it’s too damn confusing for me.” Before I can even tell her I’m not gonna do it she’s already gone over to Ivy.

  Huffing, I open one of the back doors and see the car seat sitting on the floor with this plastic piece. For a few minutes I stare at it and figure out this actually clicks into place. The car seat attaches to the top of this . . . thing. Ah, it must be a base! I push down on one of the red buttons and the car seat pops off, so I pick up the base and look underneath it. For fuck’s sake, how did Kat not figure this out? There’s a damn picture diagram showing how the seatbelt loops through certain parts of it to keep it level. Within a matter of five minutes I’m out of the SUV, holding the handle to the car seat, taking it over to the ladies.

  “I can’t believe that slimy little weasel. Lord help her when she gets back here.” Camila states, voice filled with anger.

  Kat remains quiet. She has her arms crossed and looks off into the distance. Ivy looks up to the one person who is essentially the boss of the women and asks her what she thinks. “What will you do when they catch her?”

  I watch Kat inhale and glance down to the woman who has a baby in her arms. The little girl is now starting to make odd noises. I don’t wanna call them coos, but she’s lettin’ us all know she’s alive and well. “I’ll encourage my husband to allow you to handle it. Onyx crossed a line with us. She was promised protection in not only a business relationship, but respect as one of us. Now she’s betrayed the people who had viewed her as family. Hell, we don’t even know her as Onyx anymore. She’s just Stefanie Bruno, the piece of shit trash we always knew she was, but hoped she wasn’t.”

  Camila is the first one to ask the question I had bet Ivy would. “What do you mean ‘handle it’?”

  Kat chuckles, “Camila. I can guarantee that woman won’t live for long once she’s found. If I have anything to say, Ivy will be the one putting her down.”

  “Oh, wow.” Camila mutters.

  “You don’t fuck with the Reapers. Whether it be man, woman or child.” I state. Kat gives me a nod of approval whereas Camila cocks a brow. “What?” I ask.

  “I always thought you were a dick. Turns out you’re not that bad once we get to know you.”

  I smirk, “Don’t tempt me, sweetheart. I can be all dickish again. It’s my superpower.”

  “Enough,” Kat states, “We need to get Ivy out of here and get her some help. Camila can you take the baby but be careful because her umbilical cord is still attached.”

  “No, it isn’t. I took my shoelaces and tied them around it and cut it with a pair of scissors in my purse.” Ivy says. I think the group of us look at her in amazement and also fear.

  “Why do you have a pair of scissors in your purse?” I ask.

  “I have a fear of going over a bridge, the car plummeting through the guard rail and diving straight into water. Only, when I’d normally be able to get out I can’t because the seatbelt won’t unlock. That’s why I have the scissors in my purse, ‘cause you never know when you’re going to need them.”

  Jesus Christ, and I thought I was the fucked up one. Shaking my head I try not to laugh at Ivy, but this is some pretty ridiculous shit. Taking a step toward Kat, “Who are we going to take them to? I’m sure you and Damon want to keep this on the down low.”

  “Yes, and we will. If I’m not mistaken Damon just met a newly graduated nurse practitioner today.”

  “He did?”

  “Yes, and you did as well.” There’s only one person I met today, and that’s Sakura.

  “Damn. So, what’s the plan? We taking her over to the bunker, or we picking up Sakura?”

  “Do you think we’d honestly take these two over to a freaking bunker that doesn’t have the supplies we need? We’re going to pick up Sakura, head to a drug store and take them all back to the club. Now get your ass moving, we have a lot of ground to cover.”

  “I have a better idea, if you’re open to it.” I suggest, waiting for Kat’s approval before I continue. “I go get Sakura while you guys head back to the clubhouse. By the time you safely travel back I should be back with Sakura and the supplies she needs.”

  “Fine, let’s go. I want to make sure they get treated in an adequate amount of time!” Kat orders out.

  Over the next few minutes I help Kat get in the car while Camila secures Fate in her car seat and verify the women are all buckled up and have locked the SUV before I run over to my bike and start her up. Thank fuck I’m only about five minutes away from the bunker.

  9

  Life is an echo. What you send out comes back

/>   ~ Unknown

  Cobra

  I come to a screeching halt when I arrive at the shit stain on top of the bunker, walk through the door and knock heavily on the door. Damn Damon for not giving anyone else a key. “Sakura, it’s Cobra. I was here earlier with your godfather and the boys. We need your help. One of our girls had an emergency delivery. We don’t know what to do!” Hopefully by sounding a little erratic she’ll be more willing to help us.

  Within a minute or two I hear feet stomping up the stairs and the door opens. Sakura has her hair pinned up, is wearing a white t-shirt and has on some jeans. “What do you mean?”

  “Long story short, one of our member’s girl was pregnant. She went out with the woman we were talking to your godfather about. The woman figured out we knew what she was up to and . . . well, I’m not sure of the details. All I know is Ivy went into labor and delivered the first baby, which Onyx stole. She then delivered a second baby. Mother and baby are on their way back to the clubhouse right now. It’s my job to get you there.”

  “Did Ivy receive any medical care whatsoever?”

  “No,” I tell her.

  “Alright. Has she fed the baby yet?”

  “How the hell am I supposed to know that?”

  “Fine. When were the babies delivered, within the last hour?” Sakura asks, and I somehow get the feeling the answer to this question is important.

  “Yes,” I nod.

  “Call whoever she’s with and tell them to pull over. She needs to breastfeed since she didn’t get a dose of Pitocin. It’ll stop her uterus from bleeding heavily. Breastfeeding is a natural way to help her uterus contract. When the baby is done feeding they can start driving again and meet us at your clubhouse.”