Scanning the area, I spot the trigger-happy twat shoving a girl into the back of an SUV with a couple of other men helping. The area is shrouded in darkness, moonlight glinting from the somber metal, and I grin as I recall that particular vehicle has an explosive surprise beneath it.
Ah fuck…
I run at full speed toward the car because that girl must be Grinder’s sister. He’s told me a little about her and she’s basically a part of him. If he loses her, he’ll be unstoppable, and as hot as the latter part of my thought is, I can’t let him live through that pain.
Wasting no time, I shoot as I run. A miss. Thenbang, bang, bang. One, two, three men down like sacks of shit.
The girl, who was only partway in the car, falls in a heap, and I hope she’s just unconscious because she’s real fucking still. I race over to pick her up and she stirs a little…thank fuck.
“Mia!” Grinder’s next to me within a few seconds, sliding down to the ground to take his sister in his arms. She groans a little as he hugs her lightly, then he holds her close and looks to me.
“Could’ve been better circumstances, but it’s nice to meet your sister.” I shrug, hoping to take a little tension from the air because I’m uncomfortable with strong emotions.
And Grinder fucking knows it.
“Thank you.” His usual banter is waning, and I don’t blame him. His sister may not be dead, but she doesn’t exactly look healthy either.
A large, meaty paw grips my chin from behind and I watch Grinder’s eyes widen with fury. Clearly, I didn’t get the kill shot with all the fuckers over here. Next, my head is being pushed against the man behind me as he pins me to him, his gun rising with his other hand.
“The lamb is ou—argh!” His delicious scream comes as I whip my face around and bite the man’s cheek off. He shouldn’t have held it so close…
Then I elbow him in the nose, steal his gun, and shoot him between the eyes before turning back to Grinder. I can taste the tanginess of iron on my tongue and I can feel the blood dribbling down my chin as I spit his cheek meat out—I’m not a cannibal. I don’t want to eat him and blood play isn’t my jam.
“Spenny is waiting on the road that way.” I point in the general direction we planned. “Just past the trees and shit. Take Mia and I’ll collect some teeth for ya before I follow behind. Woulda brought your motorcycle but alas, I don’t have a license.” I blink innocently, resisting the urge to pull him into me and just hold him. For one, his sister would hit the ground if I did so, and two…
Nope, that’s it. Just the one reason I’m resisting.
Huffing a light chuckle, Grinder sighs before looking down at his sister with a reverence reserved for purity.
“The only reason I’m agreeing to this is for Mia.” He looks up at me, his sister curled up against him, and for the first time ever I think I want babies. With this man.
Nope. I should probably just get a dog. Being in charge of tiny humans is not for me.
Grinning as if he knows my mind has wondered, Grinder leans forward and lightly kisses my blood-stained lips.
“I prefer molars.” He winks and stands with Mia in his arms, as if she’s weightless, then runs in the direction where Spencer is waiting.
After watching him leave, I use my knife to pry out some molars—which isn’t easy, I’ll have to ask Grinder for his special pliers next time—then I stand and assess the damage so far.
It would seem that we’re done here because the brothers begin trailing out of the main house with Hoops bringing up the rear.Sledge spots me first as I head their way and he silently asks if my part of the task is done by tilting his head and raising his brows.
“Found them, they’re alive. Grinder’s taken his sister to the car with Spencer. She’s in a bad way. And Kincaid is—”
“Here.” Her soft and sultry voice comes from behind me and I notice she has a bit of a limp, but otherwise, she seems to have fared better than Mia or Grinder.
“Grinder’s sister? Mia was in there?” Bear, in all his hulking glory, suddenly looks even angrier than before. He goes from teddy to grizzly in seconds and I totally get what Athena sees in him.
“They took her as bait. Wanted to trade her for Parker but decided to keep her instead. As alamb.” Kincaid says the word lamb like it truly disgusts her, and to be fair, yeah. The fucks that resided here are sickos. Hell only knows what they’ve got going on in their gated communities.
I suppress a shudder and face the president.
“There are some bodies over there that need staging. Although we might wanna get rid of one of them completely because he kinda has my dental record on his face.” This plan wasn’t Hoops’s first choice, but it was the quickest and, in my opinion, the most efficient.
We have a cleaning crew coming to finish the setup so that, to the cops, it looks like some members went rogue. The girl in the basement being dead with gun residue already on her hands is actually helpful. Fuck knows how they’re going to explain the blown up old ambulance, but I’m sure they’ll figure it out.
“If you rode, I’d sponsor you to prospect. Good job, mini Sledge.” Is that a grin I detect on Shade’s face? I think it bloody well is.
“If I learned, could I get a cooler nickname than mini Sledge?” I know exactly jack shit about a real life motorcycle club, otherthan the fact that they’d literally die for each other, but I could learn to ride…