“Then he already has the answers he needs. I’ll tell him you cooperated in every way with us, assuming you continue to do so. If he decides you need to die, I can promise you’ll never know it’s coming, and it will be a clean, quick death.”

  A little sob escaped before she could press her lips together tightly. She ducked her head, breaking her entrancing stare, but not before she got under Bohannon’s skin. Why did he feel like he knew her? Lord knew he’d never forget a woman like her, so he couldn’t have met her.

  Everyone called him Bohannon, but his jacket proclaimed him Slayer because, of all his biker brothers, he had the most kills. He was the enforcer of the club. If something needed doing, he was the one who did it. That way, if the police caught him, they could trace nothing back to anyone else in the club. He’d take full responsibility and shift blame away from his brothers. The name had fit him more than any other, so he thought. This girl, however tested his belief in his job. Could he kill her if Cain ordered it?

  “Promise me that if Cain orders you to kill me, you’ll at least look into helping my brother.”

  “Can’t do that.”

  “His name is Markus Newton. He’s not a bad man, just… self-absorbed.”

  Bohannon lost his breath. Before he could stop himself, he snatched a penlight from his utility belt and shone it in the girl’s face. Markus Newton! A name from his past. Now here was a woman from his past. It had to be. But Markus was more than ten years this girl’s senior! Her older brother! That son of a bitch should be protecting her, not the other way around.

  “Luna?” Her head snapped up, eyes squinting at the bright light. “Son of a bitch.” She tried to see past the light but, of course, she couldn’t. “Luna Martin?”

  “Who are you?” Her voice wavered, even more uneasy than before.

  “Are you shittin’ me? What the fuck are you doing trying to protect Markus? He’s my age!”

  She was still for several seconds. “G-Gage?”

  “Answer the fucking question, Luna! What the fuck are you doing protecting Markus?”

  “He’s my brother.”

  This was insane! Luna couldn’t be mixed up in a club like Scars and Bars. Inhaling for calm, Bohannon took a step back from her. Data would have everything on them by the time they got to the clubhouse. He’d know how innocent she was by then.

  “Let’s go, Luna.” God, he didn’t need this! Not Luna. Not his Luna.

  As the headlights of the truck fell over her form, Bohannon shuddered. She shocked him with her striking beauty. She’d always been an exotic little pixy, but this was too much for any man to handle without warning. All that black hair of hers was like a heavy curtain hanging down her back past her ass. Straight. Shiny. Thick. Nearly blue as the light played over it with her movements. Her skin was a delicate earthen tone, announcing her Native heritage. The straight line of her nose was aristocratic and delicate, as were her high cheekbones. But it was those almond-shaped eyes in that intense black that got him. Had always got him. It was as if they bored a darkly hot fire through his heart. With the woman she’d become now, that jolt went straight to his groin. They were guileless. Innocent. He knew from one look she was telling the truth. It wasn’t anything she did specifically; it was just there in those onyx depths. No way was she that good of an actor. She hadn’t balked at his instructions. Hadn’t offered him anything in return for her freedom. Wasn’t trying to seduce him. Even once she found out who he was, she hadn’t tried to use that to influence him.

  She might not be setting out to seduce him -- probably saw him as an old man, a former friend of her brother. But she was doing a damned good job of it anyway.

  Once he had her in the passenger side of the chase vehicle Trucker drove, he gave her one last look. “Let’s get this over with. Just tell the truth.” He glanced at Trucker, who nodded once before putting the cage in gear and starting off. They’d bugged the vehicle, so if she tried to engage Trucker in conversation Data would know. He’d also use any information he got to find out more about her and her brother and their affiliation with Scars and Bars. He hoped she was telling the truth. Because he would make good on his promise to give her a swift, painless death. At least that’s what he told himself. He might not be able to bring himself to do the deed if Cain required it. For the first time since meeting Cain and the rest of Bones, he wasn’t sure he could live up to the name “Slayer.”

  Chapter Two

  Luna had never been so terrified in her life. She sat in the truck beside the Bones member and waited for her fate. He took her deep into the woods, off the beaten path to what she could only describe as a compound. Or a resort.

  Not that it was incredibly fancy, but it was very nice on the outside with carefully mowed lawns and a decent-sized vegetable garden on one side. All illuminated by floodlights spilling over the grounds. A chain-link fence surrounded the property but looked in no way menacing. How that worked she had no idea. Instead, the place gave off an air of security and protection. At least it did until they pulled around back and met three more Bones members.

  “Stay here,” the driver -- Trucker -- said. Gladly. The last thing Luna wanted to do was get out of that vehicle. If she were going to her doom, she’d rather do it later than sooner.

  Gage Bohannon…

  How had the one person she needed to find been the man to find her? If anyone could make this right, it was Gage. If he chose to. She remembered the last time she’d seen him. He’d pretty much told Markus to go to hell. Then he’d walked out of their lives. He’d been Markus’s best friend. His only friend. And he’d just left. More importantly, he’d left her. True, she’d only been eight years old but he was still her best friend, too. He hadn’t looked back. Luna knew because she’d watched him walk away. The one-lane gravel road had been long and straight. She’d watched him until he was out of sight. Not once had he looked back. That night, Luna had cried herself to sleep.

  In the parking lot of the compound, the bikers talked. One tall man listened intently with crossed arms, looking deceptively lazy. Everyone seemed to defer to him, to report to him alone as if no one else’s opinion mattered. He had to be the Bones president, Cain. Anyone who lived in Somerset, Kentucky knew who Cain was. Most knew him only as a community benefactor though he made no secret about his MC ties. Bones routinely aided the town and specific citizens in dire need. They showed up to every Habitat for Humanity project and protected massive events like Somernites Cruise. All on the down low because more prominent members of the community only saw the biker persona, refusing to give them any credit publicly.

  “Bring her to the interrogation room, Bohannon,” Cain said, raising his voice. “Once we’re done, you can take care of her as you see fit.”

  That comment sent shivers down her spine. What was about to happen? Her heart pounded with each step Bohannon made toward her. Bohannon. Going by his last name suited him better than Gage. The fictional Bohannon couldn’t be any more menacing than the real one. The biker.

  Once at the truck, he again braced his hands on the open window. “You going to give me trouble?”

  Luna wanted to promise him anything just to get him to lower his guard so she could make a break for it, but she could never lie worth a damn. Instead of responding, she ducked her head.

  He snorted. “Well, at least you didn’t lie.” He opened the door. “Come on. Data’s already determined your role in this misadventure. I can’t promise we’ll let you go tonight, but I can promise we ain’t gonna hurt you.”

  Tonight…

  He hadn’t qualified that promise, but it hung out there like a warning claxon. Luna couldn’t help but stiffen when he took her upper arm and pulled her out of the truck. He surprised her by cutting the zip tie free from her wrists. When she looked up at him, he smirked.

  “You ain’t gettin’ away from me, darlin’. Get the thought out of your pretty little head.”

  Luna bit back a bitter retort, knowing any show of defiance on her part couldn’t help. Instead, she let him lead her inside the compound. Again, she was surprised at how nice the place was. Definitely not like the Scars and Bars clubhouse. The inside was neat, clean, and comfortable-looking with plush chairs and sofas in various areas of the great room. The place reminded her of a hotel lobby, maybe? Just not as fancy. It was homey. Comfortable.

  They didn’t stop there, though. Instead, Bohannon led her through the great room down a flight of stairs to another large room. A wooden stool sat in the middle, a large mat underneath it. Immediately, she had the image of her brother sitting in a similar room. They had used the mat to collect blood as they tortured the person sitting on the stool. Namely, her brother. Was that to be her fate as well? She shivered, not believing Bohannon in the least that they wouldn’t hurt her.

  She took an involuntary step backward before she caught herself. No. She was no coward. If this was her fate, she’d take it and not make a fucking sound. Chin up, she allowed Bohannon to lead her to the stool and took her seat.

  “No matter what you do to me, I can take it,” she whispered. Defiant even though she knew it wasn’t a good idea. “You won’t make me cry.”

  “Had no intention of it,” Cain said as he took his own seat at a semi-circular table. He sat in the center with the Bones officers flanking him on each side. “This is Torpedo, the vice-president of Bones,” he indicated a man sitting to his right. “You already know Bohannon, our enforcer.” The table curved so she was in the center and they could see her from all angles. “I’m Cain. President of Bones. I just have a few questions about your brother. You should know that I already know some of the events leading up to tonight so be careful if you choose to lie.” He let those words sink in before continuing. “Is he working for the Scars and Bars?”

  “I honestly don’t know. All I know is he owes them money for drugs. Whether it was stuff he should have sold but stole, or if he scammed them to get his fix, I don’t know.”

  “I understand why you got involved in this. What I don’t know is how. Tell me.” Cain spoke matter-of-factly, not in the least abrasive or angry. Just a man listening to her side of the story.

  “My brother came to me a couple of weeks ago. Told me he was in trouble again. I told him I couldn’t help him. He said they’d kill him if he couldn’t pay, but I honestly had nothing more to give him. I would have if I did.” She took a breath, rushing through the rest of it. “Anyway, one of the Scars and Bars grabbed me outside my apartment and took me to a room much like this one. My brother was sitting on a chair, though he was in bad shape. They’d beat him. Cut him. Blood was everywhere so I know that mat beneath this stool is to keep from ruining the floor.”

  Cain shrugged. “And to keep it from soaking into the wood where DNA could be gathered.” This was all no big deal to them. She shivered, looking down at her hands. She got the feeling the Bones president said that on purpose just to remind her she wasn’t in friendly territory. Luna could have told them she didn’t need the reminder. She was all too aware of her situation. Of all the ways she could have met Gage again, this was the worst possible scenario. Not only was she on the wrong side, but he was, quite possibly, a straight-up killer. With her in his sights. “What was their proposition?”

  “They wanted me to ferry some… ‘packages,’ they called them, to the place where you found us. They didn’t say why they wanted me for that task or what was in the packages, but I figured the contents had to be drugs.”

  “Did they tell you they were sending you into Bones territory?”

  “No. But no matter where they were sending me, I had to do it to keep my brother alive. When they said they would kill him, I believed them. Besides, I honestly wouldn’t have known what it meant if they had told me.”

  “Data found nothing on you being with any club. Are you familiar with the club lifestyle? Do you know what it means to cross into another club’s territory to do business without permission while representing another club?”

  “I imagine it’s pretty bad,” she answered softly. There hadn’t been a real feeling of security up to this point, but she was now acutely aware that Cain was the president of Bones.

  “If you were a male member of another club, it would be grounds for a beating at best.” Cain’s expression was blank. He gave nothing away of what he had planned for her. “However, Data assures me you have no ties to Scars and Bars, or any other club, other than through your brother.” The Bones president stared at her for long moments before finally asking. “Why didn’t you go to the police?”

  “You honestly think that was an option if I wanted to see Markus alive?” She didn’t mean to sound so snippy, but it wasn’t a viable alternative, and they all knew it.

  Cain gave her a small smile. “No. I just needed to know if you knew that.”

  “As I told Mr. Bohannon over there before, I’m scared. Not stupid.” Luna thought calling him by his last name would distance herself from him. One look, and she knew it made no difference to her whatsoever. He was still her Gage. The man she’d always thought of as hers, even before she knew what sex was. He was just… hers.

  Chuckles from a few of the members before they cleared throats or covered mouths with their hand. Even Cain’s smile broadened. “You sure you don’t belong to a man in a club somewhere? Bohannon! Did you kidnap someone’s woman? You have the temperament of an ole lady.”

  Less than amused, Luna looked him dead in the eyes. “No. And I never want to be.”

  Bohannon shifted in his seat, drawing her attention to him. Those intense, dark eyes of his met hers with a look so primal she shivered. Everyone else seemed oblivious, discussing her brother and Scars and Bars and how best to deal with both. She and Gage -- no, Bohannon -- however, waged a contest of wills. Luna didn’t understand what it was about, but she didn’t dare look away. A signaled surrender might cost her more than her brother’s debt.

  “You realize the Scars and Bars will look for you.” Cain addressed her again. It was the only reason she could pull herself from Bohannon’s stare.

  “I… what?”

  “Scars and Bars,” Cain said, drawing her back into the conversation. “They’ll be looking for you. We destroyed their product so they will want someone to blame.”

  “Oh, God.” The bottom dropped out of Luna’s world. She actually saw stars. Her brother could even now be meeting a gruesome end. “My brother!”

  “Worry about yourself,” Bohannon snapped. “He made his own bed. You don’t mule for any drug dealer, use up a quarter of the fuckin’ load, and expect to get off scot free.”

  “I know that!” She was feeling desperate. “But he’s my brother! I did all this to save his life! Now you’re telling me you destroyed any hope I had of doing that?”

  “Can’t promise we can get him out,” Cain said. “And you knew the risks you were taking.”

  “Then I need to get scarce,” she said, her heart pounding. “Run.”

  “No.” Bohannon’s voice was like a whip cutting through the room. He didn’t shout or speak loudly. Just said that one word. The authority behind it carried at least some weight with their president.

  “Speak,” Cain said, looking at his brother.

  “She was using the options she saw available to her. Yes, she made a choice, but it was under duress.” He stood from his seat immediately to Cain’s left while Torpedo, their vice-president, sat to his right. “I’m putting her under my protection until we resolve this.”

  Cain sat back, a finger against his lips as he absently rubbed the lower one. No one spoke. Luna was afraid to, unsure of exactly what was happening but knowing her future depended on the next few moments.

  “You’ll take responsibility for her? Total and complete responsibility?” Cain’s gaze never wavered from Bohannon, who met his stare with a steely one of his own.

  “I will.” Bohannon answered the question without hesitation. “Full disclosure -- I knew her and her brother when we were younger.”

  Cain turned to Luna. “Do you understand what that means?” She didn’t but was still too afraid to actually say so. Instead, she shook her head slightly. “It means that if you betray the club, Bohannon will be responsible for the consequences, both to you and himself. By putting you under his protection, the protection of the enforcer of Bones, he’s guaranteeing the rest of the club will protect you. The benefits for you are high… unless you do something foolish. Even to protect your brother.”

  “You’re trusting us to take care of this situation.” Bohannon held her captive with his gaze. She couldn’t look away, and she desperately wanted to. Looking into the dark depths of his eyes was as mesmerizing as it was terrifying. “I can’t promise you we can save your brother, but I promise we’ll protect you.”

  “Sounds familiar,” Luna muttered.

  Bohannon ignored her. “For now, you’ll stick to me like glue. Do you understand?”

  “Not really. Seems like I’ve jumped from the frying pan into the fire.”

  “Torpedo. Will you help shoulder my responsibilities as enforcer until this is over?”

  The man he addressed inclined his head. Torpedo sat on the other side of Cain. The man’s dark eyes seemed to take in everything. See everything. All the men interrogating her were scary, but Torpedo seemed worse than the others. Mainly because he was silent. There was no wasted energy when he moved, and anytime he spoke, it was succinct and direct. “Yes,” he replied mildly. The gleam in his eyes was anything but mild. The other man looked eager to accept the responsibility.

  “I’ll defer to you, Cain, but I want this.”

  For several tense moments, no one spoke. Cain and Bohannon seemed to communicate silently. Both men held each other’s gaze in what looked like a battle of wills. Cain’s face was as hard as stone. There was something the man didn’t like, but Bohannon wasn’t backing down. Luna didn’t know what to hope for. Seemed like she was fucked either way.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8