“We’re troubled by how this hunt for Lakelyn and River is going,” Brutus added.

  “Troubled how?”

  “You and Crypto are killing yourselves. Do you ever think we should let them go? They obviously didn’t want to stay here,” Wrangler said.

  “We’re as upset as you are that they snuck off the way they did, but they’re not club. This life isn’t for everyone,” Smuggler added.

  “You think?” I asked. I was being a dickhead, and I knew it.

  “Listen, we’re—” Cobra said, then halted as Crypto ran into the room. I came to my feet. He barely slowed down before coming to a halt by the table.

  “I found them,” he said excitedly.

  “Where?” I asked.

  “How?” Cobra asked.

  “One of our street contacts sent me a message and said he found them.”

  “Are you sure it’s them?” I asked.

  “I am. He sent a picture,” he said, handing me his cell phone. I held it up. Even if the photo wasn’t the best quality, there was no mistaking that it was Lakelyn. I hungrily soaked her in.

  “Where are they?” I asked.

  “He sent me the address. They’re sleeping in one of the homeless camps. He said they’re staying to themselves, but they’re there and appear to plan to stay the night. It was Dunk. He’ll watch them and let us know if they leave. I told him if that happens, to find a way to stall or follow them.”

  “I’m out of here. I need one of the prospects to come with me in the van,” I ordered. I was headed for the door. I didn’t care who did it as long as it was done.

  “We’ll get one, but you’re crazy if you think we’re letting our president out alone after dark. It’s been bad enough you did it today,” Howler grumbled.

  He snorted when I gave him the finger.

  “I’m not some fucking baby who can’t wipe his ass or watch his back,” I informed him.

  “No, you’re not, and you’d be the first to chew our asses out for riding alone like you did. You can swear all you want, but we’re coming with you,” Cobra said dryly.

  “Then whoever is going better get their asses in gear. I’m rolling out of here in five minutes. If you aren’t on your bike or in the van, you’ll be left here. We need at least some of you to stay behind. We can’t leave the compound without backup,” I barked.

  I left them to figure it out. A nervous quiver had taken over my stomach. I was dying to see her, and yet I wanted to spank her ass, cuff her to my bed, and fuck her into submission until she learned her lesson and swore she’d never leave again. I was dangerous right now. Lakelyn better not push me too hard.

  When I pulled out the gate, I had half a dozen men with me, and Knife was driving the van. I had the address. Crypto had sent it to our phones. As we hurried there, I thought of Dunk. He was one of several street contacts we had. They were a variety of homeless or, in some cases, what many people thought were the dregs of society who would help us out and keep their eyes and ears open. If they came to us with helpful information, we gave them money. I found that they were much more loyal than most people would expect. The club had thought I was nuts when I suggested using them.

  The night was decent as far as the temperature went. Cobra paced his bike next to mine. Falling in behind us were Howler, Jury, and Handler. Knife, Satyr, and Blood brought up the rear in the van. I knew the place Crypto referred to. There was more than one area between Turmoil and North Platte where multiple homeless people would sleep and set up small settlements. The city and the cops tried to run them off, but they just kept coming back.

  When Cobra and I roared into the encampment, heads turned, and people either hid or stood there staring. Dunk had told Crypto exactly which section they were in, so we’d gone straight to it. We were in luck, and it was where two streets intersected next to that spot. If they decided to run, we’d have them surrounded. The others had divided up and would cover all four directions of those streets. There were streetlights in the area, so it wasn’t dark. I parked and shut down my bike. Cobra did the same. Out of the crowd came Dunk.

  “Hi, Dunk,” I said, holding out my hand. He shook it, then Cobra’s.

  “Hi, Tyrant, Cobra, this way,” he said.

  He would save the pleasantries for afterward. I liked him. He was a young guy in his early twenties. I’d tried to get him to join the club or to work for us at one of the businesses, but he refused. I hadn’t given up on him but knew not to push him too hard. It was a delicate balance.

  Dunk wound through the tents, cardboard boxes, and other things used to create shelter. Toward the back was a lean-to constructed of cardboard. He pointed to it and then stood back. A long piece of rag covered the opening. I crossed my arms and raised my voice to be heard over the murmurs and mumbling of those surrounding us.

  “Lakelyn, River, we know you’re in there. I’m giving you thirty seconds to get your asses out of here, or we’ll come in after you. And believe me, you don’t want to test me right now,” I growled.

  My hands clenched into fists, but it was to hide the shaking. Adrenaline flooded my body. The prospect of seeing her made me feel high with anticipation and the desire to discipline her.

  The next thing I knew, the cardboard exploded. Two bodies took off, running in different directions. I went after one and Cobra the other. It was automatic for him to chase River. Lakelyn was running full speed away from me. She wasn’t looking back. I might be in boots, but I had longer legs than she did. I sped up. I was gaining on her when she glanced back at me. Her eyes were wild. She appeared scared out of her mind.

  “Lakelyn, stop! I just want to talk,” I shouted.

  I swore I heard her whimper. What the hell? Why was she so scared? She rounded a corner of a building and then tripped. She screamed as she fell, hit the ground hard, and rolled down a slight decline. I thundered after her. When she came to a halt at the bottom, she curled into the fetal position and wrapped her hands over her head. I dropped to my knees next to her. My hands touched her frantically, though gently. She shook and flinched away from me. She was sobbing.

  “Lakelyn, bébé, baby, where are you hurt?” I asked her. Shit, why didn’t I bring Cardiac with us? What if she were seriously injured?

  “Please, leave me. Don’t give me to them. I won’t go. I’ll die first,” she ranted between sobs.

  “What’s she talking about?” Howler asked. I hadn’t heard him come up behind me. Before I could say I had no clue, I heard River shouting.

  “Get away from my sister! What did you do to her?”

  He was trying to run to us, but Cobra and Blood had a hold of him. We needed to get them out of here. It was true that the homeless wouldn’t call the cops, but that didn’t mean others wouldn’t if they came by.

  “Lakelyn, I need to know if you’re hurt anywhere before I move you. Tell me,” I demanded.

  She refused to answer. She only cried and mumbled repeatedly, “I won’t go.”

  Her distress was making me sick. Not seeing another way, I slid my hands under her body. She whimpered, tearing at my heart. She was like a wounded animal. I brought her close, then lifted her into my arms. She tried to wiggle loose, but I held her tight enough without crushing her so she couldn’t get away. I stood.

  “Where’s the van?” I asked no one in particular.

  “It’s about a hundred feet this way,” Jury said. He pointed the way.

  “Let me see her,” River demanded.

  “You’ll see her when we get her to the van,” I snapped.

  “They’ll never keep her. She’ll kill herself first,” he snarled.

  “Who won’t keep her? What’re you talking about?” Cobra asked.

  I glanced over to find River glaring at Cobra, then me. “Like you don’t know. We know why you’re here. Well, you can all fuck yourselves. We won’t go. I love you, Lake,” River stated.

  It was as if I saw it in slow motion. He yanked a gun out of his waistband. His loose shirt hid it. At the same time, Lakelyn tried to throw herself out of my arms. As I struggled with her, she produced a gun, too, from her waistband. Only they didn’t point them at us. Instead, they put them to their heads. Absolute terror flooded my body.

  “Whoa, whoa, stop! What the fuck?” Cobra shouted.

  He stared at River. I knew he and the boy had gotten close and seemed to be friends. Fear was written on his face, too. I was mute with shock. I saw all that in the moment I glanced over, and then it was back to the woman in my arms, the one with the gun to her head and absolute determination written all over her. Her eyes might be wet with tears, but she wasn’t playing. She would kill herself. I couldn’t allow that to happen. Not knowing what else to do to ease the tension and the sense of threat we clearly projected, I slowly sat her on her feet. She backed away, but we surrounded them.

  “No one move,” I ordered my guys. They were all frozen. Even Dunk was there and not moving.

  “Lakelyn, put down the gun. There’s no need to do this. We’re not here to harm you,” I said softly. I prayed she heard the plea and sincerity in my voice.

  Cobra was essentially telling River the same things. The siblings were about fifteen feet apart. Neither answered, but they slowly backed up until they were back-to-back. Would they try to fight their way out? Or with the odds stacked against them, nine to two with Dunk in the count, they’d assume defeat and just shoot themselves? I was fighting not to puke. I couldn’t watch them die, especially her.

  “Mon doux bébé, my sweet baby, please move that away from your head. You’re scaring me,” I told her.

  She shook her head. The gun was barely shaking in her hand. At least neither at that moment had their fingers on the triggers. They held Glocks. Those guns had no secondary safety. If you pressed the trigger hard enough, it would fire. I hadn’t checked, but I was sure those were two of mine.

  “Don’t make us do it. You can just pretend you never found us. We’re leaving as soon as we find a way out of town. Once we do, we’ll disappear. You can say you never saw us,” she said. The pleading tone was unmistakable.

  “Who do you think we’ll tell this to?” Cobra asked.

  Finally, we were about to discover why they were on the street. I’d been dying to know. However, this wasn’t the way to find out. Why would they think we’d have any contact with whomever they were running from? We were bastards, but I doubted they did anything to deserve whatever they were afraid of. We did everything in our power to avoid directly harming the innocent.

  River snorted. “You know. We’re not stupid. And before you say you don’t know, you were seen.”

  “Kid, I don’t have a fucking clue what you’re talking about. Things have been going great. We thought you and your sister liked the compound and considered staying. Then boom, we find you had run in the middle of the night. What’s up with that, River?” Cobra asked him. I could tell my VP was trying to temper his anger and impatience.

  “We were stupid. You sure lulled us into a false sense of safety. Our eyes are no longer blinded. There’s no way I’ll let them do what they plan to do to her. I’m expendable anyway, so going out this way, at least it’s on our terms,” River said.

  “Who plans to do what? Talk to us. Come back to the compound, and we’ll iron this out,” Howler unexpectedly said. This command required the siblings to twist a bit to see him.

  “Yeah, come home. It can’t be as bad as you think,” Satyr stated next.

  “You can’t want your sister to die,” Blood added.

  “And, Lakelyn, you don’t want River to die. I know that,” Jury said.

  As they fired off their comments one after the other, and with the way they were standing, River and his sister had to keep twisting and adjusting their stances. But in doing so, they were distracted, and the guns were still raised, but no longer pressed against their temples. In addition, as one person grabbed their attention, the rest of us inched forward, barely a step.

  I slipped in, “We can help you if you tell us who you’re so scared of. I need to know why you think we’d give you to them.”

  Suddenly, Dunk spoke. “Hey, my work is done. I’ll leave you to it, Tyrant. I don’t know why these two are hightailing it away from your club, but they’re stupid to do it. If Tyrant says you’re safe, he means it.”

  Dunk turned and walked off as if he didn’t have a care in the world. This action caused Lakelyn and her brother to twist further. This shift was our chance. I was closest to her, and Cobra to River. I lunged at the same time I swung my arm, knocking the gun down away from her head. She screamed, but by then, I had torn the weapon out of her hand. I held it behind me, and one of my guys took it. She went crazy. She screamed and fought like a wild animal. River had also been disarmed, and he was fighting Cobra and Blood. I wrapped Lakelyn in my arms. Knowing we were attracting too much attention and needed to talk in private, I made the choice.

  “In the van. Search and secure them,” I ordered.

  I carried a thrashing, swearing, and screaming Lakelyn to the nearby van. Knife had the back door open. I took her inside. Working quickly, I secured her arms and legs together and placed a gag over her mouth. I refused to use duct tape. Instead, I pulled out the clean bandanna I had in my cut. I used it for a do-rag sometimes. I was gentle as I placed it on her. The dread mixed with hatred in her eyes gutted me. Cobra and Blood had gotten River inside and were subduing and securing him.

  “Lakelyn, I’m sorry, but you gave me no choice. We’re not going to hurt you. We need to talk at home. I’ve got to make sure you’re not armed,” I warned a moment before I ran my hands over her body.

  I tried to be detached and professional about it. I didn’t paw her, but the feel of her body under my hands caused my cock to react. I fought to prevent my erection from growing. If she saw I was hard, she’d be even more terrified. I didn’t find anything else by the time I was done. Cobra finished his search of River. The boy was brave, but he also had fear in his eyes. What the hell was this all about?

  “Let’s get out of here. Take them to the clubhouse, Knife.”

  I detested leaving her in the van while I rode my bike. I wanted her with me, but the way she was acting, she’d jump off the fucking thing. Within a few minutes, we took off on our bikes and in the van. The entire ride back, I kept trying to figure out what had spooked them and why they were convinced we were involved.

  Lakelyn: Chapter 10

  It was hard not to give in to despair. We’d been stupid to remain near Turmoil. We’d thought there was no way the Kings could find us. The size of North Platte and the number of people that no one sees on the street gave us a false sense of security. We’d only been able to catch a ride to North Platte, but we thought since it was a different town, we were safe. All we needed was a few days to figure out where to go. Running without a plan landed you in trouble. For example, we’d ended up in Turmoil rather than getting our asses out of Nebraska altogether the first time we ran. It was a mistake I was about to regret.

  Tyrant and his guys might’ve gotten our guns, but it didn’t matter. Eventually, even after we were given to the Jacquots, I’d find a way to end it. They couldn’t keep an eye on me twenty-four-seven. I doubted they’d think of us killing ourselves. They didn’t know how far we’d go to stay out of their hands or to avoid our fates.

  I fought not to hyperventilate or vomit on the ride. I’d choke to death with my mouth gagged. That might be preferable, come to think of it. I met River’s gaze. I shook my head. He had his whole life ahead of him. He didn’t deserve what the Jacquots had in store for him. If anything, I wished he hadn’t been caught up in this. Maybe I could bargain with them so he could go free. If he did, I might be able to keep going for his sake.

  “Lakelyn, what the hell has gotten into the two of you? Why did you run? Your assumptions about us are fucked up,” Satyr said abruptly. He was in the second row of seats. My brother and I were in the back cargo area.

  I ignored him.

  “He’s right. We were all getting along great, and then you do this. Or were you pretending all along while you planned to run?” Blood asked. There was a bite to his tone.

  It wasn’t as if I could answer with my mouth bound. They made it sound as if they were the injured party in this. I didn’t see how that made sense. They said this to fool us. I’d let myself believe that, despite being bikers and one-percenters, which I’d learned meant they broke the law, they’d been more than decent to us. All their actions pointed to them becoming our friends and people we could rely on. I had to hand it to them. They were grade-A actors. I never saw their betrayal coming.

  Thank goodness they stopped talking. The silence stretched until we were pulling through the gate of their compound. My heart pounded. Oh God, here it came. I wondered whether Tyrant had called ahead, and the Jacquots were waiting for us. I broke out in a cold sweat. When the van stopped, and the back door opened, I was hyperventilating. Tyrant came inside and took me out first. I couldn’t fight him. As soon as my feet touched the ground, I bent over, sucking as much air into my lungs as I could to catch my breath and quell the urge to puke. It wasn’t enough.

  The next thing I knew, the gag was gone. I inhaled through my mouth and nose and then spewed up the tiny bit I had in my stomach all over the ground. I missed Tyrant’s boots. Too bad. I heard cursing and my brother’s urgent, muffled sounds.

  Suddenly, I was swept off my feet again by Tyrant, and he raced into the clubhouse. It vaguely registered that the rest of his men were there. Their chatter died away.

  “Cardiac, I need you,” Tyrant barked.

  He didn’t slow down until I was in a room resembling a doctor’s exam room. I knew this was Cardiac’s office. I’d been shown it one day. I thought it was cool that he could treat his brothers. He wasn’t an actual doctor, but he knew a lot. I was gently placed on the exam table. Tyrant stayed on one side of it, and Cardiac was on the other.

  “What’s wrong?” Cardiac asked.

  “She fell down an incline, and then when I got her out of the van outside, she couldn’t catch her breath and then vomited.”