Page 48 of Haze's Jewel

“Shit. It doesn’t matter. He needed to be dead too.”

We stop to catch our breath near a tree, with gunshots still sounding off in the background.

She huffs out an exasperated breath. “So that’s your plan, shoot them all and let God sort them out.”

“My plan is I do what I need to do.”

I look around and see the spot Ven is perched on about ten yards away. A nice vantage point up a small embankment. “I’m gonna take you somewhere safe,” I tell Anna.

It didn’t take but a few minutes for us to reach Ven. When we come jogging up, his head is tilted to the side as he watches everyone scrambling around down below. Without glancing up, he murmurs, “Good kill shot, brother.”

“Thanks.” Pulling Anna tight to my side, I explain, “I’m gonna leave Anna with you and get back to the fight. Is that alright?”

He jerks his chin towards the screen. “No need. It’s all over but the crying.”

Just as he said that it got eerily quiet. I come up behind him and look at the screen. My club brothers have two men lying on the ground. One is surrounded by a lot of blood, suggesting if he isn’t already dead, then he’ll be meeting his maker very soon.

“Two men? There were only three in the tent,” I say in confusion.

Ven lifts his head to gaze up at me. “There was another man with the boat, when Tank took it out, he appeared. Fucker had been in the river wearing a wetsuit which is why I didn’t see him. What the fuck he was doing down there, I have no idea.”

I did, if they were planning on making it look like a boating accident, they probably needed to make it look real. Having an accomplice drown her and pull her under to make sure she had injuries consistent with being dragged by the current, made sense.

My club brother continues, “One survivor out of four isn’t bad odds for a shootout like this one.”

I run my hand up Anna’s back soothingly as she clings to me. “That’s true. Any idea which one survived?”

Ven shakes his head. “Not a clue. When things got hectic, I couldn’t tell who’s who, not that I was sure in the first place.”

“I know what you mean. We’d best get down there and figure out what’s going on.”

He starts to get up, but I push him back down. “Not you, brother. I meant Anna and myself. You’re our eyes in the sky, the only person who can give us a heads up if the cops show up or if these fuckers have any more accomplices.”

He frowns. “Yeah, that’s me, the brother who never gets to see any fuckin’ action.”

“Yet, you are an invaluable member of the Savage Legion team,” I remind him.

“I don’t need you to stroke my fucking ego. Get a move on before we end up in a fight.”

I grin at his disgruntled response and guide Anna back down the path. On the off-chance that her stepbrother was the one who survived, maybe she could get him to co-operate, so we didn’t have to start cutting bits off the sad fucker.

The minute Siege catches sight of me, he stalks towards me with that ten-inch hunting knife I threw down in his hand. I have to admit, he looks absolutely furious.

Pointing the knife in my face, he states angrily, “You were supposed to follow the plan, not do your own thing. Was there some part of my direct orders you were unclear on?”

Anna is squeezing my arm and trying to pull me away. I reach over and pat her hand.

“You didn’t follow the plan when your old lady was in danger,” I reply trying to sound worlds more reasonable than I feel in this moment.

He frowns at me and slams my hunting knife flat against my chest. “From now on, do I say, not as I do, or there’s gonna be hell to pay.”

“Yes, prez,” I reply, pleased that he’s not going to skin me with my own damn knife.

Chapter 20

Annalese

These men. I don’t know exactly what to make of them. Haze gunned down Trevor and Rick—or whatever his real name was—in cold blood. My brain automatically corrects me. It wasn’t exactly cold blood. He was rescuing me and protecting himself. My heart was in my throat when that hired gun shot him right where his beautiful heart beats. I thought I had lost him forever. Even though he was wearing body armor and survived, it still humbles me that he put himself between me and danger. This man took a bullet for me. He also stood up to his club president when he was confronted about deviating from the plan in order to save me.

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