Page 39 of Savage Fire

Urgency, desperation—he needed to see her, to touch her, to know for himself that she was okay.

He’d deal with her hatred. He’d stomach her rage. It didn’t matter. He could have lost her. He was done wallowing in self-pity and regrets.

Tessa was his, dammit. And he was going to get her back.

By the time Fang reached the clubhouse, thirty minutes had passed, and he was glad he’d ridden his bike. If he’d taken his cage, he’d still be stuck in traffic, too far from his heart, his fire, when he needed to be right there with her.

His boots pounded on the wood floors as he rushed through the common room toward the empty room Liz used for exams and for patching up brothers when they were dumb enough to get knifed or shot.

As he came around the corner, he saw Odin standing at the door, his back to Fang, quietly murmuring through a crack in the door. Fang couldn’t see shit through the door, but he knew Tessa was in there. Skathi, too.

Before Fang could get there and push his way in, Odin shut the door, and turned to meet Fang.

“Not now, brother. She’s still gettin’ patched up by the doc,” Odin reported, holding a massive hand out to stop Fang’s forward movement.

Never in the seven years he’d known Odin had he wanted to punch the man before. He was stopping Fang from getting to Tessa, his goddamn woman.

Not your woman. She hates you!

“What the fuck happened?” he demanded, ignoring the hard look his prez gave him, no doubt unimpressed by his tone.

“Way she tells it, she was on her way inside her condo when she got hit from behind. They got in a few kicks, punches, and one grabbed her around the throat. Doc says there’ll be some bruising, a bad headache, and some rib pain, but she’ll heal with some rest and pain meds.”

Deflating only enough to breathe deep, Fang closed his eyes and grit his teeth.

“She know them? Thecabronswho got her?” he asked, ready to murder.

Odin shook his head. “Said she’d never seen them before, but they seemed to know her. Also insinuated they’d be back to finish the job.”

Fang thrust both hands through his hair, the adrenaline rush that had fueled him slowly abating, leaving behind tremors that made the whole of him shiver. He’d known fear before in his life, had suffocated on it, instilled it in others, had lived and breathed the embodiment of fear for fifteen years. Now, he knew the truth depths of it. When Hawk had said Tessa was attacked, terror had taken hold of him, wrapping horror around his heart, and filling his blood with panic. In that moment, Fang experienced a living nightmare. One he knew he’d never forget.

“Come on, brother. I called Church. Have a drink, take a breather. She’ll still be here when we’re done.”

Still shaking, Fang nearly missed the look of commiseration on Odin’s face. Not that long ago, Skathi had been attacked in her own home. That had been the night Tessa had been kidnapped. It was the first time he’d known gut-wrenching fear, because he’d already wanted Tessa, craved her. And when that motherfucker Alfanzo Madrigal took Tessa, torturing her, Fang had breathed fire.

But none of that compared to what he’d felt in that bar, listening to Hawk.

Ten minutes and one shot of Patron later, Fang was still shaking off the tremors.

“Tessa alright?” Trouble asked, his usually ice-cold gaze thawing just enough to show Fang how much Tessa meant to the club.

“Far as I know. Prez wouldn’t let me through the door,” Fang grumbled, reaching for the bottle to pour himself another shot. He knew he needed to be clear headed to deal with the fuckery about to go down, but he needed the numbness, too.

“Reason for that, brother. She needed time to rest and get a handle on what happened. Skathi and Liz are with her. She’s fine. We need to deal with the fallout.” To the rest of the brothers, he demanded, “Who the fuck was this? I know it aint that shit head Madrigal raised from the dead. And Chavez has had no beef with us, hate to think this is his doing, since he made such an effort lookin’ innocent when his second got up to shit in my city.” Manuello Chavez with the head of the Chavez Cartel, a frenemy of the club, one who owed Odin a few favors for keeping the authorities out of the mess Madrigal made when he tried to usurp power and plot to murder hisjefe.

“Nah. Chavez has been happier than a pig in shit with his new connection to the Sicilians. He wants nothing to do with Vegas.” Grimm had kept a close watch on Chavez, making sure the man kept his toes out of Nevada period.

“You thinkin’ it was the Russians tryin’ to get a head start on clearin’ obstacles? Hit us where we’re vulnerable now so we’re weak when this deal with the Colombians is done?” Trouble inquired, his comments making ripples throughout the room.

“But why Tessa?” Hawk asked, clearly as baffled as everyone else at the table.

Why indeed. Because she meant something to Fang. He didn’t think it was a coincidence that he got a call from Jorge Calderone of the Calderone Cartel after seven years. It certainly wasn’t coincidence when he threatened Fang. So it stood to reason that Tessa’s attack wasn’t coincidence, either. No. Not a fucking coincidence. But what the hell did it all mean? Was Jorge involved in the Medev-Mendoza shit? What was his angle? And how the hell did he find out about Fang’s connection to Tessa?

Instead of voicing those thoughts and opening himself up for questions he wasn’t ready to answer, he focused on the now. “Because she’s one of ours, under our protection. They couldn’t get to Skathi because she’s protected by the clubhouse security measures. Same thing with Fae, who never goes anywhere without two men from SP in her shadow. They wouldn’t bother coming for the club bitches, so that leaves Tessa.”

“I’ll get with Benson at LVPD, see if there have been any similar crimes in that area. For all we know, it had nothing to do with the Bratva-Cartel shit,” Grimm rumbled, not really believing his own words. They all knew he was blowing smoke, they all just wished he was right. A crime wave was easier to handle than the first shots of war.

“Do that, but we all know there’s a connection. I’d hoped we’d have more time before the bullshit started. We go on lockdown. Skathi and Fae are already settled in here, that means you—” he pointed at Fang—“get to convince Tessa to stick around until all this bullshit is done.”

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