Page 16 of Running Alone

I hit answer and can barely hear him, they must be up in the air.

“Ruby, we should be to you in less than thirty to forty-five minutes per Nova. One of my boys got shot when we were running to the helicopter, so can you maybe get someone there to help us? Oh, Nova said to tell Tank that he’s now pissed too. They took shots at him and believe me; it took everything in us to get him in the chopper. Ruby, he’s one crazy mother. Anyway, damn, I’m so sorry for all this shit. We need to talk as soon as I land. See ya soon, gotta go.”

After he hangs up, once again I see Glory back on her phone next to Tink. Noodles is bringing our prez some hot tea, which is strange since she’s a huge coffee drinker. Something must show on my face because she looks at me then puts her finger to her lips. What the hell? As I’m trying to figure out what that means, the swinging door flies open to our enforcer Shadow stomping in.

“Goddamn, can’t you prospects ever find a man who doesn’t have trouble attached to his ass, for Christ’s sake? What the hell, Kitty? Whatcha man got into, and how the fuck does he know Nova? Don’t you dare say it’s a small world, little sister. Well, cat got your tongue or what?”

At the same time Panther puts his hands on her shoulders, I hear Tink say softly, “Zoey, give her a minute.”

“Shadow, I’m like you, don’t have no idea what’s going on. As soon as I knew trouble was coming, I went straight to Tink. Now for anything else, guess we just have to be patient. I mean, you know what that word means, right?”

Instantly, my hands fly to my mouth as the kitchen goes eerily quiet. I can feel all eyes on Shadow and me. When I look up into her eyes, I can’t read her for shit. Great, I’ll be dead by the time Lachi gets here, and I’ll never hear what he wanted to tell me. Then I watch Shadow’s eyes start to twinkle, right when she reaches out and grabs me, pulling me close. Every single person takes in a gasp because she is not one for any touching, except when she’s working in her wet room. I mean, recently I’ve seen her and Panther holding hands or him putting an arm around her. Though she did give Heartbreaker a hug and consoled Tink. Anyway, I bring my thoughts to the situation at hand.

She leans down to me and whispers for my ears only to start, “Well, well, our little kitty is showing her claws. I thought this boy didn’t mean anything to you. If that’s the truth, why are you so frazzled, little Kitty? Or maybe you weren’t telling the truth, which is it? And believe me, sister, I do know the meaning of patience, question is, do you?”

Then she starts to laugh, though her laughter is scary and a bit demented. Tink walks over to her, giving her a shove, which does nothing to our enforcer because our prez is tiny. Everyone lets out a chuckle and I step back, so Shadow’s hands fall off my shoulders. She grins at Tink then shrugs her shoulders.

Peanut swings the door open, her eyes wide.

“We got incoming, coming into the southern pasture. I heard bikes but not sure if it’s the Intruders. What do you want us to do, Prez?”

Tink, Shadow, and Glory exchange a look before Shadow, Panther, and Avalanche push past Peanut, heading toward the front door. Tink just shakes her head.

“Okay, let’s split into three groups. One will go with us to the location, one will hold down the fort here at the ranch, and the last bunch will go grab any survivors from the bunkhouse andDr. Cora with her mom. Take everyone to the conference center and put them in the two back panic rooms. Everyone, keep your phones on.”

With that we all separate, going to our groups and moving ass. I’m with Tink, thank God, so I can get to Malachi as soon as they land. I’m worried on what he wants to tell me but am going to try to keep my anxiety down, if possible. This isn’t on me at all, though our club could use a break with all the frigging drama. Just got through with Wildcat’s and now looks like I’m adding to it.

Instead of jumping on our bikes, we take a few trucks and one of the club’s vans. Better coverage if this shit hits the fan. No one is saying a word in the pickup since I’m driving with Noodles, Tink, Glory, and Duchess. We are all just watching the landscape fly by as Noodles takes the curvy driveway like an Indy 500 driver. On the last curve when he straightens up, we can see a row of bikes which are definitely the Intruders. All their bikes standing armed to the max. Then I hear the faint sound of the helicopter making its way toward us. Everyone is waiting nervously, that’s when I notice the Intruder’s bikes are back-to-back, one side facing the field and the other eyes on the driveway. Leave it to Tank to think about watching their backs too.

All eyes are on the huge military helicopter as it slowly approaches the field. Looking closely, I can see someone hanging out of the door, standing on the landing rail. When I squint, at first I think it’s Enforcer, but when I look closer it hits me this dude is way bigger than the Intruder. Must be one of Nova’s men. In a matter of seconds, the copter which was up in the air and right in front of my eyes is now landing in the field. The man on the rail lifts up a huge gun onto his shoulder and motions for those inside to get off. I see another huge guy jump off, turning around as I see one of Malachi’s friends stumble off.Both men reach up as I see….Oh my God, Malachi covered in blood, trying to help another man off, no doubt the one who was shot. Another one of Malachi’s friends is behind the injured guy, guiding him off the chopper. When he collapses into the man’s arms, he turns and runs with the injured man over his shoulder like he doesn’t weigh a thing. Malachi is looking around and when he sees the crowd of us, he screams something that has the man redirect and head straight for us. The rest of the men follow suit as the guy with the gun brings up the back. The helicopter, when all are cleared, immediately takes off but stays low as added protection. That’s when I see the missiles on the lower side beneath the doors.

Jesus Christ, what is Malachi involved with and what is he bringing to my club, and worse, to our small town of Timber-Ghost? Guess I have to wait and give him a chance to explain himself.

THIRTEEN

‘LACHI’

MALACHI

Well, damn, I’m thinking Nova was right and these women are more badass than I could have ever thought. The sheer number of people waiting on us is shocking. And the men between the row of bikes look like they could kill us and never blink an eye, they are so scary looking.

Hearing a moan, I try to reach Vito but Nova is running like a goddamn gazelle, and I can’t catch up. I know why because even though Vito was shot in the upper shoulder blade, who knows if it hit anything of importance. Mayhem did a half-ass job of bandaging Vito’s injury and then jammed a syringe with what he told us was morphine into Vito’s thigh. I have no idea what Jude’s got us all involved in, but fuck, I’d probably would have done the exact shit if it was my dad or family. I’m trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, which is usually my downfall.

Squinting my eyes, I can barely make out the bunch of women off to the side, standing beside a large van. As I scan the faces, looking for Ruby, my eyes stop on the tatted face of Shadow, where it seems her eyes are staring directly at me. Holy shit, forgot how intimidating that whole skull face tattoo was. Goddamn, Jude is going to shit himself for sure. My eyes slowly pass hers as I continue looking for Ruby, who pops into my viewabout four down from Shadow. She’s scanning the bunch of us back and forth until we’re closer and she can finally make me out. I see the beginning of a smile right before she scrunches up her face and glares my way. Oh great, not the greeting I was going for, but shit, what can I expect with how we are arriving with a threat behind us. That thought reminds me to check on my parents and make sure they were able to get Jude’s family to our family estate. Of course, I have top-of-the-art security and Nova was calling in a favor to get some ex-military to guard my family estate. We are trying to cover everything until we know what we’re dealing with.

When I’m close enough, I can see the worry and despair on Ruby’s face and, instantly, it feels like someone kicked me in the gut. I didn’t want to bring her grief, just the opposite. Hopefully when I explain the situation and am honest with her, she’ll understand. That’s all I can ask for.

We are on our way to, I guess, the Devil’s Handmaidens’ ranch and the van we are in is surrounded by some of the scariest bikers I’ve ever seen. Ruby is sitting next to me, Jude is in the front passenger seat while Freddy is in the back with Vito and someone named Dr. Malcolm. He’s working on the gunshot wound and just told the driver, Wildcat, to take them to the medical cabin, whatever that means. All Ruby has said to me is hello and nothing else. Fuck, is this done before we even start? I reach over and grab her hand. It shocks her for a minute then she grasps on to my fingers tightly. In front of us are two pickups and behind us is a huge pickup with two men with long hair, both have it in braids. In the back seat looks to be a wolf, yeah, a fuckin’ wolf, who watched the dark-haired man, never takingthose amber/golden eyes off of him. I’m not sure who all these people are, though I do recognize some from Texas but can’t remember all of their names.

My phone vibrates so I reach for it, seeing my dad’s face on my screen. Shit.

“Dad, hi. You okay? What? Oh, okay, everyone safe? Did you get Jude’s dad too? I’ll tell him, is Mom with them? Make sure to call Levi and Nobel, tell them to get to the home front as soon as they can. Explain what’s going on with Jude’s dad too. Thanks, Dad, appreciate it so much, and I’m so sorry.”

When I disconnect it hits me, everyone in the van was listening and Ruby is staring at me with kind of a wonder look on her face.

“Ruby, what’s that look for?”

“I’m surprised, didn’t think you’d be like this.”

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