Page 41 of No Mercy

His gaze didn’t leave mine. “None of them aremywoman,” he growled, pulling me behind him to the table where everyone else had already sat down.

His woman?Under the circumstances I thought it best not to resist him, even though he was treating me like a wayward child. I sensed that something more was going on than just the issue with what I was wearing. So I pressed my lips and let him drag me back to the table.

My gaze traveled over the group crammed into our booth. It was easy to tell who was with whom. With the addition of the men, there was little room left for me and Rock. He sank down onto the edge of the seat and pulled me down onto his lap. I felt heat crawl up my neck as his move was met with knowing smirks from his observant brothers.

“Talk,” Hawk ordered firmly, his expression serious now.

“Hawk−”

At the sound of his wife’s soft voice he switched his gaze to Audra. “Babe, this is serious.” He hesitated, pressing his lips together, as if he were considering saying more. We all knew that he would never discuss club business, so it surprised us all when he finally added, “Couple brothers ran into trouble last night.” That’s all he said. Just enough to get his meaning across to Audra that this was about the club.

“Ran into trouble? More like trouble ranoverthem.”

Hawk gave Jumper a sharp look that revealed he didn’t appreciate his remark. I wondered what Hawkwasn’ttelling us. As I took in each man’s expression it was obvious that something worse had happened. They couldn’t disguise the deep sorrow in their eyes, or the tightness around their mouths.

“But we all saw them,” Audra admitted, seeming to want to keep the heat off of me. I was thankful for that. Her husband was scary. They were sitting right over there.” She indicated the table that was now filled with other people. “Watching us.”

I could tell that Hawk didn’t like the thought of us being watched. Rock’s body became rigid against me, revealing that he didn’t like it either. His arm snaked around my waist and he pulled me further against him, making me feel warm and protected, along with a bunch of other things that were inappropriate in the moment. The heat against my bottom was arousing.

“Who interacted with them?” he asked gently. It was amazing how different Hawk was with Audra. How his voice and expression softened considerably when he was addressing her. I wondered if that was because she was pregnant or if her presence in general had that effect on him. It was amazing to watch.

“Allie.” He nodded, gave her a brief smile before swinging his attention to me. “Did he talk to you?”

I could tell he was purposely keeping his tone even and controlled. “A little. We ah, didn’t interact for very long,” I said, using his word.

“Tell us what he said, babe,” Rock murmured behind me, the warmth of his tone sending a shiver down my spine.

I took a minute to think about it. “He asked me who I belonged to, and he seemed to know that we were with the club.”

Hawk scowled, his eyebrows almost coming together. “He say ‘Phantom Riders?’”

I nodded, getting an even bigger frown from him, and now his brothers were frowning, too. “Tell us exactly what he said.”

I sucked in a deep breath to calm my nerves, because I instinctively knew that Rock was going to be furious once he heard my answer. Should I keep out the part when the man had said he’d hoped that my man could protect me? It had sounded like a threat to me at the time, and the way he’d looked me over had left me feeling slightly violated.

“Babe?” Rock coaxed behind me.

“He mentioned the Blue Knights and said Phantom Riders were next on their list. And that you’d better watch your backs.”

“Sonofabitch!” Jumper snarled in a tone that didn’t carry far from the table.

“Would any of you gentlemen like a drink?” No one had noticed the waitress stepping up to the table until she was there. All eyes flew to her, and it was clear to see that her interest was solely on the men. She ignored the women and zeroed right in on every male there, signaling them out with a flirtatious promise in her smoky eyes.

“Five beers!” Hawk snapped, not even giving her a second glance. If anything, he was pissed by her interruption. His gaze was still pinned on me, and I knew that he wanted to question me further. Audra and I exchanged amused looks. The waitress took the hint and scurried away for the beers. “Anything else?” he asked roughly.

“He, ah, said he hoped my man could protect me.” Rock’s physical reaction told me how he felt about that comment. The hard muscles against my body became harder, like stone, and the arm around my waist flexed.

“That’s a fucking threat,” he snarled behind me. His brothers all agreed by nodding their heads. Audra turned pale, and the other ladies didn’t look much better. They obviously agreed with his assessment.

“What did he look like?” This came from Snake.

“He didn’t look like a biker, except he was wearing biker boots. He had a scar over his eye that cut a clean path right through his eyebrow. He was about six feet tall, messy, dirty blonde hair, and brown eyes.”

“For someone you weren’t dancing with you took a damned good look.”

I smiled inwardly at the jealousy I detected in Rock’s low grumble. “Once he said ‘Phantom Riders’ I sensed it might be important to get a good description of him.”

“Smart girl,” Snake said, grinning.

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