Page 50 of Hunter

“I think you’re in shock,” Anna said, looking down at Adair, who was completely silent as he clung to my shirt with all his might.

Kay sighed, pulled out a pack of tissues, and began dabbing my face. At first, I had no idea what she was doing, but when I saw the drenched tissue, I realized I had been crying.

Then Anna reached forward and pulled me and Adair into a tight hug. That was when Adair began bawling, and so did I.

Chapter Seventeen

Hunter

Ihad promisedto protect her, yet only seven fucking days had passed since then, and already I hadn’t been there for her.

I could barely hold on to my sanity as I raced my bike down the road. I was aware of the other bikes on my tail, but I didn’t wait for them as I sped around the last corner to my house.

I left black tire marks up the driveway as I screeched to halt, barely remembering to flick down my kickstand as I hauled ass off the seat and up the concrete path.

I could see the broken glass of the kitchen window and two other windows over the stairs as I rushed up the steps.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” I kicked down the door and immediately yelled, “MALLORY!”

“I’m here.” Mallory’s soft voice came from my side. She sat at the table, her skin a few shades lighter, eyes red and puffy, and her hands ever so slightly shaking as she held a mug in her hands. Mallory had Adair wrapped tightly in her lap, his small body curled up in silence as he clung to my shirt she was wearing.

I was on my knees by her chair in seconds, cupping her face as I looked into those soft, brown eyes, needing to hear the words from her mouth.

I had gotten the call from Jax, relaying what had happened and assuring me they had gotten to Mallory and Adair before anything had happened, but I still needed to hear it.

“Mallory, are you—”

“I’m fine,” she said softly, her eyes meeting mine. “I’m fine.”

Without taking my eyes off hers, I asked, “Adair—”

“Is a little shaken up, but fine. We both are.”

“Uncle Hummer,” Adair blubbered, blindly reaching for me and near falling off his mother’s lap as he grappled my neck.

“It’s okay, little man,” I whispered, wrapping my arms tightly around his small body. “I’m here now. I got you.”

I was aware of the sounds of multiple bike engines pulling up and shutting off outside the house, followed by the cavalry squeezing through my front door. It only took a few minutes to fill my house wall-to-wall with Black Angels.

Adair didn’t seem to care as he buried his head into my neck, but Mallory went stiff. Although she’d had a brief run-in with some of the members, she had yet to meet everyone and couldn’t seem to stop looking at each one with panic.

I set my hand on her knee and felt the full-force of her emotions as she looked at me. I could see the flight or fight instincts flittering behind those beautiful round eyes. For some reason, she was still terrified of going near the club, and now that the club had come to her, she didn’t know what to do.

I squeezed her knee when her eyes began to jump around again. “You’re safe, Mallory,” I reassured her.

She stared back at me for a long moment before she gave the slightest of nods and relaxed back into her seat. She held her arms out for Adair, and after a bit of prying, I managed to unhook him from my shoulders and hand him back to her. Then I stood and leaned down to press a small kiss to both Mallory and Adair’s foreheads before I headed over to where Wolf waited.

Wolf moved us out of sight from my charges and began to speak. “Talked to Pretty. He told me the rest of the men managed to get away on black, unmarked bikes. Jax managed to catch one. I sent a few of the brothers to take him back to the clubhouse.” He paused to look across at where Anna and Kay were moving over to talk to Mallory and Adair. “You were right to have Jax and Pretty watch the house while you aren’t here. I’d hate to think what would have happened.”

“I don’t even want to think about it,” I growled. “They shot straight through bulletproof glass. Whatever they had, they weren’t normal guns. There are holes in my goddamn walls.”

“Which is why you, your girl, and your kid are moving into the clubhouse. No buts. No nothing. It’s too dangerous to keep her out here. Whoever did this has an objective, and they didn’t fulfill it. They’ll be back.”

“What about the one you caught? Think you can get him to talk?”

“Whenhe talks, we’ll learn what they want. Then we’ll go from there.”

I nodded, knowing too well it wasn’t a question ofifthey got him to talk. They would. I was club; therefore, Mallory was club, too. They had protected her like I had promised they would.

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