Page 57 of Hunter

“No. They were after something else.”

I didn’t need to hear his next words. From his tone and the way Wolf looked at me, I knew. I knew, and I felt my stomach churn.

“Mallory,” I sighed out. “They were trying to grab Mallory.”

“Shit,” Ripper snapped. “That true, Prez?”

Wolf nodded.

“Why in the hell would they be after her?” Polo, another old-timer and good friend of mine, asked. “She ain’t got nothing to do with this.”

“That’s not strictly true,” Wolf said, still looking at me.

Pretty, Jax, and Lamb all went quiet as I turned to look at the rest of my brothers.

“No, it ain’t,” I said. It was time to rid myself of this stupid lie. “Adair isn’t my son.”

“What the hell?” Polo growled. “Did the girl lie to ya?”

“No. I made a deal with her. If she came back to Fellpeak, I’d pretend the boy was mine.”

“Why in the hell would you do that?”

“Because that boy is dear to him. Dear enough that he’s ready to lie to all of us,” Ripper announced, his wise eyes hitting mine and clarity shining through. “Whose kid is he, Hunter?”

There was a pregnant pause while I looked at every one of my brothers. I had been in this club almost twenty years. Both me and my brother had grown up calling this old clubhouse and grumpy group of bikers home. This should never have been my news to bear alone. I should never have lied.

I looked at my brothers and, with a steel voice, I came clean.

“Adair is Noble’s kid.”

Some gasps echoed around the room. Faces turned grim and others shocked. Some didn’t look surprised, probably having guessed already. Wolf, Jax, Pretty, and Lamb sat in rigid silence as they watched their brothers’ reactions.

After a few minutes, someone said, “So, who is this girl, really?”

“She was the girl who had a one-night stand with my brother a few weeks before he died. She got pregnant, but when she told Noble, he didn’t take it well. It was that day he got into the accident. She felt guilty for it and ran, and has been running for the last three and a half years. I tracked her down, brought her and my nephew home on the condition I pretend he was mine. Otherwise, she’d run again. That’s the story.”

“Or it was until now,” Wolf claimed. “The Hell’s Runners are chasing her, and I have a feeling she knows more than she’s letting on. I let you dance around it until now, Hunter, because we couldn’t have her running off, but that’s changed. Anna and Kay were in that house when they attacked. They could’ve been killed in the crossfire. If this is war, I don’t wanna go into it blind.”

“Either way, she was brought into this mess by one of us,” I said. “I’ll get what we need from her, but she’ll be protected here. It doesn’t matter what opinion you have of her and about what she or I did; she is club now, and we can’t let Hell’s Runners get to her or Adair.”

“Then it’s final,” Wolf said. “You’ve got two days to get her to talk. If not, I’ll be the one talking to her.”

With leaving no more room for argument, Wolf slammed down the gavel and Church was over.

* * *

Ifoundmyself unsure as I sat down at the bar. Mallory was baking in the kitchen with Adair and Kay. Kay had suggested it, thinking it would help with the nerves. I could see the kitchen, could hear Mallory’s laughter, yet I had sat down at the bar instead of going in.

Before, I wouldn’t have hesitated. I would have gone in there and stolen a cookie. Hell, maybe even a kiss. I still wanted to, imagining Mallory covered with icing again, or her ass wiggling in the air as she bent over to put a tray in the oven.

A beer was placed on the bar in front of me, dragging me out of my fantasies. I looked up, adjusting my jeans as I saw Anna’s face. Her baby blue eyes were quiet, unreadable as she moved fluidly around the bar. I wasn’t sure if I had ever seen her behind it before, but she moved with an ease I knew came from experience.

She took a crystal glass from a shelf, placed it on a napkin, and filled it with our strongest whiskey. Then she pushed it toward me next to the chilled beer.

“Pick your poison.” She gestured to the two glasses.

I went to reach for the whiskey, the hard liquor tempting, but instead went back for my beer. I lifted it to my lips and took a long mouthful of the bitter, cold liquid.

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