Page 85 of Hunter

“This is …”

Ground vibrations interrupted my thoughts as every motorcycle across the lot roared to life. I heard shouts and calls. And then I looked at my phone.

Five missed calls. All from the same person.

Anna.

* * *

Iscreechedto a stop outside the park, almost forgetting to kick down my peg as I staggered from my bike, near scrambling on my feet as I came to Wolf’s side. He stood by the slide, a red pool of blood at his feet.

“Adair?” were the first words out of my mouth.

Wolf looked over his shoulder as I heard Jax call my name.

I whirled around and found Jax holding Adair in his arms. My eyes went everywhere, trying to look past the red for injuries, but all I could see was the blood. He was covered in blood.

“He’s fine,” Jax assured me, watching the color leak from my face. “It’s Mint’s blood, not his. He’s fine, brother.”

“Adair,” I whispered as I stepped closer.

Adair snapped his head around at the sound of my voice, his face a mask of shock, silent tears rolling down his cheeks, eyes circled by white.

It was devastating.

The pain, helplessness, and grief I felt as I grabbed him from Jax’s arms and pulled him tight to my chest were unbearable. He was rigid, but I held tighter, unable to stop my own body from shaking.

He could have died.

He could have been killed.

I could have lost him.

The same thoughts repeated in my mind until I heard the softest sound.

“Uncle … Hummer,” Adair whispered as if he was slowly realizing I was there.

“Yeah, buddy, it’s me. I’m here. I got you,” I said into his curls. “Fuck, I should never have let you go.”

And just like that, the dam broke. Roars of pain and fear echoed through the little boy’s cries. The boy I was supposed to protect.

The guilt was devastating.

I held on to Adair, in our own world, until I felt a hand on my shoulder.

Wolf stood there, a mighty icy force with a face of stone when he said, “Church. Now.”

Wolf’s face told me he didn’t give two shits about our issues. This, today, had superseded it all. Club came first. The guilt could wait until later.

I thought back to that envelope.

It was time to end all of this. Once and for all.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Mallory

The chains wereindustrial steel and would probably take twice my strength to break. If I had a crowbar and could get it at the right angle, I could maybe loosen a link and make a run for it. However, I didn’t have a crowbar, and my bound hands could never do it. There went escape plan thirty-eight.

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