Page 78 of Wolf

He put his thumb and finger out, making the universal phone sign and putting it up by his ear then shaking it at me with a silent raised brow. I shook my head. My mobile still sat on my purse on the chair in my room, where I had put my clothes before I got my shower, and then it had been the last thing on my mind upuntilnow.

He bared his teeth in annoyance, letting me know he had no phoneeither.

He nodded when the coast was clear, and after another quick check, I did the same. Jax gestured me with his thumb across the hallway where Hunter’s room was. Adair had started kindergarten recently, since Mallory insisted on Adair interacting with other kids his own age, but that had made Mallory come hang out at the club in the mornings, so I knew for a fact she was here. Whether or not she was in her room, which she usually wasn’t unless Hunter was here, too, was anybody’sguess.

Jax dropped his shoulders low and quietened his feet as he moved from the doorway and across the hall, staying vigilant on his side of the hallway as I kept an eye on mine. Once he made it to the other side, he waited for my all-clear before he quietly opened the door to Hunter’s room. Jax dipped into the doorway, giving himself good cover before gesturing meacross.

I didn’t linger in the doorway like Jax did, however. I made my way straight into their bedroom, my eyes going to the double and single bed tucked into the corner as I searched every inch oftheroom.

Walking into the bathroom, the sight of the toilet made me want to go for a second round of hurling, and I felt myself gag before I managed to turn away when I found the roomempty.

I headed back out to Jax, shaking my head as he flashed his teeth again, both of us knowing his best friend’s wife wasdownstairs.

Just as the thought crossed my mind, we heard another round of gunfire go off and screams and what sounded like a door being kicked in. Jax bolted out the doorframe, and I managed to lunge for him, just in time to catch him by the belt loops and drag his ass back into the doorway, biting my lip before I hurled on him in punishment. He turned to me, his eyes flashing with impatience and rage, but I shook my head at him, knowing we couldn’t rush in without knowing thesituation.

Jax took a breath and gave me a stiff nod before I let him go. But when I went to go first, thinking the cooler-headed of the two of us should lead, that’s where Jax put his foot down. He pushed me behind him before taking the lead out of the doorway and intothehall.

We followed it until we came to the stairs, and thankfully, we had corners and crevices in many of the walls, providing good cover as we made our way down the steps, one by one, pressed into the wall until I saw a flash ofredhair.

Mallory sat on her knees, her hands over her head in the center of the clubroom floor. I couldn’t see her face, but her shaking shoulders were enough to let me know what was going on. I also saw Pretty and Mint sitting in front of her, their bodies providing a barrier between them and what I guessed was the armed enemy. After taking another step down, I managed to peer over Jax’s tall shoulder and spotted Baby, Sweets, and Ember huddled on Pretty’sotherside.

I didn’t see Kay, and I knew Bell was at school. Everybody else was out, as mentioned in the phone call Wolf received earlier. The boys had wanted to call the kids and the women back to the clubhouse, but Wolf had forbidden it after Lamb warned that tipping them off might be a bad idea since they must have had men on allofthem.

I held my breath against my body’s wishes as Jax wound his hand out behind him to keep tabs on where I was. His hand reached to my arm, and as he took a risky step down to the edge of our cover, he flattened his palm, stopping me fromfollowinghim.

I saw Mint’s body stiffen from Jax’s movement, and Jax stepped back. Out of the corner of his eye, though it was barely visible from his firm posture, Mint hadnoticedus.

I breathed a sigh of relief, the wooden plank on the stair creaking ever so softly underneath myweight.

Until I realized that it wasn’t my step thatcreaked.

I only had enough time to turn around before I saw the barrel ofthegun.

Bang.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Wolf

Ihad a badfeeling.

But a bad feeling was the least of my problems as we pulled up to the appointed place for the exchange, tasting the bitter irony of meeting up at the bullet-ridden warehouse where we had only been a few monthsearlier.

“Bastard’s got a sense of humor,” Hunter growled, coming up at his side. His dazzlingly green eyes were dark as he turned from the warehouse to look at me, shaking his head. “This feelswrong.”

“Dazhe v doline ten' smerti dva I dva ne delavit' shest',” I said, the words heavy on mytongue.

“What the fuck does that mean?”Ripper grumbled, coming up on my other side. The light glinted off the scar on the right of his cheek, and he looked upon the warehouse with irritated brown eyes, sympathetic, but not empathetic compared to the rest of us. When the shit fest between us, the Hell’s Runners, and Grim Reapers had gone down here, he had been left at the club to guard it just like Jax, Pretty, and Mint had. The ones left behind had seemed to be the most resilient about going through with this as well, and I didn’t want them to hesitate when it came downtoit.

“Even in the valley of the shadow of death, two and two does not make six,’” Ash roughly translated, her small brunette head coming up next to Ripper. “LeoTolstoy.”

“There ain’t much right in our world from the beginning,” I explained, looking to Hunter, who frowned at Ash’stranslation.

Her sunglasses were replaced with one of Bell’s old pairs, since hers had shattered upon the impact of Anna's fist. However, although they hid her eyes, they did little to hide the purple bruising around the front of her face from where Anna had broken her nose quitebrutally.

Hunter nodded at my words, and I found myself looking up at the warehouse, thinking about what I was about to go through with. Hunter wasn’t the only one who couldn’t settle on thisdecision.

If you go through with that deal,we’redone.

---