The second the passenger door was slammed shut, I put my foot on the gas and drove away, not giving them a secondglance.
* * *
It was onlyanother two minutes or so of a peaceful drive before I came up to the compound gates and spotted all the brothers gathered out front. Aaron, or as the brotherhood had christened him, Pipe, stood guard by the gate, but instead of watching me drive up, he had a super focus on the crowd ofbrothers.
“Pipe,” I called out to him. He didn’t respond at first, but the second he recognized my voice, he spun like his heels were on fire, and his eyes bugged out when they landed on me. And not in agoodway.
“Fuck, Anna,” were the first words out of his mouth, and I immediately knew that whatever was going onwasn’tgood.
He moved to open the gate, and I saw Wolf’s head come up from the crowd the second my car came to a stop, and two familiarly bright green eyes were staring down at me before I could evengetout.
“What’s going on?” I asked as Hunter’s large, freshly-tanned hand came around my bicep. “Wait. Aren’t you supposed to be on yourhoneymoon?”
He began to lead me toward the clubhouse, his green eyes flickering back down to mine. “I got back ten minutes ago. Got a message from Lamb to get here as soon as I could.” He frowned down at me. “I thought you were the one who told him Iwasback?”
“Lamb’s got his own connections that are a hell of a lot faster than mine,” I retorted, feeling that little spike of annoyance I always got when Lamb beat me to information. I was connected, sure, but Lamb was on another level, and despite how much I loved the sly bastard, he had also become somewhat of a rival of mine. “But that’s not the point.” I returned to the topic. “What the fuck is going on over there?” I pointed to thecrowd.
As we passed, I managed to see through a gap in the crowd and spotted a man sitting on a bike in the center, knowing he wasn’t one of ours. He wore his leathers, but he was facing me, so I couldn’t see the colors on the back. All I could make out was a patch on his front, but it was too far for me to read it. Through the gaps in his coverings, I could see dark skin and hair. He was leaned back, comfortable as he looked up the great wall that was Wolf, who seemed to dwarf the man on the bike, despite seeming tallhimself.
As if sensing my gaze, his eyes cut straight through the crowd and met mine. Even from the distance, I could see the bright, molten gold against his dark skin, the sun’s light reflecting off them in a way that made them seem as if they were almostglowing.
“Charon?” I breathed. My whole body jerked to a stop, breaking Hunter’s grasp on my arm. A deep tremor raced down my spine at the sight of him. This man was not welcome. Not in my world. Not on my compound. And certainly not nearmyboys.
Charon was president of the Grim Reapers. The president of the club that just unofficially took over our neighboring club, the Hell’s Runners. They were like the big boss of the western states, including Oregon, and were shrouded in legend and mystery. And despite Charon being the face of the club, there was even less known about him than any of the other members—the ones we knew existed,anyway.
Charon and his club had also been participants in a plot by the Hell’s Runners that had nearly killed Mallory, one of the few women I actually liked and Hunter’s wife. Not to mention, she had a three-year-old son who almost became an orphan becauseofit.
He came into our MC family and stirred shit that almost killed a woman, destroyed a man, and orphaned a child. There were few times in my life when I lost my temper. And there was probably only one other person on this earth who could stop my rampages. But that person wasn’t here right now, and the one thing I couldn’t stand was someone hurting those Ihelddear.
Never again would anyone get away with hurting mylovedones.
Neveragain.
Hunter must have seen something on my face, because his eyes darted between me and the gathering group and his foot took a long step forward. I moved one slow step back, my gaze never moving away fromthatman.
“Don’t you dare...,” Hunter growled, but it wastoolate.
My feet were moving before I realized it, and I barely remembered crossing the compound’s wide car lot. I didn’t run, but I walked fast enough that the clicking of my boots matched my thrumming heartbeat. It was like my mind tunneled and all I could see was the side of his face, my blood boiling and my mind growing numb as I flew across thecarlot.
Time seemed to speed up when I was barging through the group and coming out the other side in seconds. “Get the fuck off this compound!” Ihissed.
Charon’s eyes widened in surprise. “Excuseme?”
“I said, get the fuck—” I didn’t get any more words out as arms came around my waist and hauled me up before I could even comprehend what was happening. The second I realized it, however, I began struggling and clawing at the hands around my waist, only causing the grip to tightenfurther.
“Stop fighting me,” Wolf growled, and I opened my mouth to argue before his hand clamped over it to stop me. “Fucking stop,” he snapped in my ear. The command vibrated across my skin and down my nerves with a harshness I’d never heard before. It made me still in his grasp without hesitation, shocking me tomycore.
Wolf dragged me away from where Charon was kicking down his bike stand and rising from the seat. Hunter, having caught up, and Ripper stood in front of him, their arms across their chest, eyes narrowed. Lamb stood back, almost unnoticed in the crowd of brothers stepping outside. His eyes seemed casual as they looked Charon up and down without himnoticing.
“Anna, get the fuck inside,” Wolf growled, his face strained from trying to not snarl at me. I could feel the tension rolling off him in waves, telling me not to argue with him, but I couldn’tabide.
“No,” I hissed back. “Tell me what the fuck that man isdoinghere.”
“It doesn’t concern you. Now, go back inside with all the otherwomen.”
I felt my blood boil at the instant dismissal. “I’m not the other women, Wolf. I’m not anybody’s old lady, and I’m not some club whore. You can’t tell me what to do, because you don’townme.”
“I’m practically paying diamonds for you, Anna. That means I fucking own your ass.” Wolf’s rough hand came around my arm. “Getinside.”