Page 30 of Raiden

“Raiden.”

A small tingle of relief shivers up my spine. “Prez.”

“I know you’re at your house. Saw the alert when you got back. I need you here, as soon as you can. Widow too. I’m riding out. We can’t wait for you, but if you could hold things down at the clubhouse…” Panic isn’t something Gray gives in to easily, but I don’t like the undercurrent in his voice.

Something is wrong. Badly wrong.Again.

Fear sinks its talons into my chest and rips out flesh like a bird of prey landing on me from above. “What’s happening?”

“The warehouses are on fire.”

“Warehouses?” With an s.

“All of them.”

“In broad fucking daylight?” There’s no moderating my voice. What kind of shit is this?

“Yes. Most of us are going out to deal with it. They’ll be firefighters, cops, EMTs on the scene. Doubtful that it’s a diversion and not a strike, but I need someone at the clubhouse I can trust. We’re going into lockdown, as well as Lark and Penny, all the other old ladies and kids are heading there now. I need you.”

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

I hang up and slam my way back to the bedroom. The door is half closed. I throw my fist against it, crashing it into the wall so hard the spring stop can’t cushion the blow and the handle sinks into the drywall.

Widow is slipping my t-shirt over her delicious breasts and curvy body. She’s wearing my sweats. The clothing is huge on her. She ignores my furious intrusion and calmly twists the front of the t-shirt into a knot.

“Our warehouses are on fire! Every single one. Fire is Zale’s MO.” I slam a finger at her without stepping foot into the room. “You kept me distracted here, bewitching and seducing me.”

Her eyes were wide with concern and faux surprise, but now they narrow and grow dark. She picks up her jeans and underwear, shaking her head at me. There’s anger in the stiffness of her spine, but a certain sadness too that clings to herlike old perfume. “Let’s focus on getting over to the clubhouse instead of hashing this out.”

She’s right, but I’m on fire as well, my rage caustic, bitter acid choking my airway. She’s looking at me with my immediate accusatory, hard expression and it makes me feel like a child. “You aren’t even going to deny it?”

“You said the first stupid thing that came to your mind. You didn’t even stop to think about it. You want to accuse Zale of setting those fires?” She stalks up to me, her chin tilted up high and stubborn, wet clothes in her arms. “Go ahead. But I didn’t know anything about it, and I doubt anyone else here did either. Question us if you have to, but don’t assume that out of a club with well over two hundred members, that the five you’ve been watching and keeping under high scrutiny are the culprits. Accuse me of being a traitor if it makes you feel better, but don’teveraccuse me of using sex to get something I want.” She shoulders past me, knocking me hard as she dodges around my body and stamps angrily down the hall.

I growl something incoherent, snatch up my cut, and ram my feet into my boots without socks. I know she’s right. She’s not even trying to mask the hurt. I have a past, but so does she. I can’t even imagine the harassment she would have received, looking the way she does, in a club like the Berserkers.

It makes me want to find every prick who ever gave her a hard time or thought he could take advantage, and break his hands clean off his body. Gray and I kept Lark safe from that shit while she was growing up. No man dared to even think about looking at her.

“Ella,” I call after her as she throws open the door and storms outside.

“No!” She turns around, feral with frustration. “That was for here. We’re not here anymore, are we?”

I gather up my wallet, keys, and phone from the kitchen. I have to lock up the door and by the time I get to the backyard, I’m sure that Widow will be long gone, but she’s there, leaning with her arms crossed against her bike.

Shewaited.

She mounts it, kicking it to life as soon as she sees me. “Let’s go,” she says stiffly over the roar of her bike. “There’s a fuck ton of damage control that’s going to need to be done. You don’t have to prove yourself above suspicion, but I do. We’re wasting time here.”

There isn’t anything I can say right now. She doesn’t wait for a response anyway, wheeling her bike around and gunning it down the alley, her inherent sense of direction taking her away from me as far and as fast as she can get. She won’t be away for long. We have the same destination.

The metaphorical blow hits hard all the same.

Chapter 10

Ella

At the clubhouse, the atmosphere is more than just high alert, worry, and anxiety. There’s a palpable bitter hatred blackening the air. I find the women who had come back to Hart after the threat of my father was somewhat neutralized, gathered in a circle in the lounge. Their children are clustered closely around them.

Wizard, needed back here for is IT genius and security monitoring, is leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. He’s tall and lanky, with shorter auburn hair that looks almost coppery in some lights, and huge glasses. Clean shaven, he has that typical nerdy look that his name and job implies, but it’s probably all a cover. He might be tall and thin, but he’s wiry. He’s likely every bit as dangerous with his hands as he is with his mind.

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