Page 34 of A Crossroads Christmas

“Is everything okay?” She rubbed sleep from her eyes.

“No, I don’t think it is.” I felt urgency claw at my chest and flung open the door, finding a frazzled brother who looked nearly panicked. “What’s happening?”

“Is there any chance Zara is here?”

Fuck. “No, brother. What can I do?”

“Help me knock on doors. I want to check in with every club member who lives on these two streets. She couldn’t have gone far.”

It didn’t seem possible that Zara would have gone far with the cold and icy ground. “You got it. Where have you gone so far?”

“You’re the first stop.”

“Then you stay on this side of the street, and I’ll check the other.”

“Good plan.”

He rushed down my stairs as I turned to Mimi.

“Go. I’ve got the kids. I’ll start calling all the ladies.”

“Love you, Sunshine.” I kissed her cheek and ran outside, knocking on every door I could.

No one had seen little Zara, and it got worse when Jigsaw joined us. His face was twisted with the same fear that threatened to overtake Chaos.

“Miles is missing. We can’t find him.”

Fuck! Where had those two little ones gone? At five and three, they were too young to go anywhere alone. How did they leave home without anyone noticing?

Almost every club member met in the middle of the street as we stood in the cold, using our Reapers and their sharp senses to try to find the kids. The cold wind and icy rainfall weren’t helping, and we didn’t have a clue where they could have gone.

After searching the neighborhood for over two hours, we still hadn’t found them. I felt the desperation from Jigsaw and Chaos. We needed to find Miles and Zara before it got dark.

Chaos paced as his boots crunched snow. Jigsaw remained tense, breathing hard. I couldn’t imagine being in that position. I’d be losing my shit.

A door slammed, and I looked up, seeing Noah rushing toward us. We had stopped close to Papa’s place, and he ticked his chin at his boy. “What is it?”

“I’m not sure, but I think we need to talk to Jakey.”

Mammoth stiffened. “Jakey? Why?”

“He saw you dressed up like Santa and kissing his mom.”

Mammoth blinked. “He’s upset?”

Noah bit his lip. “I think so, yeah. He wants to get on the naughty list.”

Every man froze, as the implication of that sentence could mean a hundred different things. Jakey would never harm another soul, so that wasn’t a thought that anyone jumped to, but we all wondered how this affected Miles and Zara.

Papa gripped Noah’s shoulder. “What else do you know?”

“Well, Jakey has been talking about stealing a reindeer to get on Santa’s naughty list. He thought that would keep Santa from coming back and stealing his mom from Mammoth.”

“Shit,” Mammoth cursed, kicking at a pile of snow. “I gotta talk to him. Now.”

No one said a word as we followed Mammoth home, entering the house in a big group. We stuffed the living room with all the bodies, and the tension went up as soon as Mammoth called for Jakey.

Jakey walked into the living room, jolting when he saw all the bikers staring at him with anxious expressions. Most of us had our Reapers close to the surface and must have appeared wild and deadly to such a young boy.

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