Page 5 of Shadow

This man had more protection on him than probably the fucking United States president. He was practically untouchable.

He had no idea I’d start a war over him. I’d turn my back on my family, the Bratva, for him. He owned me just as much as I owned him, which was wholly.

“I fucking hate you,” Malik snarled at me.

I smirked, then turned on my heel, continuing my walk to the clubhouse. “Chapel, Malik.”

A deep growl sounded from his chest that had my entire body tingling with the need to put him on his knees again, but I continued walking.

In due time, I’d have him exactly where I wanted him. But first, I had to handle this bullshit so I could get Malik away from this clubhouse for a little while.

3

Malik

Hyram looked up from the manila folder laid out open in front of him when Rurik and I stepped into the chapel. His lips flattened into a thin line, and he arched a single eyebrow at me, probably wondering what the fuck had taken me so long to get my ass in there, but I ignored him. Because that was what I always did. I respected Hyram, don’t get me wrong, but authority figures made my skin crawl.

Using my foot, I pulled my chair out from beneath the table, then dropped down onto the plush leather and crossed my arms over my chest. Nolan—club name Hutch—sighed and shook his head, but he didn’t say anything either. He was the vice president of the club, and like Hyram, I respected him. But again—the whole authority figures issue.

These guys had taken me in without batting an eye. Sure, their hands had been forced, but they’d brought me into the fold regardless. They could’ve treated me with nothing but animosity and hostility, but they hadn’t. They’d done their best to makeme feel at home and show me that I had a brotherhood here, no matter what circumstances had brought me to their doorstep or how much we all clashed heads.

With my fiery temper, we clashed headsa lot. I knew most of it was my fault. I was too defensive, too quick to run my mouth, and too quick to throw my weight around. But they gave back just as good as I gave, and I knew with certainty that once it was all over and we were bloodied and maybe a bit broken, we were all good. We helped each other up, dusted each other off, and went back to normal.

I was pretty sure Shaw sometimes felt like he’d done nothing more than throw a bunch of animals together and hoped they made a decent club. We were fucking barbarians.

“So…” Malachi drawled as he rocked back and forth in his chair, “why are we here?”

Malachi was the road captain. He and Nolan had served in the military together and knew Shaw and Konrad, the VP of the mother charter, from their time in the service. I swore Malachi had a few screws loose, but he was a fun guy to be around. The shit that came out of his mouth sometimes made even my hard exterior crack. And I didn’t even think the guy was trying to be funny. I was pretty sure most of the time, he was being serious.

“We have a potential problem on the horizon,” Hyram announced. He pushed the manila folder toward the center of the table. Chet leaned forward to grab it, and he frowned as he began flipping through it. William leaned in to look, too, and though his expression never changed, his muscles did tense, giving away how serious this could be.

Fucking great. Whatever was in that folder, it was the last fucking thing we needed.

“Looks like rival club bullshit,” Chet said as Malachi took the folder to look through it. He looked at Hyram. “The fuck does this mean for us?”

“They’re claiming a territory dispute,” Rurik answered, drawing all of our eyes to him. “Intel we’ve gathered leads me to believe that while this may not be a problem just yet, it will become one. They’re getting angrier and angrier that another club has moved into the area.”

“The area we operate in was unclaimed,” William said, sitting back in his chair again. He drummed his fingers on the table. “Shaw and Konrad made sure of that, and then Anatoly double-checked.”

Anatoly was the Russian Pakhan, and his daughter was married to Shaw. Nothing happened in or around either of the Ghost Born MC charters without him knowing about it.

And suddenly, I understood why Rurik was here.

“You’re here to negotiate with them,” I said, looking at Rurik. Silence fell on the room, and everyone glanced between me and Rurik, but I didn’t remove my eyes from him.

Rurik nodded once, his eyes not leaving mine. “I am. We want to avoid a war. And if this is not handled carefully enough, a warwillhappen. Anatoly has sent me here to keep peace and to keepyouon a leash.”

My jaw clenched so tightly, my molars ground together. Leaning forward, I braced my elbows on the table. “Fucking excuse me?”I snarled. “Thefuckdid you just say? I’m not a fuckingdog, Rurik.”

His lips twitched with the beginnings of a smirk, and I swear to fuck, I sawred. I jerked up from my seat so fast, my chair flew backward, crashing to the floor. Hyram and Nolan both lurched to their feet, and Malachi gripped my arm. I tried shrugging him off, but he just tightened his grip.

“Standdown,” Hyram growled. He pointed a stiff finger at me. “Now, Malik. You’ll show Rurik the fucking respect he’s earned, you hear me?”

“Fuckyou.”

“This is why I’m under orders to bring you to heel,” Rurik said, always the calm mother fucker, as he rounded the table to come closer to me. I was vibrating with rage, but he simply came to a stop in front of me, toe-to-toe. He tilted his chin up to meet my gaze. “Your temper will send this club into trouble head first with no fucking plan. You’re a damn good man, Malik. But that temper of yours will get everyone in this room killed.” He jerked his head in the direction of the door. “You and I are done here. Go pack a bag. You’re hitting the road with me.”

“Like hell I am,” I growled. I wasn’t goinganywherewith him.

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