Page 2 of The Devil's Dream

Oh God. This is bad. This is really bad.

Moving frantically, I pulled out my phone, scrolled down to Sophia’s number, hit call, and sobbed when she answered.

“Nova? Nova, what’s wrong?”

“It’s Haze! I’m at the flower shop! Send help!” I could hear her talking to Banner in the background before she came back on the line promising, “Help’s on the way, Nova. Hold tight.”

I dropped my phone onto the pavement and looked up over my shoulder towards the loft, shouting, “Ghost, help!” before returning my attention to Haze.

Kneeling beside him, I murmured as calmly as I was able, “Stay with me, Haze. Help's coming.” Holding my breath, I fought against the fear and lifted his shirt. He was black and blue with scrapes covering his torso, but I didn’t see any lacerations or gunshot wounds. I carefully pressed on his belly—rock hard, no softening. A good sign there was no internal bleeding. I breathed a sigh of relief.

“What happened to you, sweetie? Who did this?” I whispered as the tears began to gather on my lashes.

The banging of the clubhouse door hitting the wall from across the lot drew my attention, and my head came up to see bikersstreaming through the door. All eyes locked on me, and they broke into a sprint to get to us.

“Nova...” Haze croaked brokenly. My eyes dropped to him.

“I’m here, sweetie.”

“Brother!” My head shot up as Kane skidded across the gravel, dropping onto his knees next to us.

“Move,” Pop growled, kneeling beside a distraught looking Kane, elbowing him out of the way. I wasn’t used to seeing Payton’s Grandpa, acting as ‘Doc,’ the club’s medic.

“Here, baby.” Kane grabbed my elbow and helped me to my feet. My body jolted when his arm wrapped around my shoulders. “Are you okay, darlin’?”

Baby? Darlin’?My mind was reeling from the tender look on his face. “I—what?”

“What happened?” Ghost demanded, eyes coming to me as he thundered down the loft steps two at a time.

“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “I heard a noise while I was cleaning up, and when I came out, I found him like this.” Kane pulled me into his chest when my voice broke.

“Shh, he’ll be okay, darlin’. Haze is a tough motherfucker,” Kane whispered into the top of my head.

My arms went around him, needing his strength to hold me up. He had to be right; Haze had to be okay.

Chapter One

Kane

Blood roared in my ears as I held Nova's trembling body against my chest.

The sight of my best friend laid out and beaten to hell, had my instincts screaming to track down who fucking did that to him and end their miserable fucking lives.

But holding my kitten against me, I knew that would have to wait.

“Ghost, Banner, get him inside,” Pop barked, all traces of the doting grandfather we'd gotten used to seeing gone. “Watch his ribs.”

The Prez and Veep moved with efficiency, lifting Haze's broken form.

For a split second I saw his eyes crack open, locking onto Nova in my arms. Even half conscious, that possessive gleam in his gazematched the one I knew was in mine. She was ours, whether she knew it yet or not.

“I need to—” Nova started to pull away.

“Stay put, Kitten,” I growled, tightening my grip. No fucking way was she leaving my sight with some psycho still out there. “Pop's got him.”

She tilted her head back, those big blue eyes staring up at me with tears spilling over. Something surged in my chest. Haze and I had been circling her for months, holding back, but seeing her like this—scared for my brother—it triggered every possessive instinct I had.

“Listen up,” I commanded, my tone leaving no room for argument. “You're gonna tell me everything you saw or heard. Every detail.”

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