Page 10 of Savior

“Bear?” Wolverine asked, gnawing on the toothpick.

“No fuckin’ way. Who would voluntarily take a bullet to the chest as part of a plan? There’re too many variables. Given that he’s no longer with us, I’d say if there was a plan, it fuckin’ failed.”

Mikey crossed his arms over his chest with a laugh. “I can’t believe I didn’t see this before. I told him to wear a vest that night.”

“He did,” Rick and I exclaimed at the same time.

“The bullet…” I tapped my fingers lightly against my chest, shifting my jaw back and forth. “The bullet went through. He lost too much blood…” my voice tapered off.

“Maybe you’re the mole,” Bear growled at Mike. “How else would they have known to use armor-piercing bullets? We’ve already established that you had the most motive out of any of us. Now you wanna rule it all.”

Wolverine moved the toothpick up and down with his tongue, regarding the two of them thoughtfully. “That’s a damn good question, Bear. They hadn’t used ammo like that before… why’d they suddenly change their MO the night Grey went down?”

“What if it wasn’t the Sons?” Zane asked.

Wolverine cocked an eyebrow before turning back to Bear. “Instead of sittin’ around, measurin’ dicks, I’d start there. I, for one, don’t believe for a second that Grey had plans of rollin’ over, but if I were in charge, I’d look into everything. Then again, I’m just an old man. What the fuck do I know?”

Losing Jamie had damn near killed me. To even entertain the idea that he would’ve turned on his own club was unfathomable.

“I just put him in the ground, and you’re already ready to dig his body up and crucify him all over again.” I dropped onto the bottom step, wishing like hell that I could shed my rage in the form of tears. I dug the heels of my shoes into the mud; wanting to coat myself in it until the soft earth swallowed me whole.

I’d done my time above ground.

It was time to go home.

Mikey’s blue eyes met mine, and the chasm in my chest widened. There was so much of Jamie in him that it left me aching. He chewed on his lower lip and looked over at Dakota, who nodded as if giving her approval. “Casket was empty, Celia—”

Blood roared in my ears and slivers of black clouded my vision as I took in the admission; turning it over and over in my head, struggling to make sense of it. Voices rose all around me in disbelief.

Panic.

“Oh, Jesus. Celia!” A deep voice shouted. It was distorted, like a slow-motion scene in a movie. The frozen earth that I’d longed for only moments ago now came up to greet my face as my heart pounded a furious rhythm in my chest, warning me that I was in danger.

Convincing me to run.

He’d promised me.

I tried lifting my head, but oblivion won, sending everything into darkness.

If he was still here, I should’ve felt him.

I would’ve known.

Chapter Two

Grey

My head shot up as the door swung open, and I surged forward. The metal that encircled my wrists bit into the skin, warning me to back off. Instead, I pushed my body to its limit, tendon and muscle straining in a futile attempt to break free from my restraints.

“Happy… whatever the fuck today is.” Cobra pulled his phone from his pocket and tapped the screen with his index finger. “Let’s see, tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, so why don’t we just celebrate early? Isn’t that what you used to do with your prisoners? Spout off all the inane holidays as if they needed to be reminded of how long they’d been with you?”

None of my captives had ever lived long enough to need to know the date, with the exception of one.

Manny.

I wracked my brain, struggling to recall how many of my men would’ve known that detail. To my knowledge, there were only two—Crossbones and Bear.

The chains rattled as I jerked my arms forward, suddenly convinced I was the goddamn Hulk thanks to the adrenaline that had just been dumped into my bloodstream.

---