Page 24 of The Devil's Viking

She gulped and stared at the floor. She pressed her lips together tight.

“So that’s how it’s gonna be, huh?” Wolf’s steel-grey eyes nailed her in place. “That’s fine. How about this? How about I get my man Ice to drive you right on back to the Garden and drop your ass off? He’ll drag you up to the gate and ring every bell until someone comes, and he’ll tell them how you ended up in Denver, then he’ll turn around and leave you there. Sounds good? You think Gideon will be happy to see his runaway flower again?”

Iris looked up at him and her face was pure terror. “Gideon? How did you know – ”

“I know a lot, babe, so now is not the time to test me. From what I hear, your Gideon is a full-on fuckin’ nightmare, but if you think I won’t hand you over to him, you’re wrong. If gettin’ rid of you means that I get a bullshit problem out of my face, I’ll do it in a heartbeat. Just try me.”

Scars held his breath: he knew Wolf was tough but he’d never throw a woman into a dangerous situation on purpose. This was just a game of chicken and Wolf was bluffing and counting on Iris not knowing any of that; she’d blink and then confess and then they’d go from there.

But Iris surprised them both.

“You won’t do that,” she said and although she was trying to play it cool, her voice trembled. “Not with what I know.”

“And what do you know?” Wolf snarled. “Huh?”

“Well.” She cleared her throat. “I saw Viking in the forest and it sure looked like he was busy hiding something. I mean, he was way over in Utah, in the mountains, in the middle of the night, right? You think if I told the cops about all of that and they went digging around, maybe they’d find something?’

Scars almost fell over. His President was towering over Iris now, even larger in his rage, and she was obviously terrified but standing her ground. For the first time since laying eyes on this woman, it came to Scars that she had one hell of a backbone in that doll-sized body.

Or maybe she just had a death wish.

“Well, well,” Wolf said and now his voice was soft, which only kicked the menace into overdrive. “So the little flower has thorns.”

“Look,” she said. “I don’t want to do any of that.”

“But you will, right?” Wolf said. “Here’s the problem you got, babe: blackmail ain’t smart at the best of times, but it’s especially dumb when you’re standin’ in our house and you’re outnumbered and relyin’ on our good graces where you’re concerned. And you clearly haven’t thought the situation through to the very end.”

“What do you mean?” she faltered.

“What Imeanis, I don’t think that Gideon will give a fuck about whatanyonewas doin’ out in the woods that night except for you. I bet everythin’ that I own that when Ice hands you over all bound and gagged, you won’t be talkin’ much at all, and nobody will give a shit what you have to say about some guy from Denver. Gideon sure as hell won’t be takin’ you to the cops for you to spill your little story…I get the feelin’ that Gideon ain’t got much time for cops.”

She swayed on her feet; it was pretty obvious that Wolf was right and she hadn’t thought this through. But he wasn’t done beating her over the head with truth and perspective yet:

“Whatwillhappen is that Gideon will take you down to the basement and you’ll stop existin’,” he told her. “Just like that woman who used to go into town for the shoppin’ and disappeared without a trace.”

Her eyes were almost black with fear. “How – how do you know about Lily?”

“Like I said, I know a lot, which is bad for you. What’sworsefor you is that you just played your only fuckin’ ace and it ain’t as strong as you thought it was. You lost.”

“I didn’t –”

“Youdid. You thought that threatenin’ me with what you saw was some kind of trump card, and I’m tellin’ you it ain’t. All you did was show your hand, and now you got nothin’ to threaten me with. I know what you know. If I want, I can have you disappeared off the earth in the next hour, no need to send you back to the Garden for your little mouth to shut up… but I’d deliver you to Gideon anyway, just ‘cause I can tell that it’s the last place you want to be.”

“Please –”

“No beggin’ now,” Wolf said mercilessly. “Not after your little mind game. Put your fuckin’ nightgown and big boots on, girl, Ice is on his way back here.”

“I – I – oh, God –” Without warning, Iris turned sickly grey, started shaking and crying. “Please, don’t send me back. If you want to kill me, just do it yourself.Please, Wolf. If you don’t want to kill me, then you can hold me here forever and send every Road Devils guy to fuck me and I won’t complain ever, not once. Please, I’ll do anything that you tell me,anythingbut going back to Gideon.”

Wolf and Scars looked at each other, stunned. Was she actually saying that she’d become an MC sex slave instead of of going back to where she came from?

“Whoa, calm down,” Scars said, stepping seamlessly into his role of Good Cop. “No need for that.”

“But there is!” Iris was beside herself with panic. “I can’t go back to Gideon! You havenoidea what it’s like at that place!”

“OK, take a breath,” Scars said. “Sit down over there and let’s start again. Alright?”

Shuddering and gasping, Iris nodded. She tottered over to the armchair in the corner and literally collapsed into it. Wolf sat on the bed, and Scars stayed over by the door.

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