Page 59 of Heron's Flame

“Calm down? Hammerhead has Rebel!”

“I know, brother. And she’s okay. I swear to fuck, she’s not hurt.”

“Yet,” I spat.

He agreed. “Yet.”

“How do I find her?” It was pointless arguing with him since he already saw every which way I’d come at him. But, fuck, I twitched with the need to beat his ass for this.

“Get over your rage at me and focus on her. Use your crow. Sweep all of Nevada and the Great Basin until you find her.”

He was right. This helped solve nothing and lost precious time. I had to focus on the rescue and not Carrion’s betrayal.

And yeah, I fucking felt betrayed. This could have been prevented. He should have warned me that Hammerhead was watching and waiting for his chance to snatch Rebel.

I didn’t want to admit that this was my fault, too. I’d gotten too lax and comfortable, too focused on her and not enough on the lingering threat. As the weeks passed, I thought Hammerhead moved on. Fucking stupid. I lost Rebel because I failed to protect her.

Agony spread throughout my body as I nearly sank to my knees. He could touch her, torment her, kill her, and there was nothing I could do about it.

“Hey.” Carrion gripped my shoulder. “Don’t fucking do that. Don’t lose it now. You’ve got to keep searching for her.”

I lifted my gaze to him, trembling with a heavy mixture of fear for my woman and rage that she’d been taken. “I’ll never stop looking for my Rebel.”

“Good. Let’s head inside. Pres wants an update.”

Crow called an emergency meeting, and we filed into the chapel for church. I went over the details of what happened and how Hammerhead and his crew got the jump on me.

A tense silence followed as Crow’s thunderous frown warned us all how pissed and agitated he’d become. “Fuck,” he finally roared, rising to his feet to grip the back of his chair. “Carrion. What the fuck is going on?”

“Nothing we can’t handle,” he promised.

“Not what I fucking asked,” Crow bellowed.

“I can’t, Pres.” Carrion looked stricken. “If I intercede in any way, I risk Rebel’s life. And the club, too. I won’t do it, no matter how pissed you get at me.”

“Tell me one thing, will we all survive this?”

Carrion nodded. “Yes.”

Relief spread across Crow’s features. “Okay.” But then he stilled again, clenching his fists. “We’re not all gonna be untouched by this, are we?”

Carrion swallowed hard. “No.”

It was that single word that sent icy fear through my veins. What did that mean? Rebel had already endured so much. How could she handle additional trauma from a man who already raped and hurt her in the past?

He wouldn’t live this time. I should have killed him at the rally, even if it caused a bloody war with the Grave RobbersMC. Anything he did to Rebel now would be because I let that motherfucker live instead of putting a bullet in his fucking brain.

“Heron, take your crow and search for Rebel. Hawk, go with him.”

I nodded, knowing any further discussion was pointless. Now, the only thing that mattered was finding Rebel before Hammerhead forced himself on my woman. If he touched her, I’d invent ways to torture him until he begged for mercy. Then, I’d let Rael come and reap his fucking soul.

For the remainder of the day, I took to the sky and searched every inch of Nevada visible. Long into the night, only pausing to take small breaks, I kept up my search. It yielded nothing. No news. No hint where he’d hidden Rebel.

Defeated, I returned home, collapsing on the bed. Exhausted, I slept a few hours before I rose, rubbing my tired eyes.

Brax. The name popped into my head, and I blinked.

Fuck. Why didn’t I think of that sooner?

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