Page 76 of The Devil's Pair

“Yeah, well,” Holt said, gratefully sipping the scalding-hot black coffee. “They will be, in time. I think we all know that.”

Wolf entered the room then, and right away, the men stopped talking. Everyone stood a bit straighter, a bit more still, and watched their President take his place at the head of thetable. They sat then – a dozen chairs scraping – then complete silence fell as they waited for Wolf to speak.

He regarded them all, those keenly intelligent eyes missing exactly nothing, especially not the chair that had been set aside for Rebel. Wolf looked at the empty space – remembered yet again that it would always be empty – and then snapped his ferocious gaze around the room.

“So,” he growled. “I just got off a call with King’s FBI cult expert, Denton.”

At his tone, the men held their collective breath. Even Ice looked mildly unnerved, which was pretty much a first.

“He’s managed to keep Briley’s involvement in that fucker Michael’s death a big secret,” Wolf continued. “He also followed the truck tire tracks, and found the cabin where she was taken. Denton found Crusher’s body up there – fuckin’ stab wounds on both sides of his neck, just like Briley told us, with Michael’s fingerprints all over the blades. Back in Utah, his FBI boys stormed the Hellions clubhouse and found out about a safe house, out by a lake. There, they found Violet’s body rolled up in a canvas in a shed outside, her neck broken. So it seems that Scars’ worries about her were bang on. Looks like shedidsteal money from us to get back to Michael, and she was probably the reason that Briley got grabbed up… and Rebel got killed.”

The men sighed a bit, nodded as one. None of them had wanted anything bad to happen to the woman, of course, and every one of them wished that they could have helped Violet settle into a life of freedom and independence. She’d been too far gone, though, and her actions had hurt people that they cared about. They could understand what had driven her, but there would be no forgiving Violet. Not ever.

“Dentonalsosaid that thanks to Ice and Holt and Cain’s work over in New Mexico, the FBI got some of the best intel they’veeverhad on those cult motherfuckers. They stormed thecompound and they completely demolished the place, and took everyone in. The fuckin’ Garden of Desert Lunatics is officiallywrecked, man, done and dusted. Nothin’ left, and nobody had any time to step up and into Michael’s place, ‘cause it was news to them that he was dead. They were all just sittin’ around, waitin’ on word from him.”

Wolf paused and looked uncertain;thatwas when the other men went into high alert. They knew that anything that made Wolf look even slightly off-balance was a fucking wrecking ball to a mere mortal, so all they could do was brace for impact.

“But we still have a problem,” Wolf said. “Crusher’s guys.”

Another collective sigh, no more than the hint of a breath, but to a man, they got it.

“They’re on the warpath,” Wolf told them. “They know about Crusher bein’ dead, of course, courtesy of Denton and his boys showin’ up, and takin’ them all in, and askin’ a million questions about him and Michael. The Highway Hellions weren’t super forthcomin’ about those two Prospect assholes killin’ Rebel and snatchin’ up Briley, but then again, they didn’t have to be. We all know what they did, thanks to Briley herself. But Denton told me that Viper Grant was pissed beyond all belief, and lost his head a bit and said somethin’ to his new Veep about us, just under his breath.”

“He mentioned The Road Devils by name?” Jinx said quietly. “The club as a whole?”

“Yeah.” Wolf ran his hands through his dark hair. “Viper shut up again and dropped the subject pretty damn quick, and Denton didn’t follow up at all, acted like he hadn’t heard anythin’. But of course he told King right away, said that we need to get ready for whatever’s comin’. No doubt Crusher talked about us plenty, so it doesn’t matter what info Viper’s got orbelieveshe’s got – all that matters is we’re still on the Hellions’ radar.”

“Shit,” Scars muttered. “What the hell am I going to tell Zoe now? She and Keira just got home again.”

“And Jolene,” Silver added with a despairing tone. “We came back here because she wanted to face down what happened with her fucking ex-husband… but she knows that he was mixed up with Crusher’s boys, and if they come after us now, it’ll be partly because of her ex. That’llkillher.”

“We’ve got some time,” Wolf said. “Viper Grant ain’t the brightest bulb in the box, and my intel says that he doesn’t have the trust of his own people, so he’s got some shorin’ up and strengthenin’ to do in-house. Maybe even some clearin’ out, bringin’ in some new blood that will be loyal to him from the jump. We’re in his sights, make no mistake, but he can’t do much for a while. That gives us an opportunity.”

“To do what?” Arrow asked.

Wolf looked around the room and his eyes settled on Ice. The other men watched Ice’s face flicker with comprehension, then disquiet.

“To make Viper an offer he can’t refuse,” Wolf said slowly. “Right, Ice?”

“Yeah.” Ice nodded reluctantly; it was clear to the other men that he hated what was about to happen, but his profound respect for Wolf overrode his own feelings. “How far do you go back in?”

“What!” Cowboy totally forgot himself for a second. “Wolf, what thefuck? After all you’ve done to get us out of the life, you're going to just walkus right backin?And with fucking Crusher Alcott’s people, of all clubs?”

“Whoa,” Wolf said, holding up his hands in a calming motion, not even slightly offended at the outburst and the questioning of his authority. “That ain’t it.”

“What’s not it?” Scars asked, now mentally packing Zoe and Keira’s bags and shipping them out to live on an iceberg inthe Arctic. “What part of ‘how far do we go back in?’ did we get wrong?”

“All of it,” Wolf said crisply. “Because Ice never said ‘we’.”

Silence descended again as the men replayed Ice’s words:

How far do you go back in?

“Oh, no,” Kansas said softly, even as his brothers’ murmurs of dismay rippled through the room. “Wolf. No. You can’t.”

“Ican,” Wolf asserted. “Because King and Denton and me have got a plan to end The Hellions, and we’ll be workin’ together. This doesn’t involve any of the rest of you, and not even Ice all that much, after the first little while.”

“But –” Ice began.

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