Page 85 of Avenging Devil: Part 1

Lost is tapping his fingers against the table. “I wish it were that easy, VP.”

I slant my eyes as I look at the prez. “The fuck you mean?”

Lost’s jaw tightens. “As Dart said, we’ve three ol’ ladies in this club, one pregnant and one with two kids. We’ve got club girls who are ours to protect. There’s also your sister, Niran, not to mention brothers who’ve earned the right to sleep soundly in their beds.” My eyes widen as he continues, “Iagreed to bring her in, but we’ve not had a club vote on it. As a favour to Utah, we’ve got her out of her apartment, but I thought from here she’d immediately move on, not be here for a fuckin’ week when we don’t know what the Wolves are doing. I had my concerns even before we thought of a motive. She means more to the club then we previously thought.”

“They’ve been searching for her for months,” I almost yell at him. “I can’t see there’s much risk them closing in now.”

“No?” Lost raises an eyebrow. “For months she kept under the radar, no one knew where she had gone. Then they caught Token’s chatter, and who knows what they were able to pull from that. You really think they’ll sit on their asses and wait for her to come back to them? Nah, if it were me, I’d immediately start pulling out all the stops. My view? She’s not got much time.”

I brace and open my mouth, but he waves me down. “Not suggesting we cut her loose on her own, brother. While we’re waiting for a watertight ID, maybe we can secrete her somewhere she’d be safe, and so would the club. It might be an idea to send her to Utah.”

No fucking way. Not on my watch.“I don’t like that.” I don’t like it at all. “I don’t fuckin’ trust Utah. And what about how she gets there? Without our eyes on her, she could be picked up at any time.” Putting my head in my hands, I examine the thought that comes into my mind. It’s the only option. I add, “But if that’s the solution, I’ll go with her.”

“No can do, Niran,” Dart says reasonably, jerking his head toward Token. “If they’ve got your identity, it will be the two of you they’ll be looking for.”

“Or she could stay, until her new ID gets sorted out,” Token offers, sensibly. “A few days, a week. What would that hurt?”

Lost turns to him. “My reading is that if the Crazy Wolves find out we’re helping, or fuck it, even helped her, they’ll come straight for us without giving us time to get organised. If they caught sight of Niran’s patch, d’you think the Crazy Wolves would leave us alone? If nothing else, they’ll think we’ve got information. With the women and kids, we can’t risk it.”

I slam down my fist. “Moving her on without her safety net in place just leaves her as easy pickings.”

“She’s not one of ours, Niran,” Prez reminds me in his sharpdon’t mess with mevoice. “I can’t ask the brothers to go into a war they’re not part of. And we’re not throwing her to the Wolves. Where we put her will be as safe as we can make it.”

“Utah asked us to take her in,” I say stubbornly. “That makes her club.”

“Like we owe so much to Utah.” Lost rolls his eyes. “You think this club will fight on just Utah’s say so? If they’re so damn concerned, they can come down here and collect her themselves.”

“No way!” I stand so abruptly my chair topples over.

“Sit, Niran!” Lost barks. It takes a lot to rile the prez, but I seem to have done it now.

Fuming, I right my seat, and plonk my ass on it so hard I’m surprised it doesn’t break.

“We can’t take on a fight that’s not ours,” Lost offers more mildly. “It’s not fair to the brothers.”

“No?” I sit forward and slam my hand on the table. “And isn’t that what we did for your ol’ lady? We took on a fuckin’ slave trafficker as I remember.”

“Patsy’s my ol’ lady,” Lost says, deceptively calmly. “Saffie has no connection with us.”

“So what was that all about then in the kitchen?” I shout. “You said she was safe here, and that we’d protect her.”

“And she is safe here while she stays. I wanted to reassure her about that. None of our members will touch her. At the time I thought getting a new identity in place would be quicker.”

I thought these men were my brothers. I’d expected them to step up and take pity on the woman just as I’d done. I can’t believe they’re talking about sending her away to sort her problems out by herself. I won’t let them do it.

“I don’t fuckin’ believe this.” I shake my head, letting the sheer disgust and disappointment in them shine through my eyes.

Dart grimaces, looks at Lost, then suggests, “There’s one way out of this. If someone steps up and claims her, that immediately makes her part of the Satan’s Devils MC. She’d be protected by us, and have the backing of all the other chapters.”

If someone claims her?My eyes widen. “What the fuck, VP? That woman was claimed by a man in another MC, and look how that fuckin’ worked for her. You think she’d ever put herself in that position again? Claim her?” I snort. “She’d be exactly what she feared she’d be. Property traded between clubs.”

“I don’t know about that,” Lost says mildly. “It would be up to the man who stepped up to show her the benefits of wearing our patch.”

Token’s looking from one of us to another. He holds up his hands as if to ward something off. “Who the fuck are you thinking of, Prez? And don’t look at me. I don’t want a bitch, particularly one with the baggage that she comes with.”

“Snips is quite harmless,” Dart suggests.

I gaze at him in horror.Fuckin’ Snips?Again, I rise to my feet, but this time my chair remains standing. I start to pace. Claiming her keeps her in the club and under our protection. Claiming her gives her support. Claiming her means the brother doing the claiming might never get his dick wet again due to the horrors she’s experienced and what she’s just been through.

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