Page 13 of Quadruplets for the Vipers

With a sigh, he asks, “Leah, have you ever been on the back of one of these before?”

“No,” I admit.

“Well then, hold on tight,” he grunts, grabbing my hands and forcing me to wrap them around his waist.

The protest dies on my lips as he kicks the bike into gear, and all of a sudden, we’re flying.

All I feel is sheer exhilaration as we race along. The wind whips at us, making me snuggle closer to Axel—something I enjoy far more than I care to admit. I can see now why they all love riding so much. Unadulterated joy washes over me as I enjoy the experience. With Axel’s confident, expert riding, there’s no room for me to feel afraid.

That changes the moment the other bikes pull up alongside us.

“Shit,” Axel mutters over the noise of the engines.

They’re a rival club. The insignia on their jacket says ‘Hellhounds’. From Axel’s tense body and their aggressive riding, I know this isn’t a coincidence.

In the distance, I can see more bikes approaching us. We’re outnumbered. There’s no one else around, and theHellhounds are hot on our heels. With the rest coming in the other direction, we can’t outrun them. We’re trapped.

“It’s an ambush!” Axel shouts in warning.

“Leave us. Get Leah to safety!” Zeus yells in command.

Axel hesitates only for a moment before peeling off the road, taking a sharp turn off the highway down a small side road. He’s going so fast that I worry we might crash or that my knees will scrape the floor. The trees grow denser, the road more deserted. I turn around to check that he others are following and see only Rider’s bike behind us.

“Shit,” Alex curses as he notices the same thing in his mirrors.

It takes me a few moments to realize that we’re not being followed by the Hellhounds either. The relief I feel is quickly outweighed by the grim knowledge that if they aren’t following us, there’s more of them for Zeus and the others to deal with.

That’s when the gunfire starts. I can hear it in the distance, and I’m not foolish enough to hope it is just some hunters. The Hellhounds have launched their attack.

“Oh my god, Axel, we have to go back! We have to help them!” I shout.

But Axel doesn’t stop, he speeds up. Away from the danger. Away from our friends. He’s following orders.

“Axel! What are you doing? We have to go back!”

“No,” Axel replies, his voice brokering no argument.

After a while, we start seeing other cars as we head into more populated areas. People are going about their business asif nothing has happened, which to them, of course, it hasn’t. Axel slows his speed, and Rider pulls up alongside us.

“Let’s go to Sal’s,” Axel calls to him.

Rider gives him the thumbs up in response.

Sal turns out to be a mechanic. A red-cheeked man with a strong Jersey accent. He greets us warmly and happily agrees for us to use his office, handing over lukewarm coffee in chipped novelty mugs before leaving to resume his work.

“What are we—” I start to ask, but I’m cut off by Axel.

“Rider, call Knox,” he orders as he pulls out his phone and makes a call to Jace.

The pair relay what happened during their brief calls. From what I can tell, the plan is for them to go with some of our men to help the others while making sure the club is left secure in case of an attack there.

“What do we do now?” I ask.

“We wait,” Rider replies.

“Shouldn’t we do something to help?” I say, feeling helpless and not knowing exactly what it is we should do.

Axel shoots me a glare, one that says he would be doing something to help if it weren’t for me. That he doesn’t like being here, not knowing if his friends are okay, any more than I do.

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