Page 27 of Savage Hunter

“Yeah it’s all good. I just miss Rage, is all.” I hate lying, but let the words roll from my lips like I’m old pro.

I’m about to offer to help Nova back to her room for a shower, when the roar of motorcycles cuts into our conversation.

Our gazes connect and Nova’s hand on my shoulder squeezes. “They’re back?”

Nova is on my heels as we run for the window. I throw open the curtains. Two stories down, several Harley bikes rumble up the gravel drive. Dragon is in the SUV and he leads the way around the side of the compound with most of the Savages in tow. They head down a deeply rutted dirt road. “Doc’s old house?”

Nova swivels her head around and we lock eyes. “Someone is hurt,” we say at the same time and we both hit fast forward. There is only one reason for the men to head for Doc’s place and it’s not good. It is where the Savages have their medical bay. It’s stocked for everything as simple as a paper cut to something as serious as a gunshot wound.

I look at my friend who has worry and shock pulling at the corners of her pretty lips. Crease lines crinkle her forehead and she is rubbing at the center of her chest.

She heads for my bedroom door.

Poor woman. My heart goes out to her. Her fast forward is more of a slow hustle. “I have to get dressed. Meet me downstairs in ten. We’ll go to Doc’s place together.”

“Got it.”

I pull out the first thing my finger’s touch. “Will you be okay? Do you need help?” But Nova waves me off mumbling something.

Okay then.

As soon as she is out of sight I close the door and lean my weight against it. My head falls back, my mind can’t pick one thought to settle on. The dream is like a dark storm cloud dampening my entire mood. I want to be happy. I need to be. The crew needs me. Everything else doesn’t matter.

Nothing else can matter.

I run to the bathroom and jump in the shower. Vanilla bean and brown sugar scent fills the bathroom as I do a lightning round with my loofa. It reminds me of when life was simpler and all I had to do was wake up, be the dutiful daughter that was expected of me and retire to my rooms once the sun dipped. Simpler, not better. It’s just how my life was for me then.

I catch my reflection in the steamed up mirror and wipe across the condensation. The girl staring back at me is not who I was then. She’s not who I want to be. “One more day,” I tell myself. “Try for one more day.” My daily mantra pulls me through the days when I rather give up.

I grab a towel and just when I spit out my toothpaste there’s another knock at the door.

Nova. Damn that was fast.

I wrap my hair in a towel and rinse my mouth. I barely tuck the end of the one around my body when my door swings open and my past crashes into my present.

My breath locks in my lungs, and chills erupt over my body.

“Harmonia.”

Six

Wolfe

The Savage compound is a damn fortress.

We ride up to the gates with me bringing up the rear. I admit, all the talk about some compound in the middle of the woods put an image in my head that does not match the real thing so far. When I pictured this place, I thought it would be some run down cabin in the woods with a chain-link fence and rusted cars tossed around like forgotten toys. What I see is a million-dollar set up with state-of-the-art security. It would take rocket launchers to bust through the stone and cement perimeter walls.

I let out a low whistle. From the looks of it, no one is climbing the gate and live to talk about the experience. Damn. All the metalwork of the front gate might look pretty, but those sharp spikes at the top are honed into deadly points designed to make you wish you were dead.

The wrought-iron gate is automatic and slowly grinds open when a fully armed man hitting six point five and two-hundred thirty plus pounds steps out of the guardhouse and shakes Ares’ hand. He has a pair of Glocks pinned under his arms, more strapped to his legs and a bullet-proof vest with a weapon velcroed in place. I take it he’s on guard duty as the third line of defense for any dumbass trying to get it.

“Prez. Good to see you back in one piece. Fergie has the Doc’s place set up and ready for Rage.” His deep voice carries over the rumble of our motors.

They clasp hands and there’s a show of respect between them that seems genuine.

Dragon leads our procession in a SUV with a wounded Rage in the back while we ride behind him as escorts. Getting the Savage vice president home alive went from a three-week manhunt and into a shootout with the Colombian cartel in the middle of the woods. As an initiation into the crew it was a hair raiser.

No one expected that turn of events, but I can’t say I’m fully surprised. Someone has been helping the Society move their human product and the cartels have the network. Makes sense when you think about it.

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