The day after Father Sanchez’s visit, Bear called a meeting. A hard knot formed in my stomach as I rode up to the clubhouse. I was the last to get there. He’d called it for midnight. A full moon hung low in the sky. Even Rufus seemed to know something was about to change. He usually charged around the side of the building when one of us rode up. Tonight, he sat vigil in front of the door, his crooked ears pricked. Not even Mama Bear came out to greet me. It meant Bear had sent her away.

I cut my engine and parked. Beth was still heavily on my mind. The priest’s words had settled over me, but I could barely process them. Let Beth go. Of course that was the safest thing to do. I’d done it before. She was better off without me. And yet, the thought of leaving her behind tore at me, making it hard to breathe.

I dismounted and headed for the front door. Before I got there, the shadows moved. Axle and Shep came around the other side of the building. Axle stepped under the floodlight, looking like a damn ghost. As club enforcer, the man was paid to look dangerous. In his case, he did more than just look the part. He fixed a hard stare at me and a look passed between him and Shep.

“You’re late,” Axle said, his voice gruff.

“I’m here,” I answered. I’d take that kind of shit from Bear, but not Axle. Not tonight. I tried to walk past them, but Axle reached out and put a hand on the center of my chest, stopping me.

“We need to talk,” he said.

“And I think Bear’s waiting,” I answered. I didn’t like the look in Axle’s eyes.

“Where’ve you been, man?” he asked. Axle’s cheekbone was still swollen from his run-in the other day. Shep looked none the worse for wear, but he kept his arm in a sling beneath his leather cut.

“I’ve had some personal business I needed to take care of,” I said. These men were my brothers, but I still had secrets I needed to keep. They didn’t know about Beth. They didn’t know what I’d done to prove my loyalty to Bear all those years ago. For now, I still felt the fewer people knew about Beth, the better chance I could keep her clear of the danger that might come.

“You’ve been gone a lot lately,” Shep said. “Your timing’s lousy, Deacon.”

I reared back. Where the hell was this coming from? As far as I was concerned, only Bear needed to know where I was. And he did. So why were Shep and Axle busting my balls about it?

“I told you, I’ve had some personal business that couldn’t wait.”

“We’re your business,” Axle said, his eyes flashing. “Now’s not the time for any of us to be going off on any side projects.”

“What the hell, man,” I said. “What I do on my downtime isn’t for you to worry about. Bear knows what’s up. That’s all that matters. Now if it’s all the same to you, I wanna get inside. Last time I checked, Bear was president of this club, not you.”

Axle’s face changed. I knew what threw him. I was the peacemaker. Everyone’s confessor. He hadn’t expected a pushback like this from me. Tough shit. I had my own problems to deal with. For once, Axle and the others would have to look elsewhere for someone to lean on.

“It’s just not a good idea for anybody to go disappearing on their own, Deacon,” Shep said. All of a sudden, he picked up the peacemaker role. “Look what happened to Axle and me and we had each other’s six.”

“Well, I’m sorry about that,” I said. “But for now, I know how to take care of myself. Now, do you have more shit to give me or are we ready to go inside?”

“You ladies done gossiping?” E.Z.’s raspy voice cut through the air. He swung the front door open and glared at Shep. “We’re at the table!”

I didn’t wait for Shep or Axle to answer him. I brushed past E.Z. and headed into the clubhouse wondering what the hell that was all about. Axle held some kind of accusation in his eyes. Under other circumstances, that might have mattered. But the vibe in the room drove out any worry I had about it.

The rest of the crew were assembled at the conference table. Bear had cleared the rest of the clubhouse. Mama was gone, so were the prospects. Whatever happened here tonight, this was members only. I took my seat at the end of the table and waited for Axle and Shep to file in. When they did, Bo and Maddox shifted in their seats. The four of them exchanged a look then settled their stares at me. What the actual hell? There was a meeting about to take place, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something else was swirling around with those four.

Bear wasted no time on preamble. “We’ve got trouble, boys,” he said. “I was hoping the little dust-up Shep and Axle ran into last week would be just that. But as of now, we’ve lost the confidence of our main gun supplier up the coast. I had a sit-down this morning and it didn’t go well.”

There were grumblings through the room but this was no surprise. I folded my hands in front of me and rested my elbows on the table.

“So we go over their head,” Zig said. “Let me rattle some cages and get the DiSalvo family involved.” Zig had married into one of the biggest crime families in the country. But even that kind of weight might not be enough to sway things if any more momentum shifted away from us.

No sooner had I thought it before Bear broke even worse news. “We’re losing contracts along the docks,” he said. “Businesses are pulling out. They don’t want anything to do with us when the shit hits the fan. We’re in a worst-case scenario.”

“You happy now?” E.Z. said it under his breath but the entire table heard it. This had been coming on for a very long time. E.Z. had been spoiling for war for months. It was Bear’s steady hand at the helm that had kept us from it. Now I knew more men at this table shared E.Z.’s sentiment.

“What do we know?” Chase asked.

“Our suppliers had a sit-down with A.J. Moss,” Bear said. His face turned ashen. Moss had been voted in as the Hawks’ president a few months ago.

“Well, that sure as shit didn’t take long,” E.Z. said, banging his fist against the table. “How many times did I have to say it? I know you wanted to give the guy the benefit of the doubt, but the minute their old prez got forced out, we were set on this path, Bear. You know it and I know it.”

Bear leaned back in his chair. He scratched his chin and let E.Z. rant. Sometimes, it was the best way to deal with him. E.Z. got to his feet and started to pace. “Half the guys under him hate his guts,” E.Z. said. “The only thing they hate more are the men in this room. A.J. needed this war to unite his club and you know it. But no, you tried to work with him!”

Bear was cool. He just stared at E.Z. with his killer eyes. “You’re damn right. And I’d make the same moves again if I had to do it over. The risk was worth taking. It just didn’t fall how we wanted. And here we are.”

“You gonna tell them the rest of it, or should I?” E.Z.’s voice rose even higher. In another minute, Bear might literally smack him down if he didn’t get a hold of himself. Shep looked ready to pop a vein in his neck. If E.Z. made even the slightest move toward Bear, he’d get his throat ripped out.

Bear looked straight at me. “Our contact at the Port Az P.D. called me an hour ago,” he said. “About Sean’s case. They found the shooter.”

I reared back like he’d delivered a blow to my solar plexus. “Why the hell wasn’t I on that call?”

“Because you weren’t here,” Shep answered. “Because lately you’re never here!”

“Enough!” Bear shouted. “We will have unity at this table tonight.” Bear met my eyes. “They’ve arrested Milo Higgins. A waitress at Digby’s fingered him dumping something in the alley the night they found Sean. She stuck her neck out for us on this one. The cops have her in protective custody.”

“Milo Higgins?” I said, not believing what I was hearing. Higgins was a patched-in member of the Laredo Hawks. Why in the hell would they let him get his hands dirty like this?

“They found the murder weapon and Milo’s prints all over it,” Bear said. “It’s messy as hell and I don’t understand it, but there’s no mistake. Sean was a Hawks hit. It means they’re changing the rules.”

E.Z. finally took his seat. I couldn’t breathe. The Hawks were changing the rules. They were going after families. Sure, Sean wasn’t a civilian, but he was still my brother.

“So the path before us is pretty clear,” Bear said. “But you all need to understand what this is going to mean for us if we go forward.”

“If?” This time Axle said it. We were all thinking it.

“It’s different now,” Bear said. “Most of you have families, or old ladies. People you care about. The Hawks know it. They’ve proven they’ll cross that line. Sean Wade was no choir boy, but he’s Deacon’s brother. That shit can’t stand.”

“Vote!” Zig shouted it. It drew a round of knocks across the table. Bear clenched the gavel in his fist. His face was hard as granite as he sat up straight and said the words.

“All right. We vote. We all know what we’re here for. We’re at war.” He didn’t even need to poll the table. A chorus of “Ayes” rose up. His knuckles white, Bear knocked the gavel against the table.

“We take it to them,” E.Z. said, his eyes glinting with bloodlust. I can’t help that it stirred mine too. Sean was my brother. Chances were, he’d have ended up just how he did no matter what. But he was my brother. And I’d already lost too much.

“You need to prepare yourselves,” Bear said. “Those of you with wives and children, Port Az won’t be safe for them for now. Nobody at this table travels alone again unless you clear it with me first. If you don’t have someplace safe to send your women to, send them here. The clubhouse is on lockdown until further notice. Only essential travel. We’re gonna hit ’em back hard. You need to be ready for it. No mistakes.”

Bear’s eyes met mine. “Time to tie up loose ends,” he said. “And everyone get their affairs in order. I don’t want to lose a single person at this table, but you know I can’t promise that. This is going to rip Port Azrael apart.”

Father Sanchez’s exact same words burned through me. He was cautious. He was scared. I wasn’t. My fingers itched to pull the trigger of my Nine. The same thirst for revenge burned through me as the day I found my father’s bullet-riddled body. No matter what, I would protect what was mine. Even if it meant I had to send Beth away again. She’d have no choice. I would not lose her. Not like Sean. Not like my father. If I didn’t walk away from this, she would. So help me God.

War had come to Port Azrael. I knew none of our lives or this club would ever be the same again.