Stepping through a wide door that seemed to creak away from the hinges as they passed forward, Dawn’s eyes focused on a wide open room. Mismatched pieces of furniture dotted the corners, and the Alphas not on the outside reclined in the chairs and over the tables. The source of the smoky scent became apparent; the room was consumed in the hazy gray cloud. She didn’t see Nicole and started to tense at the thought that she was the only woman on sight. Even with Cade at her side, even as Dawn wore her ratty clothes, what if the other boys decided to take a chance with her. Could Cade protect her? Strong as he was, would he be able to—?
“Party’s in here, boys!”
Before the fear could harden around her heart, a bunch of girls hit the ground running led by a dark-haired woman with olive-colored skin and a beer bottle in each hand. Clad in a tight skirt and a top leaving no inch of her cleavage to the imagination, the woman tossed one bottle to the closest Alpha. She kept the other bottle for herself and cracked the top off with the force of her teeth. Drinking deep and wiping her hand on the back of her mouth, she sized Dawn up at first sight, her lips flat until her visage became a smirk.
“So is this the one they’ve been talking about?” the woman asked.
Dawn didn’t like her in the flash of the first moment. Was that wrong? Did the woman have her own agenda? It wasn’t as if Dawn hadn’t dressed the part to get in deep. But when the woman licked an Alpha’s beard clean of suds and sat on his lap to consume the rest of the beer, Dawn was suddenly of the mind that she wasn’t here to learn anything but how quickly the lot of them could get her off.
“Pay no mind to the healer,” Cade said.
“Healer?” Dawn asked. “Something else you’re not telling me?”
“Jealous much?”
Dawn started to shake her head when Cade wound his arm around her waist and purred into her neck.
“She’s only here… they’re only here to have some fun,” he said.
The rest of the girls scampered forward wearing next to nothing. Latching onto the assorted boys’ arms, the girls started to bump and grind against the men. Right then and there, Dawn got the clearest picture of how the Alphas spent their time after hours. Was Cade… would he be part of the equation if there was no Dawn clinging close to his arm?
“And what about me?” Dawn asked.
“You said you wanted to be in on it,” Cade said. “Not going soft on me now, are you?”
His eyes seemed to brim at the thought that she would run, but Dawn squared her shoulders and showed him that she could follow him deeper.
“Let’s just… can’t we be alone and come up with a new plan?”
He nodded as they passed by the healer, and the woman sucked on her bottle and spit a laugh in Dawn’s direction.
“Good luck, princess,” she said. “Think you’ll need it in spades.”
Feeling as if she was back in a high school hallway, her overalls blasted because she opted for comfort instead of letting every inch of her body hang out in the hope of someone copping a feel, Dawn wheeled around and got right into the woman’s face.
“You get an escort here?” Dawn asked. “Or did you just stumble in?”
The healer stood tall, and she towered over Dawn at her full height. Dawn swallowed hard and tried to keep her chin from quivering when the other woman poured out what was left of her beer and the let her bottle fall to the hard floor in a million shards. Letting the splinters surround her feet, Dawn did not take a step back and fixed her eyes into a tight glare.
“I’m always here,” the woman said. “Care to enlighten the little slut, Cade?”
Cade rolled his head over his neck along with his eyes, and he tried to drag Dawn out of the line of the fire when she held her ground.
“I’m here to lend an ear,” Dawn said. “Some measured support. You just want to suck… something.”
The healer flashed her long, sky-blue nails just under Dawn’s eyes, and she wanted to face the woman, maybe even absorb her strike and still smile when Cade pulled her behind his back and gently pushed the so-called enemy back.
“Easy,” Cade cautioned. “She is here with me. And we have business with the Boss.”
“That a fact?” the woman scoffed. “Cause he didn’t seem all that down with you when he came back. And his sister back ain’t helping matters.”
Dawn forgot her desire to smack the woman silly, and she turned to tug on Cade’s arm and peered into his eyes.
“Think we need to get to where they are?”
“You don’t even know!” the woman cried out with a laugh. “Some fine addition she is to the fold!”
She should hit her, despite her smaller stature, Dawn felt sure that she could make the urge work to her advantage, her short nails trying to take on the appearance of claws when Cade hauled her into a corner and clasped his hands around her face.
“Let it go now,” Cade whispered. “She’s just—”
“Someone from your past?” Dawn asked.
“Dawn, I—”
“Just something else you forgot to share?” she asked. “Maybe hoped I’d never find out.”
It sounded jealous; she was jealous as she trembled in his hold. Back in Plainfield she would have flipped any man with a piece on the side off and jogged across the block beyond his building a million times until her body could think of nothing but sleep. Slip into a dream, wake up refreshed, keep her heart closer to her vest and vow to never let any man get close enough again to cause her any kind of harm.
But everything had changed.
“Can’t keep anything from you,” he said. “But it’s not a lie.”
“So you didn’t make it with Nicole,” she said. “Doesn’t mean that there weren’t others.”
“I told you as—”
“And was she one of them?”
Cade watched the woman pour a stiff drink as she lit a fresh smoke. The healer was beautiful in a hard, strange way, and she smoked as George crept closer to his side. His wounds were still fresh, and the woman lifted a spray of tissues from her pocket and dotted at the blood crossing his brow. She helped the man into the back, and Dawn had wonder if it was the one place where Nicole might be able to talk to her brother when Cade pulled her back to his side.
“Will you believe me if I said no?” Cade asked.
“Is that what you want, Cade.”
He groaned and shifted to the tips of his toes before gathering her face in his hands. Cade peered at her hard, and his breath wafted over her face. Dawn started to fall into his arms when Cade pushed her back and hung his head.
“I want you,” he said. “Let the rest of it go.”
Their lips nearly met, and Dawn was about to take in his kiss when she pulled back and asked him again if he wanted the healer in more ways than one.
“No way,” he said. “Because this is too sublime.”
Another big word, and Dawn nearly told him as much when Cade kissed her neck and his tongue worked its way towards her ear.
“This is new.”
Dawn started to swirl into his hold, and she absorbed his kiss on her cheek. She could see him as a frightened child, but his hold was more than any man. And with a man came needs…
“But this is the truth,” she said.
She started to shift away from him when Cade caught her in his arms, and his eyes burrowed into her hers.
“Truth means you, Dawn,” Cade said. “I could never want anyone this—”
“So you don’t think she’s hot? Talking about The Healer now.”
Cade looked to the woman scooping up the broken glass. His eyes seemed to sparkle at the sight of her, and Dawn felt as if she had connected the dots without wanting to when he fixed his stare on her eyes and crushed the glass between his fingers.
“Not like you,” he said. “Nothing is like you.”
“But… but did you…?”
The Healer shot him a quick wink, and Dawn started to struggle when he held her fast and kissed her mouth.
“I never told her my whole story,” Cade said. “That was just for you.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because I trust you,” he said. “What more do you want?”
Dawn felt her body wilt under his stare, and she was ready to claim his mouth and forget the party buzzing all around them when another Alpha lurched forward and gathered her under his sweating arms.
“Let’s put that that to the test!”
Lifted into the air, Dawn saw the room lined in wood and reeking of whiskey suddenly growing smaller and smaller. She reached for Cade and only faintly heard his scream when she found herself confined in a small room with a narrow bed. As soon as her feet hit the ground, Dawn sucked in a deep breath and tried to move towards the way out.
“Cade! I—”
“Don’t bother with him!” the man, Brian, laughed as he dug his fingers into her arms. She was unable to draw another breath when he pushed her into a grimy wall and went to work on his jeans.
“Who… who the hell do you think you are?” Dawn asked, as she struggled against and around his hold. “I… I saw you. But you…you weren’t in Plainfield.”
“Been out in the field,” Brian said. “Hear that you’re the type of lay that can make the worst man turn good. Want to put me to the same test?”
Before Dawn could answer, before she could say no and bat him back, she found herself pressed into a filthy mattress. The unwanted Alpha peeled off his jacket and revealed a chest adorned in all manner of scars and ink. The man’s muscles rippled as he leaned down to force his tongue into her mouth, and Dawn bit down on his lip.
“Fucking little—!”
She seized the chance and scrambled towards the door. Dawn wanted to run, but she thought of the story if she could still land it. It seemed the only part of the bargain that she could make good on. Dawn only wanted to help Cade, to hold him. All she had to do was force the door open and…
“Hold up!”
Brian dragged her back into the room by her hair, and Dawn fell to floor. She should cover her eyes and beg for mercy. But she looked up and bit down on her lip.
“Better kill me before I break out,” Dawn started. “Or Cade breaks in.”
He unspooled his belt and smacked the leather just beyond her legs.
“So he’s that into you?” Brian challenged.
“Guess you don’t know everything.”
The door started to open, and Dawn screamed for Cade. Her unwilling body came close to the other Alpha’s chest, and she struggled until Cade appeared with his knife drawn and the healer at his back.
“You let this trash in, Gloria?” Cade asked, as he jutted the tip of his blade into the air.
“Always on the list,” the healer said. “Guess I should have been smarter.”
“Sounds about right.”
Dawn managed a sneer as she was dragged deeper into the room, and she tensed when a set of fingers curled around the base of her throat.
“Think you should be more discerning, Cade, too” he said. “She’s a spy. She—”
“Stop talking!”
Charging forward, Cade wrestled the other man to the ground. His hands clenched into tight fists, and he started to rain blows on Brian’s increasingly bloodied face.
“Cade!”
Cowering in a corner, Dawn crawled closer to touch him when Gloria smacked her back and arched her eyebrows.
“Maybe you are clean,” she said. “But this is dirty.”
“Who… who is he?” Dawn asked.
“Someone that wants to stake a claim,” Gloria said. “But we should stop it right here and now, princess.”
The bodies tumbled back into the main room, and Dawn kept her eyes of Cade as all bottles were broken. However, Gloria kept a single shard between her. As Brian started to swat, she let the glass fall and crushed into his mouth for a quick kiss.
“Never should have let you back in,” she started. “You ran with the Panthers when you got scared. And you’re only back to make us pay.”
Brian, started to shake his head, and Dawn tried to crawl away from his side when the barrel of a gun made contact with her temple. She struggled for all of a second and went limp at the sound of the click of the trigger.
“Panthers just asked me if this club was a lost cause,” Brian said, as his gun burrowed deeper into her flesh. “You let in the enemy, and there’s no taking that back.”
Gloria curved her eyes in Cade’s direction, and the Alpha held his ground. He clenched the handle of his knife as his eyes began to water.
“I know… I know what she is,” Cade said. “And it’s true. Can’t say that much for you.”
“What do you think you know?” Brian asked.
Cade wore a look to kill, and he pointed the knife to Brian’s face. He could push through Dawn and make the traitor pay. Dawn almost expected as much, and she started to make peace with the unseen powers that might be when Cade lunged closer and caught hold of Brian’s collar.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Brian demanded.
“Getting you off my girl,” Cade said. “You’re not telling me anything that I don’t know about her!”
Cade tackled Brian and slammed his fist into his face. Dawn lowered her hands at the sight of the blood bursting from his lips, and she tried to take hold of Cade’s hand when he snarled again and seethed through his lips.
“Then you’re playing right into our hand,” Brian said. “She’ll turn you out for the byline at the first chance.”
Dawn stretched away from Cade. Her fingers lingered around his, but she still charged forward. Maybe she didn’t have a gun or a knife, but her rage was its own weapon, and Dawn slashed into his face.
“Fucking bitch!”
She barely gave him the chance to recover when she pressed him deeper into the ground and forced her knee to his chest.
“You got that right,” Dawn hissed. “When it comes to you.”
And she started to bat him about the head. Hate filled her heart at the thought that he assumed to know who she was and what she wanted. Leave that to Michael. And even then, she would have a very different story to tell.
“I am not out to hurt him!”
Still Dawn hit Brian harder, and she relished the feel of his blood pouring through her fingers when she felt her body being pulled away, and Cade gave her no choice but to look into his eyes.
“And I believe you,” Cade said. “But you… you still need to be careful.”
“Why is that?” Dawn asked.
“Dawn is mine,” Cade said. “No one else ever.”
Brian tried to touch Dawn again, and she hid behind Cade’s broad back when Gloria gasped.
“No! Let her go!”
“I’ll see one of these bitches down before the night it out!”
Gloria looked as if she was ready to faint as Brian’s fingers pushed deeper into her neck, and she tried to claw his hands away from her throat when Dawn tore her body away from Cade’s grasp.
“Dawn, don’t!” Cade screamed.
His voice rang in her ears, but Dawn tuned it out and focused on the real enemy. Because if Brian had thrown his lot in with the Panthers, that meant that the danger was all too real. She looked into his eyes and smiled for a second before falling into his chest.
“What’s your real deal?” Dawn asked. “Who wants to destroy him?”
Brian turned Dawn to her back, and she sighed hard under the force of his hands when Cade found the fallen knife and brought the blade to Brian’s throat.
“Answer her question,” Cade ordered. “I saw you. Always slinking around. Think you’re our friend?”
Dawn watched him bring the blade close to his throbbing vein when she recovered her senses and grabbed his hand.
“Don’t, Cade,” she said. “He’s not worth it.”
Cade nearly met her lips when the sound of Brian’s laugher tore them apart, and together they looked down at the prostrate man.
“I can still rock her hard!” Brian laughed out loud and smirked.
“So what’s the plan now, Cade?” he asked. “Maybe you turn her out so we can get a taste?”
Cade seethed as Brian kept talking.
“This other one here… Gloria…” Brian looked to the woman with tight fists, and he licked his lips as he dragged Dawn farther away.
“She won’t ante up,” Brian said. “Only wants to play like she’s an old lady.”
“Here to have fun,” Gloria said. “But you boys can’t help but trip over your own feet with so many bad choices.”
Brian laughed into Dawn’s hair, and she saw Cade looking like he wanted to kill just before the man spoke.
“But your choice is weak. And I know that she’s been writing everything down.”
Brian kissed her cheek, and Dawn struggled under his hands. She cringed without wanting to, the need to flee pressing down on her soul when she tried to meet Cade’s eyes.
I want to be with you. I want to love you. Without all…
“So how about you let me touch her,” Brian said. “Sweet thing like this is more than I can pass up”
Brian started to press her into the ground. His hands were hard around her wrists, and Dawn still struggled when she felt his weight lifted away. She savored the nothingness and clawed at the air before narrowing her eyes to see Cade pushing her would-be attacker deeper into the night. Seemed all kinds of right. He was still looking at her. Loving her.
“Cade?”
“I need to love you,” he said. “Here and now”
Cade started to kiss her lips as he turned Dawn into the stale air. She felt the small of her back smashed into the edge of a stay table. The sharp point burrowed into her flesh, but she kicked up her legs and smiled into his neck as his fingers moved up her shirt to explore her sides.
“Again?” she teased. “Insatiable much, Cade?”
“Now that’s a very big word, Dawn.”
He started to unzip, and she inched closer to his cock when he came to rest just inside her. The Alpha did not thrust as he cradled her chin in his hand.
“Long and short?” he asked as he raised his eyebrows.
“Be brief, Cade,” she breathlessly said. “I… I want you. I… I need…”
“Dawn…”
His voice trailed off as his lips came to rest against her ear, and she moaned as the warm air from his mouth drizzled around her mind.
“I can hurt you,” he started as he kissed the short locks from her perspiring face. “You can hurt me. But no one else gets to lay hands on you. And if they try, I’ll protect you.”
Dawn shifted upward into his embrace, and she threw her arms around his neck, kissing him quickly before easing away to a place where she could still feel his breath washing over her in sensuous waves.
“Now that you will keep me close, Cade,” she said, “how else will we both get what we want?”
Pushing her back into the table, her back savored the smooth surface, and Cade stroked her breasts as his cock grew larger within the waiting walls of her eager cunt. Relishing the feel of his body mingled with his lips running across her cheeks, Dawn held her hands over her head. She felt safe as his captive and had no desire to hit him now when his pace intensified. Cade’s fire filled her veins, and Dawn knew that they had to get to where the plans were being laid out. Cade should be part of that equation; she still wanted the story. But she needed this, him, first. Maybe most of all.
“We’re… we’re stronger if we stay like this,” she said. “We—”
“I concede the point.”
“Do more than that,” she pleaded.
He started to explode inside her, and Dawn pushed her fingers into his broad back. Centering her stare on his, she rocked her hips to his. In another world, in another place, she would do everything in her power to make this moment last. But now she was in search of the quick fix, and she leaned into his neck.
“You can’t help yourself, Dawn.”
She blushed as she abandoned the nibble and sheepishly hung her head.
“Only with you,” she said. “You bring out the wildcat in me.”
“Careful,” he said. “Panthers are on the other side.”
“And I’m right here,” she insisted. “On your side.”
“That’s what I want to hear.”
Cade came to a finish when a crash slammed through the air. Dawn climaxed and gripped his back, holding onto him with all of her strength as Cade whipped his head over his shoulder and growled at the noises she could not make sense of.
“What the hell?” he seethed.
“Cade!”
The man pulled out and zipped up. Dawn’s body was weakened in the wake of his lust, but she scrambled off the table and gripped his arms after dressing and shivering into the sounds of a million screams.
“Who is that?” she whispered.
“The enemy,” Cade said. “Wait here.”
“Like hell, I will.”
Cade started to argue when the sound of gunfire hit the house hard. A stray bullet made its way into the room, and Cade threw his body over hers as he tossed her to the ground. She could feel his heart pounding in her own ears as he turned her over and searched her body for any hint of a wound.
“You okay?” he asked. “You hit?”
“I… no Cade,” she said. “Everything is okay.”
“That’s a lie,” he said. “But at least…”
He kissed her mouth and helped her back to her feet. Brushing the sawdust from her, Cade retrieved his knife from his boot and started to charge forward.
“I told you that I was coming with you!” she yelled. The Alpha pushed the door open, and he barely began to object when Dawn pressed her hand to her mouth. She saw the Panthers laying waste to the clubhouse as the bullets kept flying. Ducking behind Cade’s broad back, she thought the rival crew were lousy shots and made too much noise. Windows shattered. Girls screamed. And the Alphas started to draw their own pieces when the one Dawn knew as Norman took aim in Nicole’s direction.
“And so you took this bitch back,” Norman said with a sharp smirk. “You think you’re going to make it work on her say-so?”
The girl’s brother took a slow step forward with his gun drawn, but his finger had barely curled around the trigger when Lenny leapt into the line of fire.
“Lenny!”
Nicole screamed as he took the hit, and as soon as the man fell, the room erupted into a greater state of chaos. Brian was hit. Just grazed, he still slipped down on the spot. Not feeling sad at the sight. She saw the Alphas lunge as the Panthers backed away. Dawn thought she saw a stream of blood leave Norman’s arm, but his crew hauled him into the darkness as smoke hung in the air. Every Alpha looked out for blood when something seemed to click for George, and he walked into the range of a pointed gun, and the blast smacked into his side. Dawn watched him trying to walk it away as the Panthers ran off.
And Brian lifted his gun into the air and held the club back.
“No more casualties!” he screamed. “Fucking regroup.”
Dawn felt Cade moving forward, but Reese took hold of his ankle and kept him in place.
“Listen to him,” Reese ordered.
“What the hell are you doing?” Cade demanded.
“While you were getting your rocks off or whatever, we agreed to lie low and take some time.”
Nicole pressed her hand to Lenny’s wound and screamed for help when Cade pushed Reese back and took hold of his collar.
“And that fucking worked?” he said. “We got men down. How does that fly and mean anything close to respect?”
“Cade, he—”
“No, Dawn,” he said as he shrugged her off and pressed the tip of his blade to Reese’s throat.
“No, Cade,” she said. “Calm down. “You don’t want to hurt—”
“Lenny and George down. Bullet nearly nicked you. I sure as shit want to know why.”
“Cade, just stop!”
Nicole’s wails caused him to lower the blade, and he glared hard at Reese.
“Your sister should have a say,” he said. “But we need to make a play. It’ll seem weak if we don’t.”
George lurched closer, and he lowered his gun as his lips curled up into a smirk.
“So you would have us run after them?” George challenged. “When we’re already two men down? How is that any kind of smart?”
Hating herself for agreeing, Dawn tried to ease Cade away from the other Alpha’s side, and she touched her hand to his cheek as she lowered her voice.
“He… he might have a point,” Dawn said.
“You’re agreeing with him?” Cade asked.
“I don’t want to see a bullet in you.”
Cade’s stare softened, and he lowered the knife to his side and started to take her into his arms when a fresh spray of gunfire took out what was left of the windows. Glass fell as voices lifted into frantic screams. Why the careful aims? Like George said, two men already down. Could have been the whole crew if they’d aimed a little lower. When Cade challenged George with a sharp stare, he lowered his gun.
“Fine,” he said. “So clean up duty or whatever. But I’m going to get the real boys back on the job.”
And just like that, they were alone. Cade’s stayed silent, and his breath seemed to rattle in his chest as she slowly took his hand.
“Cade, we… we should go!” she said.
“Maybe you should,” he said as he turned her around and just touched her waist. She started to sink into his hold when she looked back into his eyes and shook her head.
“No! You… you said that I… we need to stay close!”
“Not now,” Cade said. “Didn’t know it was this dangerous.”
“Cade, I can take it.”
“And I don’t want to be putting flowers on your fucking grave before time.”
She knew his losses and had no desire to add to them when the final window pane left its sill. Dawn stepped back and kept Cade in her arms when what was left of the glass rained down.
“Dawn! Run!”
“But I don’t want to leave you!”
Dawn was forced to do that much in the wake of the worry in his eyes, and her focus stayed on protecting him until she lost his bike and her world went black.