Chapter 5
Ace
I remembered the warehouse well. I was standing exactly where I was standing the last time we were here, except this time, it was more than just the three of us. Hunter had sent twenty-six of the Club members with me, and I was armed and ready to invade.
I never went in for a war without saying a prayer, and my brothers respected me for it. So now, I stood with my eyes closed and my head hanging down as I said a silent prayer to God. The cubs needed to be rescued, and my brothers needed to walk out of there with their lives intact.
From inside the warehouse, we could hear sounds of the ongoing fight. By day, this place wouldn’t have caught anybody’s attention. It looked like any other derelict, abandoned warehouse from the area, but right now, it was thumping with metal music and the loud cheers of people inside, with every punch that a shifter took.
I clenched my fists, gritted my teeth and tipped my head at Daredevil. Hunter had given me the order to lead the raid, and so I took the first step.
We burst into the warehouse, our guns in the air. A quick survey of the place told me that at least eighty percent of the Claws were in the place and there were also some faces that I didn’t recognize. Ahead, in the clearing, the ring had been set up as before, and two cubs were lunging at each other. Blood was coursing down to their whiskers, turning them unrecognizable.
The Claws turned to us, while I stood at the head of my Club. The music continued playing in the background, but the cheers had died down. Despite the fact that the Claws outnumbered us, we had the element of surprise on our side. A lot of them, I was hoping, would not be armed or prepared for the bloodbath I was going to rain on them.
I fired the first shot into the crowd, and the men growled.
Daredevil, Beasty, and Jordan were by my side as we plunged ourselves into the depths of the Claws. We fired as much as we could, there were wounded men on the floor before my gun was knocked out of my hands. One of them had come up from behind, wound his arm around my neck and was in the process of crushing my windpipe. I clawed at his arm, elbowing his gut till his grip weakened. He was pulled away from me, and when I whipped around, I saw Beasty standing there, grinning.
No gun? No problem, I ripped off my shirt and pants and felt the familiar change coming on me. I saw a man off to my left do the same. Go ahead idiot, my lions can crush your wolf any day of the week. My bones cracked and my claws protruded from my fingers. I shook out my mane as my paws hit the floor. My tail swished as I stood between Beasty and some Claw members who hadn’t been smart enough to shift yet.
Someone came at him, and I jumped, forcing the weight of my body on him till I had him pinned to the ground. I clawed his arm and then knocked his head against the ground. He was knocked out cold, his jaw hanging loose.
Another man tried to get close to me and I growled as I took a swing and missed. He was quick, but I was faster. I was glaring into the eyes of a Claws member with a scar right across his face. He was sporting a mad smile like he was enjoying it. Nobody was enjoying this as much as I was. I was on a mission, and he had no idea. I was trained to be a fighter in a ring just like this one.
I leaped at him and wrapped my paws around his weak body. I smelled him, a human. He lay down on the ground panting. I couldn’t understand why the Claws would let a human into their Club. Especially a wolf dominated Club.
“What do you guys want?” he growled out at me when I stood over him. Beasty grabbed his collar with both his hands and lifted him off the ground.
“All these kids go free, or you all are dead,” Beasty said and knocked his forehead against the human’s. The force made him jerk back to the ground, where his head hit the concrete, and he was out cold.
I looked around me. My brothers were neck and neck with the Claws. Some of them still had their guns in their hands while some of the others had changed and were fighting wolves and a few bears. I growled and sprinted towards the two guys who were holding Jordan by the neck.
I ripped them off him, throwing them to the ground with my teeth. I saw the blood on the floor, I knew it was theirs, I could taste it in my mouth. They both shrieked, holding their wounds. When Jordan and my eyes met, he tipped his head in acknowledgment.
That was when I saw her.
She was sitting on a chair, guarded by two men on either side, with her eyes fixed on me. In the first few moments, I was surprised to see a woman in this place. And then, I was confused by her role here. She was sitting calmly enough, except that her body was shuddering when I looked more closely. I could barely keep an eye on her, while men fought and struggled in front of me, but I had already started rushing towards her. Ducking under punches and walking through bullets that somehow missed me each time.
I couldn’t focus on anything but her.
She was in a pair of tight gray jeans with slits on the knees where they were frayed. A tight crop top the color of dusty roses, which revealed a slender torso and a flat belly. She was petite and yet curvaceous at the same time, and her breasts were large, stretching the material of her top tightly. Her hair was long and luscious and brown, falling in messy waves around her shoulders. Some time ago, she might have had perfect makeup on, but now it was running down her cheeks. Mascara mixed with eye shadow and smudged pink lipstick around plump pouty lips.
It had taken me several seconds to recognize her, but when I did, I had forgotten everything else.
What was Elena doing here?
I never thought I’d see her again.
xxx
I watched in horror as Elena parted her lips. She had recognized me too; I didn’t think I was still recognizable. That skinny, malnourished boy had turned into a formidable lion with a long mane. But she saw me, and she was using her eyes to warn me about something.
I didn’t care if she didn’t want me getting any closer to her. There was no way that I wasn’t going to get her out of this place. I knew instantly that she was being kept captive. I could see it from the panic ridden eyes of the assholes that were standing beside her, keeping guard.
They saw me when I was finally, only a few feet away from her.
“Back the fuck off. We are not a part of the Claws. Leave us out of this shit,” one of the guys said and stepped in front of her.
“Ace! Go! Don’t come near me!” I heard Elena scream and it only boiled my blood more.
I roared so loud that Elena covered her ears and the two guys looked at each other. They came at me at the same time, coordinated in their actions and I put myself on them. One of them punched me in the stomach while I grabbed the other one’s neck with my teeth. When I went down to the floor, I took him with me. He wouldn’t last long with that wound.
The other one’s boot was over my face, coming at me but I rolled away. When I jumped up, I sprang at him again, catching him by surprise and I fell to the ground with him. I clawed at his skin, these two just became my prey.
When I looked up, Elena was standing up from her chair, her hands were clasped to her mouth, and there was terror in her eyes. I stumbled as I got up from over the guy I had knocked out. Cries and gunshots and grunts were raging around us as I moved towards her.
With every step I took, Elena’s eyes grew larger. She dragged her hands away from her mouth, and I saw that her lips were still parted. It was like time was standing still, and we were the only two people in that warehouse. I saw her gulp, something like a smile fluttered at the edge of her lips. Her breasts were rising and falling, and I was close enough to touch her.
But I stopped. I knew nothing about her anymore. I didn’t even know what she was doing here. Maybe I had made a mistake; maybe she wasn’t their prisoner, maybe she didn’t need to be rescued.
“Ace…” she breathed my name out in a whisper as I stared at her.
“I was kidnapped,” she cried and threw herself onto the floor in front of me. Elena fell against my body and I almost couldn’t contain how happy my lion was. I felt like this was another one of my dreams…that she wasn’t there. But maybe it was a nightmare because she was crying and she was hurt. I’d noticed the bruise on her jaw.
“Ace!” I heard Daredevil’s voice behind us and I ran back to where I dropped my clothes. I changed back into human form as he spoke. I noticed a few other Roarin’ Rebels doing the same. We got dressed quickly, our eyes still scanning for more predators.
“We have most of them. We can get the cubs out now,” Daredevil told me, and we nodded at each other.
“How are we going to do it?” I asked him, and I saw Daredevil’s gaze drift to Elena, but only for a moment, he was looking at me again.
“The boys and I can take care of it here; you can leave if you need to be somewhere else. Get her out of here?” Daredevil said, and I heard the knowing tone in his voice. He had no idea who Elena was, but he had noticed the way she melted against my lion. Out of all the pride members who would understand, it was Daredevil. Not too long ago, he had to save Melody from captivity as well.
I tipped my head at him and then turned to Elena.
“Let’s get you out of here,” I said to her, and she took in a deep breath.
We ran through the dimly lit warehouse, jumping over knocked out bodies and ducking every time we heard a bullet ringing in the air. I covered her head with my arms as I guided her out towards the open exit of the warehouse. I didn’t care about what was happening, even though coming here had been my plan and I should have been back there with my pride, getting the cubs out.
I would have been the first one to put my life at risk here, and I had, but now that I had seen Elena, nothing else mattered but her safety.
We burst through the exit and into the night air. In the distance, I could hear the rumble of motorcycles. Some of the Claws who had managed to escape were making a run for it.
“Where are we going to go, Ace?” she asked me and I turned to her. We were both panting, both relieved to have made it out of there.
“To my place,” I said and still holding her hand, I led her towards my parked Harley. I only let her go when I had her seated safely on the back of my bike. I could sense her eyes on me, watching my every move.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” I heard her whisper in the dark as I took my place in front of her.