Three hours of sleep after the day and night I had, is not nearly enough. Reaching for my phone, I decide to call Ward. I feel bad for ignoring him all day yesterday, especially since when he left we weren’t on good terms. His phone rings a few times and I’m surprised when he answers, and his voice is groggy. My heart starts to race, beating rapidly inside of my chest, images of him and clubwhores flying around in my mind.

“Hey,” I say, clearing my throat.

He grunts. “Hey, baby. What the fuck happened yesterday?” His words are harsh, but his tone is gentle, soft, and almost sweet.

Closing my eyes, I tell him about the construction workers, and Traci being alone. I explain that Gracie kept Easton overnight and I worked until the bar closed, then I cleaned it and then I came home and passed out for only three hours.

“You’re taking today off, right?” he practically growls.

I smile, wishing he were here so that I could see his frowny face and the way his blue eyes spark when he’s irritated. “I have to talk to Ginger, see what she says. I really don’t want to go back in today, or tonight for that matter. I missed Easton, and I’m exhausted,” I admit.

“Ginger doesn’t give you the answer you like, let me know,” he mumbles.

I laugh softly. “Are you going to bully her into giving me the day off?” I ask.

He snorts. “Fuck no. I will, however, tell Snake to send a prospect over for the day.” I blink.

That is a great idea, why didn’t me and Traci think of that last night when we were running around ragged and completely swamped?

“That’s a really good idea, Ward,” I say, pressing my lips together and rolling them back and forth.

“Never said I was dumb, baby,” he chuckles. “We’re good, right?” he asks after a few seconds of silence.

I sigh, letting out a breath. “Yeah, we’re good. I’m going to try and not let my past dictate our future,” I admit.

He clears his throat, and I hold my breath waiting for him to say something. “We’ll get our shit together, baby. It’s just going to take some time. I need to not be as hard on you, either. Wish I didn’t have to be gone so long,” he groans, changing the subject.

I bite the corner of my lip, debating on asking him if he was with a whore or not. It isn’t my place, and he can do as he wishes. I know the rules, but that doesn’t mean that I want him with anybody else. Pinching my eyes closed, I try not to say anything, I really really try.

“Were you with anyone last night?” I blurt out, failing at my attempt to keep my mouth shut. It lasted all of five seconds. When he doesn’t reply right away, I start to ramble. “You don’t have to tell me, and I know I have no right to ask. It’s stupid of me. I’m sorry,” I ramble.

“Baby, I told you. Whatever you want to ask me, you fucking ask me. I was offered a night with two women,” he admits. My stomach sinks as my heart fills my throat, practically choking me. “I came to bed alone. I didn’t touch either of them. I’m not going to ruin your trust like that, babe. We got work to do, but you and Easton are more important than throwaway pussy.”

“Ward.”

I imagine him shaking his head, then he speaks. “You’re wearing my mark, baby. You’re mine, and I’m not going to fuck that shit up on purpose.”

“I love you,” I state.

He hums. “Love you too, baby. Go pick up our boy. Have a nice quiet day at home. I have a meeting I gotta get to. I’ll call you later, yeah?”

“Yeah,” I breathe.

The phone goes dead, but my smile widens and takes over my entire face. We’re good, everything is great between us and I’m excited again for the future. It feels like we’re on a constant roller coaster, but honestly, I think we’re just working out our kinks. Every relationship has them, ours are just a little bigger than others, our baggage more intense than other people’s.

My smile is unbreakable as I slide out of bed, hurrying toward the bathroom and quickly shower, then change. Slipping my phone into my back pocket, I lock my front door and practically skip down the street toward Gracie’s house.

I’m only a few houses down from mine when I feel a prickling sensation on my back like I’m being watched. Turning around, I look to see if anybody is sitting on their porches or anything, but there isn’t.

Frowning, I continue toward Gracie’s, but that sensation doesn’t fade, it only intensifies. Picking up my speed, I move my feet a bit faster, glancing back behind me and finding nobody there as my heart picks up its pace as well.

Something isn’t right, but I don’t see anyone. It’s scary, and it reminds me of the time I was taken from Montana. I felt like I was being watched for days, and I was. Every fucking move I made, I had eyes on me. It was only when Lucifer left on a two-day run and didn’t take me with him that the people who had been watching, finally snatched me.

I begin to sweat, my body feeling that urge to hide taking over. I lost the sense of flight or fight a long time ago. I have the urge to hide and survive now. I’m like a damn ostrich, hiding my head in the sand in hopes that if I can’t see them, then they assuredly cannot see me.

Sprinting up Gracie’s walkway and porch, I bang on her door a little louder than I need to. She wrenches the door open, looking past me before she looks into my eyes.

“What happened?” she shouts.

Slipping past her, I walk into the house and let out a breath. “I don’t know. I felt like I was being watched my entire walk over here,” I exhale, trying to catch my breath. “It was probably just me being paranoid,” I say, shaking my head.

Gracie’s eyes narrow and she shakes her head. “Don’t do that, Hayden,” she murmurs.

“Do what?”

She hums. “Downplay your instincts. I doubt it was nothing. You’ve been walking to and from the bar to here a million times and never felt that way. You’re marked and claimed now, which puts a gigantic target right here on your chest,” she says, placing her hand right where Crooner’s name is scrawled.

“I didn’t see anyone, though. I think I’m just overreacting a little because Crooner’s gone,” I shrug.

Gracie purses her lips together, her eyes narrowing. She doesn’t believe me, and frankly, I don’t believe myself, but she doesn’t say anything else about it.

She changes the subject and tells me all about Easton, and their night together. Apparently, he was fantastic, fell right to sleep, and didn’t make a peep until this morning.

I thank Gracie and give her a hug before I leave with Easton in my arms. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay here. I could make us some lunch?” she offers.

“You’ve done enough. I promise we’ll be okay.” I wave as I walk down the stairs.

I don’t look back, worried that I’ll see her concerned face and rush back inside. By the time me and Easton are home, I’m not surprised to see a motorcycle parked in my driveway. What does surprise me is that Snake is the man leaning against it.

“Hey there, Hayden,” he offers gently.

He’s always been very sweet and gentle with me, and while I appreciate it, I know he’s that way because he knows more details about my past than anybody else.

I offer him a smile and wave as I walk closer toward him. “Gracie said she was a little concerned, said you felt like you were being watched,” he explains as he follows behind me into the house.

“On the way to her house, I had a weird feeling, but it was gone by the time I left,” I shrug.

I can feel Snake’s assessing gaze directly on me, but I avoid his eyes contact. He grunts. “You going to work today?” he asks, changing the subject.

“I don’t know, I worked all night,” I sigh.

He chuckles. “Traci called and told us everything. I’m sending over a prospect and a clubgirl to help her out tonight, and every night until these guys are gone, or until Ginger can hire some more help. Give her a call, she said she was planning on being down there to open today. She figured you’d be dead on your feet.”

I nod, I am dead on my feet, that’s the most accurate description of how I feel right about now. “Okay, I’ll call her.”

He lifts his chin and starts to walk away from me, pausing with his hand on the front door knob. He turns his head, his lips tipping into a smile and his eyes focused on my chest.

“Glad to see you and Crooner got all worked out, and are together,” he winks then walks out of my house without allowing me to say a word.

Although I’m not sure what I would even say, except, I’m glad too.

Gathering in Fury’s office, I don’t sit down, choosing to lean against the side of the wall instead. My phone is burning a hole in my pocket. I want to call Hayden, maybe even FaceTime with Easton. It’s only been a couple of days, but I miss both of their faces.

“All right, I briefed Dirty, and Sniper on what you told me yesterday. Do you have any ideas on the layout, on how many men you’ll need, or how to breach their security?” Fury asks.

Free scrubs his hand over his face, he looks haggard as fuck and probably didn’t sleep at all last night.

“They have video security all around the roads leading to the compound. They are surrounded by chain-link and razor wire. There’s an entrance gate, but we never got close enough to see it. There are also sniper towers placed every fifty yards. They are not fucking around, and they do not want anybody in there,” Free explains.

“Fuck,” Sniper curses.

Clearing my throat, all eyes turn to me. “We need men, we need a serious fuckin’ plan, and we need technology know how,” I explain.

Fury snorts, but doesn’t speak, he looks over to Sniper who runs his fingers through his beard. If anybody will know what kind of military plan we need, it’ll be him. He leans back in his chair and lifts his chin to Fury.

“I think we’re going to need to contact Torch on this one. He’s the bomb expert. If we can’t figure out a way to get in without being seen, he might need to create an entrance for us.”

“There’s a lot of women and children there,” Free sighs.

Sniper grunts. “None of us wants to hurt an innocent, but we have to remember that these women and kids are probably fuckin’ brainwashed,” he shakes his head, lifting his eyes and meeting each of our gazes before he speaks again. “We have to stay on alert, and there are going to be casualties. That’s what happens in war.”

I run my hand through my hair, tugging on the ends before moving to wrap my fingers around the back of my neck. “Of course, we don’t want any casualties, but we also know sometimes shit happens. Our goal is to get as many Old Ladies and kids outta there as possible.”

Fury nods. “Agreed. Let’s conference call my Pops.”

He doesn’t wait another minute, he puts his phone on speaker and calls MadDog in California, the president of the original charter. If there is a man who can amass a force of men, it will be him.

MadDog answers on the third ring and Fury doesn’t waste a second before telling him exactly what we have going on. He agrees, we need Torch, we need a mass of men and we need a tech wizard. He also says that he’s going to call the presidents of the other charters to collect men, that we’ll plan to roll out in six weeks, and the meeting point will be our clubhouse in Canada.

“I’ll have a couple of tech guys by then. I just have to find them, probably pull them from other clubs. More heads are better than one on this shit,” he growls.

Every other man in the room makes a sound of agreement, including me. I want to get this shit handled in one go. The more bodies to fight, the better. Six weeks seems like it’s too far away, yet by the time I return back to my club, it will be right around the corner.

Another trip I’m going to have to take, leaving Hayden and Easton. Goddamn, I didn’t think this shit was going to be this hard. I’ve cared about her for almost two years and left at least a dozen times for days, sometimes weeks, but I’ve never felt this ache before from being away from them. As soon as I claimed her, everything shifted.

Fury ends the call and leans back in his chair, his blue eyes scanning each of us before he speaks. “This war is going to be goddamn ugly, but you know what? It’s necessary. I’m sick of these fucks, and any women and kids that we can save, it will be worth it in the end, even if it’s only a handful.”

We all lift our chins in agreement. “Now, let’s get this other shit handled, so we can focus on the new task at hand.”

We all adjourn from his office and head out to his warehouse. Now we have other shit to wrap up, and the sooner I get this done, the sooner I can get home to my woman.