Bear called church at first light. I was still bleary-eyed and disheveled when I got to the clubhouse, operating on no more than three hours of sleep.

“You look like dog shit.” The sharp greeting came from Mama Bear, Bear’s wife. She was a tiny little thing with a shock of spiky white hair and a hard gaze. Mama took care of us and tried to keep us in line. I kind of figured that’s what turned her hair white in the first place. As I passed her, I put a gentle hand on her shoulder and kissed her cheek. She melted beneath my touch and pressed her palm to my face.

“When’s the last time you got a shower, baby?” she asked.

I lifted my arm and stuck a nose near my armpit. She slapped my chest and rolled her eyes at me.

“If you have to check, it’s been too long,” she said.

“Sorry, Mama. Blame your old man. He’s the one who called a meeting at the crack of dawn.”

Mama stood with her hands on her hips. She wore a black tank top and faded blue jeans. In her mid-fifties, she was still built tight as a drum with hard biceps and a flat stomach. She’d been an army medic in her former life and still kept up the same fitness training.

Her son Shep walked in. He’d patched in around the same time I had. Shep gave me a nod as he leaned down to kiss his mother. She gave him similar shit about the way he smelled so I didn’t feel as bad.

“You got any clue what this one’s about?” Shep asked.

I lifted my palm. “Sheeit. If you’re in the dark too, how the hell should I know?”

“Right,” Shep said. “How’s your little field trip to Lake Meredith going?”

He had a shit-eating grin on his face and I had the urge to wipe it off. What the fuck was wrong with me? This girl had me turned around in all sorts of ways. Now I was ready to pick a fight with one of my club brothers over it.

I hadn’t said a word, but drew a laser stare from Mama Bear. Damn, she knew us all so well. A crease formed between her eyes and she reached up to smooth a lock of hair from my eyes.

“You feelin’ okay, Zig?” she asked. “You look a little flushed.”

I didn’t get the chance to answer. The door to the back room opened and Bear Bullock filled the doorframe. He was a true silverback with salt-and-pepper gray hair clubbed in the back. At fifty-five, he could still tear things up just as well as the rest of us.

“You done hen-pecking, woman?” he bellowed, his voice booming across the floor. We knew it was all for show where Mama Bear was concerned. She shot him a wicked smirk and flipped him off. Then she turned back to me and pinched my cheeks.

“Don’t mind him,” she said. “He’s old and cranky!” She emphasized the word old, garnering snickers from the rest of the guys who were already back in the conference room. Bear grumbled, sounding exactly like the grizzly bear he’d been nicknamed after.

“Get your asses in here,” he said. Mama Bear could joke off his orders, the rest of us sure as hell couldn’t.

Mama slapped Shep on the back and tousled his hair. The two of us walked into the conference room together.

Just like Bear promised, he had the whole membership assembled except for one. There was Bear and E.Z. at the head of the table as prez and V.P. Benz, our sergeant-at-arms, sat beside them. Axle, our most fearsome enforcer, stood behind his chair, gripping the back of it. He looked even more keyed up than usual. Maddox, our club treasurer, sat across from Axle. He steepled his hands beneath his chin and let out a breath as he waited for Shep and me to take our places. Shep served as road captain. I was club secretary. It was my job to record anything we wanted to stay on book for our meetings. This wasn’t a regular meeting so nothing would get written down. Deacon, our club chaplain, sat to my right. Rounding out the rest of the crew was Chase, our tail gunner, Domino, and Kade. The only one missing was Bo. He’d taken off a few weeks ago. Bear still hadn’t told us why. These men were my brothers. My family. We had all sworn the same blood oath to each other. I’d lay down my life for any one of them and knew they would for me.

Bear sat down hard and scraped his chair legs across the floor. He balled his fists and looked around the table. “You wanna fill ’em in, Kade?”

Kade had a scowl on his face that didn’t sit well with me. He was dark-haired with a deadly stare that usually earned him as much respect as the patch he wore.

“We got some more intel on what happened with Gino Sr.,” Kade said. “It wasn’t easy to parcel it out. The DiSalvo brothers are closing ranks around their mother. The damn fools think they’re protecting the old man by pretending everything’s business as usual.”

“Right,” Axle said. “And we all know how well that worked out.”

Axle’s woman had been in the crosshairs of the DiSalvo brothers earlier in the year. So far, Christine DiSalvo was having a bitch of a time keeping her sons from ruining everything Gino Sr. had built.

“He’s brain dead,” Kade said. Ice ran straight through my heart.

“Fuck,” I said. “You sure it’s that bad?”

“It wasn’t,” Kade said. “The stroke he had last year took away his speech and he couldn’t walk. But the docs thought he was still in there at least partway. But this latest thing ... it looks like somebody stuffed a pillow over his face long enough to keep him from breathing for a while. He’s never gonna wake up now.”

“Jesus,” Deacon said. “How the fuck long do they think they can keep that from getting out?”

“It’s already out,” Bear said. “That’s the problem. Christine DiSalvo’s got a real cluster fuck on her hands. Somebody’s trying to pick off the rest of her kids to shake her up. Gino’s businesses are ripe for the plucking. She can’t get a handle on this soon, it’s going to be too late.”

“Anything unusual going on down in Lake Meredith?” E.Z. leveled a stare at me. It sent a chill down my back and the reaction must have shown on my face. Deacon’s eyes widened and he mouthed something to me, asking me what was wrong.

“No,” I said; my voice came out a little too clipped. Fuck. Again with this girl. I’d been sent down there to protect her. For the moment, that seemed to carry over to the men at this table.

“Nothing unusual.” I tried again. “She’s stubborn as shit, but nothing I can’t handle.”

“See that you do,” Bear said. “I mean it. No slip-ups on this one, Zig. We can’t afford it. Our business with the DiSalvos dies if Christine gets overthrown. She’s strong enough to keep her sons under control, I think. But she’s not strong enough to fight off the rest of her husband’s family if they catch wind of how bad off he is. We need the DiSalvo kids healthy and breathing for the time being.”

“Got it,” I said. “Nobody will touch a hair on that girl’s head under my watch. You got any idea how long you’re gonna need me up in Lake Meredith?”

“Fuck.” Bear shook his head. “I sure as shit hope it won’t be much longer. We’ve got shipments of our own coming in and I can’t afford to be shorthanded. Zig, I mean it. I’m sorry to have to send you up there for this shit. I can maybe talk to Christine and convince her to let me send a few of the prospects.”

“No!” Shit. I damn near shouted it. It earned me a hard stare from Shep. I put a hand up to placate him. “No,” I said, softer. “I mean, I’ve got it handled. Plus, the girl knows me now. I won’t go so far as to say she trusts me, but I think she’s at least resigned to the idea of me. She might get spooked if we send down a new crew. She wasn’t happy about Toby filling in for me as it was.”

“Fair enough,” Bear said. “And I promise, Zig. I’ll make it up to you for this.”

I nodded at his offer and the conversation turned away from the DiSalvos. Church ended an hour after. If you’d have told me a month ago I’d find myself itching to get back to Lake Meredith to follow a spoiled college girl around, I’d have chopped your ear off. Now, sheeit. The taste of Gina’s sweet lips and her hot breath against my skin had me wired. It wasn’t good. I knew it. But I couldn’t help it. Gina was too damn easy of a target and I had a bad feeling about what could go down.

“You sure you’re okay?” Shep found me after the meeting. He squeezed my shoulder and got right in my face. I felt my jaw harden as I tried to keep him from reading anything from my expression.

“Just antsy to get back to Lake Meredith. I think your old man’s right. If something’s going to happen, it’s going to happen fast. The sooner we root out who tried to ice Gino Sr., the sooner we can get back to business as usual.”

Shep let go of me, but his eyes narrowed to slits. I wasn’t fooling him for a goddamn minute. But he respected me enough not to get on my case any harder. We walked out of the back room together. My plan was to head straight for Moose and tell him to get the plane ready. I wanted to be back in Lake Meredith as soon as possible. But Moose was already heading for me, his face white and his expression grave as he held his phone to his ear.

“We gotta motor,” Moose said, clicking off with whoever was on the other end of the line. Shit. He didn’t have to tell me. I already knew.

“Toby,” I said. “What the hell happened?”

“The girl ditched him,” Moose said. “He’s half out of his mind.”

I shot a hard look to Shep. He straightened his shoulders and muttered an obscenity under his breath. “I’ll tell Bear,” he said. “Just get up there.”

Nodding, I slapped Shep on the back and shot a look to Moose. “Let’s roll.”