Bella leaned back against the brick building and eyeballed the man who was obviously a biker but not wearing any colors. He had pulled into Baldwin Pawn’s lot a few minutes before in a piece of shit van of the multi-color variety. As in the van had been wrecked and been patched back together with parts of several other pieces of shit vans.

Hurry the fuck up.

Though, she said it silently, she really wanted to shout it in the direction of that asshole. Her leather jacket wasn’t warm enough to allow her to brave the elements for any length of time, especially during December in Pennsylvania.

Shit, this fucker was slow as he dug through the back of the van.

Two days ago, when her and the girls stopped in Baldwin to talk to the pawn shop owner, he’d been very cooperative. Since it was now Knights territory, she should’ve given them a heads up, but she hadn’t. And she wasn’t planning to, either.

If she told her plans to the Knights’ enforcer, Magnum, he was sure to call Diesel and snitch on her. And she was determined to get the stolen toys back from those fuckers.

All she needed to do was find out where they were being kept. Then she could formulate a plan to steal back what toys remained.

She was sure both Axel and Diesel would be supportive of her idea. She snorted.

And that’s why she wasn’t giving them a head’s up, either. If she did, the PD would go riding in like the Calvary, then seize the toys as evidence until after Christmas, which would do the needy families no good. Or D and his crew would just go in and create chaos. This needed to be a stealth operation. There was no way she was letting those nomads get away with stealing shit. Not on her watch.

She also didn’t tell the women she’d be coming back to Baldwin to “hang” out and hope that the Warrior, who had been stopping in every couple of days with new merchandise, would show up.

She also had to trust that Jewel hadn’t told D anything they learned the other day.

Bella pushed away from the wall as the Warrior finally pulled a box from the back of the van and kicked the door closed with his boot.

She moved past him, avoiding eye contact as she went back to her car. The shop owner said he’d purchase any toys that the nomad club brought in and then donate them back to Toys to Tots, and that Bella could stop back next week to pick up anything he bought.

As she climbed into her Challenger, she wondered where else the fuckers were selling the stolen goods.

The earth would be a better place if the Warriors didn’t exist, but she’d leave that to D’s crew to deal with. Right now, she had to find out where the stolen toys were.

Bella sat in her idling car with the heat blasting for ten minutes until the asshole came back out of the shop, sans the box of toys. When he finally pulled out of the lot in the van, she rolled out to follow the vehicle.

Good thing somebody had a leaky valve gasket. The smoke rolling out of the exhaust pipe helped her track him from a distance without being spotted. She only hoped the dickhead headed back to wherever he was stashing the toys.

The Warrior headed north out of Baldwin toward the city of Pittsburgh and she made sure that she stayed far enough behind him where she could keep track of him, but not close enough to get made.

When the vehicle turned right, she went straight, then sped around the block, coming out a few streets down. They were no longer in Baldwin but another town nearby that she’d never been in before named Whitehall. Luckily, she spotted the van up ahead and began to trail him again.

When the van pulled into a driveway of an abandoned house—it had to be, because no one in their right mind would live in a house with busted out windows in winter—she pulled over to the curb quickly, parking behind another car.

Shoving the shifter into park, she leaned toward the windshield, watching as the dirt bag biker entered the house. Now, she just needed to wait until he left so she could enter the house and see if her loot was in there.

She hoped to hell it was...

Her heart skipped a beat, and she squeaked in surprise when her door was ripped open and a big body filled the opening. At first, she thought it was Diesel but as a bald head popped into her doorway, there was no doubt it wasn’t. The massive man, a hell of a lot darker than D, was pissed. And that was putting it mildly.

“Move over to the passenger seat,” he barked.

Fuck!

“Magnum,” she pleaded, gripping her steering wheel tighter.

“No fuckin’ lip, woman. Get into the passenger seat now before we’re spotted.”

With a grumble and a last reluctant glance toward the house, she awkwardly climbed over the center console and ended up on her knees on the passenger seat, while Magnum jammed his bulk into her driver’s seat, shoved the seat back, and slammed the door shut.

His head spun toward her like he was possessed. “What the fuck, woman?” His shouting was way too loud in the now much smaller interior of her Dodge.

“I was just—”

“Just!” he barked. “Just? Just nothin’. Fuckin’ first of all, you’re in Knights territory without an invite or permission. Second, you’re fuckin’ up what we’re tryin’ to find out with those rat bastards. Had that shit under control an’ you almost fucked it up.”

“I—”

“I nothin’. Takin’ you directly to Diesel. Fucker’s gonna be pissed.”

Shiiiiit. “You don’t need to do that. I can head home myself.”

He shook his dark head, the gold skull earring in his ear flashing as he did so. “No fuckin’ way. In our house now. Gonna make sure you get outta here in one piece. Fuckin’ Warriors would like nothin’ better than to snag your ass an’ torture the fuck outta you like your other sisters.”

He shoved her car into reverse and backed down the street into a side alley, then he shoved it into drive and smashed the gas pedal down. Squealing the tires and fishtailing, he tore out of town toward Shadow Valley.

“What the fuck you thinkin’?”

She had a feeling she would be asked that several more times before the day was over. “I’m getting those toys back. They aren’t going to get away with that shit. Stealing from kids!”

“No shit! Said we’re workin’ on it. Ain’t a woman’s job.”

Bella sighed as he drove her car balls to the wall down the road. “Can you slow down?”

He only grunted, which she assumed meant “fuck you.”

“Do you know if they’re storing them in that house?”

No answer.

Jesus, he was like a black version of Diesel. Just what the world needed: two grunting meatheads.

“If they are, are you planning on going in and getting them back?” she asked.

Bella’s answer was silence. No, that wasn’t true. It was Magnum turning up her stereo to drown out her questions. She reached over and turned the volume back down.

“Hey, don’t be turnin’ down Black Sabbath.”

“My car. My rules,” she muttered as the sign welcoming visitors to Shadow Valley whipped past them in a blur.

Magnum opened his mouth to bark something at her, but closed it quickly and flicked his gaze up to the rearview mirror. “Fuck,” he grumbled.

Flashing lights and a screaming siren chased them down the road. Bella glanced over her seat to the SVPD cruiser following on their tail at the same high rate of speed. She turned to Magnum, “Going to pull over?”

He grunted.

“If I were you, I’d pull over,” she suggested. “Like soon before this turns into a pursuit.”

He grunted again and mumbled something under his breath before yanking the car over to the side of the road and hitting the brakes. Bella braced in case the cop behind them couldn’t stop in time and rear-ended the car she loved so much.

As it was, the cop had to lock up his brakes and swerve over quickly to park at an angle behind her Dodge.

“Let me do the talking,” Bella suggested, hoping Magnum wouldn’t be a complete asshole to a cop she might know.

Magnum cocked a brow at her.

When she twisted in her seat, she saw exactly who was getting out of the cruiser.

“Oh fuck,” she whispered, making Magnum check the rearview mirror a little closer.

“Know him?”

Bella closed her eyes and sighed. Did she ever.

Axel approached the driver’s side door, and it was hard to miss his surprised face morphing into what she could only describe as dark and angry when he saw who was behind the wheel. He rapped his knuckle on the window and pointed his finger to the ground. “Roll it down,” he ordered.

“Fuckin’ pig,” Magnum muttered under his breath but hit the power window button. No one said a word until the whir of the window silenced.

Then Axel took a step back from the car and bent over to shoot Bella a look. And it wasn’t a good one. “Thought it was your car. There a reason why someone else is driving it?”

Magnum opened his mouth, but Bella quickly squeezed his thick, muscular arm. A move Axel caught if the sharp turndown of lips was any indication.

“Just giving Magnum a ride,” she kept her voice light and as innocent sounding as possible. Like she normally went on joy rides with members of other MC’s.

“Magnum.” Axel repeated.

“Gotta problem with my name, cop?”

Bella squeezed Magnum’s arm tighter.

Axel’s frown deepened. “Looks like he’s giving you a ride instead.”

“You know how these guys are about having a woman drive them.”

It was Axel’s turn to grunt his answer. Ignoring Magnum, he caught Bella’s gaze. “Are you okay?”

“Don’t she fuckin’ look okay?”

“Bella?” Axel asked, shifting in an attempt to look past Magnum’s bulk.

She sighed. “No, I’m not okay. He’s taking me to Diesel and I don’t want to go.”

Magnum’s arm tensed under her hand and she released him.

“So, he’s taking you somewhere against your will?”

Oh fuck.

“No, takin’ her back where she’ll get a lesson about stickin’ her nose where it don’t belong.”

Axel blinked and then tilted his head like a dog whose curiosity had been peaked. “And where was that?”

Magnum stared forward through the windshield and ignored him.

Axel straightened and stepped closer again. “Okay then. Need your license.”

Magnum twisted his neck to look at her. “See what happens when bitches meddle? Shit. Shit happens.”

“Are you going to give me your license or do I need to call for backup?”

Totally ignoring Axel’s question, Magnum asked her, “This your prez’s brother?”

“Yeah,” she muttered.

Magnum scratched his chin in thought but didn’t reach for his license.

“You have a license?” Axel asked him.

“Fuck! You were driving my car without a license?” Bella shouted then whacked him in the arm.

He grunted and frowned at her. “Got a license, just suspended.”

Axel held out his hand. “Let me see it.”

“Don’t got it on me.”

“Out of the car.”

Magnum cocked an eyebrow at Axel. “Want me to get out.”

“Yep. Step out.”

Axel stepped back a couple steps as Magnum opened her driver’s door and untangled himself from the seat. Once he was out, Bella could only see him from his ass down. She wondered if Axel was now wishing he called for backup.

Bella scrambled out of the passenger side to see Axel escorting Magnum back to his car.

“Are you arresting him?” she yelled.

“Just putting him in the back of my car while I run him for warrants,” Axel yelled back over his shoulder.

“Oh fuck,” Bella mumbled. D was going to kill her. If Magnum had warrants, Axel was going to arrest the Sergeant at Arms of their ally and she would be blamed for it.

She jogged after Axel. “Do you have to do that?”

Axel stopped Magnum at the front of his marked car. “Hands on the hood. Legs spread... Back farther. Just going to pat you down for weapons.”

Surprisingly, Magnum complied without argument. He probably knew the drill very well.

“Are you sure?” she asked Axel as he patted the bigger man down, checking his waistband for anything that could hurt him or illegal items.

“Bella, get back in your car.”

“But—”

“Bella,” he said in a bossy cop voice. “Get back in your car.” He opened the back door of his cruiser, placed a hand on Magnum’s head and guided the large man into his back seat.

“You have warrants?” she asked Magnum.

“Fuck no,” he grunted before Axel slammed the back door shut.

Oh, thank fuck.

“See? No warrants,” she said to Axel as he moved up to the driver’s side door of the cruiser. “You can let him go now.”

Instead of getting into his car, he locked the doors, grabbed her elbow and escorted her back to her Dodge.

“Are you crazy?” he asked a little too loudly, then dropped his voice low. “You’re driving around with... No. A Dark Knight is driving you around in your car. What the fuck, Bella?”

“It wasn’t my choice.”

“So, should I charge him with kidnapping?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

“Just let him out.”

He shook his head like he couldn’t believe she just asked him that. “I’m going to take him back to the station and one of his guys can pick him up there. Now you won’t have to go to Diesel.”

“You’re not going to arrest him?”

“As long as he doesn’t have warrants.”

“What about his license?”

“I’ll give him a citation for driving on a suspended license.”

Relief flowed through Bella.

Axel’s gaze bounced from his patrol car back to her. “Want to explain how this all came to be?”

“Not really.”

He cupped her cheek and tilted her face up to him. “Bella, I love you, but it’s this shit that I was talking about. Bet that guy has a record as long as my arm. And he was driving your car like it was stolen on a suspended license. Or so he says.”

Since she couldn’t argue with any of that she asked instead, “Got anything on the stolen toys?”

He blinked at the change in subject. “No, not yet.”

“Right.” If she waited for the PD to find them, they’d all be sold by then.

“Go home, Bella. Whatever trouble you were looking to get into, just don’t.”

“Who said I was looking to get into anything?”

His eyebrows shot up his forehead. “If ol’ Magnum there is taking you to Diesel to teach you a lesson about sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong... then...”

Yeah, that.

She lifted her palms up in surrender. “Fine. Going to go home.”

His blue eyes narrowed. “Right. Don’t make me swing by later to check.”

She turned away from him and got into her car, having to adjust the seat so she could reach the pedals again. “No need to check up on me,” she said before slamming the door closed.

She powered up her window and watched his chest heave in the side mirror. He was probably sighing in frustration. Then he shook his head and headed back to his cruiser.

She couldn’t resist watching his ass in the mirror as his long strides took him quickly back to his patrol car.

As soon as the traffic was clear, she pulled back out and headed toward home.

When she finally couldn’t see his police car in her rearview, she took a sharp right on the next side street and headed back to Whitehall.