Outlaw MC Bear (15 page)

T
he almost full
moon bounced off of Silas and his top men’s cuts, making everything seem unreal. This was step one before the meetings with Giovanni and the padrino, so it was probably a good thing that around them felt different. It kept them all on their toes. They had gotten some much-needed rest, took the day to plan, and now, had just a few hours remaining to return Sabrina to Giovanni.

Silas stood beside the Ford F150 he made Axe drive into the arroyo a short distance away from the panthers’ clubhouse. The truck bed was covered by a tarp. He couldn’t wait to do the unveiling. Every time he thought about what he’d committed to do, his lips would pinch into a smile he had to keep under wraps. His crew would believe he was two cogs short of sanity if he was so happy about waging war.

He raised a hand to get their attention. “The way I see it, we know that the panthers are working with Giovanni, but there’s two things we don’t know. The first is we can’t be sure he and the padrino are as tight as he lets on. Something about that doesn’t sit well with me. Second, we don’t know whether the panthers are working with that piece of shit strictly for the cash, or if shooting us off one by one is a bonus because of their vendetta. Either way, I don’t fucking care. Now it’s time to send that little prick a message.” Pulling the tarp off the back, he smirked. “Take your pick of weapons, gentleman.”

Tate tilted his head. He was the first one to reach into the truck cab, eyeing the rocket launcher as if it might suck his dick later. “Okay. So, you fuckers know me right? You know I’m game for any and all forms of violence, but tell me something, Pres. Why aren’t we just going after Giovanni? Seems like the easiest way around all this is through.”

“You not wrong on that logic, but we have people to protect. Sending a message that backfires will not help our kin. If he’s got the padrino’s loyalty like he claims, it will crush us all later.”

Axe joined in, keeping his eyes on the darkness around their hideout in the deep crevice. “It would be fucked up if the padrino didn’t. I mean, why would he let his daughter marry that fucker? Unless…”

“Unless what?”

“What if he had some kind of leverage on the big boss?”

“It’s possible, but we’ve got no way to find out what that is, if that’s true in the first place. All the more reason to walk into that meeting with an advantage.” Silas mentally calculated what he would need from the truck bed, keeping his eye on the prospect who was now lingering a bit away from their little circle.

Cole shook his head. “The padrino would never sanction that bombing on the clubhouse. He’s old school. His taste is for going directly to the source with a head-shot style of execution.”

“Can’t argue with your logic,” Axe continued sharpening his bowie knife. “So what our plan for the panthers, Silas? They’re going to be even more pissed after we took one of their guys and chicken-sandwiched his face.”

“Follow my lead. Show your weapons but don’t use any of them unless I tell you. We’ll get it done.”

“Yes sir, captain death wish!” Tate saluted.

“Shut the fuck up with that bullshit.” Axe shoved him hard, grinning as they both snagged weapons from the pile.

One way or another it was going to be another long night. Silas led everyone up to the panthers’ clubhouse on foot, preparing himself so this mission wouldn’t be as half-cocked or messy as the one last night. This time, he had firepower for backup.

Time to light ’em up.

Do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars.

Silas signaled to his brothers with one hand, and he pressed the send button for the crucial text to the prospect who was now at the back of the clubhouse. Ten seconds later all the power to the panthers’ compound went off. Although they had a backup power generator to the central structure, the outage would keep a few of them busy for a while. The whole idea of tonight was to keep their numbers to a minimum for the mob meeting.

“Phase one complete,” Silas mumbled to himself, reaching into his hoodie pocket for his secret stash of flashbangs.

He activated them one by one and hurled the convenient little things through every window at the front until his pocket was empty. The panthers were now overwhelmed and completely disorientated. The intense sound and light of these stun grenades would be a bitch for those hyper-sensitive felines. Members were streaming out of any available exit. Some even jumped out of second story windows half-shifted. Shit was going to get bloody.

A bullet whizzed by the tip of his ear from behind him, and Silas launched himself into a stumbling crouch. His pulse pounded in his skull, blocking out all other sounds. That wasn’t supposed to happen.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” He quickly scanned his other men, then he pivoted to face the oncoming threat. His jaw ached, muscles taut as he checked the perimeter for the threat. Who the fuck could have come up behind them? Everyone was in the house. Tate, Axe and Dean had double-checked that before they took their positions.

Silas’s stomach knotted as if he’d been sucker punched. As he wasn’t sure whether some of these unseen attackers were human or not, he shot off a wild round of bullets a few feet above the inky blackness, hopefully ceasing their advance while taking out tree bark in the process. His plan had been excellent, but he failed to account for panther or ally reinforcements.

It’s probably the wolves.

Fuck, I keep leading my men into disaster.

He ducked, dodged, and weaved through bullets shooting out from across the dense brush. They’d walked right into a trap, one with a fuck ton of allies. Now he and his men were the ones out in the open getting shot off one by one. Dashing toward Cole in the midst of the action, they hid next to a storage shed off to the side of the house. His VP had a knife lodged in the ribcage of one panther member and was waving the half-dead carcass around like a giant deterrent. Silas kept the return fire off them by taking out anyone with weapons in his eye line.

“How are you making out?” Silas shouted.

“Never better, kid.” Cole was half out of breath as he nailed another unshifted panther in the gut with his fist. “But this still doesn’t look too good.”

There was movement inside the shed, and then Silas smelled it. “Cole, did any of the guys go into this shed?”

“No. Axe and Tate are over there,” he answered, pointing to one corner of the clubhouse. “And Dean is hiding behind that water tank.”

“So why do I smell another bear shifter inside?”

“Hell if I know. Want me to check it out?”

“No. I will. Can you manage these assholes on your own?”

“Hell yeah. Go ahead.”

Silas kept his head down and found his way to the front of the shed, using his AK to shoot open the heavy bolts and locks. After stepping inside, it made perfect sense that whoever was inside couldn’t get out. It was a makeshift prison cell, built with the intention of sucking up all the Arizona heat and practically frying the occupant, or at least weakening them from the unbearable temperatures. Both the door and shed frame were made of reinforced steel, and the back half of the dark space had a smaller enclosed dungeon-like room. It was so hot inside, Silas felt he’d stifle. The filth made it no easier.

Keeping his weapon at the ready, Silas took several cautious steps to the cell, and looked into the square peephole they probably also used to give food to the prisoner. It was a male bear shifter in his human form, weak and barely breathing, collapsed on the floor of the cell. The man’s wrists and ankles were shackled, and heavy chains connected all four spots to a reinforced iron ring on the floor.

“Cover your head,” Silas instructed the man before taking the revolver out of the holster at his waist. He aimed the gun at the heavily bolted door and shot out the locks, then did the same to chain attached to the leg irons and shackles on the man’s body.

The man was barely conscious, but the sound of bullets freeing him from his prison probably gave him an extra boost of energy.

“What’s your name and how come I’ve never seen you before? I know every bear shifter around here.”

“I’m not from here,” the man replied in a weak whisper. “My name is Riley. Addison Riley.”

“Well Riley, you’re in luck. Have you ever heard the saying, the enemy of my enemy is my friend? Well, that’s you tonight, friend. You’re coming with me.”

This Riley dude was too weak to move on his own, so Silas raised him over his shoulder, carrying him to the door. He had Cole signal to Tate and Axe, and they created a distraction by firing off a few rounds with their AKs in the tree line while Silas got Riley to the truck.

Silas helped him into the cab. “Keep your head down and stay out of sight until we get this little firefight under control. Oh and there’s water and beer in the cup holder. Help yourself.”

Riley nodded, stoic and frightened as hell, but in a way better state than when Silas found him a few minutes ago. Now it was time to get this fight under control again. Turning to the melee, he fought his way back to Cole’s side.

Silas kept his peripheral vision tacked to the sons of bitches that were emerging from the dense patch of brush. It was a few dozen or more of them, enough to tip the odds in the panthers’ favor. That wouldn’t be for long because the Texas charter was coming in tonight. Silas shot off a round into a pair of panthers that loped around the clubhouse, one of them dragging Tate by the foot. Fuck, that had to hurt, but Tate shook it off, kicking one of the fuckers in the head and taking out three more with the flat side of his axe.

Speaking of Axe…dude was under a massive dogpile, fighting his way free with fists, bullets, and steel. The only reason none of them had shifted was because it was so close to the full moon, which was coming tomorrow night. There had been a few instances where feral shifter would transform and not make it back to human form until the full moon passed. It was a hell of an inconvenience, so no one would willingly take the chance unless under duress. The panthers’ allies stopped shooting, but were waiting in the periphery. Silas and his crew needed their reinforcements before they ran out of juice.

“Goddamn it,” he growled, ripping into a guy’s side with his blade, pulling it out and driving it back into another one’s chest cavity. “How many more of these fuckers are there?”

“Looks like we aren’t the only ones with charter allies tonight, kid,” Cole growled. He half-shifted his hands, using his massive paws and claws to take out anything within reach that got in his way. “Sorry, boss. Time to improvise.”

The two spoke as bullets whizzed by their heads, but the panthers kept their distance now. “Do what you got to do to get out of here.”

“Who do you think that shifter prisoner is?”

“He says his name’s Riley.”

“Never heard of him.”

“Same here. We’ll need to get some info from him, but for now, he’s coming to the meeting tonight. Something tells me he’s from Giovanni’s world. His clothes were ripped, but it was those high-priced metrosexual skinny jeans and expensive custom shirt and shoes he was wearing that screamed rich kid. Anyhow, when this wraps up, I want Axe responsible for getting whatever answers we can get from the kid. Until then, let’s just keep this fight going as long as we can. There’s too many of them for us to get an advantage.”

“We’re tucking tail again?”

Silas didn’t say more, mainly because a shifted panther jumped on his back and left him eating a mouthful of sand. Pain twisted through his sternum as he caught his breath. Hot breath tickled the nape of his neck where the animal had laid its teeth. One crunch and Silas would have been out like a light, but the panther cocksucker didn’t go in for the kill. Why wasn’t the animal taking the opportunity? Too many seconds ticked by where it had its chance and didn’t take it. Enough that Silas was able to reach behind him, grab the big animal by the balls and punch its sack. He held on until the panther fell off him, making weak mewling noises. Oddly satisfying. Still Silas staggered, rubbing the back of his neck. Where were the rest of his men? Where did Cole go? His vision was blurred as he took in the chaos outside the panther clubhouse, and everything was moving too fast. None of it made sense. He felt a trickle of blood covering his right eye when he swiped at the sting with a wince. He could hear Tate and Axe at the back of the house. Cole was halfway to the main adobe structure. What the fuck?

“If you’re trying to figure out why your friends didn’t take us out too, look harder.” One of the strangers emerged from around the house lugging a rifle over his shoulder with an eerie smile warping his face. “We’re more than panther allies.”

Silas took a half-step backward, assessing the stranger but keeping him pinned in the sight of his gun. His neck still tingled and he shuddered, licking his lips. When the stranger growled, showing long fangs in the bright moonlight, Silas cringed and took three more steps backward. It was definitely the wolves, and tonight they were headed up by their most violent leader.

“Death Adder,” Silas breathed out. “So you and your dogs are allies for hire now?”

“You know how this works, Corrigan. Every club has its price,” the stranger drawled back to his fucked up, murderous smile. “We’re letting you go tonight because we don’t have trouble with your little army of bears. Me and mine are merely here to keep things kosher. A mutual friend didn’t want you to get the upper hand and take out all the panthers, so I’m here to mediate.” The man flashed his deadly, half-shifter fangs again. “Take my advice. Call off your men, get to your meeting, then you and the rest of your clan can sleep it off. There will be another day for this showdown to get serious. Not tonight.”

Silas spat at the ground and doubled his hold on his handgun. There was no question about it. His bullshit meter was flaring up. “We don’t back down so easy, Adder.”

“Didn’t you notice no one really got serious about messing with anyone from your side tonight? Why do you think that is?”

“Mind games. You’ve been toying with us…”

“And the game’s over. Leave in one piece. Those are our orders.”