Page 59 of Tick Tock, Boom!

“We gotta move him,” Macabre said, eyes darting for our exit.

The boys kept firing, keeping the Scorpions pinned. We made it to the bikes, loaded me on the back of one while Knuckles revved up the engine.

“Hold on, brother. Don't you fucking die on us.”

My vision swam and the world tilted. But I held on. "Fuck!" I cursed, hating that I was the one to have gotten hit. I was pissed, I hadn't been thinking.

"Croak can't get away with this! Just give me one more shot!" I shouted at him as he roared the bike out of the docks. Gunfire could still be heard.

"I called for backup. Jameson will deal with him."

I let my forehead fall onto his back as the world began to spin. "I'm going to fucking fall off this thing."

Knuckles tightened his grip on my jacket as he flew down the dark roads, it all became a blur, and I wasn't sure just how much blood I was actually losing.

Did it matter?No.

Maybe it was time. Maybe I could finally see my Kitten again.

NATALIA

Iblinked into the dark, groaning as the glow of my screen lit the nightstand. It was nearly 3 a.m. I fumbled to answer my phone, already feeling anxiety growing in the pit of my stomach.

“Hello?”

“Miss Ramirez,” came the familiar gravelly voice of my boss, Dr. Hensley. “I need you at the clinic. Now.”

His tone was sharp. No greeting and no explanation.

I sat up slowly, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. “Doctor, it’s the middle of the night. I have a child that’s sleeping. Can you at least tell me what’s going on?”

“It’s urgent. No time to explain. Just get here.”

The line went dead, andI stared at the phone for a second, my eyes still blurred from sleep. Hensley wasn’t a model citizen, and the nurses who worked at the clinic knew he had his secrets. There were rumors of quiet surgeries in the middle of the night, untraceable prescriptions, men with bloody knuckles showing up through the back door and leaving without ever signing a form. But this… this was different.

I slid out of bed and quietly padded barefoot to Gabriel’s room. My little boy was curled up, fast asleep, one arm clutching his favorite stuffed toy. I leaned over him and kissed his forehead, sweeping the curls off his cheek. They were as wild and soft as his father's.

“I’ll be back soon,” I whispered.

Grabbing a pen and paper, I scribbled a note and left it on his nightstand.

Gabe, baby, I had to go to work. Call me when you wake up. I’ll be at the clinic.

I locked the door behind me, tugging my coat tight against the slight chill in the air. The streets were quiet, a little too quiet, as I drove toward the clinic. My mind ran in circles, wondering what could possibly be so urgent it couldn’t wait until morning.

By the time I pulled into the parking lot, my nerves were a tight coil in my stomach. I parked near the side entrance and barely had time to shut off the engine when the low rumble of a motorcycle split the silence.

I turned just as headlights cut through the dark. The bike skidded to a stop beside me.

Knuckles.

And behind him, barely clinging to life, was Tick Tock.

The second Knuckles tried to help him off the bike, Tick Tock slumped to the ground.

I cried out and rushed to him, hands trembling as I reached out, but the doctor was already there, pushing past me with a wheelchair, barking orders I couldn’t make out over the roaring in my ears.

I was in shock as I stood in the middle of the street not knowing whether to run or hide. Knuckles looked at me and the look of recognition in his eyes made my heart sink.

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