Page 21 of Paladin's Hell

“Dead?” I repeat incredulously, unable to believe it.

He holds me at arm’s length, one hand smoothing my face. “What he did to you? Couldn’t be left walkin’.”

“You killed him?”

“We all had a hand in it, babe. Not one of my brothers condoned what he’d done. Prospect or not, he’d laid hands on a brother’s woman. Hands which weren’t wanted.”

It was a fucked up situation. There I was, unable to deny I wanted to be with the man who’d said he had already claimed me. A man whose father had raped me, stolen my virginity. A man who’d killed his father because of the actions he’d taken that night. On top of that, I had his brother incubating in my stomach. But somehow he wanted me, and he was going to have me, no obstacle too great to be put in his way. Hellfire proved he had a strength of character, a determination inside him that many other men didn’t have.

Fifteen years later it hadn’t surprised me that when Furnace came off his bike and was pronounced dead at the scene, that it was Hellfire who was voted in as the new president. Just like that morning when he’d solved my problems, he’d stepped up, showing his strength yet again. A force to be reckoned with, no problem too difficult to be solved.

My decision, he’d told me, about the baby. He’d stand by me either way, he’d deal with whatever road we would take. It might have been just a few cells at that moment, but being able to see a path ahead where I could keep it changed everything. I hadn’t had to explain. When Hell had placed his hand on my stomach, I knew the choice, and commitment, had been made without the need for discussion.

We married without fuss a week after I found out I was expecting. Our son, who was to become Demon, born as far as anyone else knew, a month early. I’d moved into the clubhouse the day of our wedding, surprised at my welcome, but then, Hellfire had smoothed the way. Blackie, it seemed, had been wiped out of existence, his name never mentioned, or at least, not in my hearing. The room I’d been raped in, now taken over by Furnace. I’d never stepped foot in it again.

More unexpected, I became friends with the men, quickly they’d ceased to frighten me. They might be rough and tough bikers, but in many ways, were still boys underneath, playing tricks and pranks on each other. Furnace was a good prez, Hellfire, when he’d got his chance to have his turn, even better.

Demon prospected when he turned eighteen with my blessing, like the man he knew as his father, quickly moving up through the ranks, only a few years passing before he became VP. Hellfire and Demon worked well together, were a strength to the club. Their views coinciding on most things, where they differed, each willing to listen to the other. I’d often wondered whether it was because they were brothers, not father and son.

Though that secret, Hellfire and I had agreed, we’d take with us to the grave.

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