Page 31 of Crush's Fall

“I know I’m a woman, Axle, but that doesn’t mean I’m incapable of common sense.”

Axle looked over at her and raised an eyebrow. “You’re crankier than usual.”

Crush flipped him off. “We’re facing war. It’s likely that we won’t make it out of this without damage. That makes me cranky.”

“Lucifer doesn’t have anything to do with your bad mood? I heard you turned him away, and he told you he was going to Heat then.” He watched as her jaw clenched and her grip on the handlebar tightened. Axle lowered his voice so only she could hear and said, “He didn’t go. He went to Bobby’s and got hammered. Bobby called, and I sent Rock to go get him. He’s sleeping it off in his room at the compound.”

She gave a slight nod and tried to hide her sigh of relief.

“What are you waiting for?”

Crush’s head turned sharply, and she glared at him. She opened her mouth, no doubt to lay into him about minding his own damn business, but she clamped her mouth shut when Pike and Nails approached.

“Vix, Ivy, and Ginger are going to guard the room. Shortcake is going to run the desk. She filled in when Mama Hen went on vacation.”

“And I called Rex. I assumed you wanted him involved in this,” Pike informed Axle.

Axle nodded. Pike knew him well, so Axle didn’t take offense to his assumptions.

“Well… let’s hope we aren’t letting roosters into Mama Hen’s house,” Crush deadpanned.

Axle and Pike snorted laughs at the corny joke. Nails just grinned and shook her head.

Crush

Standing in the clubhouse, Crush cursed under her breath when she saw Pumps sidle up to Dragon’s side and put her hand to his chest. That shit was not going to go over well with the woman who had spent most of the evening eye-fucking Dragon. Kisy may be a human, but she was feisty, and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize Dragon had all but claimed her.

In a blink, Kisy was across the room and shoving Pumps away from Dragon. “Hands fucking off, Bitch!”

Fuck!

Pumps caught herself on a table and straightened on her usual ridiculously high heels before she turned a glare on Kisy.

Right or wrong, Crush and the Claws backed up Pumps by lining up behind her, ready to jump in if anyone else joined the fray.

Crush wasn’t at all surprised when the Ol’ Ladies did the same behind Kisy. Whether or not Dragon claimed her was irrelevant in their eyes. Kisy was already one of them.

A hiss cut through the room, and Crush knew things were inching awfully close to the edge of no return. That was confirmed when Pumps’s eyes began to glow, and her fangs slid down.

“Bring it, bitch,” Kisy taunted and readied herself. Crush had to admit she was impressed. Kisy wasn’t about to back down, and that took some motherfucking balls as a human facing off with a pissed off shifter.

“Kisy,” Dragon began, but he shut up when she turned a glare on him.

“No fangs or claws,” Axle stated. “Crush, tell her.”

Crush let out a deep sigh, knowing Axle was right. “She’s human, Pumps. Fair fight.”

Pumps snarled, but she retracted the fangs before she took a step toward Kisy. “I’m about to teach you not to put your hands on people.”

“When you learn that fucking lesson, I might listen. In the meantime, I’m going to teach you what the fuck happens when a bitch thinks she can put her hands on my man.” Then Kisy launched herself at Pumps, tackling her to the ground, taking down a few Claws in the process.

Crush rolled her eyes before she went about helping her sisters back to their feet. Shit was about to get real if they didn’t get control of the situation, but first, she needed to get the other women out of the way.

Before Pumps could get her wits about her, Kisy held her down with a hand to her throat. Fisting her other hand, she swung repeatedly, hitting Pumps in the eye, the jaw, the nose. Pumps grabbed a hold of Kisy’s face and was pushing her back, while her other hand tried to block Kisy’s blows.

Something crunched under Kisy’s fist just as Dragon wrapped his arms around her waist and yanked her off of Pumps.

“Let me go,” Kisy shouted and futilely fought to get free.

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