Page 38 of Crush's Fall

Crush faced the woods, ready to defend her crew, but the shooting ceased. Eight men, wearing leather cuts, stepped out from the tree line and stopped.

The one in the middle looked like he was having the time of his life if the light in his eyes and the grin on his face was anything to go by. His hair was shaggy around his craggy, bearded face. “Give yourself up, and we’ll leave your members alone,” he said. He either spotted her president patch or knew who she was. Taking her out would have the most effect on the Claws and would put them at a disadvantage. The fuckers were strategic and were playing the long game.

Crush didn’t trust him for a second. “Get them out of here, Pinky,” she repeated.

“I need a car.”

Lace moaned and tried to reach for her pocket. Crush didn’t dare look back to see what was happening. Then Pinky said, “Awesome, Lace.” There was more moaning and some grunting. “Boss, her car is one car past you. I have the keys.” The words were said low enough that she could hear it with her shifter hearing, but the assholes wouldn’t be able to.

Crush started marching forward, slowly, praying Pinky would get Lace and Nails into Lace’s car and out of the lot before the men started firing again. She was surprised when the men let her club sisters go without any further resistance. The men just watched with their guns pointed at them.

As soon as her girls were gone, Crush darted for her bike, which was parked closer to the men than to her. She was almost to it when she was tackled by at least two men. A third man kicked her gun out of her hand.

As she struggled to get the men off of her, another man walked up and looked down at her. His patch saidCraggy Bastard.Through a chuckle, he said, “Stop fighting.” Then another man stuck her in the arm with a needle, and seconds later, Crush could feel her tiger begin to fade.

Kisy

In an abandoned office building on the edge of town, Kisy glared at her captors as they tied Crush and Pixie to some office chairs. Thinking about how she even ended up in this position drove her nuts.

It was her fault. When she got the text from Dragon to head to the clubhouse as soon as possible, she had told the rest of the employees to head home on a paid leave. One of her coworkers, Sarah, waited to walk out with her, even though Kisy had insisted she go. When they walked outside, there were five bikers, wearing cuts that didn’t have the Howlers or the Claws patches.

Kisy instantly stopped in her tracks. Sarah had been distracted while she dug her keys out of her bag, leaving her vulnerable. They grabbed Sarah and held a gun to her head.

“Take her,” one of them said, pointing to Kisy. “She’s one of their Ol’ Ladies. We might be able to use her. Have this one set off the bomb.” He nodded toward Sarah.

Bomb?Kisy didn’t know what they were talking about, but she knew they were the enemies that Dragon was worried about. If they thought she’d go without a fight, they were fucking wrong. While they were discussing what they were going to do, she slipped her hand into her bag and pulled out a can of pepper spray.

She was only able to catch two of them in the eyes before being disarmed. One of them grabbed Kisy, holding her arms behind her as another was still holding a gun to her coworker’s head while she sobbed and begged to be let go. The last biker took her bag and pulled out her keys.

“You are the reason she’s about to die,” he said to Kisy as he pointed at Sarah.

Even as Kisy fought to get free and yelled at all of them, they dragged Sarah to the car and forced her in. One of the men turned their gun on Kisy and ordered Sarah to start the car. As she fumbled with the keys, the bikers quickly backed away from the car.

Kisy kept yelling at Sarah to not do it and to let them kill her, but she wasn’t listening. She was running on fear. Kisy prayed that they were somehow wrong and there was no bomb, but as soon as Sarah turned the key, the car exploded.

Feeling the heat from the blast, Kisy cried out for Sarah and for the Howlers. She knew they’d come for her, and they would put themselves in danger to try to save her. But what shook her to her core was how easy it would have been for her to be the one to come out to the car and turn the key, expecting to drive to the compound. Her life had been saved by a few minutes of convincing her employees to leave early.

Was it saved? Or were they just going to kill her when it was most damaging to the Howlers?

A few moments later, a car pulled up to the edge of the building, far away from her burning car, and the bikers forced her into the backseat. Kisy fought them the entire car ride, but she hadn’t managed to get away. Then they forced her into an office building across town.

From what she could see as they entered the lobby, the two floors were open, with the walkways, balconies, and stairs in full view of the entire building. Around the open center were cubicles on both floors. Judging by the dust on all the flat surfaces and trash strewn across the floor, the building had been empty for a while. There were desk chairs tipped over and desks shoved into strange positions. The only area that seems to be mostly free of trash was the staircase.

The men practically dragged Kisy up the stairs because there was no way she was going willingly. Once on the second floor, they tied her up to a metal handrail that ran along the top of a glass railing that lined the interior balcony.

Pixie and Crush were about five yards from her and were being tied to visitor office chairs, the kind they lined lobbies with. As the men finished tying them up, Kisy met Crush’s gaze and winked.

Crush gave her a confused but curious look, and Kisy just waited. Once the men figured the women were secure, they walked off to the side and began talking. There was a group of eight bikers, but a few others had been there and left. She wasn’t sure how many were in Warden’s Pass, but she counted eleven total who had passed through the office space since she had been brought there.

Kisy remembered Dragon mentioning how good the hearing of shifters was and figured she’d give it a try to get a message to Crush. While the men were talking, and not paying close attention to them, Kisy said in a low tone, “I can get out of the ropes.”

Crush nodded.

She didn’t want to reveal her cards too quickly, though, so she waited. Maybe twenty minutes later, the majority of the bikers left, leaving three men to watch the women. When one of them got a little too close to Pixie and put his hand to her baby bump, Kisy bit back her words of disgust and went to work on the knots securing her hands to the handrail.

It didn’t take long for her to loosen them enough to pull her hands out. While the other two were smoking over by the stairs, looking at something on a phone, Kisy got to her feet and walked over. She stood next to the handsy biker. After a moment, she said, “You know Pike will kill you for touching her, but he’ll cut your hands off first.”

The man jumped back and loudly cursed. Then she was grabbed and dragged back to the handrail. The other bikers came over and helped him tie her back up.

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