Page 39 of Crush's Fall

Kisy met Crush’s gaze and was treated to a slight smile and a nod of appreciation.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Lucifer

Luciferhadjuststeppedout of the bathroom at the clubhouse when he came to a halt at the sight of Axle, Skull, and Trip standing in the hallway, obviously waiting for him. The expressions on their faces told him to brace himself, because he wasn’t going to like what they had to say.

“What?” The question came out as a demand, and he didn’t give a fuck.

The way things were going down, anything could have happened, but he was pretty damn sure it wasn’t that someone won the motherfucking lottery. Hell, there were explosions at Axle’s house and at two of the club’s businesses. Dragon was in lockdown in the basement because he found Kisy’s car blown to hell and charred outside one of the businesses, and there were fucking human remains inside. And Georgia…Fuck. The only reason she was a target was because she was Axle’s sister-in-law. Her mate, Emerson, watched her get in her car, turn the ignition, and get blown up. They had only been married for a few weeks and were getting ready to go off to college. Talk about a life cut short way too soon. Lucifer wouldn’t be surprised if Emerson never recovered.

Whatever the three of them had to say to him, he would rather they got it over with. He didn’t even want to imagine what it could be. The possibilities were too terrifying and the fact that they were coming to him in that manner meant that it was personal to him, which reduced those options down to a few horrifying possibilities.

“They took her,” Axle said, quietly.

Lucifer stepped forward and came face to face with Axle, staring the man down. “Who. Took. Who?”

Axle winced but didn’t back down. He met Lucifer’s hard stare and answered, “The Hell’s Dogs took Crush, and we don’t know where yet.”

He staggered back a step, feeling the words like a body blow. The rage and fear that instantly filled him swirled in his gut, picking up momentum like a fucking tornado. Opening his mouth, he let out a gut-wrenching yell. His throat raw, his body on fire with rage, Lucifer turned and pulled back his arm, but when he swung forward, he hit the palm of Trip’s hand, instead of the wall where he was aiming.

“If you have a broken hand, you can’t use it to pull the trigger when we find the motherfuckers who took your woman,” Trip said, low.

“Find. Her.” He was panting with rage and panic, but he needed to pull himself together. Trip was right. He had a mission now and needed to focus on it.

Crush

If Crush had to guess, the bikers holding them captive were worried their location had been leaked or compromised. It was the only reason she could think of for them to switch locations. They left Kisy tied up back at the office building, but Crush wasn’t worried about her. Kisy was resourceful, which is how she managed to get out of her bounds numerous times, right under the noses of the kidnappers. She’d find her way out.

When Crush saw where they brought her and Pixie, she was pissed. If they hurt Bobby just so they could use Bobby’s Bar as a place to torture them, Crush would kill them with her bare claws and enjoy stringing their intestines up like Christmas lights.

Bobby’s Bar was a staple in their lives. The owner, Bobby, had been a friend to the clubs for years, especially to the Howlers. Hell, half of the Ol’ Ladies and a couple of the Claws had worked at Bobby’s Bar, at one point or another.

She told one of her kidnappers, Rage, as much as he manhandled her through the back door of the building and down the hall to the main room of the bar. Seeing Bobby sitting on the floor in front of the bar, Crush took a calming breath. He looked scared and quite pissed, but he also looked unharmed.

“Let him go,” she ordered on a growl, attempting to intimidate the man in the only way she could at that moment.

Rage rolled his eyes. “I know you can’t shift, bitch.”

That fucking shot they gave her had prevented her from shifting, but it hadn’t suppressed many of the other shifter-given skills. Her strength was dimmed, but not completely gone. Her eyesight and her hearing were perfectly fine, which is how she was still able to hear Dragon’s howl of despair earlier when it was obvious Kisy and Pixie hadn’t heard it. She wasn’t quite sure what happened to cause it, but she could guess that it had something to do with Kisy being taken.

It had to be the Variulisis they were warned of — a shifting blocker that had adverse effects on a shifter over time if they were given repeated doses of it. No one knew how long the drug stayed in your system, or at least, no one knew and had been willing to share that information with them.

“That doesn’t mean I can’t kill you with my bare hands.” Crush turned and got in his face. “Uncuff me, and we’ll take care of this.”

“Not a chance,” Rage replied, a smile growing on his face. “How’s my nephew? Heard he rushed in to save my boys.”

Holy shit!Crush took a step back and stared at him. Could it be? She studied his facial features, and it only took her a moment to see it. Fuck! Rage was the biological uncle of Rebel, a Howlers MC member. What had they done to him to get him to join the HDMC? Better question — how was he okay with trying to eliminate a club his nephew was a member of?

“Yeah, that’s right. Looks like the pretty kitty is finally catching on.” Using her shock against her, Rage swung his leg around and knocked her legs out from under her. Once she was on the ground, he forced her over next to Bobby and ordered, “Now, don’t be a fucking problem, or I’ll have to kill you.”

“Let Bobby and Pixie go, and I won’t put up a fight,” she promised. She knew it wouldn’t work, but she had to try.

“I’m not letting an Ol’ Lady go,” Rage stated, and let out a belly laugh. “I’m not that fucking stupid. She’s more valuable than you are.”

“The Howlers will not negotiate with you. They will kill you for even looking at her with the wrong expression on your face. But fine, just let Bobby go.”

Rage stared at her for a long moment. Then he asked, “How do I know he won’t just run to the Howlers and tell them where we are?”

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