Page 43 of Crush's Fall

Axle

Once everyone was close and listening, Axle laid out the plan. “The champions are luring the assholes to the field at the Aikman Farm. We’re going to hide out in the woods. Once they have them there and engaged, we’re going to close them in and take them out. Sound good?”

The room erupted in howls and roars.

“Great. We’ll park our bikes on the hiking trail a mile down the road. Lira’s been keeping me updated. If we head out now, we should have just enough time to get our bikes hidden and hike through the woods. Mount up!”

Axle noticed Crush stop Ginger from following the others out and begin a conversation. She motioned over Vixen.

Leaving her to give the orders she needed to give to her club, Axle looked around. He saw Dragon and Kisy talking to his dad as they walked out of the room. Dragon had his arm around Kisy and looked at ease, but Axle knew better. Dragon was not okay with Kisy going along, but he knew that fighting his woman would be useless. That woman was a force to be reckoned with, and while she frustrated the hell out of him, Axle admired her. The look on Griff’s face said he did, too. His slight smile was a rare sight, but whatever Kisy was saying had brought it out of the old burly wolf.

Still dealing with his injured arm, Striker was staying behind as well with Rock at the apartment building. Axle hated that they were losing Lace for so many reasons. Most of all of those reasons were Rock and their kids. It was going to hit them hard.

Axle didn’t allow his brain to go near what Emerson was going through or what it would do to Gorgeous when he shared the news about Georgia. It would hit her the same way reality was hitting Rock and Emerson.

He hoped this was the last day he’d have to share news like that, but he doubted it would be.

With a resigned sigh, Axle headed out to join his club and lead them to the war that had the very real possibility of hurting or killing his family.

Lucifer

That shit was insane, Lucifer thought as he rode back to the compound with the rest of the Howlers and the Claws after their side had decimated the Hell’s Dogs and their allies in battle. He knew about shifters. He knew about the champions, and the fact that there were other creatures out there — Vampires, other kinds of shifters, witches, etc. He even knew Ordys was a motherfucking dragon, but it was one thing to know it, and it was another thing to see it. When the big dark green beast opened his jaws and shot fire out, Lucifer was struck dumb for a hot minute. It was terrifying and awe-inspiring all at the same time.

It wasn’t as if he stood around and just watched the shifters and others work, but he caught enough glimpses of them in action to get a good picture of the force they were working with. He was fucking glad he was on their side.

Seeing the injured and the dead was something he wasn’t prepared for, though. He had thought of the Howlers and the Claws as family for months now, but that was solidified in his brain when his heart broke for each and every injury. He didn’t want any of them to feel an ounce of pain. Lucifer couldn’t imagine being morein. Patched member or not, he was one of them. He would fight for them, again and again, stand by them, defend them. They were Lucifer’s family, and they would continue to be, no matter what Crush decided.

Crush…Fuck. Axle had filled him in on the injections and what it could mean for Crush. The truth was they weren’t sure of the full effect yet. They were working with limited knowledge and a whole lot of hope. He couldn’t imagine Crush without her tiger, though. Even never having seen her shift, he knew her tiger was an integral part of who she was as a person. If that was taken away from her, Lucifer feared the effect it would have.

He meant what he said to her, though. She had a decision to make, and while he wouldn’t demand an answer right away, he would before too long. They had dead to honor and bury, and brothers and sisters to take care of and heal. Lucifer suspected they also had a town to address and police to deal with after the events of the day. No, he wouldn’t demand an answer right away, but there would come a time when she would need to make that decision and stick with it.

If she chose to set him free, Lucifer wasn’t sure how he was going to continue to be around her without having the possibility of being with her, but he’d figure it out. He wasn’t giving up his new friends, his new family, his new home just because he was rejected, even if that rejection came from the woman he felt was meant to walk at his side.

Turning onto the street of the compound, Lucifer swallowed down the lump that had formed in his throat. He wouldn’t spend the next however long it took her to decide being an emotional basket case, either. He was a fucking man, for fuck’s sake.

When he rode into the parking lot of the clubhouse and parked with all the others, he looked over and saw Crush coming out of the front door. She walked over to Axle, but her eyes were glued to him.

He gave her a wink to let her know he was okay before he got off his bike and headed for his room. Lucifer needed privacy to process the hellscape that had been his day.

The next morning… Crush

The Howlers and the Claws were scheduled to meet up with Lira and the champions the next morning. They decided on the farm since the police were still holding off on questioning them. Crush didn’t know how Axle swung that, but she was sure Hawkin had something to do with it.

The world had learned that shifters were a real thing, between videos that the Hell’s Dogs had released as well as Dragon running through the streets in his wolf form with glowing eyes when he thought Kisy had died. Most people in the world thought the videos were edited, but the police in Warden’s Pass couldn’t discount what multiple witnesses had told them about the wolf with glowing green eyes. They weren’t sure how to handle the Howlers and the Claws, suspecting that there were more than just the one shifter, since they also weren’t sure they would be able to overpower or control them. Or at least that was Crush’s guess as to why they weren’t pressing the issue for interviews and interrogations.

When they pulled up at the farm, Crush was shocked. The large field behind the farmhouse looked like it had been tilled and ready for planting. It wasn’t the scorched-by-dragon-fire ground that Axle had told her to expect. There was no lingering evidence of a battle or even a disturbance.

Crush and the uninjured Claws joined the Howlers and champions at the edge of the field.

“Okay. So, this is the message from the gods,” Lira began, “The world has learned of shifters, thanks to those fucking videos HDMC put out before they killed the feral shifters they were using. Rebel took out the lone survivor, right?” She looked over at Rebel, who nodded. “But those videos are not being brushed off as altered. Because of that, we are offering to station a group of champions here, if you would like. I suspect a lot of visitors to Warden’s Pass — some curious, some excited, some with nefarious goals.”

Axle looked over at Crush. Then he shook his head. “You’re welcome to station a group here, but this is our town. We will protect it.”

Lira gave a nod. “Consider it backup.”

Crush narrowed her eyes as she looked at Lira. “You know more than you’re telling us.”

“I can only give you what the gods have permitted me to,” Lira confirmed without actually confirming.

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