Page 67 of Crush's Fall

It was the type of relationship he had always longed for, and what drew him to the biker culture to begin with. The men weren’t always saints or as morally sound as the Howlers, but loyalty and camaraderie were almost guaranteed.

Growing up with little to no support from a family unit, it was a surprise that he would yearn to create one for himself. It was a blessing in disguise that the HDMC was decimated by the Howlers. In the end, it was the catalyst for him finding where he was supposed to be, for him findingwhohe was supposed to be with.

A cheer and the sound of women talking over each other pulled him out of his thoughts. The women were shouting at Dragon as he set a tall glass of water in front of a very tipsy Kisy.

Lucifer chuckled. Kisy could stand on her own two feet and go head-to-head with Dragon, but now she had a whole pack of bitches to back her up. That man was in for it, but Lucifer had a sneaky suspicion that Dragon loved every minute of it.

Like Lucifer, Dragon thrived on the tension, the snarkiness, the fight. Where Crush was grumpy and aggressive, Kisy was bratty and strong-willed. The outcome was the same — Their men loved trying to fuck the fight out of them. Whether they succeeded or not wasn’t important. It was all about the journey.

The next few weeks flew by. Rebel and Rock both claimed Ol’ Ladies. Rock’s claiming wasn’t a surprise. Diamond, previously known as Mary, wasn’t a new addition. The two of them had been dancing around each other since before Lucifer came to town. Rebel’s mate was a newcomer to the biker world, but she slid right on into the family like she’d always been there.

Ruby, previously known as Bri Cooke, was the town’s librarian and had been taking pole-dancing classes at Heat for exercise. Surprisingly, she hadn’t ever come across the path of any of the Howlers until Rebel saw her at the library and immediately fell for the sweet and sassy woman. She was perfect for him.

During their courtship, a group of townsfolk had banded together with the intention of pushing the Howlers and the Claws out of town, but that went over about as well as a lead balloon, especially when the idiots started vandalizing local businesses and pulling funding from the library. One of them even broke into Ruby’s townhouse and tied her up, promising to ‘cleanse’ her from being tainted by shifters. That ended with the man stabbed by Ruby and killed by Rebel when he arrived at her place in the middle of it.

The Howlers cleaned up that mess and went about organizing a carnival to raise funds to replace the rescinded donations for the library. There was no way they were letting the town bigots shut down the library just because they didn’t like who the librarian chose to love.

It was almost the weekend of the carnival when Lucifer entered the apartment and found Crush sitting at the island with several pieces of paper scattered in front of her. She had one arm bent and was leaning on her elbow with her head in her hand, looking stressed. He stopped behind her and bent his head down. Kissing the side of her neck, he asked, “What are you doing?”

“Trying to figure out who to assign where for this carnival.” She sighed. “The Howlers handled the set-up, so I volunteered to be in charge of the job assignments.”

“Can I help?”

She shook her head. “I’m almost done, but a sandwich wouldn’t be unappreciated.”

He nipped the skin he had just kissed and rounded the island to prepare his woman a sandwich. He grabbed two slices of the bakery bread from the bread box and put them in the toaster. While it did its thing, he compiled the ingredients on the counter — Turkey, ham, Colby Jack cheese, lettuce, tomato slices, pickle slices, mayonnaise, mustard, salt, pepper, and the potato chips he’d watched her layer on her sandwich the week before. After retrieving the toast and putting together the sandwich on a plate, he cut it in half and slid the plate over to her, setting a can of pop next to it.

She finished up what she was doing on the papers and piled them together. “You are an angel.”

“That’s why they call me Lucifer,” he said with a wink.

“Sure, it is,” she replied as she picked up half of the sandwich and took a bite.

He smiled when she moaned at the taste. “So, the hunter academy… is that a real threat?”

She nodded as she chewed. “We have to assume it is. Axle has a plan for the hunter they discovered in town, but that’s club business.”

Lucifer nodded. He wouldn’t push her on it. He knew how that worked. “If there’s anything I can do to help, you know you can tag me in, right?”

She winked at him and nodded as she chewed.

“I need a shower. Am I showering alone? Or should I wait for you to finish eating?”

Crush finished chewing her bite of sandwich and swallowed. “Part of the deal when I mated you, Lucy, was you never get to shower alone again.”

He grinned. “Okay. Then which one of us will spend it on our knees this time?”

Crush took another bite of her sandwich. As she chewed, she pointed a finger at him.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

A week later… Axle

Axlebroughtchurchtoorder. Once his club brothers quieted, he ran through the few things they needed to address, which didn’t take long, before he brought up Lucifer.

“I think it’s time to address the Lucifer situation.” Axle took a deep breath and exhaled, preparing himself for any arguments. Most of the members agreed with him that Lucifer had earned a prospect patch if not a full membership, but there were a few members, specifically Bullet, who had reservations.

Trip nodded. “I am willing to sponsor him.”

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