Page 6 of Bandit’s Bounty (Iron Howlers MC #3)

Chapter Five

Sloane

“ Y ou sure you don't want to come with us?” I ask Raine, Bandit’s sister. I met her a few weeks ago and we’ve become fast friends. I know Bandit likes it as well since he’s shown me countless times how much it means to him that his sister and I get along.

“I'm good. I'm just going to stay here and relax. Working the night shift isn't all that grand,” she replies.

Bandit has said he knows there’s something going on with her, but she hasn’t shared, and he’s not willing to push her. Yet. Neither will I because I think she needed a soft place to land and being at home with her family is where she needs to be.

"You should totally come with us," I say, trying again to get her to come with us to the clubhouse for a barbecue. "You could meet Karsyn and Lake."

"I'm just going to catch up on some sleep," she says.

"Okay, well I can't say I didn't try." My sigh is long and heavy, which she doesn’t miss, but then again, she’s a pretty smart cookie. "Let's just hope everything goes okay and nothing happens."

"What do you think might happen?" she asks.

I take a breath then sit on the side of Raine’s bed and throw myself back, laying across one of her legs. "One of the members is a guy I used to date."

"You dated a shifter that wasn't my brother?" she asks.

"Yeah, it was a while ago. He hurt me and made me feel like I wasn't good enough. I really cared for him but didn't mean anything to him other than a booty call, I guess. I caught him screwing another woman at the clubhouse when I went to surprise him."

"Oh God," she gasps, her hand reaching out to clutch mine.

"It was humiliating. I'd gone there intending to give him a surprise I'd had for him." I look at her and can feel myself blushing at the memory. "Don't ask," I mutter before looking away once again and continuing. "He didn't follow after me. Just let me go and kept right on going with his festivities. The next day, one of their doxies filled me in on all the juicy details."

"What're doxies?" she questions.

"The club whores," I reply, sighing and sitting up once again. "If it weren't for Karsyn having just had the baby and me wanting to see him, I wouldn't go."

"I don't blame you. Just put that BS out of your mind. Bandit will be with you and he's not going to let anything happen to you. He's protective like that. I see the way he is with you, and nothing is going to happen I promise," she tells me.

She’s not wrong. Bandit ticks every single one of my boxes, which is good since I’m his mate. "Thanks," I say, getting to my feet. "Well since you're not going, I'll let you be and go find the big beast himself and see if he's about ready to head out. Maybe I can convince him to go for a long ride before he heads to the Spiked Raiders MC clubhouse."

"I don't think you'll have an issue with getting him to ride,” she teases, smirking at me.

I giggle before going in search of Bandit, ready to face the day.

The party has been a blast and Karsyn’s little one is absolutely precious, but when I pick up a scent that I remember, I feel my insides curdling. He’s here. I was hoping he wouldn’t show up, but that’s not really fair since this is his home and I’m just a guest.

Bandit, feeling me tense, leans in and says, “You’re safe, you’ll always be that way, babe.”

“I know,” I softly reply.

“Gonna grab us a drink really quick, I’ll be right back,” he promises as Dane walks up to us. I watch as he and Karsyn chit-chat for a few minutes before he looks in my direction, wishing Bandit hadn’t left me.

"You mind if I have a word with you?"

"Yeah, I fuckin' well do mind," Bandit growls, his hands tightening on my shoulders. "Back away and leave my mate alone. You fucked with her head enough."

"What do you want, Dane?" I ask, reaching up to touch Bandit's hand.

"Just wanted to apologize for how things ended with us. Shouldn't have done that to you," Dane says.

"What kind of apology is that?" Bandit sneers.

"The only kind I know how to give," Dane sneers back.

"Dane, I know what type of shifter you are. Know what you did to my woman, and I hope like fuck that when it's your turn to find a mate, she treats you as you've been known to treat women," Bandit growls.

"Bandit," I mutter, trying to intervene, but Bandit keeps right on going.

"What you did was fucked up. Knowing the type of shit you get into, how you treat women, I'd kill you for it if it weren't for the fact I know you won't be doing that shit again to my mate."

"I guess it's a good thing the clubs have an alliance now isn’t it," Dane retorts. "You're lucky I won't go against my prez and just sock you right here."

"That's enough, Dane," Karsyn snaps.

"Just was trying to apologize, little sister," Dane says to her before looking at me once again. He’s ignoring the growls coming from Bandit, which I think is somewhat daring and possibly dangerous. "Just wanted to say congratulations on finding a mate. You deserve happiness, and I'd like to be able to put the past behind us. Move on and not worry about anything."

I slide out of my seat, my mate pulling me into his arms. "I do deserve happiness, Dane, and I found it with Bandit. For your sake though, I hope when the time comes that you remember how you treated me and not do the same to her."

"Right," he replies, nodding. "I'll remember that."

"Then it's done. I'll accept your apology," I murmur.

"Good," he says. "I'm heading out. I'll see y'all later."

I watch him walk away, secure in my place with Bandit. Dane was the past and while he scorned me, Bandit has shown me what it means to be wholly desired.

“I hate how he treated you,” Bandit says as we walk through the property. The party rages on, as most seem to do whenever the two clubs get together, but Bandit felt as though I needed some time away to process my interaction with Dane.

“I won’t lie to you, Bandit, it was the worst time of my life,” I admit. “My self-worth and self-esteem were crushed, and it honestly wasn’t until one of my instructors reached out to me that I realized just how far I had spiraled to a very dark place. In my head, I was worthless, and even worse than that, he made me feel as though I was less than because I wasn’t a member of his club.”

“He simply wasn’t the one for you,” Bandit growls, tightening his hold on my hand. I grin up at him and nudge my shoulder against his in a playful manner to calm him down. He’s told me in the past that a simple touch from me mollifies both the man and the beast residing inside of him.

“While that’s true, it gave me the impetus I needed to get help so my head was on straight again,” I say. “I knew there was always a possibility I’d run into him again, and yes, I was dreading it. However, with you standing by my side, it was a lot easier for me to face him head on than I anticipated it would be whenever I thought about it.”

“I’d have ripped his throat out if he had hurt you again,” Bandit declares, his tone throaty. “Don’t fucking care that the clubs are now getting along, and it would probably cause a fucking war. You’re my mate and no one will ever hurt you again. You are and always will be my number one priority.”

“You can’t promise that, Bandit,” I softly tell him. “Because shit happens every single day and you’re not always with me to prevent the bad things from happening.”

“As long as I have breath in my body to prevent it from happening, you’re going to stay safe,” he reiterates, his pupils all but glowing as his wolf rises to the surface.

I stop and wait until he looks down at me before I reach up and cup his jaw with my hand. “You have no idea what it means for you to say this, Bandit. I’ve never really been anyone’s top priority.” He nuzzles his cheek into my palm, breathing in and out to gain control over his animalistic side. I know he can see how glassy my eyes are because I’m doing everything to hold back my tears. Plus, because his senses are so heightened, he’s more in tune with me emotionally than I want sometimes, especially when his thumbs swipe beneath my eyes to catch a few stray tears that have snuck out.

They’re not from sadness, but an overwhelming sense of joy and fulfillment that I finally have what I always longed for; someone who wants me for me , not what I can do for them or who I am in the world.

“You and any pups we have down the road will always come first with me, baby. Yes, the club is up there as well, but I’m not any kind of male if I don’t take care of the ones I love as far as I’m concerned. My mated brothers are the same way with their women.”

Did… did he just say love ? My mind stutters at that explicative word because it was such a far-fetched notion as far as where my love life was concerned, I didn’t expect it at all. Granted, he’s a shifter and now that he’s mate claimed me, I’ll turn as well eventually, so I guess it’s to be expected, but still, hearing it fall from his lips, the ones that can gently caress me one minute then torment me until I’m writhing in pleasure-filled agony the next, has opened up my thoughts to that possibility that we’ll actually fall in love. It won’t just be a fate thing, an obligation he has to endure since he’s a shifter who found his mate.

“Kiss me, Bandit,” I breathily whisper, suddenly needing that intimate connection with him.

I know there are women out there who feel sex is an intimate act, and while I don’t disagree with them, to me, kissing brings a level of closeness between a couple beyond a quick romp between the sheets. While I wait for Bandit’s lips to descend onto mine, it dawns on me that Dane always eschewed kissing, as if he was unwilling to open himself up to the natural closeness that typically develops from such a close act, which should’ve been an indicator that things weren’t what they seemed between the two of us.

However, thoughts of Dane evaporate the second Bandit’s lips hit mine and I’m soon lost in a haze of sensation and longing that has me practically wrapped around him, my core pressed against his rigid erection. I find myself wishing we were in our space so we could get naked, which I must somehow telepathically communicate because I feel Bandit chuckling.

“Babe, keep that up and we’re gonna be finding the nearest tree for me to fuck you against,” he rumbles out, his wolf peering at me.

“Would that be a bad thing?” I tease, suddenly onboard with his plan.

“You know, now that I think about it, I like it,” he replies, pulling me into his arms before he strides over to a grove of trees. “Since I don’t want your skin to be ripped to shreds, I’ll lean against the tree and let you ride me.”

Best. Idea. Ever.