Page 25 of Blade (The Dark Angel’s MC #1)

Blade

“Fucking nothing,” Axe snaps as he bangs his hand on our church table with frustration, smacking it, the brothers around wincing, knowing I’m already on edge and him falling apart will not fucking help me at all.

He’s giving up. I can see it, and so can my brothers, and it’s fucking infuriating.

He’s giving up on finding his sister, believing she’ll never be found while giving up finding the traitor in his club who tried selling his gear overpriced and tried to start wars, and somehow, we have to keep him going.

His guilt over not speaking to his sister for three months is eating him alive despite having the chef, Conner, keep an eye out for her, which is how he knew I was still seeing her.

“Whoever the traitor is will fuck up again, Axe. It’ll just take time,” Fury says, sticking with the safest option for all, not bringing Luna up and my brothers all nod in agreement while Axe scowls, not believing him and not bothering to stick with the safest option.

Axe reminds him, “It’s been five months since my sister vanished,” not allowing anyone to hide what is really pissing him off, “And five fucking months since the shit against your club halted, so tell me how in the fuck we’ll find the traitor in my club and my little sister who wasn’t stable as it was,” he shakes his head, “She was still sticking to the shit she made up years ago and if she did that with the wrong person…”

His words trail off, and I tense yet again.

This is the millionth time he’s brought this shit up, adamant that Luna lied about his VP.

Every time he brings that shit up, all I can think about is the burn marks he clearly doesn’t know about and the fact she froze seeing the fucker show up at her work, something I have told him about but he laughed it off.

Venom couldn’t find anything on Brock. Every security footage, every fucking credit report, he was squeaky clean.

If anything, he likes the strippers too much for a manager of the club, but there is nothing on footage of him hurting Luna, and nothing of him calling secret meetings with the club’s prospects.

We’re at a standstill because we were all certain he was the problem, but now, not so much.

“And right now Viper is following a lead,” Psycho also reminds him, and Axe scowls harder, pissed that Viper wouldn’t allow some of his members who are standing by the wall behind their Pres to go with him, whose seat Axe currently occupies.

Whenever we get a lead that Luna has been spotted, one of my brothers volunteers to check it out. Last week, it was me. Two weeks before that, it was Venom, and last month, it was Psycho.

They can see I’m at my breaking point and are trying to help me as much as possible so I don’t explode and go on a killing spree, but the longer I go without knowing her whereabouts, the more my blade burns in my boot.

“It won’t be her. It’s never fucking her!” Axe snaps, losing his cool, and I sigh and reply, “Viper trusts the source that contacted him, and he wouldn’t check out his own lead if he didn’t believe it meant something.”

Axe scoffs, “My sister isn’t stupid enough to run away and settle down only two hours from here.”

I shake my head at his negativity and snap, “Or maybe she’s really fucking smart because she knew we wouldn’t search that close to home?”

He pauses for a moment, then sucks in a breath, and I scoff at the idiot. I swear, the longer his sister is missing, the more idiotic he’s becoming.

“How sure are we she wasn’t the one pulling the strings?” my dad questions out of the blue, causing everyone to look at him, and I glare at him, but he puts his hands up and says, “She disappeared, and the shit stopped. It looks really fucking suspicious, and you know it, son.”

“My sister is not the fucking traitor. She never even fucking came to the club!” Axe snaps at my dad, and I sigh as Dad growls back, “Yet she lied to my son about who she really is and then fucking disappeared!”

“Fuck’s sake, here we go again,” I mutter as I lean back in my chair while my brothers argue with the five of Axe’s that he trusts.

It’s like this every fucking time we meet, which is at least once a week.

Last week it was Bear who brought up that maybe Luna was the traitor.

The week before that, fucking Venom. It’s too much of a coincidence in their eyes that everything stopped as she left, but I think a certain brother wants everyone to believe she was the problem, a brother that wants to take over.

Dad, however, has always believed she was innocent, and the fucker is itching for an argument, and it doesn't matter who with as long as they will argue back.

Between Skylar refusing to speak to him and my mother causing shit which I'm now beginning to believe is because she wants to leave him, he's a ticking time bomb.

I did get my anger from him.

My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I sigh and get it out, expecting it to be Mama.

She's back on club property, but not by choice.

Dad wasn't happy with the silent treatment from her, something I originally thought was some kind of game, but she's done nothing but call me since she got back and push herself into problems with the clubwhores and prospects.

It's like she's trying to get kicked out again, knowing Dad needs her and I'm beginning to see things through a different lens. Everything she's done is coming back bit by bit, the guilt she'll sometimes hold when she takes it too far, and the relief when I punish her and ban her from the club.

It's like Mama wants Dad to leave her.

I freeze seeing Viper’s name and my heart stops because there is no way he’s calling me this early on in his lead if he’s found her.

Fuck it’s another dead end…

“It’s Viper,” I announce to shut everyone up, and it works as they all look at me.

Axe looks ready to break coming to the realization as me while my brothers look at me with sadness.

I shake my head and answer my phone, only having it here because I know Viper would call at some point—normally, we leave them outside of church.

“Brother,” I answer with sorrow but freeze as he states, “I think I’ve found her.”

Holy fuck, holy fucking fuck!

My eyes widen, and I look at Axe in shock. He furrows his brows, and I quickly put my phone on the loudspeaker.

“What do you mean you think?” I demand, and Viper clears his throat, music blaring around him.

“I mean, she looks like the girl at the gate that day, but she’s lost a lot of weight,” he admits, and I furrow my brows as Venom asks, “Where the fuck are you, brother?” as cheering can be heard.

Viper’s quiet momentarily before admitting, “At Kitty’s Girls in Colt Town.”

“You’re fucking strippers instead of grabbing my sister?” Axe accuses while I stay quiet because it definitely isn’t like Viper to fuck around while on the job, meaning…

“No, I’m not,” Viper admits, and I tense further already coming to the realization and he confirms, “My lead had led me to the strip club where a woman that looks exactly like Luna but skinnier is working behind the bar while men working with her grope her and smacks her ass and she fucking takes it.”

My jaw ticks as I grind my back teeth, and anger hits me hard, and suddenly, I’m fucking hoping and praying it isn’t her, praying she wouldn’t put herself in danger like this.

Viper sighs and admits, “She’s also drinking like a fucking sailor.

Every time someone buys a drink, they buy her a shot, and instead of pretending to swallow it and then spit it into a beer bottle like most bartenders, she takes the shot.

I’ve been here for an hour, and she’s had at least two shots, but I’m not sure how many she’s had before that. Her shift started three hours ago.”

Men cheer in the background again, and my breathing picks up as someone snaps, “Hey, no fucking phones in the club,” before rustling can be heard, then the same voice stutters, “I-I uh, I’m sorry I didn’t realize you were a Dark Angel.”

“Fucking pansy security…” Viper mutters, then states, “Pres, she gets off in two and a half hours.”

“We’ll be there in an hour and a half,” I reply, “Fucking watch her like a hawk, Viper!”

“On it, Blade,” he replies, then hangs up, and I look over the men.

“Venom, go load the trailer on the club’s truck for Vipers bike.

You can drive it. Fury, go help. You’ll also be coming along, but stop by the medical room and grab the sedative,” I order, and both brothers stand and do as they are told.

I look at Axe and nod to his men, confirming, “These are the men you trust the most?” he nods as his brothers stand taller, and I state, “Go saddle up, we leave in five.”

He doesn’t argue. Instead, he and his men walk out. Once out of sight, I look at my dad and command lowly, “I need you and Psycho to find Brock. Something isn’t sitting right with me, it hasn’t for months.”

He nods and says, “I’ve got it. Go get your girl and get some answers.”

I knock on the table twice and round it, leaving church, not having to be asked twice.

Ready or not, princess, here I fucking come.

“Where is she?” I ask Viper as I dismount my bike an hour and thirty-five minutes later, the brothers following my lead just as the club’s truck pulls up beside us.

I broke all the fucking speed limit laws to get here as fast I could, my body telling me this is where she is.

Six months without her tight heat and only wanting her. Not that I would even look at another woman after having Luna for four months, my body finally fucking woke driving into town.

Viper winces then nods to the dingy-looking strip club, and confirms, “She’s in there," then, he looks at the trailer and asks, “Do you want me to load my bike up?” already seeing my plan.

I nod once and confirm, “Yeah, brother.”

Viper eyes the brothers, walking over before he locks on Axe’s form and asks, “Yo, Axe, does the name Lottie mean anything to you?”

I frown in confusion, and Axe tilts his head and admits, “Yeah, it’s Luna’s middle name, though she hates it with a passion. Dad wanted the name Charlotte, but Mama wouldn’t budge, and it didn’t go with Luna, so he compromised on Lottie.”

Viper winces and states, “Well, good news, I’ve definitely found Luna. The bad news, she’s currently drinking and allowing men to leer at her.”

Axe shakes his head in denial, but I ignore him and look around the parking lot.

“Uh, Pres, what uh are you doing?” Fury asks, but I ignore him as my eyes lock on my girl’s car, and I growl full of anger that she’s not only been this fucking close to ours but also that she’s putting herself in fucking danger.

“Mother fucker!” I snap, and Axe curses, seeing my line of sight and recognizing his sister's car, and I turn, storming over to the club. The security guard sees me coming and steps forward but soon moves, seeing my patch, and allows me entrance, opening the door for me.

Pansy ass!

I step inside the dingy club, flashing lights blinding me while half-naked woman showing what their mama gave them for money come to view. I only have one girl on my mind, and I lock on her form within seconds, seeing her taking a shot while some fucking lanky man leers at her with a slimy grin.

Son of...

Wearing too much fucking makeup, making her look older than she is, losing that innocent look she used to hold. A top showing way too much cleavage, and short shorts that show her ass cheeks, my girl is oblivious to the dangers surrounding her, or she just doesn’t care.

“Fuck me. What happened to my little sister?” Axe gasps, and I fist my hands, seeing how much fucking weight she’s lost, to the point you can see her hip bones through her top.

I growl seeing the fucker behind the bar with light blonde hair grope her ass while his other hand caresses her breast as he walks by her, and she doesn’t even flinch.

Has she fucked him?

“Fucking hell, you really have fallen for my sister, haven’t you?” Axe groans, seeing my death stare at the fucker, and I glare at him and snap, “Shut up!” making him smirk.

Ignoring him, I storm over to the bar, shoving people in my wake, making them grunt and gasp. As if she can feel my presence, Luna looks up, and we lock eyes. It takes everything in me to continue my path with how dead her chocolate eyes look.

What the fuck happened to my girl?

She blinks once, twice, and three times, as if unable to understand that I’m here before her mouth parts in shock, and she gasps, “Leo?”

I can’t even relish in the fact she’s used my legal name, my anger hazing over everything, and without saying a word, I lean over the bar and grip her upper arms, electricity shooting through me from our touch, and I lift her over the bar.

“Hey!” the guy who groped her shouts and tries to grab her hips, but Viper intercepts him and shoves him back and whispers something in his ear, and whatever he says has the guy stepping back with fear and locking eyes with me.

I curl my lip at the fucker, causing the crotch of his jeans to become wet, making the brothers behind me laugh, but I ignore them, and I bend slightly and throw Luna over my shoulder, then carry her out of this dump.

I’m going to fucking spank her ass for this and then, I’m either going to shout at her for lying to me then leaving or I’m going to kiss her senseless because of how much I’ve fucking missed her.

One night, it was supposed to be one fucking night, that was it, but she had me fucking hooked…