Page 112 of Caution to the Wind

“Considerin’ the three characters written in Sharpie on her forehead meanbetrayerorturncoatin Chinese, I’m guessin’ the motherfuckin’ Seven Song triad,” I answered grimly as we fell into line, walkin’ back to the bikes.

“Shit,” Dane cursed.

“What’re you gonna do?” Bat asked, starin’ at Mei with genuine concern. He’d met her when she was only twelve years old the night Kate died, and she’d been even more beat up than this.

“Take her home and check her out properly. Don’t think she needs the emergency room, and if we can keep the pigs outta this, we can deal with it in our own way. I’m done with bringin’ them into our shit after the fuckin’ mess they made outta The Prophet killings.”

“Shouldn’t a doctor see to her?” Dane asked.

“I was one, a lifetime ago,” I told him even though it was usually somethin’ I kept under my hat. No one save Zeus, Bat, and Smoke knew all about my history, and I liked it that way. “I can make sure she’ll be okay. But we gotta get her home.”

“We’ll follow,” Bat offered.

“I need one or both of you to teach that fucker at reception a lesson. He saw the triad fucks drag Mei behind the motel and didn’t do shit. I get this is a don’t ask, don’t tell piece of shit motel, but that does not fly when women are involved.”

“No shit,” Bat hissed, crackin’ his knuckles and sharin’ a look with Dane, who fished a pair of brass knuckles outta his back pocket. “We got you covered, brother. Get Mei home, and we’ll meet you there. I called Nova and Lion. They’ll be waitin’ for you.”

“If it wasn’t war before,” I said darkly as we round the corner into the parkin’ lot, and I saw Bat had the foresight to drive his truck while Dane drove his SUV. I moved to the truck and lay Mei in the back seat, acceptin’ the keys from Bat. “It is now.”

“But she’s not even Fallen,” Dane pointed out, not judgin’ but curious.

“No,” I agreed, swingin’ up into the Ford and lookin’ back at Mei lyin’ prone in the back seat. “But once, she was mine.”

MEI

I woke up to ringing.It was like a dozen bells bouncing through my skull cavity where my brain should have been, clangin’ against bone again and again in such a cacophony that I couldn’t think beyond it.

When I tried to clutch my head to still the noise, a long, painful groan wrenched out of my throat at the sharp ache in my ribs and the dull throb in the rest of my torso.

“Don’t move.”

I’d never been good at the whole obedience thing, so, of course, I jerked in surprise, hissed at the pain, and then tried to shove myself upright against the mountain of pillows cushioning my back because I didn’t recognize that voice.

I pried my gluey eyes open and let the spinning room settle for a second before I focused on the woman setting up an IV bag on a metal trolley beside the bed I was laid in. She was the same streaky blonde-haired biker babe who’d arrived the first night I’d spent at Axe-Man’s with Cleo. She was beautiful, like a Russian supermodel or, well, a biker babe. There wasn’t anything soft in her features or demeanour, just a cool girl edge that made me want to be like her when I grew up even though we had to be close to the same age. I mean, it had to be the middle of the night, and the girl wore a Canadian tuxedo like she’d strolled off the fucking runway.

I remembered her name was Harleigh Rose and thought that was fitting.

“Am I dreaming?” I croaked, and even the words scraping up my throat hurt. “I didn’t think I was gay, but I’m wondering if this is the start of some kind of sex dream.”

Harleigh Rose stopped what she was doing––checking my pulse against the time on herRolexwatch––and blinked at me for a second before that cold expression shattered with belly-laughter.

“Well,” she said, still chuckling. “That has to be one of the weirder things a patient has said when wakin’ from unconsciousness, but I’ll take the compliment.”

I smiled, but the movement pulled at a bandage on my lower lip and stung brightly. With a hiss, I tried to relax against the pillows. “There has to be something in the water here. All of you are so hot…and tall.”

She laughed again. “You’re not the first person to say something like that, actually.”

“How bad is it?” I murmured, unable to keep up my normal blasé façade when every inch of my body throbbed like a disco party.

She hesitated, gaze going toward the ajar door. “Bad enough you won’t be up for sex in the real world for a while.”

“Damn.”

She snickered. “Do you remember what happened?”

“Yeah.” I swallowed thickly as panic blared through me like feedback on a speaker. The feeling of the Red Pole holding me down while he and his lackeys systematically beat me wouldn’t fade for a long time. The feeling of helplessness was somehow even worse than the resulting pain from the assault.

“You better brace. The only reason Cleo and Axe-Man aren’t up here is ’cause my dad’s downstairs with half the club, and they’re fightin’ about what to do.”