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PROLOGUE

CY

Two Years Ago . . .

“Everything okay, Cy?”

Staring at my cousin, who’s more like a sister to me, I hate that I’m about to hurt her. Growing up, the two of us have always been tight. Our parents raised us as single parents, and they raised us the best they could without the help of others. Well, those outside of the club.

My dad, being a member of the club, had his brothers, and as such, they took on both Rebel and me. We were raised in the club, and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

Except that years ago, shit went down with Rebel. If it wasn’t for me, she’d have cut ties completely. But I’d been able to talk her into being the club’s attorney once she finished law school. Even I’ve got to admit, my cousin is hell on wheels in a courtroom. Not that long ago, I saw her in action, and damn, I couldn’t be prouder.

Now I’ve got to share something that’s gonna hurt.

Moving farther into the room, I take a seat in one of the plush chairs in front of her dark oak desk. “Rebel, I’ve got some news I need to share with you.”

“What is it?” The question is one of caution as she sets her pen down. The woman is always working. I don’t know how she manages it, but somehow, she does.

Clearing my throat, I lean forward, brace my elbows on my knees, and hold her gaze. “This isn’t easy for me to say, Rebel, but Rogue’s been severely injured.” The look that crosses my cousin’s face guts me, and I’ve gotta give her even more. “It’s bad, sweetheart. You need to go to him. We don’t know if he’ll make it or not. Right now, they’ve put him into a medically induced coma.”

“What happened?” Rebel whispers. The tears shimmering in her eyes that kills me.

“Can’t tell you too many of the details, but I can say he was shot twice. One in the shoulder, where he’s lucky the bullet didn’t hit an artery. The other bullet was a gut wound. They ended up having to take out his spleen and do some damage control.”

Hell, Rogue had been lucky to survive the ambush we encountered. He nearly died, as it were, because we’d gone to help our allies with a problem.

I watch as Rebel nods and gets to her feet, hands going to either side of her head while she thinks. Growing up, I’d seen her do this more than a few times. Mostly, it’s when she was trying to focus and work through her emotions.

Seeing Rebel snag her keys from her purse, I know what she’s going to try to do, and I’m not about to let her drive in the state she’s in.

Jumping out of my seat, I move quickly to her, wrap an arm around her, and snatch the keys out of her hand.

“I’ll drive.”

I give her a look that shows her there’s no room for arguing with me.

Rebel nods and starts walking toward reception. She stops at her receptionist’s desk and clears her throat. “I need you to call and reschedule the rest of my appointments for this week.”

“What?” the receptionist balks, glancing between the two of us, brows furrowed. “There’s no way I can push all of your appointments back.”

Rebel looks ready to blow, and it seems I’m going to have to run interference. I would anyway, considering the bitch behind the reception desk should only have to take one look at my cousin to know not to argue. More than that, she shouldn’t talk back about this shit in the first place. If your boss tells you to do something, you damn well do it.

“Easy, sweetheart,” I murmur to Rebel, not wanting her to get herself more worked up than she already is. Then I switch my attention to the other woman. “You’re done here. Get the hell out.”

“You can’t fire me.” The bitch has the never to scoff and flips a hand through her hair.

Seriously?

Could the woman be any more dense?

“I can and will, bitch.” Stepping closer, I lean in just a bit. “Now, get your shit and get out.”

The receptionist’s eyes widen, looking like she is about to piss herself. It didn’t matter to me if she did or not. As long as she got the hell out of there, which she did.

“Cy, what am I going to do about all my appointments? We have to go. I don’t have time to handle all of this as well.” Rebel’s voice grows more intense. Knowing her the way I do, she’s on the verge of a panic attack.

“I got it covered, Rebel,” I tell her and pull out my phone while ushering Rebel to the door. We don’t have time to waste with this.

“How do you have it covered?” Rebel snaps, eyes growing sharp.

“Babe, you know who I am. I’ve always got it covered.” And I did. Never did I not have something like this I couldn’t fix. Just sucks that I’m not able to fix the bullet holes in Rogue. “Now get in the passenger seat and take a breath.” I search her key ring for the key I’m looking for while watching Rebel move to the passenger side and climb in.

Locking up the doors to my cousin’s office, I dial Malice’s number. With Hammer down in Florida already, he’s going to be the one who can help with this situation. It’s a good thing I left the spare key to Rebel’s office he’ll need in my room.

Holding my phone up to my ear, I make quick work of getting to the driver’s side of Rebel’s Jeep Renegade. The damn woman refuses to switch from Jeep products. Her first vehicle was a Jeep Cherokee, which still sits at my pop’s house. I’m surprised she hasn’t bought a Wrangler yet.

“You tell Rebel?” Malice asks as soon as he picks up.

“Yeah,” I confirm, “we’re heading out from here.”

“Good, Hammer just called. Nothing’s changed,” Malice states, updating me on Rogue.

Fuck. He’s gotta make it through this. Rogue isn’t just a brother to me, he’s my best fucking friend, and I can’t lose him. This whole situation guts me that he’s hurt. Sure, I know he’s a pro at what he does for the club when it’s called for his skills, but dammit, if I lose Rogue, I lose Rebel.

Whether my cousin wants to admit it or not, they’re meant to be together. It’s time for them to fix what’s been broken between the two of them.

Opening the driver’s side door, I slide in behind the wheel. “Can you get one of the ol’ ladies to go over to Rebel’s office and reschedule all of her appointments? Make sure that everything is in order. I don’t know what her receptionist did, but from the glance at Rebel’s calendar on the desk, it was slammed packed.”

“Yeah, I’ll see if Avery and Willow can go over there,” Malice says. “Anything else you need from them?”

“Have them find Rebel a competent receptionist who can do the job without attitude?” I start the vehicle and glance at my cousin to see her already in a ball. Her head rests on her knees as she stares out the passenger window.

Motherfucker. She’s already gone into her head.

“Got it,” he says. “I’ll get them on it now.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it, VP.” Ending the call, I back out of the parking spot and put the car in drive. It’s going to be a long-ass drive to get to Rogue.