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Raven

I could strangle her—no, scratch that—I am going to strangle her when I find her. How could she do this? How could she be so foolish? Running off on her own to find some man she knows nothing about . . . Dammit, Nix!

I get it; she felt some strange curiosity after Mom told us more about our sperm donor. Our lives became a puzzle with holes that needed to be filled. Still, how could Phoenix do something so stupid?

Every curse word imaginable has gone through my mind on this drive to fucking Arizona. I swear, the second I see my sister, she's going to get a piece of my mind. I love her to death, but this has to be one of the dumbest things she's ever done. She took off, leaving only a note behind, going on and on about how she needed to find out more about the man who fathered us.

Fuck. That.

If Elias West gave a damn about our mother or anything that happened to her, he never would have left. That should be everything Phoenix needs to know about the jackass. If, by some chance, he gives Nix the time of day, I'm sure it won't last. Nothing does with men like that.

Lucky for her, I got off work early and found her note as soon as I got home. She shouldn't have much of a head start on me, but I can't help but worry. If things are going the way I expect they are, and she's in some kind of trouble . . .

Well, I have a plan for that. It's sitting in my backseat, ready to go if I need it. No one fucks with my family. No one.

I recheck the GPS, hoping nothing is wrong. I speed along the highway to the last place Phoenix was, according to her phone tracker. At least she didn't deactivate that. Maybe she did so as a precaution, in case things went sour on her little adventure.

Fuck, I can't think like that.

Everything will be fine. I'll find Phoenix, get her the hell out of Arizona, away from Elias and his gang, and we'll go back to our happy little lives. I mean, seriously, what the hell was she thinking? Going alone to find a man involved with a motorcycle gang across state lines—that's reckless.

She may have book smarts, but she has little to no street smarts. I told her so many times this was a bad idea. I had a feeling things would go south if she inserted herself into the life of a man who knew nothing about us. What if he thinks she's lying to try to scam him? What will he and his big biker gang do to her?

My foot presses harder on the gas as my fists clench around the steering wheel. I have to get there ASAP. If Phoenix is in trouble . . . I think about my insurance plan in the back seat. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

I'm not above kicking someone's ass for hurting my family; I'm just not sure I can take on a whole MC by myself. Nix would try to help if it came to that, but she's always been the sweet, soft one. I'd never want to put her in that position.

Me, on the other hand? I'm the mean bitch who rarely shies away from a fight—the demon to her angel. Her polar opposite.

It must be the whole yin and yang twin thing Mom always told us about. We couldn't be more different for two people who shared a womb for nine months. Mom always said we balanced each other out. She was right, of course. She always was.

Damn, I miss her.

I huff a sigh. Things were never easy for us, especially after Mom got sick. Nix had to drop out of college to stay home and take care of her while I worked three jobs to pay all the bills. Mom needed round-the-clock care toward the end, and it was too expensive to hire a nurse to take care of her. So, Nix was our only option. The rest of Mom's family was either dead or lived too far to help. It came down to the two of us to make sure she lived her last months comfortably.

Phoenix offered to take a part-time job to help with the bills, but there was no way I'd let her do that. She was the only one who could care for Mom the way she needed. She's the one who was planning to go to nursing school and take care of people, not me. No, I hardly had a soft bone in my body.

Nix gave Mom everything she needed physically and mentally, and I took care of what I could financially. Now, Mom's gone, and it's just me and my sister. There's no way in hell I'm losing her too. I press harder on the gas, needing to get to Phoenix, cursing her naivety.

Not long after, I breathe a sigh of relief as her car appears in the distance. It's parked in front of a shady-looking bar that screams, Turn back now.

Jesus, Nix, what the hell were you thinking?

The anger I feel at my sister vanishes as I pull closer to the building. That's when I see them—the biker gang—exiting the building with Nix in tow. My stomach drops as I watch them get into her car, pushing her into the passenger seat. No. This can't be real . It has to be a nightmare.

I feel sick and angry. Very. Angry.

All I want to do is push my pedal to the floor and ram every one of those fuckers with my car, but Nix could get hurt if I do that. No, I have to be rational for once in my life, for my sister's sake. I follow behind the gang as several of them hop onto their bikes and follow Phoenix's car to a nearby neighborhood.

My mind races, trying to work up a plan that won't get us both killed. I know I have to work fast to make sure nothing happens to Phoenix. If I call the police, she could be dead before they get here. I have to do this on my own. And I have to act now.

Seconds after the last man enters the house where they took Phoenix, I jump into action. My door flings open as I scramble to grab my insurance plan from the back seat. It isn't much—a solid wood baseball bat—but the thing has helped me out a time or two in a pinch. Let's hope I don't have to take on an entire MC with it.

With no time to lose, I rush to the door of the house and bang wildly against the surface. Fire surges through my veins as I wait. I see someone look through the curtains up front shortly before a burly man opens the door. He's huge, easily over six feet tall, with thick, dark hair and a matching beard. I bet most people would run after seeing this guy's hard scowl and visible scars. But not me.

I match his scowl as I seethe at him, "Where's my sister, asshole?"

The mountainous man scowls even harder as he stands silently in the doorway. I raise the bat, ready to strike if he tries anything. There's no way I'll let these assholes do anything to me or Phoenix. "Where is she?" I repeat.

Again, silence from the brick wall I'm talking to. His eyes narrow as he takes me in. He stands there, unmoving, as another man approaches. The newcomer eyes me, and I see something familiar in his face.

My gaze drifts down to the patch on his leather cut. "President" it reads. Go figure. "You must be Elias," I tell him cooly.

The man's mouth twitches as he counters, "You must be Raven."

When he says my name, everything goes cold. My body stiffens as I straighten my back, still holding my bat in front of me. The shockwave wears off almost as suddenly as it came on. I glare at the man who said my name. "What's it to ya?"

He laughs as he looks me over again, muttering under his breath. "You may as well come in," he tells me, stepping out of the way, "your sister's already here."

My jaw clenches as another wave of anger courses through me. "Yeah, because you assholes kidnapped her."

The man chuckles as he holds up his hands. "We didn't kidnap anyone, sweetheart. She agreed to come here all on her own. Come see for yourself." He nods inside, inviting me in again.

I'm about to tell him to go fuck himself and demand he bring Phoenix outside when I hear her say my name. She doesn't sound scared or hurt. She sounds like her usual, bubbly self.

I watch the men at the door as I brush past them to find my sister. She's in the doorway of a kitchen with an older man in a leather cut that matches the other two. As I rush over, I note the words "Vice President" on his patch. "Phoenix," I say, lowering the bat.

"Raven, what are you doing here?" she asks, surprised to see me.

I tell her how I found her note and followed her here, reminding her how stupid it was for her to come by herself. I look around, eyeing the group of men scattered around the room. "When I pulled up, they were shoving you into your car. I thought they were kidnapping you, Nix. I came here to save you. To take you back home."

Phoenix almost looks ashamed, and she gives me a sheepish look. "Sorry, Rae. I had to do this. I needed to meet him. To see if there's a chance he'd want to know us."

My eyes roll. I love my sister to death, but sometimes she does things that make me think she's gone bat-shit crazy. Why the hell would Elias West want any part of our lives? He's the president of an Arizona motorcycle gang. I'm sure the last thing he wants is two new daughters he's never known barging in and shaking things up.

I stand there fuming as my sister watches me, begging me to give this a chance. We're both still alive for now, but that could change any second. If one of these goons loses their temper, one or both of us could end up six feet under. I eye the big one who met me at the door as he holds up a wall, looking as friendly as ever. The scowl on his face has deepened, if that's even possible.

I'm about to grab Phoenix and pull her out the door when she speaks again. "At the bar, Elias agreed to hear me out. To let me tell him about us—about Mom. It all came as a shock when I told him I was his daughter, but he agreed to hear me out. That's something, right, Rae?"

The look in her eyes is so hopeful. I can't stand taking that away from her. For whatever reason, my sister needs this. So, for her, I'll give this a bit longer. I grit my teeth and hiss, "I can't believe I'm agreeing to this. The second things start to go south, we're out."

Phoenix's face lights up as she pulls me into a hug. "Thank you, Raven. It'll all be okay. I know it."

I look again at the gruff men surrounding us, hoping I didn't just sign our death warrants when the booming voice of Elias rings around the room. "Alright, prospects, out. There's some business to attend to. Members only."

I watch as two men shuffle out the door while the rest move into the living room. Elias gestures for us to follow. When we do, he offers us a seat on the couch closest to his chair. "You have my undivided attention. Now," he says, looking at Phoenix, "you say you're my daughters? Tell me everything."

So Nix does. She tells him that Mom shared their story with us in her final days—how she seemed to still love him even at the end. She shares details about our lives—our birthday, where we live, and little details about him that Mom shared before she died. There's so much that Phoenix shares, too much, if you ask me, but Elias listens intently as she tells him everything.

When Nix shows him our birth certificates and old photos, that's when I see it. Something in his rough exterior cracks. Barely, but enough for me to notice. When he sees the old photos of us with Mom, I watch his face soften.

Well, I'll be damned. The bastard does have a heart.

He holds the most recent photo of her in his hands gently as he studies it. There's something familiar about him, something that calls to me. Watching him, I can tell he isn't someone who likes to let his guard down. Ever. But as he looks at those pictures, his tough-guy exterior starts to crumble. He reminds me of myself, as much as it pains me to admit.

It almost makes me curious about the guy. Almost.

"We can take a DNA test to prove it." I hear Nix's voice cut through the silence in the room.

Elias nods. "We'll have the test done soon." He finally looks up from Mom's picture. "Bear, call Doc. Set it up," he says to his VP.

The one called Bear nods. Then, he eyes Nix and me with suspicion as he disappears into another room. He doesn't believe us. He thinks this is some elaborate hoax. I can tell by the way he's been studying us this whole time.

I don't trust him. I don't trust any of them, but I'm here for Phoenix. If this is really what she wants, then I'll be here to back her up. I'll make sure none of these guys try anything funny.

"You both have my eyes." Elias's voice pulls me out of my train of thought. I look over to see him studying us. His face is still hard, but it's softer now than it was before.

Realizing what he said, he clears his throat and shakes his head, looking irritated at himself. Phoenix opens her mouth to respond, but before the words make it out, Bear comes back. "Doc says he can come out tomorrow to do the test," he tells Elias. "Then we'll find out the truth." He shoots a skeptical glance toward me and Phoenix.

Her resulting cringe only pisses me off. "Fucking asshole," I mumble under my breath, earning a hateful sneer from Elias's crony. I guess that wasn't as quiet as I thought.

Whoops.

Laughter breaks out from one of the younger men. "I don't know about Red," he says, pointing to Nix, "but that one is definitely yours, Viper." His head bobs toward me as I roll my eyes.

I show him my favorite finger for good measure, which only makes him laugh harder. When I look away, I see the mountain of a doorman staring in my direction. He's wearing the same pissed-off look he seems to have permanently etched on his face.

"What the fuck are you looking at?" I say, glaring back at him.

He says nothing as his face twists into an even angrier sneer. To most people, I'm sure this guy would be terrifying. Everything about him fits the label of a cold-hearted killer , but instead of fear, I only feel anger when I look at him. I match his ire, refusing to let him win this stupid fucking staring contest we've started.

I hear the other guy laughing again as he tells Elias, "She's got your gall, too, Prez. Anyone brave enough to take on Reaper like that must have balls of steel."

His words are enough to shock me out of my anger-fueled trance. I snap my head in his direction. As I move my eyes from the lug he called "Reaper," I notice Elias smirk.

Bear leans down to tell him something, wiping the expression off his face. Moments later, the front door bursts open, revealing two men. One older with graying hair and years worth of scars scattered over various parts of his body. The other, about my age, has dark hair and tattoos covering nearly all his skin from the neck down. That one has a fat lip and bloody knuckles. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what these two were up to.

Taking care of business.

Because Elias West, my supposed father, is the president of a motorcycle gang—one, I'm sure, deals in less-than-savory transactions. The kind that requires muscle, force, and intimidation. A pit forms in my stomach. These men are dangerous, and we've landed ourselves right in the middle of a viper pit.

I look over at Phoenix, who seems to not care about any of the glaring danger signs. Her eyes are fixed on the younger man who walked in. Shit, I know that look. She's eating him up with her stare, taking everything in, from his fat lip to his tattoos. I bet she's wondering exactly how much of his skin is covered in them, not that I can blame her.

Under different circumstances, I'd think this guy was hot as fuck, but I can't ignore the danger we're in, and this guy is part of it. I hope my sister realizes that before it's too late.

When the newcomers notice us, the younger one's eyes pass over me appreciatively. Then, he sees Phoenix. The look he gave me was nothing compared to what he's giving her. He's taking her in like a starved dog who's been treated to meat for the first time in ages. I hear Nix's breath catch.

Yep, she's a goner.

The older man pulls him to where Elias and Bear are now standing. They whisper to each other, sending a few looks our way before finally wrapping things up. I have a feeling I'm not going to like what they have to say next. Before they confirm my suspicions, Phoenix whispers in my ear, "I think we could really like it here, Rae." She lets her gaze run up and down the tatted man again as he licks his lips.

I have a feeling my quiet little life is about to get much more complicated. And if I'm right about Elias's MC, Nix and I won't have a choice about sticking around or going home. Now that he knows we exist, we may be stuck here, whether we like it or not.