Page 24 of Property of Mako (Kings of Anarchy MC: Louisiana #1)

Burn the Plan

Mako

Octavia’s voice was still in my head.

You will be able to get in, retrieve the girl, and get out. Stealth will be your friend, not force.

Yeah, screw that.

Lily’s eyes locked on Lyra’s through the dim, glamour-thinned air, and the way Lyra’s breath caught told me all I needed to know—with my sister’s face forefront in my mind, there was no scenario where I left anyone else behind.

I drew my blade.

“Mako—” Dexter’s warning was a low growl.

“Get the chains off all of them. Now.”

Spook was already moving, the shadows clinging to him as he appeared beside the first girl, slicing through silver cuffs with quiet precision. Crypt Keeper kept to wolf form, pacing in a slow, protective circle around us. The low rumble in his chest vibrated through the floor.

The girls were shaking, their eyes darting to the door.

Some didn’t move even after the chains fell—too afraid to believe this was real.

Lyra moved among them, her voice low and steady, urging them to their feet.

Her hand brushed Lily’s shoulder, and something in Lily’s face broke—the fragile shell of fear cracking just enough to let relief through.

The first gunshot came from the hallway.

It was followed by three more, then the unmistakable hiss of a vamp’s inhuman snarl. The door slammed open, and four Covenant enforcers poured in, eyes glowing and fangs bared.

The room went still for half a heartbeat.

Then I moved.

The first one caught my blade in the ribs before he could finish his lunge.

I twisted, yanking the steel free in a spray of black blood, and pivoted into the second vamp’s strike.

His claws raked across my jacket, barely missing skin, but my knee came up hard into his gut before my blade punched into his heart.

Dexter’s pistol barked twice. Two more enforcers dropped at the impact of his spelled silver and ashwood bullets.

Screams erupted from the girls—half terror, half shock.

“Move them out!” I roared, cutting through the last one and shoving the body aside. “We’re done here.”

Except we weren’t.

The air shifted—no, collapsed—in on itself, a pressure so thick it made my ears pop.

Shadows poured across the marble floor, curling like smoke with weight to it, and then Haidyn stepped out of the void.

His eyes burned the color of dying embers, his black coat billowing with a wind that wasn’t there.

“You don’t listen well, do you?” His voice was smoke and stone, curling with amusement that didn’t reach his eyes.

“Not my style,” I snarled. “We’re taking them all.”

He glanced at me like I was a stubborn child. “You’re going to get them all killed.”

Then he looked past me, locking eyes with Lyra and Lily.

“Take them and get the fuck out,” he said, each word a growl that made the shadows around him shudder. “I’ll handle the rest.”

“Like hell?—”

The temperature in the room plummeted. Every torch and candle guttered low, their light swallowed into Haidyn’s growing shroud of darkness. The smell of burning ozone hit my nose.

“ I ’ m not asking, vampire .”

Behind him, the east wing hall filled with movement—more enforcers, their auras like knives. If I stayed, we’d be neck-deep in blood before we even reached the stairs.

“Calix,” Lyra’s voice cut through the chaos. “Please.”

That did it.

I grabbed Lily, shoving her toward Lyra. “Stay on her and don’t look back.”

Crypt Keeper fell in beside them, his massive wolf form blocking half the corridor.

Dexter covered our flank as we bolted into the nearest side hall, the sound of Haidyn’s power exploding behind us.

The air was alive with the sound of steel, shattering glass, and something deeper—something primal that made even my predator instincts twitch.

We didn’t stop until the veil shimmered ahead, the faint burn of Octavia’s potion still marking my palm.

The second we burst through it, the night air hit me like a slap.

We had Lily. Lyra was still breathing.

But I knew—deep in my bones—that whatever Haidyn was doing back there was rewriting the entire damn playing field.

And I was going to have hell to pay for it.

* * *

By the time we hit the clubhouse gates, the adrenaline was fading, leaving behind the raw, twitching edge of something uglier.

We were alive. We had Lily.

But we’d left a storm brewing in that cursed plantation, and Haidyn was at the center of it.

Dexter swung the gate shut behind us, the heavy chain clinking as he locked it. Crypt Keeper was already shifting back, the crack of bone and ripple of muscle fading into his human form. His clothes were shredded, his hair matted with blood—most of it not his.

Bugsy was waiting at the door, leaning hard on a cane. His bandages were fresh, but the tight set of his jaw told me he hated being sidelined.

“Get her inside,” he said, jerking his chin toward Lily. “No point in sneaking in. They will know it was you if they don’t already—and so will the rat.”

Lyra still had a protective grip on her sister’s arm, like if she let go for a second, the world would snatch her away again. Lily’s wide eyes darted over the bikes, the clubhouse, the Kings—everything unfamiliar.

“It’s safe here,” I told her, keeping my voice low.

She didn’t answer. Just pressed in closer to Lyra, whose glamour had disappeared the second we stepped over Thane’s property line.

Inside, the warm glow from the overhead bulbs felt almost offensive after the cold, cruel light of the plantation’s halls.

Dexter poured whiskey for himself, then thought better of it and slid a glass my way.

“We’re not gonna talk about the fact that a demon bailed our asses out?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Not yet,” I said.

“Not yet?” Crypt Keeper snorted. “Mako, we owe Haidyn. That’s not the kinda tab you can just skip out on.”

I downed the whiskey, letting it burn all the way down before I answered. “We’ll cross that bridge when he comes to collect.”

Lyra led Lily toward one of the back rooms we kept for patch members who needed a place to crash. I caught the way her shoulders stayed tense, even once they crossed the threshold. She wasn’t going to sleep tonight—not with what she’d just seen.

Neither was I.

* * *

When she came back out, she didn’t meet my eyes at first.

“You’re thinking about going back,” she said flatly.

I didn’t deny it. “Thane’s still breathing. So’s half the Covenant. This isn’t finished.”

Her jaw tightened. “And Haidyn?”

Pretending nonchalance, I shrugged. “He’s not our enemy.”

She gave me a look that said she didn’t buy it for a second. Jaw clenched, she turned on her heel and went back to her sister.

The Kings gathered in the main room. Bugsy filled us in on the calls he’d been fielding—other charters asking questions, whispers about a leak in our own ranks growing louder.

“We’ve definitely got a rat and people are talking,” Dexter said. “Only question is who.”

Crypt Keeper’s gaze swept the room, sharp and distrustful. “We can’t plan anything big until we find them. Otherwise, everything we do, Thane will know before we even mount up.”

They were right. But the thought of sitting still made my skin crawl.

?

From the back hallway, the sound of Lily’s voice drifted faintly—soft, trembling words as she spoke to Lyra. I couldn’t make them out, but I caught the way Lyra’s voice gentled in response.

It hit me like a punch in the gut—how close I’d come to losing them both because I fucked up.

And how much worse it was going to get before this ended.