Page 27

26

WRAITH

S pring on the ranch is quite possibly my favorite time of the year. New calves give us a chance to confirm if the breeding pairings we made yielded the offspring we hoped for. Milder weather means we no longer have to front for hay, as the livestock hit the land to graze. There’s also the time on horseback spent corralling through the pastures.

And there is optimism in surviving another harsh winter. Grass starts to green, geese return, the rivers flow easily without sheets of ice covering them.

For the first time in two years, I feel like I’m emerging from hibernation, in tune with the land, thanks to Raven.

“Earth to Wraith—come in, Wraith.”

I rein my horse from his lazy walk and turn to face Catfish, who removes his Stetson to push his hair back from his face and then returns it.

“What?”

He grins at me. “You were miles away.”

“Was thinking about how spring is all about things coming back to life.”

Catfish sees straight through me. “Is spring a euphemism for you?”

I shrug. “Yeah. Maybe.”

Catfish drops down off his horse and wiggles one of the fence posts we’re out here checking. “This section of fence just needs resetting.”

I make a note on my phone, adding it to the list of things we’ve seen that we’ll task the prospects and farmhands with fixing.

“Is that you off the table?” he asks. “I think Isla was kinda hoping you’d old-lady her.”

“She scratched an itch. Nothing more.”

Catfish nods and mounts his horse. “You should bring Raven to the clubhouse again. Claim her, even if you aren’t ready to make her your old lady yet.”

“Can you guys get your asses back here?” Butcher suddenly barks through the walkie-talkie attached to my hip.

I reach for it and press the button. “What do you need, Butch?”

“Got some intel. Need to decide what we’re gonna do about it.”

“Race you?” Catfish shouts, and he’s away before I have the chance to reply.

“Come on, Scout,” I say, encouraging the tan-and-white quarter horse I’m riding.

He’s fast. Faster than Blaze, Catfish’s ride. But if there’s anyone who can coax more speed out of a horse, it’s Catfish.

Still, I’ll bet on Scout’s competitive nature over my brother’s riding skills, any day.

I fucking love my bike. I love the speed and smooth glide. But it’s a different kind of feeling hitting wide open spaces on a horse that wants to run. The thud of its four-beat gallop is raw nature at its best.

We hit speeds pushing thirty miles an hour, taking the outer path along the boundary to avoid disrupting the grazing cattle.

I fucking love this club and the ranch we sit on. When the clubhouse comes into view, I’m almost sad about it.

“You stink of horses,” Butcher says when we walk into church twenty minutes later.

“You’d think after all these years, you’d be used to it,” I say.

Butcher hates horses. Well, he says hates , but truth is, he’s fucking terrified of them. Never takes one out. Only ever uses one of the ATVs we have. If Ember ever needs to get away from her father, she heads straight to the stables and takes her horse out for a ride.

Catfish joins us two minutes later and hands me a coffee. “Figured you’d be a grumpy asshole without this.”

“Funny. And thanks.”

“I call this meeting to order,” Butcher says, then tips his head to Grudge, who sits on his left-hand side. “Go ahead.”

Grudge yawns. “Sorry. Late night. Me, Atom, and Taco went to scout one of the Bratva meeting place locations we learned about when we went out with the New Jersey brothers.”

“How did I not know about this?” As sergeant at arms, it’s my job to work with Smoke, as road captain, to plan ops like this.

Butcher raises an eyebrow. “You were busy.”

“Not too busy to do what the club needed.”

Smoke shoulder checks me from his chair. “Last night, you were. Your woman was shaken up.”

Your woman.

It’s been a long time since anyone said that to me. A sliver of me wants to rebel against the title. But the larger part feels alive.

Still…

“Next time, let me decide if I’m too busy.”

“Would you have come if asked?” Grudge asks.

“Of course I fucking would.”

Would I?

The question follows in my head at lightning speed.

What would I have missed out on?

Raven tending to my injuries. Feeling cared for when it’s been your life’s work to look after others.

Eating a meal as a family. Listening to Fen tell us all about kindergarten shenanigans.

Holding the two of them while they slept. Knowing I was in the right place at the right time to keep them safe.

Fucking Raven in the bathroom this morning.

Coming so hard and deep inside her that my cock stirs in my jeans at the memory.

Had I known what I was going to miss out on, I would have found it hard to leave.

“Ask me next time,” I say. I know it’s a repeat of something I already stated, but it’s all I’ve got.

“Will do,” Butcher says.

“Anyway,” Grudge says, “the location was active. Taco took off his cut and got as close as he could. Kid’s got balls, no doubt.” He tips his head in Taco’s direction.

“Got a lead on where they might be holding our weed,” Atom says. “Stealing that back would be a good opportunity to hit them hard.”

Butcher rubs the side of his jaw. “I feel like it’s the right thing to do. Wraith, Atom, Smoke—can you three pull the logistics together? We can review ‘em tomorrow.”

“On it,” I say.

We spend the rest of the day going over everything the guys uncovered the previous night; then the three of us hunker down to figure out how we verify the intel and scout the location.

Fucking love the idea of getting even.

Pure revenge.

We’ll decimate them piece by piece.

And I have zero issues with that.

They nearly killed Raven. My mother-in-law. Members of my club. They ruined the diner I’m a silent partner in.

Mess with mine and you’ll meet your maker.

“I need more coffee,” I say. “Anyone else need anything?”

Atom and Smoke shake their heads.

“Hey, Wraith,” Don, one of the prospects, calls out when he sees me.

I like him. While Taco was definitely first in line to be patched in, Don was a close second. Ex military, a purple heart, and deadly in hand-to-hand combat. I have my eye on him as part of our growth plans.

“What’s up?” I ask.

“It might be nothing, but…I heard you and the black-haired woman from the diner were, you know…hooking up and shit.”

“What is this? High school gossip?”

He winces for a moment, as if having second thoughts about even approaching me. “Nah. Could be none of my business, but I was at the diner doing cleanup this morning.”

Concern hits me square in the gut. “Is Raven okay?”

“Physically, yes. But I heard Margie threaten her. Told her she had to stay away from you, or she’d lose her job because Margie’s your mother-in-law. Said she’d fire her anyway if she told you about their conversation.”

Fuck my life. I suppose I should have known this moment would come eventually.

“You sure you heard right?”

Don nods solemnly. “Margie didn’t know I was in the kitchen washing my hands. I could hear every word clearly. There’s no chance I misunderstood.”

“Thanks for telling me. You did the right thing.”

I need to go and check in on Raven, then set some new ground rules with my mother-in-law.

“Umm…there was more. She told Raven you were too wrapped up in looking after her to do your job properly. That you let the club down and that Butcher was on your ass about it.”

“That’s a fucking lie. How did Raven take it?”

“At first, she said Margie needed to talk to you. But she finally said she refused to discuss her personal life. She left shortly after that. Today wasn’t even her shift, apparently. She’d just gone to help out, and even told Margie she didn’t expect to be paid.”

“Thanks for letting me know.”

I march back into the room and grab my keys and wallet. “I gotta go.”

“Need help?” Atom asks.

“No.”

I drive like a man possessed, wishing I’d gotten Raven’s cell phone number so I could call her. I ignore the unfurled leaves and the freshly sprouted fields as I speed by. Even the mountains do little to lift the crushing pressure on my chest.

While I don’t expect Raven to have done something reckless like leave town without speaking to me, I check out the bus stop as I drive by, just in case, and am relieved she isn’t there.

When I reach her apartment, I knock on the door loudly, then step back and look up at the window, just in time to see her step away.

“Raven,” I yell. “Let me in.”

It takes a minute, but the door opens. “Wraith,” she says, her face schooled in what I’m sure she thinks is some cool, calm facade. But I don’t buy it for a second.

“Did Margie try to tell you to stay away from me at the diner today?”

“It’s been a rough day,” she says. “Can we do this some other time?”

I shake my head. “No. I need to know if Margie told you to stay away from me.”

“She told me she was your mother-in-law. Are you still married to her daughter?”

She’s trying to appear indifferent, but I can see the hurt in her eyes. “Widowed, Blue. It’s why I freaked out the morning after you stayed over at the clubhouse with me. Pack a bag for you and Fen and come stay at my place tonight. I’ll explain everything, because none of it is what you think.”

She glances back up the stairs. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“You know what was a really good idea?” I move closer to her, so my words are more of a whisper. “Holding you both in my arms last night when you were scared. You caring for me when I was hurt. The two of us fucking like the world might end this morning. Don’t step back from us because my mother-in-law doesn’t know her fucking place.”

“I was thinking of leaving tomorrow. If I have to find a new job, might as well do it in a place where I can wipe the slate clean.”

I touch her cheek softly. “I figured. Come stay with me tonight. You still want to leave in the morning, I’ll let you go. But give me a chance to fight for us.”

“Is that Wraith?” Fen shouts from the top of the stairs.

“Yeah, bud. It’s me. You and your mom want to come for a sleepover at my place? I got a pond we can look for frogs in.”

“Yes!” Fen replies.

Raven raises an eyebrow and folds her arms across her chest. “That’s not playing fair.”

I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. “Who said anything about playing fair? Pack the bags. I’m gonna ride home and switch my bike for my truck, then come and get you. Say, twenty minutes. If I leave, are you gonna open the door when I come back?”

Raven takes a deep breath. “One more night?”

“The first of many more.” I shrug. “I’m not gonna play fair to get you to stay, Blue. Wait and see.”