Page 22

TICK TOCK

K nuckles had driven us deep into the woods, the winding backroads of Louisiana blurring past sending us into a nightmare I couldn't wake up from. By the time we hit the state line, I was barely hanging on. My ribs ached from the fight, my head pounded and my body felt the entire weigh of having killed my best friend. And my soul? That was the part that hurt the most. It was as if death had grabbed a hold of it and refused to let go.

The safe house was buried at the edge of the Louisiana-Mississippi border, a crumbling old hunting cabin nestled in the swamp. We parked the bikes under the overhang, cut the engines, and just sat there for a beat. Knuckles didn’t say anything. He just lit a smoke, handed me one, and we listened to the buzz of the insects in the dark. But I wasn’t thinking about bugs. I was thinking about her.

Natalia.

My love

It had been a fucking week. Seven days since I’d left her warm in my bed, since I kissed her shoulder and told myself I’d be back before she even knew I was gone. I had no idea that everything was going to be destroyed around us.

I couldn’t go back yet. We were being hunted, traitors branded, hunted, executed. Anyone loyal to Elrik or who questioned Rancid’s takeover became a target. They were terminated on sight. No one had a chance because this motherfucker had been planning the entire takeover for years.

Macabre finally showed three nights later. Fucker was smart. He’d somehow tracked us down and then slipped in through the trees like the ghost he was. He nearly got himself shot.

“Whoa! It’s me!” He raised his hands, showing he had no weapons, as he appeared on the doorstep.

“How the fuck did you find us!” Knuckles yelled out, tugging the door open and yanking him into a hug.

“Glad you’re alive too, brother.” He patted Knuckles on the back before shoving him away.

“What have you heard?” I asked after giving him my own hug.

"It’s all gone," he said, voice tight, face pale. "They burnt it down. Elrik lit the clubhouse on fire before he left."

I stood frozen. The club. Our home. The walls we’d built with blood, loyalty, and all that hard work was now all turned to ash.

"He torched the chapel, the bar, the patch wall. Said if Rancid wanted it, he could burn with it."

I gave a low, humorless chuckle. “I knew we did right by him. That kid has balls. Where is he?"

"All I know is he's alive and far away. That's it."

"Fuck," I muttered, running my fingers through tangled hair. “He left?”

Macabre nodded. “He had to, Tick Tock. Rancid would have probably killed Aiyana if he knew Elrik would return.

“Where is she? We need to get to her…”

He paused, bringing his head down. “She’s dead.”

“What?” My heart dropped at the news.

“She died that night aftershe heard Elrik was gone. I think she had a heart attack. I haven’t gotten close enough to see what happened to her. I just know that.”

“Does Elrik know?”

He shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

“And who’s told you all this?”

He shook his head and raised his hands. “You know I can’t say.”

I grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket. “Talk, or I’ll put a bullet in your head too.”

“Whoa, whoa, that’s enough,” Knuckles said prying my fingers off him. “Just tell us, Macabre. We don’t have time for this.”

“Colt. Colt’s been leaving messages. He says he’s staying to see what goes down.”

“Traitorous…”

“No! He’s legit. And you can’t expect him to leave if he has inside intel. He’s playing it smart.”

Colt was Guardian’s boy and Elrik’s best friend. “That boy is gonna get himself killed.”

“There’s something you need to know Tick Tock.” That’s when he paused. That hesitation, that fucking beat of silence told me I wasn’t gonna like what came next.

"Your place... it’s gone too."

My lungs locked. "What?"

"They hit it two nights ago. Motherfuckers waited until dark and blew the foundation. Nothing was left.”

I swallowed hard. "Where is Natalia?"

He didn’t answer.

"Macabre..." I stepped toward him, fists clenched. "Tell me she wasn’t there."

"We don’t know," he said, voice soft. "We searched, but there’s nothing. House is rubble. If she was there..."

The floor dropped out from under me. I fell to my knees, gravel cutting into my skin, but I didn’t feel it. Couldn’t feel anything past the howl in my chest. She couldn’t be dead. Not her. Not Natalia. Not my kitten. My woman. My fucking world.

I slammed my fist into the dirt again and gain. Until blood coated my knuckles and I was gasping like I’d been gutted.

Knuckles stood behind me, silent and solid. My brother. But even he didn’t try to stop me.

I didn’t sleep that night. Just sat on the floor with my gun in my lap, the image of her smile playing over and over in my head. Thoughts of death and ending it played in my head, and then grief mixed with rage drowned out those thoughts.

My home was gone. My club was shattered.

And Natalia?

The only beautiful thing I ever truly wanted in this goddamn life, was now gone too.

"We can’t trust anyone," I muttered. "He’s got eyes and ears everywhere."

"Bulldog knew," Macabre added quietly. "He saw it before the rest of us. That’s why he asked me to watch what Rancid did with the other clubs. He’s been sending men over, placing his own allies in solid positions, pushing power. We don’t know who to trust anymore."

"What about Saddle? Hart? Brimstone? Virgil? The rest. Where are they?"

Macabre exhaled, his voice grim. "Some are injured. Most fled. There's a target out on the founding members. They’re looking for shelter. Hiding. Saddle took a group up to his ranch, their women, their kids. Those are families, Tick Tock. Rancid’s turning this into a fucking purge."

I stared into the fire, my hands shaking with rage. "I’ll kill them," I whispered, my voice barely audible over the storm crashing inside my chest. "All of them. Rancid, the fuckers who helped him. They think this war is over? It’s just beginning. I’ll burn them like they burned her."

Macabre stepped forward, the firelight catching on the edges of his tired face. "We need to wait," he said low. "We've got to be smart. This isn’t just vengeance, it has to be methodical. If we move too soon, we lose everything."

I didn’t want to wait. Every second wasted, was a second Elrik could be dead. But I nodded once. Gritted my teeth. A sense of control was not my forte.

I stared into the fireplace, my hands shaking with rage. "I’m going to murder that bastard. I swear to God I am. One shot between the eyes. They will all know my name by the time I’m done. You think you’ve met Reapers? You have no idea what kind of death is about to be rained on each of them. And when I’m done, I’ll salt the fuckin’ earth they walked on."