• Twenty-Six •

He’ll kill everything that moves and not pause as he does it.

King

“You realize we are both going to end up fucking shot,” Wilder said, cutting his eyes at me in the passenger seat of the black Escalade he was driving.

“I’ve already been shot,” I replied bitterly. “They can’t expect me to stay in a goddamn hotel room in Louisville while they go after what is mine.”

Wilder sighed heavily. “I know. I get it. Trust me, I’ve been there. It’s why I broke you out when your dad said they were leaving you there until it was over.”

Glaring at my phone, willing it to ring with an update, I muttered a string of curses. “Fucking Wells. I’m killing him first. Then, I’ll find that goddamn Oriel.”

“Easy,” Wilder said. “Wells is being handled. He didn’t know he was being set up. But, yes, he brought the bastard into our lives. Oriel, you can kill. Torture. Whatever makes your dark heart happy.”

Slamming my hands on the dash, I let out an angry growl, wanting to kill someone. Anyone at this point. The building explosion happening inside my chest was going to kill everything in its path.

“They’ll have her soon. Thatch and Gage are leading the pack. No one will be left standing or breathing.”

“I SHOULD BE THERE! ME! She needs ME!”

Wilder said nothing. He knew I was right. If this were Oakley, he would be just as furious and out of control.

“What if this was Oak AND she was pregnant?”

He glanced at me with a solemn expression. “That’s why I’m doing this. Like I said, I get it. I’d be just as messed up.” He looked back at the road. “As for Gage, when Shiloh finds out he shot you because you were going after your woman, she’ll tear him a new one.”

I didn’t know the women who belonged to the Ocala men, but if there was a woman who could handle Gage Presley, then she had to be fucking evil. Nothing like Rumor. My sweet, beautiful girl who didn’t have a fierce bone in her body. She was too good for me. She deserved better, but I’d be damned if I was letting her go. I didn’t think I’d ever planned on it from the moment she had climbed into my truck.

My phone started ringing, and my heart slammed against my chest frantically as I answered it.

“What?” I snapped.

“Where the fuck are you?” Stellan barked into the phone.

“Driving to your house from the airport.” I left out that Wilder was the one who had come and gotten me.

“Fucking hell, King! Can you not do what you’re told?”

“Not when my woman has been taken,” I snarled. “What is the update? Who is going, and where do I meet them?”

“Stubborn ass,” he muttered. “They’re already gone. Thatcher, Gage, Huck, and Storm are going in with Blaise. Wells and Sebastian, along with three of the Ocala guys that came with Huck. Ten of the Mississippi boys and five from the Alabama branch are with them. It’s an army. Led by lethal weapons. She’s going to be brought back safely. You can’t go in there like you are. It will be a hinderance.”

“She needs me!” I argued, knowing he was right. I didn’t need to be in the fucking way, but I’d be damned if she came out of there, thinking I didn’t give a shit. No one else was going to hold her.

“Put it on speaker,” he said.

I pressed the button. “It’s on speaker.”

“Wilder,” Stellan said.

“Yes, sir.”

“I’ll send you the location on the burner phone. Take him there the moment I send the go-ahead. I’ll make sure she is brought out to him directly. That’s the best I can do, King. Anything else, and someone will be killed.”

My jaw was clenched too tightly to respond. I just nodded my head once. Rage rolled inside of me because I knew I couldn’t go in there and find her. That the first face she saw wasn’t going to be mine. I fucking hated it!

“Got it. But, Stellan,” he said, glancing at me, “he’s on edge. Not gonna be able to hold him back long.”

“I know. It won’t take long now. Not with Blaise there. He’ll kill everything that moves and not pause as he does it.”

“Yeah, I know,” Wilder replied, then ended the call.

“When the location comes in, go directly there. We aren’t waiting,” I told him.

“I never thought we were,” he replied.

I stared straight ahead, trying to work through the throbbing in my head and the monster demanding I go and get what belonged to me.