Wild Heart (26 page)

He closed his eyes, willing out toward her, trying to let her know that he was coming. That he was going to come and get her. A shudder tore through his body as he thought of what they might have done to her. If one thing was for sure, once he got his hands on Chief he’d pay. And, this time he’d pay in blood. No more game. No more fucking around. Chief had already had enough chances to make an alliance with them, call a truce, but he hadn’t. Instead, he’d not only gone after Knox’s club, but also his woman.

The door opened behind him and he turned quickly, taking in the somber look on Cash’s face. “Tell the guys to come in, please,” Knox said quietly.

Jameson, Repo, Charon, and Doc came in through the door, taking their seats around the large table. Knox took his seat at the head of the table and thumbed at the gavel that sat before him. He looked up as the rest of the room filled with patched members, watching as Cash turned to walk out. “Cop, you can stay. But you need to know that I don’t answer to you. I respect your badge. But now; now I am out for blood,” Knox said through gritted teeth.

“Alright,” Cash contemplated a moment before he came in, leaning against the back of the door.

“I called us together today because one of our own has been taken,” Knox swallowed at the burn in his throat. “Everyone is aware of what happened last night. We were coming back from our run up to Kentucky when we got ambushed by the Renegades. Soon as we came through Gatlinburg they opened up on us. Chased us all the way to the warehouse before camping out the rest of the night.”

“We know why they’re retaliating, Prez?” Odessa asked.

“The only thing I can think of is the incident at the nightclub. Chief wanted to take me out then, but he couldn’t. They’ve already caused too much bloodshed and now they have Ani.” He looked around as a few unknowing members shifted in their seats, sharing the same anger that course through his veins. “This time the retaliation is from us. This time we wipe that sorry M.C. chapter out. I don’t care if we take every last one of them down.” He paused, trying to calm his nerves. “All in favor of bringing the chaos to the Renegades.”

The members sounded off in order, all agreeing with him. “Aye. Let’s bring the fuckers down.” Charon said to his left.

Just before he slammed the gavel down he looked up at Cash who nodded his head in agreement. He may not be a part of this club, but he was a part of Ani’s life. Knox slammed the gavel down, “Alright, we bring the chaos.”

He stood as the room emptied. “Charon, Rage, we need to come up with a way to do this. I don’t want to go in there breaking down doors. They might,” he cleared his throat, trying to not think about what was about to come out of his mouth. “They might kill her.”

“Aye, I agree. I tried following those bastards back to their clubhouse but they lost me. Lost our tail just outside of Gatlinburg,” Rage said.

“Aye. Cash, can you get the address to their club?” Knox asked.

“I could, but I’d need to know who I was looking for. Can’t really type the name Chief into the computer. I assume they don’t have their address listed under Renegade?” Cash asked, turning as the door pushed open behind him.

“Kate, I’ll be out in a minute, Babe,” Rage said to her.

“A.L. Construction,” she said, sniffing back the tears that were falling down her cheeks.

“What’s that, Babe?” Rage pulled her to him, brushing the hair from her face in an attempt to comfort her.

“Search A.L. Construction. Ani mentioned that he made deposits for that company. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.”

“It’s ok,” Knox said toward her. He could see that she was hurting, her face red and blotchy from the tears she’d shed.

“Ok, I’ll go pull it up now,” Cash took off toward his truck.

“You think we’re going to find her?” Kate sniffed.

“I promise you we will.” Rage leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “Go see that her pops is ok?” Rage said gently to her.

Knox watched as she made her way up the stairs, “What do we do, Brother?”

“We need to surround the fucker. If it’s wooded bring about ten guys to the door and leave the rest in the woods as back-up. We can get in there and get it done quickly enough that they won’t have a chance to hurt her. But we gotta get in there and get the shit done. No fucking around. No hesitating,” Rage answered him, he lived for this shit. He loved the chaos of the anarchy back in Ireland.

“Aye. Make sure everyone is well equipped,” he patted Rage on the back as they walked out of the room.

“We’re gonna find her, Brother. I promise you,” Rage said looking back at him as he walked toward the door.

Knox made his way up the stairs, each foot feeling heavier than the last as he walked down to Repo’s room. He stood just outside the door, trying to come up with the words to say when Kate came walking swiftly out, smacking into him. “Sorry, Knox.” She swerved around him as she wiped the tears from her face.

“Mr. Forrest?” Knox knocked lightly on the door as he pushed it the rest of the way open.

“Any news?” Mr. Forrest asked.

“Not yet,” Knox made his way into the room, taking a seat in the wooden chair across from where Mr. Forrest sat. “We’re about to head out.” Knox looked up at him, taking in his empty eyes. This was a man who’d seen things, experienced things none of them had. But the weight of his daughter missing was ripping a fear through his eyes that sent shivers up Knox’s spine. “Mr. Forrest, I am so sorry.” Knox dropped his head into his hands.

“It’s not your fault, son.” Mr. Forrest’s words were shaking as he spoke.

“Aye, it is. I brought this on her. If she hadn’t been with me they would’ve never touched her.” He looked back up at Mr. Forrest.

“Son, you can’t help who you love,” he looked out the window as he continued, “First time I saw Ani after she’d spent the weekend with you I knew. I knew she’d met her soul mate. Know how I knew?” he looked back over at Knox.

“How?” Knox asked, pushing down the lump in his throat.

“Because she came home with the same look I used to see in her mama’s eyes. She smiled like I’d never seen her smile before, for the first time in years she was happy. Happier than I’d ever seen.”

“I don’t know if they’ve hurt her…” Knox’s voice trailed off. He didn’t want to think about that, if she died his world would come to an end.

“You still feel whole?” he asked, “You can feel her can’t you?” Mr. Forrest smiled over at him. “I know you can because I used to be able to feel her mother’s spirit. Knew when something was wrong, when she was sad, happy. Never knew how she did it. She’d tell me all the time it was because of her heritage, that she’d chosen to give me half her spirit and because of that I could feel her. Ani did the same to you. When that feeling dims out, when that feeling goes away you’ll know she’s gone.” He turned back to the window. “I know, because I’ve felt empty every day since her mother passed.”

Knox rubbed his hand across his face, taking in the words that Mr. Forrest spoke. He closed his eyes and tried to feel her, tried to reach out to her. He could feel her, he could feel how scared she was. His eyes came open with a frenzy of emotion as he looked over to Ani’s dad.

“Make ‘em pay for what they did,” Mr. Forrest glared over at him.

“Aye, bring the chaos.” Knox stood and made his way downstairs, finding Rage and Charon at the bottom of the stairs waiting for him.

He walked past them toward the yard, taking in the thirty or so members that had convened to help. The devotion of his members coursed through his veins, fueling the fire that was now raging inside of him. The flame of revenge. It seared through every fiber of his body. He didn’t know what to expect, but he knew that whatever it took, whatever he had to do he would get Ani back safe. He put his helmet on as he revved the engine of his bike. He glanced over watching Rage kiss Kate’s temple as he instructed her to go back inside. They were soldiers, soldiers going to war. As the women made their way back under the covered porch the pack’s engines began to growl as they all came to life. Knox pulled out first followed by Rage and the rest of the pack and Cash’s patrol car filed in behind them. They took off toward the Renegades’ clubhouse.

ANI

Ani laid helpless on the bed. She didn’t know how much time had passed since the men had left the room, but she was grateful that they hadn’t come back in. A small thought in the back of her mind blossomed into the hope that they had forgotten her. She closed her eyes for a moment, she was exhausted and with the anxiety and adrenaline now gone, she could feel the tiredness coming over her. She had only nodded off for a second when the creak from the door caused her to jump. She eyed over at a gangly dark haired girl as she came in the door with a bottle of water. She looked to be in her twenties, but her body eaten away by drugs.

She came up next to Ani and held out the water to her, “You thirsty?” Ani eyed the girl suspiciously. “It’s not poisonous,” the girl said sarcastically.

Ani tilted her head up and opened her mouth, trying to take as much of the water into her dry throat as she could. She swallowed it down as the girl smiled down at her. She swallowed the last mouthful she could and laid her head back down onto the hard pillow. She watched the girl walk back toward the door, “Please, help me,” Ani pleaded.

“I can’t.” The girl turned back to her, “I owe them a lot of money. I’m sorry, but I can’t. If I don’t do what they tell me to they will kill me.” Her eyes were frightened as she looked over at Ani.

“My club can help you. Let me help you please,” Ani urged, hoping the girl would consider it.

“You don’t have a club,” the girls words were icy as she quickly left the room and slammed the door behind her.

Ani swallowed back the tears that threatened to fall, she thrashed as hard as she could against her restraints in an attempt to free herself, but it did no good as they bit into her skin even further. As she stilled she felt her head begin to swirl, the room spinning as she tried to focus her eyed on the large dresser. Her vision went in and out as the door to the room came open and Chief walked in. He walked to her side as she stared up at him blankly, trying to comprehend what was going on.

“A little calmer this time aren’t you?” He leaned down to her ear, “I had Jessie give you something to help you relax,” he looked at her out of the corner of his eyes. His face was stone as he grabbed her throat and pushed her down into the bed. She tried to struggle but found her arms and legs useless. They felt as if someone had filled them with sand, unable to lift them each time she tried. “Ah, that’s better.”

She tried to focus on her breathing;
breath in, breath out
. She felt as though her lungs would fail her at any moment as they became as heavy as the rest of her body. She gasped for breath as she tried to speak, “Please, stop.” She felt his hand travel up her stomach, toying at the bottom of her bra. His hands felt unnatural and strange as they touched her.

“You see I can’t do that. You belong to me now and since you wouldn’t do what you were told earlier, I had to make sure you were in a state where you would.” He climbed on top of her and ripped the rest of her shirt from her torso. “You see, Ani. Can I call you Ani?” He looked down at her sarcastically. “You see, I have had a hard on for you since the moment I stepped foot in your office.” His lips found her neck and gently made his way down to her breast. She held her breath as his unfamiliar smell came drifting into her nose, snatching her head to the side to ward him off. “That fiery attitude, just made my cock stand at attention. But then you show up in my town on the arm of a King.”

“The Kings are trash. They take what belongs to others.” Ani bucked her body as his fingers found the button of her pants, fighting him off at first until he grabbed her and held her still. “I don’t like when things are taken from me,” his voice was now a growl as he ripped his shirt off over his head.

“I didn’t do anything to you,” Ani choked out as the tears streamed down her face.

“No, but he did.” Chief grabbed her throat once more and shoved her down into the bed as he ripped the thin fabric of her bra. “I get back what should have been mine.”

She closed her eyes, imagining Knox’s face as Chief continued his assault. This man wasn’t Knox and he held no claim over her body, but with every attempt she made to fight the strange sensation of his touch they didn’t stop. She wanted to scream, scream out to the heavens and ask God to make it stop but she couldn’t find the breath to do it.