Biker Taken (The Lost Souls MC Series Book 6) (6 page)

Part Two

When you don’t give a shit if you are alive or not

Chapter Nine

Cas – The Present

The pain is turning into a throb and each throb pounds heavily in the fore front of my head. I try again to think of who I haven’t seen today and I come up with nothing. Being stuck in the office waiting for phone calls from Denzel has made me blind. Turning towards the bar, I lay the cut on the counter and run my hand through my hair and squeeze the back of my neck, when a warm hand joins mine and I find Alannah behind me. Her presence always manages to soothe me, but not today. Before I really saw her for the beauty she is and when I was a single man, the thought of giving myself to marriage and starting a family was something fools did. I was happy enough to fuck my way through the pussy in the club and wherever else I found it. I had seen her around the club for years before I really saw her for the first time, a need took root inside of me and I knew she wasn’t going to be another lay I would pick up and cast aside when I was done. She told me she’d be by my side and I believed her, she hasn’t let me down yet, but a nagging feeling is doubting my ability not to let her down. I don’t know where it’s coming from but it’s there.

“What is it, babe? Something isn’t right with you,” she murmurs softly, her eyes begging me to talk to her.

“Linc is dead and so is half his club, the other half haven’t returned a single phone call since the funerals, we’re sitting on an arsenal of weapons that could land us all in jail for a very long time and now we have one of our own missing, how do you expect me to be?”

I regret snapping at her as soon as the last word is out of my mouth. Everything is crashing down around me and nothing feels real. She steps back from me and my guilt intensifies.

“Babe…”

I go to reach out to her but she pulls back physically and emotionally. She’s always told me she won’t put up with me taking the club’s shit out on her and that’s exactly what I’ve just done.

“Don’t treat me like that, I know what’s going on around here and that wasn’t what I was asking. Something’s different with you, talk to me.”

“I’m fine,” I lie, she doesn’t need anything to worry about. I’m her husband, I’ll deal with any shit so she doesn’t have to.

Narrowing her eyes, she doesn’t believe a word spewing from my mouth and changes the conversation.

“I take it you’re not coming home again tonight, give me a call when you’re not so busy,” she snaps.

She turns away and calls for Bonnie to pass Leo back to her and grabs her purse from the table.

Alannah is strong and knows exactly what she will and won’t put up with from anyone, but she also shows every emotion she feels clear as day on her face. So when Bonnie brings Leo over she can tell her best friend isn’t happy.

My headache dulls everything going on around me and I focus on my woman and my son. He’s growing fast and strong. With my dark hair, he has his mother’s wide, green eyes and they peek out over her shoulder at me. It takes a minute before I realize she is getting ready to leave and I catch her up just before she gets to the door leading outside.

“You’re not going anywhere, babe, you’re both to stay here until I know what the fuck is going on.”

She doesn’t make eye contact with me but she does relent and stops trying to leave.

“Just stay away from me until you’ve figured out your shit.”

Leaving me with my growing headache and now another load of bullshit to deal with, I can’t wait for this all to be over. It feels like it’s only the beginning and I’ve already had enough.

I watch Alannah carry Leo over to where the girls are sitting in the corner and sigh when the whole lot of them turn to scowl at me. Like I give a shit what they think about me, only Alannah can get to me and she has. I hate it when shit gets between us but for tonight I have more important things to fix before I can sort it out with her. I have a brother to track down. 

I know they’re safe here and it makes it easier to walk off and find Sparky and Slade. They’re both in my office and while Slade clicks away on his laptop rattling numbers off, Sparky makes the calls one after the other.

“Any luck?” I ask, slumping onto the couch and shielding my eyes from the bright light dangling from the ceiling.

“The only one who ain’t here and isn’t answering his phone is Oak,” Slade answers while Sparks makes another call.

“Oak? When the last time you saw you him?”

“Last night, Sparky reckons the same.”

“And you’ve managed to get hold of everyone else?”

“Almost.” He nods and looks back to the screen.

“The last call he made was from here at ten-thirty-one last night and he hasn’t made any transactions since his dinner at Hanks yesterday.”

At least we’re getting somewhere now.

“Take Pope, and you and Sparky go check his house out.”

He doesn’t stay there a lot, but it’s worth checking out.

“Pope’s gone out of town with Sally, remember?” Slade frowns.

Shit, so much has happened today, I forgot my brother left this morning.  

“Okay, us three will go and see if we can find anything,” I say, pulling myself up from the couch. Hopefully the fresh air will clear my head.

I can’t think of a single reason for Oak not to be in contact with anyone here, damn, I can’t think of a single reason why he isn’t sitting up the bar like he has done for years.

Sparky and Slade follow me out into the bar and prepare to leave.

“Has anyone seen Oak since last night?” I yell.

Heads shake and no one claims to have seen him, making the unease of Oak being the missing brother more likely.

Alannah catches my eye and the fear of Oak being taken has her holding onto our boy for dear life.

Between Oak and Pope, they are the only ones left from her early childhood and over my dead body will I let anything happen for her to lose another piece of her family.

“Slade, Sparks, let’s ride,” I call out, heading for the door.

They fall in behind me and we make it just outside the door when I count fourteen bikes cruising through the gate. Brothers gather around and filter out from the bar all on alert to the new comers.

No patches are visible and until they take off their helmets and the few that are wearing bandanas, they could be anyone and more importantly, they could be a threat.

Lost Souls form a human barrier half way across the lot and one by one the new comers climb off their bikes.

Their helmets come off and we all stand down, they all start unzipping their hoodies and walk closer to us.

“Noah?” I ask.

Noah is a Devil’s Bastard brother and has been since before I joined the Lost Souls. The grave look on his face doesn’t look my night is going to get any better. I remember when I first met him nearly fifteen years ago, he looked a lot younger than he does now. Time has not been his friend, his eyes are surrounded by deep cracks and the grey that used to pepper his hair, is much more prominent.

His men stay close to him and I only recognise a few of them.

“Our trip here doesn’t come with good news I’m afraid, Cas,” he says, embracing me with a hard, rapid hand shake.

“I didn’t think it did,” I sigh, “Where are your cuts?” I ask, taking in every man he came with and see none of them are wearing their patches.

“We should talk.”

“We were just heading out on business, what do you need to talk about?”

“We’re here about Oak, shit is raining sideways and we wanted to make sure you knew we are not a part of it,” he swears.

Now he has my full attention. Sparky and Slade move closer and eye the men standing on our property.

“Follow me,” I say, heading back into the bar.

Lost Souls quieten once more and make room for our guests. Scanning the area, I search for Ricky and find him nuzzling into Kyla’s neck.

“Ricky,” I yell, “Get to Oak’s and check his place out. Take a couple of prospects with you.”

He reluctantly pulls himself away from her and grabs the prospects from behind the bar. It still shocks me Pope didn’t slit his throat for touching his daughter.

“Okay, Noah, tell us what you know,” I begin when Ricky has left and I’m content that at least Oak’s place is still going to be checked over.

“First, we’re not wearing our patches because we don’t belong to the Devil’s Bastards any longer. The past week has been hell as you saw for yourselves yesterday, we lost Linc and half the club, then this morning Danny took the gavel without a proper vote and made himself king of the castle.”

“Danny?” I interject.

The name doesn’t ring a bell.

“He was patched in a few years ago, you should remember him. You put him on his ass at the meet we had after you became president, he accused you of being soft and you showed him he was wrong.”

Now I remember, “Newbie?” I hedge.

“Yeah, well, he has never forgotten the humiliation you brought him and now he has the king patch on, he’s making all sorts of changes.”

“Get to the information on Oak,” Sparky spits, thinking the same as I.

“I am,” he frowns, “He’s coming for you and wants the DB’s to be the main club, he’s never been happy with the percentage we got for our part in the runs and now he’s in charge he plans on taking it all. In the last week alone he’s recruited twenty-six men behind our backs and they already follow him like fucking blind pigs. They picked Oak up last night on his way home, I’m sorry, Cas, I didn’t know it was going down until it was too late.”

My body springs from the chair and my hands are around his throat before he sees it coming.

“What do you mean he was picked up last night? What have they got him for?” I growl, squeezing a little too hard for his liking but not hard enough so he can’t talk.

“He’s the first warning to you and the Lost Souls, he wants to take you all out and take over. I swear to you Cas, I didn’t know a fucking thing about it until it was too late.”

Slade pulls me back and Noah falls back onto the chair, rubbing his bruising neck.

“Where have they got him?” Sparky asks.

“They had him at the clubhouse but after we left, I’m sure they would’ve moved him knowing we would come to you.”

Banging my fists on the table repeatedly, I don’t stop until the frustration comes down a notch.

“And you only thought to let us know now?” I shout, Noah paling under the weight of my anger.

“We came as soon as we found out. Danny knew exactly who would be behind him and who wouldn’t,” Noah argues.

I brace my hands on the table and lean towards him, breathing through the violence I want to inflict on someone.

“Have you seen him?” I ask.

“Briefly, before he was taken into another room. He didn’t see us as he was too out of it. I think Danny wanted to make sure I knew he was telling the truth in having Oak. I don’t think I would’ve believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.” Fuck, it’s now confirmed Oak’s whereabouts.

“How was he?” I dare to ask. 

“A little beaten up, split lip, bruised eye…”

“Fuck that, tell me why any of you fuckers didn’t help him? There’s what? Fourteen of you, you tellin’ us you couldn’t get him out?” Sparky shouts himself.

“That might be the case but we were still outnumbered, the best thing we could’ve done was come to you.”

The men he came with fidget nervously and fall back under my glare.

“I’ve known you all a long fucking time and our relationship has never been questioned, I’ve been loyal to you as much as I was to Linc. You still have my loyalty and I want to stand beside you when you take out Danny, cause that’s what’s gonna have to happen. The boy isn’t going to stop until he gets what he wants or someone stops him.”

“What about your boys, are they loyal to us because I’m lookin’ around and there are a lot of new faces we haven’t been introduced too before,” Sparky says.

“They’re loyal. They were Devil’s Bastards and came with me here, no questions asked. They’re ready to fight with you.”

Visions of my brother under the hands of a little punk ass bitch riles me up and causes the rage I haven’t felt for a long while to rise again.

Her perfume hits me before I see her and her nearness calms my soul like only she can for me.

“Use them to get him back,” she whispers in my ear.

I cover her hand on my shoulder with my own and squeeze.

“Alannah, it’s good to see you again,” Noah offers, giving her a grim smile.

“Not under these circumstances it isn’t,” she retorts.

“No, of course not.”

I release her hand and she returns to her table with the girls. Looking around the bar, Lost Souls and ex-Devil’s Bastards are standing together and I can see how this is going to play out for tonight at least.

“You’re willing to fight with us?” I ask, making sure I heard correct.

He nods and so do his men.

I stand and look around, “Tonight we ride to the DB’s clubhouse, if Oak is still there we take him back, if he isn’t, we extract information from anyone who is there by any means necessary. It looks like the Devil’s Bastards are our enemy apart from the men standing here with us now. Oak is our brother and we won’t stop until he is home, be ready to ride in ten minutes.”