Dylan's Reaper: Soul Reapers #3 (5 page)

“
Of course Prez. Whatever you need,
”
I reassured him.

“
Colton wanted the responsibility,
but he has too much on his plate with being the VP. Plus I see the way you are
with her.
”
His
gray eyes turned stormy, as he assessed me once again.
“
I
see the way she responds to you. I am not going to say no, I am just going to
ask that you wait until she can adjust to everything that is being thrown at
her.
”

“
It
’
s
at her speed Prez.
”
And that was the truth.

“
Thank you brother.
”
A slight nod told me I
was being dismissed.
“
And if you see Colton,
can you send him my way?
”

“
Absolutely Prez,
”
I replied as I walked
out of his office. I saw Colton standing behind Logan at the pool table where
Campbell and Tank still played their game.

Striding across the room, Prez
’
s
request was completely forgotten as I came up next to Colton and quietly asked,
“
How
is she?
”

“
Sleeping,
”
was all he said.

“
Is she okay?
”
I knew something was
off when Colton would not make eye contact with me.

“
She will be.
”
The same conflicted,
stormy gray eyes as Prez
’
s finally looked at me.

“
What did you say to her?
”
I grounded out, feeling
my anger welling up.

“
She doesn
’
t
want to stay here.
”
Colton avoided my question, sidetracking
my anger when my chest tightened at his words.

“
She wants to leave?
”

“
She
’
s
scared.
”
That was all I needed
to hear. I left without another word, as I raced back to my room. The room was
eerily silent as I let myself in without knocking. I found Dylan curled up in
the tightest ball, asleep. The tightening in my chest loosened as I raked both
hands through my hair again.

The need to pace was overwhelming, but I did not
want to wake her up. So instead I grabbed a chair from across the room and took
a seat next to the bed. A while passed and I was dozing in and out of sleep
when Dylan started to cry out and thrashed about in the bed.

“
Nooooooo. Stop. Please,
”
she cried.
“
I
don
’
t
even know him.
”

“
Shhhh,
”
I tried to calm her,
but to no avail. I knew it was bad to jar someone from a nightmare, but letting
her relive whatever was terrorizing her could not be good either.
“
Dylan,
”
I called, shaking her.
“
Dylan,
wake up.
”

“
Don
’
t
touch me,
”
she
sobbed, trying to fight against my hold.

“
Princess. It
’
s
Knox. Wake up,
”
I
pleaded. I wanted in that moment to slay every demon that haunted her dreams,
to right every wrong that was done to her.
“
You
’
re
safe.
”
Her cries stopped, but
her body still shook as she slowly opened her eyes.
“
It
’
s
me.
”

“
Knox,
”
she breathed, taking in
her surroundings.
“
You
’
re
here.
”

“
I
’
ll
always be here.
”
Those words were the truth. I never
broke eye contact wanting her to see the truth there.

“
I know,
”
was all she had to say
as a surge of fierce protectiveness coursed through my veins as she peered up
at me, trusting me.

“
How about that shower?
”
I asked, wanting to
chase the last of the clouds from her beautiful, gray eyes.

“
That sounds wonderful,
”
replied Dylan. The
bathroom trip was very much like the first one . . . very slow, but the look of
joy on her face when I got her back in bed was worth it. Two pain killers and
thirty minutes later and my Princess was sleeping peacefully once again.

CHAPTER SIX

Dylan

Time found me once more. I could no longer simply
close my eyes and wish large amount of time away. Even my pain medicine had
been dialed down since I first got here, not that I could complain because I
hated that I needed drugs at all. But a week here and I was already feeling
like myself. I had a little bit more recovery to go, but I was finally able to
go to the bathroom without being winded yesterday.

My reflection no longer looked like something from a
bad
Lifetime
movie. My eyes were finally clear from all the drugs and
shit the Hellhounds fed me, and my head . . . well my head was clear which led
to more thinking . . . and thinking.

Although I was grateful to be out of the Hellhounds
’
grasp, I realized that
all I did was trade one prison for another. The Soul Reapers may not maim and
torture, but they still would not let me leave if I wanted to. Wesson was
adamant about my safety and that I MUST stay at the clubhouse until all of this
blew over. There was no
“
hey please stay.
”
It was more like
“
your
ass is staying here until every last Hellhound was in the ground.
”
Wesson spent about an
hour or so every day with me, but most of the time it was just small talk. I
could barely wrap my mind around the fact that I was having lunch every day
with my father, let alone that I had a brother who wanted to be in my face all
the time.

Colton . . .

That was another mess I had yet to untangle. How
could my mother never tell me about my brother? My only conclusion after
wracking my brain was that she was afraid I would leave to find him . . . maybe
them. After all the lectures about how MCs were bad and to stay away, was it
just to keep me away from my father? All of the old ladies or girlfriends
seemed to want to be here, even in the middle of war. I also found out from
Colton that both Logan and Campbell had been through hell courtesy of the
Hellhounds. So they obviously needed to be stopped, but at what cost and to
whom?

Plus there was the fact that I had been missing for
almost two weeks at this point. Was my mother worried? Did she even know or
care? What about Sam? He said he would get me out of here and that was what I
still wanted wasn
’
t it? Then take
everything that I heard at the Hellhounds
’
place, and damn my head
hurt with everything that was vying for my attention.

So instead of fighting against my
“
father
”
and his demand to stay,
I decided to bide my time until I could get out on my own and away from the
Soul Reapers and Hellhounds and Night Demons. They may all wear different cuts
with stupid names on them but they were all the same - angry, dark, brooding
sons of bitches.

And Knox was one of them. He still brought me
breakfast every morning, and continued to soothe my nightmares. And most nights
he ended up in my bed, because the terrors from my dreams seemed to lurk in
every dark corner of his bedroom. But the minute his warm body encircled mine,
all things that went bump in the night quieted down enough so that I could
sleep. Every morning I woke up cocooned in warmth . . . and safety, with a
heaping side of morning wood pressed against me. It felt so good, and the
minute I moved or showed that I was awake, Knox would roll me over, partially
into his body as he looked me over.

His jaw clenched and unclenched when his eyes took
in the slowly fading bruises and healing burns. He cursed under his breath each
time he took in my cast. Knox always excused himself after his eyes touched
every inch of my body that I wanted his hands and mouth on, but not before he
placed a chaste kiss to my forehead. Every morning I found that I prolonged
letting him know I was awake.  As my body healed, my core began to ache more
and more for him. And as my yearning grew, so did my feelings for him. What the
hell was I going to do? I was no closer to figuring anything out, but most of
all I still wanted the hell away from this mess.

I have always been haunted by bad choices . . . in
life . . . in men. This was just another in a long line of them. But this
experience taught me something more than any of the previous ones - I was on my
own. My deal with Lucifer had completely blown up in my face, leaving me weary
to trust again. But Knox and Colton were different right? Maybe even Wesson?

The Hellhounds and Soul Reapers are obviously at war
with each other and I willingly let myself be used as bait. But what did the
Night Demons want out of all of this? I could see the appeal of two clubs
offing themselves and then coming in with guns blazing to take down the last
one standing, but it had to be more than that. I just did not know enough and
did not trust anyone enough here to voice my thoughts or raise any red flags.
As far as I knew I could say one wrong thing and end up in a worse situation
than I was in with the Hellhounds, blood relative to the President or not. I
just needed to bide my time, get better, and then get the FUCK GONE.

Knox

“
So what are you suggesting?
”
Whistler and his old
view of the fucking world. It made church these days never ending.

“
I
’
m
suggesting that we go after them and settle this shit,
”
yelled Colton.
“
The
Hellhounds are the biggest pieces of shit and its time we did something about
them. First Logan, then Campbell, and now Dylan.
”

“
Don
’
t
raise your voice at me boy,
”
snarled Whistler.

“
Enough,
”
Prez commanded.
“
We
have been fighting this out every day for the last week. We need to start
making some decisions. We have been reactive enough. It is time to be
proactive. I don
’
t think it is quite
time to take the fight to them like Colton proposed. I stand by my original
proposal to suggest a sit-down with the top three Hellhounds so that we can at
least see what they want.
”

“
That will start a war,
”
argued Whistler.
We
are already in one!

“
We are already in one old man,
”
Tank spat.

“
I agree,
”
I said.

“
Of all people Whistler, I thought
you would respect the fact that we need to retaliate for our women being used
as collateral in a war that has nothing to do with them. It
’
s
time we did something.
”
There were a lot of murmurs agreeing
with Colton.

“
And none of these so-called women
are old ladies. None of you
“
respect
”
the way of doing shit
in this day and age. You all run around with your dicks out and then you get
surprised when they get shot off.
”

Whistler opened his mouth to say more, but Prez
stopped him by saying,
“
It
’
s
time to vote. We have three proposals on the table and need a unanimous
decision. The first one is Whistler
’
s
idea to continue to do surveillance for one more week and then regroup. Or my
idea of calling a sit down with the Hellhounds. Or Colton
’
s
idea of ambushing their clubhouse. Because there are three proposals, Whistler,
Colton, and myself will not vote, but we all agree to live with what you
decide.
”

“
Agreed,
”
Colton said as he
looked around the room at each brother.

“
Fine,
”
huffed Whistler.
“
Agreed.
”

“
Agreed,
”
Prez stated.
“
Now,
all for Whistler
’
s wait and see
proposal.
”
Not
one brother raised their hand.

“
Fucking A,
”
hollered Whistler as he
quickly stood up, toppling his chair over.
“
You
are going to fucking regret not waiting.
”
With a snare to the
room, he stomped out.

“
For my idea of the sit-down,
”
Prez continued as if
Whistler
’
s
temper tantrum never happened. After a few seconds of looking around, Prez saw
that no one raised their hand.
“
And last was
Colton
’
s
idea of attacking their clubhouse.
”
Every hand in the room
went up.
“
So there you have it brothers, we
go to war.
”
A
loud applause sounded as Colton and Tank high-fived.
“
Colton
will oversee the plan of attack. Gunner will handle fire power. Worm will work
his computer magic and get us all the clubhouse details. Colton, pull Woods and
Lefty in from the field. And lastly, let
’
s
throw us one hell of a fucking party in three nights
’
time brothers! Meeting
adjourned.
”
With
a thud of the gavel, cheers and more applause went up as we slowly made our way
out of the church.

“
Sit with me for a beer.
”
Colton came up next to
me.

“
I
’
ll
always have me a beer,
”
I said as I followed him to the bar. As
always Rabbit was behind it with Ax.
“
But
not too long, I need to take something up to Princess.
”

“
She hates that name doesn
’
t
she?
”

“
Not when it
’
s
coming from me,
”
I joked.

“
Oh man, TMI!
”
I loved giving it to
Colton. I stood to leave, but Colton stopped me.
“
Wait.
”
He paused, looking down
the bar and then back at me.
“
So I just wanted
to check in on my baby sister. I know she has been resting mostly this week but
how is she really doing?
”

“
You see her every day,
”
I said.

“
I know, but I feel like she would
tell you before me told me.
”
His comment filled me with pride.

“
Both good and bad,
”
I answered honestly.
“
All
her bruises, bumps, and burns are healing as you can see. Her wrist doesn
’
t
really hurt her in basic movements and tasks. All of which is good. She is
doing fine health wise.
”

“
I know all that, but . . .
”
Colton trailed off.

“
But she has nightmares every night.
She is waking up screaming and thrashing about. She has clocked me a couple of
times when I try to wake her up, because she thinks I am someone who is going
to hurt her.
”

“
Are you?
”

“
Am I what?
”
I asked defensively.

“
Going to hurt her?
”
Colton threw his hands
up.
“
I
see everything that you are doing for her and how she looked to you that first
night here. Hell I see how her face lights up every time you walk in the room
and how you smile now only for her, but I just need to know. I may not have
always been able to be her big brother, but I am now and you better believe I
am going to wear the shit out of that title.
”
I laughed at Colton,
despite the fact that he was trying to call me out about his sister.

“
Listen brother. I am here for her
and whatever she needs. Your dad asked me to watch over her until all this shit
blows over.
”
I
let that sink in as I downed the rest of my beer.
“
And
I plan to keep doing it well after we come out of this on the other side.
”

“
I
’
m
gonna hold you to that brother!
”
Colton called out to me as I went
into the kitchen to grab Princess some food.