Wild Heart- Extended Edition (The Wild Heart Series) (22 page)

She blinked back a tear at the beauty of his words. No matter what happened, her heart wouldn’t allow her to ever leave his side. His hands skimmed down her shirt and again she was alive with excitement, the exhaustions of the rest of the world no longer fogging up her mind. He lifted her from the bed and onto his lap as he skimmed his fingers along her sides, pulling her shirt up over her head. His lips were warm as they pressed against hers. She could feel the fire flaming up through her body, she longed for them to engulf her as Knox laid claim over her body.

He laid her gently on the bed, standing at the edge and removing his shirt from his head. He leaned down, drifting his hand down her torso and exploring all of her curves. He traced a line across her breast, stopping to caress her nipple between his fingers. She moaned lightly from the bed as her hand slipped down her stomach and into her panties. Her body was raging with desire from his touch. She kept her eyes open, watching as he licked his lips in anticipation of what was to come. She fluttered her eyes shut as she found the soft warm flesh of her clit. When she reopened them, Knox now stood caressing his erection next to her, his hand traveled down her stomach, leaving nothing more than a trail of sensitive flesh in its path.

His hand met hers and gently took its place, rubbing circles around her clit as his index finger teased the opening of her pussy, sliding into her and reaching just the right spot. She could feel the bed dip as he climbed onto the bed and pulled her toward the headboard. He lowered himself, gently caressing her inner thighs with his lips. He hooked his fingers into each side of her panties and slipped them effortlessly from her legs.

“I will never get my fill of you, Ani,” his words blew warmly across the apex of her thighs.

“Knox, love me, please.”

“Every day, baby, every fucking day,”

And before she could catch her breath, his tongue was now teasing her, exchanging turns with his lips and his fingers, making sure to cover every inch of her flesh. His touch was intoxicating and caused her mind to spin in every direction as her body bowed from the bed in ecstasy. He let her find her climax as many times as she could before he trailed his lips to her collar bone and laid a trail of kisses to her neck. His arms were around her, strong, and tight as he brought her body toward his and entered her. He held her as he made love to her, it was a wicked, terribly, sexy feeling to be in his arms.

This wasn’t fucking, this was a man showing his woman what it felt like to be loved. He grabbed her hair gently as he pushed his length in and out of her. His body was heavy, but gentle and she had to keep reminding herself to breathe because every other moment left her completely and utterly breathless. He was the moon and she was the ocean and his hips showed her the reasons why the water floods against the sand each night at midnight. It was achingly beautiful the way their souls became one. She opened her eyes and looked up to see his eyes on nothing but her.

“Can I have you for the rest of my life, baby?” he asked, and Ani let her lips answer.

She walked to the window of the cabin, her stomach fluttering as she thought back to that night. The familiar rumble of the motorcycle engines came vibrating through the cracked window. Smiling, she pulled the curtain to the side and looked down, questioning why she saw Rage’s bike pull up first. Jameson, Charon, Repo, and Doc pulled up behind him, parking quickly before jumping off their bikes and sprinting toward the door. Ani’s stomach dropped, something was wrong. She turned and rushed downstairs to find the men in a fury. Kate stood amongst them in the living room, attempting to calm them enough to get an idea of what was going on.

Ani watched as Rage went running into his room, Kate dragging behind him as she clung to his arm. Doc, an older man in his fifties leaned against the counter out of breath. She could see the red stain of blood splattered across the belly of his white shirt. The room was a chaotic mess and she couldn’t get a clear grasp from the scattered voices speaking over the other. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, bringing her hand to her mouth and letting out a whistle loud enough to quiet the room.

She looked down at the four men, who were now staring at her with concern, “What happened?”

“We need to get you girls to the clubhouse, darlin’,” Doc said panting for breath.

“Doc, what happened?” She walked down to him, checking him over, “Where did this blood come from?”

“We need to get you to the clubhouse,” Rage said as he drug Kate back out of the room. “Darlin’ I will buy you all the clothes you need. But we need to go. Now.” There was a raw emotion as he lifted her chin up and placed a light kiss on Kate’s lips and then turned back toward Ani, “We need to go and don’t stop until we’re at the club.” Rage glanced around at each of the guys who nodded back in understanding.

Ani watched as Rage tossed a handgun to Charon who stuck it in the back of his pants and made his way toward where Ani stood frozen with fear. “Charon, please tell me what’s going on.”

“We need to go, darlin’. We’ll talk about it at the club. You ride with me.” He protectively wrapped his arm around her shoulder and the group headed toward their bikes.

Before she could protest, Charon was taking off toward the clubhouse. She could tell he was uneasy, nervous, as he scanned the roads that jutted out from the main road they found themselves flying down. It was unfamiliar and uncomfortable being on the back of his bike. Why wouldn’t anyone tell her where Knox was at or what had happened? She tried to push the negative thoughts out of her mind. Knox would be ok, he had to be ok.

As they turned onto a paved road, shaded by the trees Ani heard Jameson’s voice yelling behind them to go faster. Ani gripped onto Charon as he took off down the road. She chanced a glance behind them to see a large black van following closely a few hundred yards back. She clung to Charon as a scream escaped her throat and a bullet shattered into a tree a few feet away from them. One sounded close, but she couldn’t determine where it had landed as Charon swerved and tensed. She could hear shots ringing out in every direction, both from the van and from Repo and Jameson as the tires of the van came to a screeching stop and swerved off the road and into a deep ravine. The Kings took off and before she knew it, they were pulling into the yard of the club. She felt a light tap on her hand as she removed her face from where it had been implanted in Charon’s back.

“It’s ok, Ani. We’re here,” Charon tried to calm her.

She peered up at him as she took in the blood dripping down from his shoulder, a few inches from where her head had been pressed into his back. She jumped off the back of his bike as Jameson and Repo rushed over and caught him, just before his lifeless body slumped off the side of his motorcycle and onto the ground; he’d taken a bullet for her. But how had he known they were trying to shoot at her too? They carried him toward the clubhouse as Rage yelled for Doc. Ani stood frozen in place, who were those people and why were they shooting at them?

“We need to get inside, Ani. It’s not safe out here,” Lulu said as she grabbed Ani’s hand and pulled her toward the clubhouse.

Lulu was a lay, she wasn’t anyone’s old lady. She had been hanging around the clubhouse over the past few months. She was young, maybe twenty-one, and a quiet girl. She had shown up at one of the club parties and never left. She and Ani hit it off the first night they met and Ani now looked at her like a little sister. Lulu had her eyes on Charon from the moment she’d walked in the door, but he’d seemed almost clueless to her advances. She’d been a part of the M.C. life since she was a kid and knew what was expected of her since she wasn’t anyone’s old lady; only complicating things further in her pursuit of Charon. No one wants to be with an old lady that had been passed around the club a few times.

Ani stopped as they walked through the door and pulled Lulu into a tight hug. She felt Lulu’s arms tighten around her waist as the flood of tears came out. Ani’s heart ached for her, she was scared for Knox just like Lulu was scared for Charon. She saw Rage come out from behind the elaborately carved doors, Charon’s lifeless body lay atop the large wooden table as Doc shot a needle of medication into his arm.

Doc was the resident club doctor, he’d earned his name from the many years he had practiced back in Ireland; losing his license after treating club patients off the books. He had come to the States with the rest of the M.C. in an effort to keep an eye on them. He was one of the original founding members and often reminded Ani of her dad with his warm demeanor and storytelling. Ani gently brushed Lulu’s hair trying to comfort her as Rage came toward them.

“Ani, I need you,” he said, his eyes filled with anxiety.

“Lulu, Charon will be ok. Why don’t you go in there and be with him while Doc gets him fixed up.” She flashed her eyes at Rage who nodded in approval. “He will be happy to see you when he wakes up in a little bit.”

“Ok,” Lulu’s voice was timid as she made her way toward the chapel.

“Rage, what’s going on?” Ani did her best to keep her voice composed.

“We got ambushed. Fuckin’ group of Renegades caught us on our run back.” He brushed his hands through his short black hair before landing both fist into the wall just next to them.

Ani flinched as the loud bang reverberated from the wall. “Where is Knox?” Ani’s voice was a whisper as she asked, immediately praying that he was alright.

“He’s ok. He and a few of the other guys are held up in our warehouse. Can’t leave. There’s no getting’ into that building, though. You’d have to blow it up to get into it.” Ani’s eyes flashed with concern as Rage answered her unspoken thought, “They might have connections, but they don’t have connections like that.”

“Those guys in the van?”

“Renegades. Charon had a gut feeling that they were going to try and go to the cabin. We knew you girls were there alone. God only knows what would have happened if they’d gotten there before us.” He bent over letting out a gut wrenching sound as the scenario played out in his mind. She could see that the worry of something happening to her or Kate was ripping him apart.

“Hey, Rage, we’re ok. You got there first,” Ani leaned down as she rubbed his back in an attempt to comfort him. Charon had known that they might come after Ani and Kate when he put her on the back of his bike. It was his way of protecting her when Knox couldn’t be there. And, now he lay on a make shift operating table as Doc dug a bullet out of his shoulder. “So what’s next?” Ani asked, she knew she needed to be brave for Knox and the rest of the M.C.; it was time to step up.

“Jameson’s callin’ the rest of the members. We go on lockdown. Is there any way you can get ahold of your pops? See if he can come in?” Rage asked as Kate came up and hugged him. She could see that Kate’s normal brave façade had faded; she was frightened.

“He can’t drive. I would need to go get him.”

“Call him and tell him that two nasty looking bastards named Riley and Odessa will be picking him up. I’ll call them now and tell them to go get him before they get here. He does not, under any circumstances, leave with anyone else.” Rage kissed the top of Kate’s head before turning to head up the stairs.

“Ani, I’m scared,” Kate hugged her as she pulled her phone from her pocket.

“We’ll be ok,” Ani wrapped her free arm around Kate and waited for her dad to pick up. “We got this, I promise.”

“Hello?” his voice was cheery as he picked up the phone. Ani wondered briefly how much of a fight he would put up.

“Hey, daddy. Listen, there is something going on and we need you to come to the clubhouse. Do you think you could grab a bag of clothes or two and come over and hang out with us for a bit?” She silently prayed when he didn’t immediately respond.

“Been waiting for months for you to bring me over to play with motorcycles. You coming to get me?” She smiled as he responded brightly.

“No, two guys will be coming; Riley and Odessa. Daddy, I need you to make sure they are who they say they are before you leave with them ok?” she said sternly.

“Aye, Captain,” he chucked, “See you in a bit kiddo. Love you.”

“Love you too, daddy.” She ended the call as a group of club members, women, men, and children, came in through the door next to her and Kate.

“Ani, just talked to Odessa. They are pullin’ up now,” Rage called out down the hallway. She smiled before giving him a thumbs up and reaching down and holding Kate out at arm’s length.

“Kate, it’s gonna be ok,” Ani smiled down at her, “We knew shit was gonna be scary at times, but it’s time for us to step up. We gotta be strong for them,” she eyed down at the chaos going on in the main room. “We gotta be strong for our men. Besides, we’ve never been against getting out halos a little dirty, right?”

Kate took a deep breath and exhaled, when she looked up at Ani there was a brighter fierceness in her eyes. “You’re right. We got this.” She turned back to the door and the people that were still coming in from outside. “So what did Rage say was going on?”

“Said the guys were at the warehouse. They’re surrounded by Renegades that they apparently ran into on the way back from the run.” Ani wiped her hand across her head.

“What were they doing on a run through Gatlinburg?” Kate huffed.

“Not sure.” Ani patted Kate’s shoulder before making her way toward the open room that had now filled more than halfway with club and family members. This was her family now and she had to do whatever she could to protect them.

She made her way over to the bar area where Johanna, Doc’s old lady, stood taking inventory. “Johanna, can I help you with anything?”

“No, babe,” the heavily tattooed older woman said smiling over at her. “How bout’ you relax for a minute and let me get you a drink.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Ani smiled warmly.

“You’re the Prez’ old lady. Let me take care of you, babe.” Johanna leaned against the counter, waiting.

“Coffee please.” Ani turned as a hand grasped her shoulder, half expecting to turn and see Knox, she turned to find the warm smile of her dad. “Daddy, you made it. Everything go ok?” She wrapped her arms around him, stopping as she felt the hard steel under each arm of his jacket. She stepped back looking at him questioningly before smiling. “Daddy, you packin’?”