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  “Oh, and have your best friend turn against you and steal your girl. That was fucking genius if I could say so myself.”

  I growled, itching to take the Rebel leader down. While there was no love loss between us and the Cazadores, it seemed a new enemy had inserted themselves into the mix.

  Twitch waved his hand, grabbing for his gun.

  “Let’s get this over with.”

  I dove as a hail of bullets erupted, the crowd scattering as everyone looked for cover in the open field. There was only one person on this field I had to get out, and I wasn’t about to walk away until I did.

  Shooting a Rebel as they charged me, I raced after Andrew, who was dragging Alice along with him as he made his way toward the parked vehicles. No doubt he was looking to escape.

  “Andrew!” I shouted, scrambling up the slope, leaving the fighting behind.

  “Derrek!” Alice called out, struggling against Andrew’s grip.

  The gun was no longer at her head, so I took a shot, catching Andrew in the back. He yelped and went down, and I wasted no time running toward him, catching him with my boot as he struggled to rise.

  “Get behind the car,” I told Alice, picking Andrew up by the front of his shirt.

  I didn’t want her to see what I was going to do to him.

  “Derrek wait,” he gasped, blood starting to run out of his mouth. “I didn’t have a choice.”

  “You always had a choice,” I said before smashing my fist in his face. “You stupid, fucking man! You always had a choice!”

  He gurgled, but I kept punching, feeling his nose shatter under my fist, blood spurting everywhere. Somewhere in the back of my mind, Alice was screaming, but I kept pounding, not caring that I was killing him.

  He deserved to die for all that he had done to her, to me.

  Finally, I stopped, throwing his bloody body on the ground and stepping back. If he wasn’t dead yet, he would be shortly.

  Walking around the car, I motioned for a cowering Alice to follow me. I had to get her out of there.

  “Come on, Alice,” I said softly, as gunfire raged on around us. “We have to go.”

  “You killed him.” She breathed, her face stained with tears.

  I looked down at my hands, stained with Andrew’s blood, and knew there was nothing I could do about it right now.

  “He deserved so much more for what he did to you. Come on, we have got to get out of here.”

  She bit her lip and rose from her crouched position, not touching my outstretched hand. I pulled out my gun and covered for her, firing some shots to give us a way to get out of there.

  “Just run!” I yelled, firing at a nearby Rebel. “Run Alice!”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Alice

  I ran.

  The sound of the gunfire started to fade away the farther I got, zigzagging through the houses in an effort to avoid any bullets coming my way. My heart was pounding in my ears, my breath coming in short bursts.

  But not even a heart attack was going to stop me from getting away.

  “Alice, stop!”

  I kept running, heedless of Derrek’s voice, until my legs nearly gave out and I was forced to stop on the cracked sidewalk, my hands on my knees.

  Derrek’s hand touched my lower back, rubbing small circles.

  “Breathe Alice. Breathe.”

  I shuddered as I pictured the blood on his hands, now on my body. I knew what Andrew had done, but it still didn’t make me feel any better about Derrek taking his life.

  Finally, I straightened, turning to face him. There was blood smeared on his shirt, all over his hands and arms, and he was covered with weapons.

  But it was the look in his eyes that gave me pause. There was relief there, concern, and something else I couldn’t pinpoint.

  “Are you okay?” he asked softly, the sound of sporadic gunfire still echoing in the distance.

  “N-no,” I forced out.

  I wasn’t going to lie. I wasn’t okay. My nerves were tearing up, my heart was still racing, and I wanted nothing more than to curl up in a ball and cry my eyes out.

  Derrek let out a breath.

  “I’m so damned sorry about this, Alice. I didn’t know. I never expected Andrew to double-cross me. If I had, I would have never left you in his care.”

  I knew he was telling the truth, and my heart went out to him at the loss of a friend, someone he had trusted.

  “I know.”

  “As long as you do,” he said, glancing around. “We need to get the hell out of here. This is Diablo country.”

  I swallowed hard, looking around at the rundown homes and businesses.

  He was right. We couldn’t stay here long at all.

  “Alright.”

  It didn’t take us long to walk back to the field where it had all started, the gunfire no longer popping in the air. In fact, the field was littered with bodies, and I gasped when I saw the carnage.

  “Oh, my God!”

  “Shit!” Derrek said, pushing me toward a truck. “Get inside. I have to go down there.”

  I wasn’t about to be a sitting duck in the truck, ripe for the picking. Derrek didn’t bother to check to see if I was obeying him, and I followed him down the hill to the field, where I could tell that both clubs had suffered major loss.

  Derrek stopped to check the identity of everybody we passed, muttering if it was a Legion, giving a final nod if it wasn’t. I had never seen so much bloodshed before, and I stayed close to Derrek as we made our way through the field.

  There was no more fighting, no more gunfire, but a great deal of heavy-hearted mourning, the blend of the clubs no longer mattering.

  “Shit!” he said again, as we reached Fox, who was squatting over a body on the ground.

  I gasped as I recognized Jack, his vest blooming with blood. Fox held his hand, tears rolling down the strong biker’s face.

  “Not Jack.”

  Fox looked up, wiping his hand over his eyes.

  “He’s gone. Twitch shot him down before he could even draw his gun.”

  I felt a peculiar sense of loss wash over me for the man I had never really gotten to know, the man who had given me life.

  One by one, the Legion members that were left started to kneel as Derrek dropped to his knees next to Fox, blatant emotion on his face. I stood silently by, not even bothering to wipe the tears from my cheeks. I was going to have to tell my mom, help Derrek mourn the loss of someone he had looked up to.

  This day was nothing but loss for everyone.

  **

  Derrek was silent as we headed to the hospital about an hour later, having helped Fox count the dead and make a list of all the families that would have to be notified. While the cops had shown up, they hadn’t helped out much, allowing the two clubs to handle their own.

  I had watched them mourn together, even for some of the Cazadores that were among the dead. Emilio Nieto had been found as well, shot in the head, along with a good many from his upper ranks, according to the chatter around me. It seemed that while the Legion had taken a loss, the Cazadores had suffered devastating losses.

  And now, I had to figure out what to do next. My mom had to be told, and as much as I didn’t want to do it right now, I knew Jack had been by her side often. While she didn’t remember much, she would notice his loss.

  We pulled up at the hospital, and Derrek shut off the truck, resting his cleaned hands on the steering wheel. He had changed into another shirt and washed off the blood, but the horror of the day was written all over his face, and I wasn’t used to seeing him like this.

  When he climbed out without a word, I knew I had to tell him.

  “Derrek, wait.”

  He turned as I climbed out of the truck, his hard eyes focused on mine.

  “What?”

  I walked over and wrapped my arms around his waist.

  “I’m so sorry for Jack’s death. I know how much he meant to you and to the club.”

  His body
remained rigid, but I refused to move my arms, waiting for the moment he would break down. He was so used to me doing it, but after what he had experienced today, there was no way he could hold it in.

  And I was going to be there to help him get through it.

  “Please,” I started. “Talk to me.”

  Finally, he shuddered, his arms going around me like a tight vise.

  “Do you know how fucking scared I was?” he asked, pressing his face into my hair. “When I found out he had taken you, I couldn’t breathe.”

  “I kept my gun,” I said lightly, attempting not to cry. “Just like you told me to.”

  He let out a choked laugh, pressing a kiss to my temple.

  “I’m glad you listened to me about that.”

  Something broke loose in my chest, and I knew he was going to be alright. Pulling back, I touched his rough jawline.

  “I love you. I don’t know why it has taken me so long to say it, but I do. I thought I was never going to get the chance to tell you.”

  His gaze softened, and he leaned into my touch.

  “I love you so damn much, Alice. I didn’t want… I couldn’t imagine losing you today.”

  He loved me. My heart lifted in my chest, and I let out a sob, causing him to pull me against him again.

  “I thought...”

  “That I couldn’t love you?” he finished for me, holding me against him. “Of course, I love you. There’s no doubt in my mind that I love you.”

  Still, I shook my head, unable to believe it.

  Derrek loved me. It was everything I could have wanted, everything I could have wished for. Even after all the horrors we had seen and experienced that day, there was a silver lining to the tragedy.

  Derrek pulled away from me, dropping to one knee.

  “I love you so much that I want you to marry me as soon as we can get it done. There’s no doubt in my mind that I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Alice, and I don’t want to wait.”

  “Derrek,” I breathed, staring down at the man who had captured my heart in the unlikeliest of times. “Are you sure?”

  He nodded, his eyes soft.

  “I am.”

  “Yes,” I said without hesitation. “Oh, yes.”

  A grin crossed his lips, and he rose from his knee, his lips capturing mine in a harsh yet gentle kiss. Emotions were swimming around my brain, both happiness and sadness intermingling together.

  We would mourn together in the coming days, then celebrate the love we had found.

  A new beginning.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Derrek

  A week later, I stood next to my fiancé, as the priest gave the final rites over Jack’s coffin. His funeral had spilled out of the church that Sarah had picked, so many had shown up at the graveside to demonstrate their love and support for the former leader of the Legion.

  Even Cheryl had been released from the hospital to attend the funeral, her hand gripping Alice’s tightly as they watched the coffin being lowered into the ground.

  The week had been a whirlwind of emotions, not only from the club but also from Alice and her mom. I had helped Fox tell the families of the fallen, offering up their bloodstained vests to the weeping family members, and attending all the funerals.

  The Legion had begun to mourn.

  But there was more. I had been offered second-in-command of the Legion and, after a long talk with Alice, had accepted my vest just the previous night in a ceremony that I thought I never wanted to be a part of.

  Of course, Fox had offered me president, given who my father was, but I had brushed that aside, telling him that he was the one that should follow Jack, not me. Fox had been there for Jack and the club when I hadn’t, and I wasn’t right for the job.

  That was all Fox.

  So the previous night, they had initiated us to the positions, with some tears, as we honored the fallen and immortalized them in the club. There was already a plan for some sort of memorial for the thirty lost, but that was down the road.

  First we had to re-group.

  Even the Cazadores had reached out, and we had called a temporary truce between the two clubs, seeing no reason to attack each other when the Rebels were the cause of both our losses.

  Once the funerals were over, we would be going after the Rebels. Twitch had gotten away and every bone in my body wanted to see him pay for what he had done to Jack and the other members of the Legion. He would pay, and pay well, once we found him.

  Alice squeezed my hand, bringing me back to reality as the priest finished, leaving us with some parting words. I drew in a breath as I stared at the coffin, still not believing Jack Carry was dead. There was so much still unsaid between us, so much that he had entrusted me with by giving me his stamp of approval.

  I had no intention of letting him down in that regard. Alice was mine forever, and I would keep her safe for as long as I walked this earth.

  “Well,” Cheryl said, looking back at Sarah, who was surrounded by the club members. “I think I need to speak to her.”

  Alice squeezed her hand as well.

  “Why don’t you do that mom? We will be waiting right here for you.”

  Cheryl gave her a tired smile and walked over to Jack’s widow. After a moment, Sarah gathered her into a hug, giving us both a reason to smile.

  “I’m glad she walked over there,” Alice said softly as I pulled her to my side, my arm hanging loosely around her waist.

  “Jack loved them both, in his own way,” I answered, blowing out a breath. “There’s no reason for them to have a beef with each other.”

  Alice laid her head on my shoulder.

  “I wish I’d had a chance to get to know him.”

  I knew she was carrying around that guilt for no reason. It hadn’t been her fault that she had been told too late in her life, that Jack had been rough around the edges and hadn’t been the father she deserved. We had talked about it quite a bit, and I hoped that one day she would find the peace she needed to let it go.

  But for now, I was going to support her however I could.

  “Well, it’s over,” Fox said as he and Nat joined our little circle, grief etched on his face. “He’s really gone.”

  “We will surely miss him,” Nat said, her arm curled around Fox’s waist. “Just how about not joining him anytime soon.”

  I watched as Fox brushed a kiss over Nat’s temple.

  “I don’t plan to.”

  “I’ll keep him alive,” I offered up with a grin. “He could never shoot straight anyway.”

  Fox shot me the middle finger.

  “You only wish you could shoot as well as I can.”

  I only grinned wider, feeling complete for the first time in a while. I had a good woman at my side who was willing to marry my ass, a budding friendship with my new president, whom I would take a bullet for, and a future that could only bring good things.

  A year ago, I would have laughed off any chance of having any of that in my life.

  “I’m ready to go home,” Nat said, giving Fox a look. “We have business, remember?”

  Fox groaned, looking over at us.

  “She’s making me gut the damn kitchen. I’m about ready to hire someone.”

  “You will not,” she said, punching his arm. “If you want to go to the clubhouse tonight, you will finish those cabinets.”

  “Such a taskmaster,” he said, rolling his eyes. “See you tonight.”

  I watched the couple walk off hand in hand, before looking at Alice.

  “You ready to go?”

  She slid her arm in mine. “Let’s go home.”

  **

  After stripping off my funeral attire, I felt moderately better, reaching for a beer out of the fridge. I had a few hours before I was due at the clubhouse, and I was planning on chilling out with my fiancée until then.

  A grin spread over my face as I thought about Alice and how much our lives had shifted over the last week. She had all but moved
in with me now, and together we had interviewed caregivers for her mom, giving her a chance to stay independent as much as she could. It was genius actually, moving her into Alice’s apartment, a place she was comfortable in already.

  Now Alice could concentrate on her own life, knowing her mom was being taken care of.