Captured (Devil's Blaze MC #1)(76)

“Beth, I’m sure it’s not what it looks like. We’re going to go over there and stick to the plan, right?”

“I don’t know, Katie.”

“Well, I do! We’ve been through too much not to do this. Where’s your balls?”

“My balls?” I shake my head, snapping out of it. She’s right. I’m just allowing all the things my grandfather said to fill me with doubt. Skull loves me. He’s flirting, but he’s not telling her he loves her. I can do this. “To the wall, right?” I look at her, trying to build up my courage.

“Exactly.” She holds out her hand. I take a breath and grab it, rubbing my stomach. I’ve been on my feet too much; my daughter is protesting. I smile at the thought of the child I’m carrying. Hand-in-hand, Katie and I step away from the bushes and go to give my husband the shock of his life.

We get just behind them, and this big pain hits me in my back. It’s so hard that I have to stop and catch my breath. I breathe through it and concentrate on the sound of Skull’s voice. I can hear him now. Somehow, his voice is different. It doesn’t have the same depth to it as it used to. He almost reminds me of Torch; laidback, always happy… Is he happy?

“A pity, but yet you have not seen what I have to offer. Perhaps I may yet entice you,” Skull’s saying, and that pain in my chest increases. Entice her? Oh God, has he really moved on?

“You get an A for effort, but don’t bother, and save us both some trouble,” the girl says, but she’s laughing at him. They look good together. They look like they fit.

“I think I might be able to surprise you, querida,” he tells her.

And with that one word, it feels as if he’s destroyed me. I think, for a moment, my heart actually stops. The pain is so bad, I can’t breathe. I feel it everywhere. Tears fill my eyes. I just hold my stomach and try to sort through this, trying to bear the pain.

“Bethie?” Katie looks worried. She should be. I think I’m dying. There’s so much pain.

“He called her querida,” I tell her. He called me several things, true. But, most of the time, he called me querida. Dear one, he told me. It sounds like something an elderly grandmother would say, but not when Skull said it. When he called me dear one, I felt like I was dear and precious to him. “That’s what he called me…” I whisper.

I might have underestimated my sister because she gets such a look of anger on her when she looks at me. “Right. I got this, Bethie. Don’t worry,” she tells me. “I’m going to tear his balls off. We can put them on a chain and hang them in the baby’s room as a mobile,” she growls.

I want to yell at her—to either tell her to quit or to cheer her on—but right then, another pain hits my back and squeezes around my stomach. It’s so strong it nearly brings me to my knees. Then, I feel it. Warmth spreads from my legs and, in an instant, Skull isn’t on my mind.

“Katie!” I cry, my dress soaked. “My water just broke!”



The End.



Turn the page for an excerpt of Book 2 of the Devil’s Blaze Trilogy, coming your way on February 25. I’ve also included the first story in the Devil’s Blaze: Craved, a novella, right after it! Then, keep going for news on upcoming books and exciting excerpts of books from some of my favorite authors!





Burned

Torch

“I like women. I like all women.

I like them more when they have

a little fire inside them.”





1


I kick my feet up in the seat across from me. The chair scoots on the wooden floor, tilts, then rights itself as I cross my legs. Sabre and Latch are going on about some damn trip Lucy wants to go on, a semester at sea or something. Annie is adamant that it’s a great opportunity. Those two are like old married men now—even if it is to the same woman. I tune them out.

I should be tracking Beth and her sister Katie down. That’s what I’m in this blink-and-you-miss-it town for, but hell, I needed a day off. I’ve been working with Diesel and his crew nonstop trying to find these bitches, but they were covering their tracks—and that’s putting it lightly. I don’t know who they’re getting help from, but whoever it is, is damn good. Skull has me, Sabre, and Latch tracking down leads in Tennessee which, according to the latest intel we have, is where the Donahues have spotted Katie. Skull is looking at other states too and called in some markers. My brother is in bad shape at just the thought that Beth is still alive and has been lying to him this whole time. If it’s true, and so far everything we’re learning says it is, then I kind of pity her.

Skull will destroy her.

I’m not thinking about that shit. Right now, my eyes and attention are elsewhere. Specifically, on the woman sitting with her back turned to me at the bar. She’s got curves to make men fall down on their knees and worship at her feet. Her ass is this perfect pear shape that draws a man’s eye and makes him want to dig his hands in and hold on for the ride.

“I bet you a C-note you can’t tap that,” Sabre says, reclining back in his seat.

“You make it too easy. It’s like taking candy from a baby,” I tell him with an easy grin.

“I don’t think so, Torch, brother. Something about that woman says back the f*ck away,” Latch warns me.