Dauntless (Sons of Templar MC #5)(75)

Gage surprised me by chuckling. “Wouldn’t expect anything less.” There was a small silence as he parked beside a beat-up Camaro. He turned to me. “I don’t expect anything from you in there.” He nodded towards the building. “No one does. You choose how this works for you. You sit, you watch, you listen. You feel like it, you talk. You don’t want to, fine. But you will come with me every week, we clear?”

I swallowed the angry retort that was almost instinct at anyone ordering me around, especially an alpha male. This wasn’t someone ordering me around because of some freak gene. “Okay,” I said quietly.

Gage seemed surprised at my placid response, but then he nodded. “And don’t worry. No one’s getting close enough to breathe on you,” he declared fiercely, surprising me with the intensity in his voice. He opened his door. “Let’s go.”





Lucky


“We finally found the connection between Carlos, the Tuckers, and how they’ve suddenly got enough resources to start a war and then turn to f*ckin’ ghosts,” Cade declared, leaning forward and clasping his knuckles together. His hard gaze flickered around the table and settled on Lucky.

Lucky didn’t have a reaction, not visibly at least. He might have clenched his fists, gritted his teeth hard enough to shatter, but nothing else. Inside, the fire of his fury blazed as hot as it had for the past month.

“Devlin,” Cade continued simply, and the entire room turned wired.

Brock’s face turned into a mask of fury. Obviously this was the first the VP had heard of this. Only Steg, sitting on the other side of Cade, looked like he wasn’t shocked at this knowledge.

“That’s not possible,” Brock ground out. “I slit the f*cker’s throat myself.”

Something danced behind Brock’s eyes. A shadow of what Lucky was doing the tango with. The fear and rage that came with knowing someone f*cked with your woman.

Cade regarded him evenly, but it was Steg who spoke. “Fucker had a son. One who’s obviously been building up the remains of the empire we shattered. One who’s chosen now to strike.” He paused, sighing. “And he seems to have done his research. Figured out who the players are, who’s stupid enough to strike out against us. What our weaknesses are.”

Lucky felt the old man’s gaze on him, but for once he stayed silent. He didn’t speak much these days. He sure as f*ck didn’t laugh. Joke. Now he spent his time trying not to unleash the dragon that had awakened inside of him two months back. One that needed revenge. Vengeance. Thirsted for it.

“So we f*ck them all up,” Gage put in simply.

“We don’t have the numbers, not this charter,” Cade explained, gritting his teeth.

“We may not have the numbers, but one of us is worth ten of those f*ckfaces,” Gage replied.

Cade leaned back. “We’ve got to be smart about this. They’re targeting women.” His gaze landed on Lucky once more before he continued. “No f*ckin’ way am I doing anything that even has a one percent chance of blowing back on my woman. My family,” he declared.

“Agreed,” Asher said from beside him, his jaw hard.

“We call in other charters,” Cade told the table. “Then we go to war. And burn them all.”

For the first time in months, Lucky smiled.



“Brother.” Lucky felt pressure on his shoulder as the rest of the men filtered out of the room.

He turned to Bull. “Got shit to do,” he bit out.

Bull’s hand stayed firm. “A minute,” he requested, though it seemed less of a request with his hand at Lucky’s shoulder.

Lucky couldn’t take him, he thought. Bull was a big f*cker. Strong. Lucky was no small-fry either, he could take care of himself. Before, Bull might have been able to take him. But now that he had that dragon inside him, Lucky wasn’t sure if his brother would win.

He didn’t fight him, though. He had a tenuous hold on the rage inside him, enough to make sure he didn’t come to blows with his brothers. Just enough.

Lucky sighed and nodded, surrendering.

“Make it quick,” he bit out.

Bull raised a brow. “What? So you can rush off to the bar and continue your efforts to put Jack Daniels out of business? Or so you can cruise around beating up every tweaker and small-time player in the game, looking for info and askin’ to get f*ckin’ arrested?”

Lucky gritted his teeth. “My dad died in prison ten years ago. Don’t have a mom, not anymore. And I don’t remember havin’ a third parent lookin’ anythin’ like you.”

“I’m not your parent. I’m your brother. And I know what you’re goin’ through.”

Lucky clenched his fists. “Do you?” he hissed. “Because from where I’m standin’ you got yourself some peace. In your new f*ckin’ family. Knowin’ Laurie isn’t livin’ with demons of that day. She got peace. My woman? She’s gonna live with chaos for the rest of her f*ckin’ life,” he yelled. “And I can’t do a thing about that but kill everyone who put that chaos there. And I can’t even f*ckin’ do that.”

Bull’s eyes went black. Alien. He stepped forward. “Because I know you’re hurtin’, I’m not going to break your nose for insinuating that Laurie is somehow better off six feet under,” he said quietly, his voice deadly. “I’m just gonna tell you that Bex is not. She’s living, breathing, and bleeding. So instead of goin’ around searching for more blood to spill, how about you try and f*ckin’ staunch the flow of hers.” He gave Lucky a long stare before leaving him there, in the clubroom where life and death were dealt.