Actually, that was EXACTLY what it was. Alpha Clark had sent five men on a hunt for me, winner take all of me. The fact that they would have to rape me, take away my choice forever, didn’t even slow them down. My desires were meaningless, even for men I considered trusted friends.
I cursed him and his Pack, vowing to destroy that man’s reign over the good wolves I knew in his Pack.
Snake opened the door and looked in. His face fell as he took me in, crying uncontrollably, shaking and holding myself. “Shit, Vivian,” he said as he rushed over. He picked me up and carried me to a chair, sitting down and holding me across his lap. I buried my face in his chest, letting all the emotion out as my wolf calmed herself with his scent. We had some deep discussions, my wolf and I, about Snake. She loved him as I did now, saw him as a strong man and a good protector for her. He’d never let me down.
I told him everything that had happened, everything I knew, then I fell asleep in his arms.
I woke up the next morning in bed, the light coming through the cracks in the drapes and landing right on my eyes. I looked up, it was nine thirty in the morning. I sat up, looking around for Snake and not finding him. His scent was weak, he had been gone for a while. I got up, seeing I had been changed into pajama shorts and one of Snake’s T-shirts. I quickly used the bathroom, then put on sandals and shorts and headed down to the club.
I saw Moose at the bar, eating a bowl of cereal. “What, no hot breakfast? Where is Snake?”
“Gone. He left me here to keep watch over you, he said he would call if he had a chance.”
I sat next to him and grabbed a bowl and some Raisin Bran. “Where did he go?”
“Duluth. He said he had some unfinished business with some Clark guy.”
*******
Snake’s POV
I walked back downstairs, still pissed off about what happened. I couldn’t calm down enough to sleep after I got Vivian back home and put her to bed. I asked Moose to make sure she stayed safe while I did what I had to do. I knew he would protect her while I was gone, that wasn’t what was eating at my gut.
I almost lost her tonight. If I didn’t take care of this problem, she would never be safe from them.
I grabbed some stuff out of the shop, finding Scrape working on his latest restoration project. Scrape was a welder by trade and an absolute maniac on the road. He drove so fast that if he ever crashed, they’d have to scrape him off the road, hence the name. He flipped up his welding mask and looked at me, his scarred face from a previous crash took a while to get used to. “What are you doing, Snake.”
“Going to the clinic, then heading north to the meetup to kick some ass,” I said.
“Good, it’s too damn quiet around here.” He set his stuff down and pulled off his welding jacket, exposing the scars on his shoulder and arm. He wiped the sweat off with a towel, then put on a wifebeater and his cut along with his worn jeans and boots . “You’re not going alone. DeWalt is being watched?” I nodded, Moose must have told everyone here what had happened.
“Moose is taking care of it, plus some of the women are here. They are strapped as well.” We taught our women to shoot, they weren’t weak ones who would hide in the corner. I know I wouldn’t want to go against Teri and her favorite shotgun.
“Viper know we’re coming?”
“Teri will tell them when they check in.”
“I’ll follow you.” I did a double take, he wasn’t the kind of guy to follow, he was the guy who was already there before you decided to leave. I went out to the van, he pulled his big Harley next to me before I left.
The ride was short and quiet at this time of night, and we let his bike out by the street while I opened the fence and parked in back. “We’ve got a little cleanup to do,” I said.
“Figured that.” We walked into the back of the clinic, and I opened the storage room where the guy had been dumped.
Scrape rolled the guy over, inspecting the wound. “Fucking clean kill, brother. Remind me not to piss her off.” He started removing his clothes, we’d burn them, while I removed everything from his pockets. His wallet had $822 in cash, which I put in my pocket. He had a receipt and key card for a hotel not too far away, and keys to a Ford. I put his driver’s license and credit cards with his clothes, we’d burn those before we left.
Once he was stripped, I brought in the big cooler. Scrape helped with lifting him and setting his upper body in the cooler. We had to push down to get his legs and feet folded so we could close and latch the top; we used some rope to make sure it didn’t pop open. After we put it back into the van, we came back inside to clean up the evidence.
Scrape got to work with bleach and a mop, cleaning up the stains in the storage room and the driveway. Meanwhile, I used the crematorium to turn the clothing and identification into ash. It was a handy little thing, the club could find uses for it.
The only thing I hadn’t burned was the truck key. If it was in the neighborhood, I didn’t want a missing person traced to us. Scrape grabbed the key. “We can drive around in an expanding circle and use the remote to find it. Then we can drop it back at the Holiday Inn.” It was a good plan, and it worked quickly. We found it parked in front of a mini-mart a couple blocks away. Ten minutes later, it was parked in front of the hotel and Scrape was pushing me out of the driver’s seat. “You need to sleep, Snake. I’ll drive the first couple hours.”
“Thanks, man.” I buckled up in the passenger seat and leaned the seat back as far as it would go. Army life had taught me well, I was out before we left the parking lot.
“Wake up, Snake.” I opened my eyes, we were at a McDonald’s. The sun was coming up, it was 5:30 in the morning.
“You were supposed to wake me up,” I said.
“You needed your sleep for what you have on tap this morning,” he said. “Come on, drain it and grab some breakfast. We’re about an hour away from the exchange point.” Vivian had set it up when they agreed, the meet was to take place at ten AM, but we hadn’t told them where in Duluth yet. Viper, Doc, Hammer, Dagger, Rocket and Crash were already in place. By the time they arrived, we’d have sniper coverage of all sides of the site. Winchester Silvertips in hunting calibers, elevated firing positions and scoped rifles… it would be a turkey shoot if they tried anything.
Fifteen minutes later, I was driving on the freeway again with a tall coffee and a McMuffin. Scrape took a quick nap, waking when we were in the city. The area we had picked was an industrial park near the docks, a place with big empty parking lots and buildings. I pulled behind the warehouse that we were staging from, Viper waving me over. They had talked to Teri in the morning, so they knew what happened and they were pissed.
DeWalt was one of ours, and you didn’t fuck with us.
We went over the plan; originally Viper and Dagger were going to meet them, and Hammer and I would drive the large rented U-Haul. They had room in the front for the medical equipment, and had set up couches in the back along with coolers of food and drink for the women in back. Doc would ride back with the ladies in case anything happened, his first aid kit already loaded. I told Dagger I was taking his place; Carson had already seen me, and it was best if as many faces as possible remained out of sight.
We had plenty of weapons available. Viper and I both put on concealed . 45’s, along with silver knives in our boots. Doc had a pistol as well, plus we had an AR-15 in the cab of the truck Viper would be driving. The rest of the guys took rifles, they would take up positions between fifty and two hundred yards away, easy shots for us. Finally, I grabbed a pineapple grenade and put it in my pocket.
The guys took their motorcycles and parked them near their sniper positions, so they could get away quickly if needed. Viper had called them at 7:30 with the location, so we moved the truck into position and sat to wait. I took another nap, I’d need to be sharp. All of us had small radios with earpieces, voice activated microphones attached, and the snipers were watching in all directions.
At 9:52, we got the first call. Two Suburbans and a Escalade were approaching from the north; it had to be them. Viper put the truck in gear, parking in the center of the meeting area, the back of the truck facing north. I left him in the cab as I walked out. “Opening the back,” I said as I unlatched the rollup door. I pushed it up, exposing the couches, and pulled out the ramp from underneath. The big cooler was right up front, and I pulled it out and down the ramp before setting it twenty feet from the ramp.
“They’re here,” Dagger said as the vehicles pulled into the open area of the lot. I turned, arms crossed on my chest as I stood in front of the cooler and waited. The three vehicles stopped in a line, and a big guy got out and opened the passenger door of the Escalade. The guy who stepped out looked dangerous, and I knew this was the Alpha. He walked towards me, flanked by the big guy who must be his bodyguard.
“Where’s Doctor DelMara,” the man demanded as he stopped on the other side of the cooler from me.