Thirty-Five

"Have you completely lost your fucking mind?" Archie seethed, through teeth gritted in agony as the initial shock started to wear off and he became more and more aware of the painful burns marring one side of his face. "You cut the club out, went behind our backs!"

"I thought you weren't down with the whole meth thing in the fucking first place," Mack shot back, angered at finding himself in the firing line – mostly because he knew deep down that he deserved it. "Make up your goddamn mind, man."

"I didn't stand in your way, did I?"

"Nah, you just sat on the fence as usual. You pull that stunt so often I'm surprised you ain't got splinters in your fucking ass."

"At least I ain't trying to get us all killed!" Archie shouted, gesturing furiously to the carnage around them. "Look at this shit, Mack – look at it! Johnny could bleed out, we're sitting on a blown-up meth lab and a couple of dead tweakers if the cops roll up, and if that wasn't bad enough, you drag in a couple of medics. What are you gonna do – hold them hostage? Did you think no one would notice? Oh, and just to really top it all off, one of them's tied to the Sons of fucking Anarchy, you brainless asshole!"

The under-pressure sergeant wasn't entirely lacking in awareness. He knew they were in deep shit and he even knew most of it was his fault. But his instinct for self-preservation was too strong and he jumped on the one part he felt he couldn't have foreseen and wasn't anywhere near as worried about as the rest. He always had hated being criticised, so he rounded on his VP with his hackles well and truly up.

"Like I could have known she'd be the one to turn up!" he declared. "And so fucking what if she's spread her legs for some washed-up biker twice her age? The amount of bitches through that revolving door, desperate for some kinda thrill, I doubt any of them last more than a couple of weeks."

"She's the president's old lady, dumbass …" Archie sighed, running out of energy to argue as he slumped back against the wall to watch the two paramedics try to help Johnny.

"Don't make her more than another piece of pussy," Mack muttered.


He knew he needed to stay calm, clear-headed. That's how he would have counselled Jax, how he had counselled Jax every time the shit inevitably hit the fan. He tried to be the strong one, ready to step up, do what was needed – but in line with the club mantra. Brains before bullets.

They'd lost sight of that a time or two.

And Christ knows he wanted to lose sight of it now. Because every possible scenario racing through his mind, haunting him, was more chilling than the last and the thought of Eden being caught up in any one of them made his stomach lurch and his fists clench. If anything happened to her …

He'd wipe whoever was responsible off the face of the goddamn earth. And they'd beg him to do it, in the end.

"You good, brother?" Tig asked, a hand coming to land on his shoulder.

"Huh? Oh, aye …" Chibs sighed, less than convincingly. "How's Seth holding up?"

"Pacing a hole in the fucking floor. Thought about putting a brush in his hand and at least getting some use outta him …"

The ringing of a cell phone interrupted them and Chibs glanced at it impatiently, only for his eyes to widen when he saw the name on the screen and he snatched it up from the table to answer it sharply. "Eden?"

It did cross his mind that she may not be the one in possession of her phone, but even as he braced himself for bitter disappointment, her voice reached him from the other end of the line. It was only a soft, trembling whisper, but it was undeniably her just the same.

"Filip … I haven't got long …"

There was so much he wanted to say, so much he had feared he wouldn't get the chance to tell her, but even now he realised there wasn't time. Not when he still had to find a way to get her back in his arms.

"Eden, where are you, darlin'? What's happened? Are you hurt?"

"I'm … I'm okay. Desi too," she whispered hastily. "We're with that guy who smashed up the car at the garage – we just answered a call-out, but he pulled a gun on us. Filip, he's one of-"

"The War Boys," Chibs supplied, through clenched teeth. "I'll fucking kill him."

"He's not stable. I dunno what he might do."

"Hey, listen to me," the biker said firmly, hating to hear the fear in her voice. "I'm coming to get you, okay? I know I've let you down, sweetheart, but trust me – it's gonna be okay. Where are you?"

"I dunno. Some house, I think they were cooking meth here. I don't know the area – it's pretty remote."

Chibs closed his eyes at that, realising the extent of the danger as all the shit they'd been trying to deal with seemed to converge in one monumental clusterfuck. "Shit … Okay, think, darlin'. Your last shout – did you make it to the location you were given?"

"More or less. We spotted a bike by the side of the road up ahead and figured that was our patient. But it was a trap. He needed us to treat a couple of his guys. There's been some kind of explosion or something here. They're in pretty bad shape."

"Fuck them," Chibs growled. "You're my only concern. Did you drive the ambulance to where you are now?"

"Uh, yeah. We turned off right, headed into the woods. The roads are barely more than tracks in places and I lost track of the turn-offs, but we drove for maybe, I dunno, a half-hour? Maybe less, maybe it just felt longer with a fucking gun to my head …"

"Jesus Christ," he ground out, picturing it only too well, even as her breath seemed to hitch at the memory and he longed to be able to pull her close and keep her safe in his embrace.

He'd had more than a few guns levelled at him in his time, but even he had been shaken a time or two, like when he'd been forced to drive that greasy fucker Frankie Diamonds off following his betrayal of the club. He'd been convinced that was definitely time up for him, especially when he'd ended up on his knees with the muzzle of the gun pressed against that spot at the back of his head. He could still remember how his heart had raced, sweat breaking on his skin, regret for everything he'd loved and lost threatening to overwhelm him. He loathed the thought of the woman he loved having to endure even a single second of that.

"Filip, I'm scared," Eden whispered, her wavering voice so soft in his ear.

"I know, baby, I know," he said tightly, gripping the phone as if it could somehow keep her closer. "But you just gotta stay strong a wee bit longer for me, okay? I'm gonna find you, I'm gonna bring you home. Eden, I-"

The shout full of rage startled him, only for her cry of pain and fear to seem to make his heart skip a beat. He could only assume she had been caught red-handed with her phone.

"Eden!" Chibs yelled in alarm, even as Tig started to swear violently as he too caught on to what must have happened. "Eden, talk to me … Don't you hurt her, you fucking bastard – if you hurt her, I swear on all that's holy, I will tear you limb from fucking limb. There'll be nothing left o' your motherfucking club when I'm done!"

The line went dead.

"Fuuuuuuck!" Chibs roared, hurling the phone at the wall hard enough to smash it into useless pieces, but Tig didn't even have a chance to try to calm him down before the door of the club's inner sanctuary burst open and Seth flew into the room, shaking off Bug and even the burlier Knox like they were nothing.

"What the fuck was that?" he demanded breathlessly. "You were yelling Eden's name – what the fuck was that? What's happened?"

"Sorry, boss," Bug interjected. "We tried to keep him out, but …"

"But the dude's a fucking beast," Knox glowered, touching a hand to where he'd taken an elbow in the face. He looked like he didn't quite know whether to be furious or impressed. "You wanna slow your roll, pal – we're all supposed to be on the same side here."

"Chibs, just tell me, is she okay?" Seth all but begged, ignoring everyone else and training his gaze on the equally distraught president. "Oh, shit …"

"Hey!" Tig tried. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. From what I heard, we don't know anything other than this prick's pissed she managed to make a call. Unless he's totally suicidal, he's gotta know it ain't in his interest to lay a hand on her. She's more valuable as a hostage than … Whatever. Look, we gotta focus on what she said about their location – we know a little more now and, Bug, you got the details of the call-out, so we head out there, yeah? Am I talking to myself here? We go get her, yeah?"

Chibs cleared his throat and took a deep breath, his brown eyes fixed on Seth as he held out a hand to him. "Yeah."

After a long pause, Seth's shoulders sagged and he clasped the outstretched hand. "Yeah."

Tig nodded in approval. "Then let's fucking go."


"You fucking whore!" Mack all but screamed, practically vibrating with fury as he grabbed Eden by the hair and dragged her from the spot she'd been crouched in to make the call.

"You're hurting me …" she cried, clawing at his hand and trying to do what she could to ease the burning pain of her scalp.

"You think I give a fuck? Bitch, I ain't even started," he seethed, hurling her into the corner where she hit the wall and slumped to the floor, curling up to try to protect herself as he aimed a vicious kick at her ribs that made her yelp in fresh agony. "Who'd you call, huh? Who'd you call? The cops? Telford? Gimme that!"

Bringing his boot down on her hand, even as she tried to clutch the phone tighter, he ground her fingers underfoot until she sobbed and let go her hold.

"Telford," he confirmed, his jaw tight. "Shit."

"I … I didn't s-say anything," Eden ground out, her injured hand cradled to her chest and her other arm wrapped around her aching ribs, her bedraggled hair falling over her face. "I didn't get the chance."

"Like I'd believe a word that comes outta your devious mouth. You bitches are all the damn same," Mack said, dropping the phone on the floor and crushing it under his boot, just like her fingers. "Now, let's see what else you're hiding in those ugly-ass overalls ..."

Her eyes widened in alarm at that. "What? No, nothing, I swear. Please, don't."

The biker leered down at her, his eyes wild. "Way I see it, you ain't in a position to be asking me jack-shit. On your fucking feet."

She could only try to curl up tighter in the corner, but his size and strength were no match for her and he fisted his hands in the front of her uniform to haul her upright, then twisted his grip and ripped open the poppers.

"What's the matter, darlin'?" he drawled. "I thought any bitch of the Sons would like it rough …"

Eden could only turn her head away, tears slipping down her cheeks as his lips curled into a cruel smile.