Chapter 1

"Alejandro Alvarez! Do not walk away from me when I'm talking to you," I yelled at my 10 year old, as he opened the front door and attempted to escape to his bedroom. It had been a tense drive home from school, after he was suspended for fighting with another student. His feet slowed when he heard me yelling, knowing how angry I was when I used his full name. He hated when I was disappointed in him.

"Sit," I ordered, pointing to the small kitchen table as I closed the front door behind us. Sulking, he pulled up a chair and sat down, glaring at the work top. I sat down opposite him, folding my hands on the table.

"What happened?" I asked him, and he refused to look at me.

"Why do you care, ma? You've already decided you're mad at me!" He bit out.

"That's because you were suspended for fighting!" I raised my voice again. "Of course I'm mad. The principal told me you split the boy's lip. Do NOT smile, young man, this isn't funny. You are in serious trouble!" I yelled again, as he smirked about what he had done to the boy.

"He called me a spic. Told me I wasn't welcome and I should go back to the desert where I belong," he told me, and my heart broke a little for him. I sighed, trying to find the best way to deal with the situation.

"He had no right to say that to you, Andy," I said, calmer now. "But hitting him was not the answer." His dark eyes turned to glare at me, pushing himself away from the table.

"What the hell would you know about it?" He shouted, surprising me, before he stormed into the living room. I followed him, furious that he had shouted, and watched as he grabbed the photograph of his father from the side. Looking at it he turned to glare at me again.

"You're just a gringa who got knocked up!" He screamed and headed to the door. I was so stunned at his words that I didn't have time to stop him before he ran out of the house and down the street. I ran to the door, yelling his name, but he didn't look back.

I slumped down in the hall, sobbing. When had my little boy learned such hatred and anger? I had no idea people were saying things like that to him. I wanted to wring their shitty little necks. I knew moving back to California would be hard for us both, but I thought being closer to a Mexican American community would help him to make friends and fit in. Clearly, there were racist assholes in Cali too, and they had done the complete opposite. Alejandro was quiet and sweet, like his father. I wish Esai was here now. He'd know what to say, what to do, to comfort our son. I missed him every day, and though he made his choice of the club over his family, I never hated him for it. His loyalty was one of the reasons I fell in love with him.

"What do I do, mi amor?" I asked to the empty room, wishing he could answer me. Sighing, I put my shoes back on and unlocked the door. I needed to find my son.

*** Mayans MC *** ***Mayans MC *** *** Mayans MC *** *** Mayans MC ***

I searched everywhere in Santo Padre that I could think of; the library, the parks he liked to play in, even the Cafés that Andy knew about. He wasn't anywhere and I was beginning to panic. What if something had happened to him? I tried not to overreact, hoping he would turn up when he had calmed down. This was unusual behaviour from him but, then again, we had never been in this situation before.

My last stop was the Butchers. It was a bit of a stretch; I couldn't see why Andy would go there, but Felipe was always friendly when we picked up our weekly order. The shop was quiet when I walked in, Felipe cutting some steak behind the counter.

"Hole, April," he greeted me when he looked up and saw who it was. "Alejandro in school?"

"No, he's not," I cried, nearly in tears. "He got suspended and I yelled at him and now he's gone! I can't find him." He quickly came around to the front of the shop, flicking the closed sign on the door and gesturing for me to sit at the small table.

"He'll turn up," he told me, after I finished explaining what happened. "You raised him well. He's got a good head on his shoulders. My bet is he'll come back when he's hungry."

"He's just a child. I never should've let him out of my sight," I told him, feeling like a terrible mother.

"It's not your fault, mija. He's beginning to become a man. Gotta let him grow up and make his own choices," he said, still seeing the torment on my face. "I'll get my boys to keep an eye out for him."

"Your boys?" I asked confused and he nodded.

"Angel and Ezekiel," he told and pointed to a photograph on the wall. I saw two handsome guys, but felt sick to my stomach when I saw what one of them was wearing.

"Mayans?" I whispered and he nodded. Suddenly, I remembered Andy taking the picture of Esai before he left and I felt like an idiot. I knew exactly where he was.

"Where's their clubhouse?" I asked Felipe and he gave me the address for the Romero brothers scrap yard. I thanked him and made my way out of the shop towards the Mayan's clubhouse.

It was easy enough to find, the scrap yard stretching out on all sides with the clubhouse sitting in the centre, a trailer parked next to it. There was a prospect kneeling in the front of the yard, working on one of the Harley's lined up. Seeing the familiar biked and leather made my heart thud. He stood up when he saw me, making his way over.

"Can I help you?" He asked politely. His eyes were kind as he looked me over.

"I was wondering if you'd seen a boy round here," I explained, gesturing to the yard. "Brown hair, brown eyes?"

"Yours?" He asked and I nodded, my eyes filling with tears.

"Alejandro, my son," I explained. "I thought he'd be here. Where is he?" I was talking to myself more at this point. The prospect opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the rest of the club pouring out of the clubhouse into the yard. They all stopped when they saw me.

"Who's this?" The president asked, not unfriendly.

"I'm sorry to disturb you. My name's April and my 10 year old son is missing. I thought he might be here," I explained. "I guess I was wrong." The president looked at me for a minute before holding out his hand.

"Bishop," he introduced, as I shook his hand. "This is Taza, Hank, Creeper, Gilly, Angel and Coco. The prospect over there is EZ." I nodded at them all in turn. "What makes you think your son will be here?" He asked and I bit my lip.

"It's complicated," I explained, still looking around. "You sure you haven't seen him?" All the guys shook their heads.

"We only just got back though," The one named Angel answered. "He could've been here earlier. How long's he been missing?"

"Only a couple of hours. Are you Felipe's boys?" I asked, gesturing between him and EZ. They looked shocked.

"You know pops?" EZ asked and I shook my head.

"Not really, we just get our meat from him. We only moved here a few weeks ago," I explained and they nodded.

"I only got back just before you guys," EZ explained to Bishop. "Before that only Chucky was here and he was in the office, music blaring. It's possible the kid is around here somewhere. You sure he would be here?" He directed at me and I shrugged.

"I thought it would be. It makes the most sense…. We had a fight," I confessed. "He got in trouble at school and I was too hard on him. Please, he's all I have."

"We'll help you find him," Bishop assured me, as EZ put his arm around me. "But when we do, you tell us why you think he would be here. Deal?" I nodded, willing to bargain with the devil at that point if it would bring my son home.

The guys and I spent the next hour searching the entire scrap yard. Every burnt out car, behind every pile of metal. He was nowhere. I was getting more desperate by the minute and when Creeper was the last one back to the clubhouse, shaking his head that he couldn't find him, I burst into tears. Once again EZ drew me into his strong embrace as I sobbed, comforting me as I said over and over again what a bad mother I was.

"You're not a bad mom," he assured me, holding me close. "You're no where near the definition of a bad mom."

"Yeah, you should meet mine," Coco quipped and the guys laughed.

"Look, you just relax here with EZ. We're going to go into Templo and work out what's best to do next," Bishop explained. "We're not going to give up. We will find him. What's his name?"

"Alejandro," I whispered. "Alejandro Alvarez." I felt EZ's stance stiffen, as all the club members exchanged glances. I pulled back from him with a sigh.

"The father of my son was Esai Alvarez," I explained, and Bishop's eyes widened. "We were young. I only found out I was pregnant 2 days before…" I cast my eyes to the floor. "I know who you are, Bishop. Who your cousin is."

"Does he know?" Bishop asked and I shook my head.

"Marcus knows nothing of Andy's existence," I explained and his eyes went hard. "Esai knew what was going to happen to him when he went to that park. He wasn't stupid. He chose the club over me, and the only reason I didn't kick up a fuss about it, was because he told me to take our child that was growing inside of me and get away from the club. He knew about Alejandro and he wanted him raised away from the Mayans." I stared straight at Bishop defiantly. "I've done everything I can to keep him safe. To keep him away from this world. But I'm not an idiot. He's a Mayan. It runs through his veins as true as it did his father's. I can't keep him from who he is. That's why we moved to Santo Padre. I don't know if I'm ready to face Marcus yet, but I couldn't keep him away from his community any longer. My son is a Latino and he should never feel ashamed of that." Bishop's gaze softened as he listened to my story.

"What did you fight about?" EZ asked softly.

"Andy got suspended from school. Apparently some shithead called my son a spic. He took it upon himself to split the boy's lip," I told him coolly, rolling my eyes when all the guys smirked.

"Good for him," Hank laughed and I shook my head, though I was secretly a little proud that he stood up for himself.

"The boy is familia," Bishop told me. "We'll find him, sweetheart." I nodded and the guys began heading to Templo. Taza had only just pulled open the glass door when he called my name. I ran over and, when I looked to see where Taza was pointing, I spotted Andy sitting on the floor in the corner, his brown eyes looking large and frightened. My heart swelled with relief as I pushed the club members out of the way and ran straight to my son, pulling him into my arms.

"I was so worried about you," I told him, holding him close to me.

"I'm sorry, Ma. I'm so sorry for what I said. I didn't mean it," he stuttered and I felt my shirt get wet as he cried. I hushed him, rocking him gently for a minute before pulling away slightly to look at him.

"I love you, Andy, do you hear me?" I told him. "Nothing and no one is going to change that. There is nothing you could ever do to make me love you any less. Do you understand that?" He nodded. "How did you find this place?"

I watched as he pulled his father's photograph out of his bag and handed it to me silently.

"You told me that Dad used to say Templo was the place where everything wrong in the world was made right," he mumbled, and I smiled at him, putting my hands on his cheeks.

"I guess he was right about that," I told him and he grinned, knowing all was forgiven. "But what else did I tell you about Templo?" I asked him, because I wanted him to understand the respect that was so important to his father and his heritage. He looked down at the floor again.

"If there's not a patch on your back, you never enter without permission," he whispered, holding my hand tightly. I tugged him gently from the floor, placing him in front of the guys who were all standing there watching us.

"Then what do you say?" I asked him and he looked up at Bishop for the first time.

"Lo siento," Andy said to Bishop, looking him in the eye before looking at the floor again. The guys all smiled at him and Bishop put his hand on Andy's shoulder.

"Look at me, son," he said and Andy looked up. "Do you know who I am?" Andy shook his head. "I'm Bishop. I knew your dad. Your Abuelo is my cousin. I knew your dad, watched him grow up." Andy looked at him in astonishment.

"We're familia?" Andy asked in wonder, looking up at me. I nodded in encouragement.

"Yes we are. It's a pleasure to meet you, Alejandro Alvarez," he told him and chuckled in surprise as Andy threw his arms around him. He hugged him back as all the guys clapped, making me smile.

"Don't ever apologise for needing your home," Bishop told him, and pointed to the table in Templo when Andy looked confused. "You're a Mayan. And this will always be home for you." I smiled at Bishop as he squeezed my son tightly, before pushing him gently back into my arms.

"Thank you, gentlemen," I told them all, making them laugh.

"Never been called that before," Creeper piped up as we all exited Templo and walked back into the main clubhouse. As everyone got comfortable, Bishop pulled me gently to one side.

"You know I'm gonna have to tell him, sweetheart," Bishop started, and I knew who he was referring to.

"I know," I answered softly, tears building in my eyes. "Let's hope he likes his grandson more than he liked me," I joked and Bishop put his hand on my shoulder.

"It'll be ok, mija," he told me, "You're a good mom. Marcus will see that." I smiled as he walked back into Templo, phone in hand.

"You want a drink?" EZ asked, approaching me. Looking around, I saw Andy talking animatedly to Coco, pointing to his tattoos. I could see he was happy, so I nodded.

"Sure, sounds good," I answered, smiling when he placed a vodka and coke in front of me.

"Figured you're not a beer kinda woman," he shrugged and I grinned.

"You guessed right," I winked, taking a sip. Today had been long and stressful, and it was only going to get worse once Marcus Alvarez showed up.

"He's a good kid," EZ commented as we watched Gilly and Angel attempt to teach him to play pool. I smiled genuinely.

"Yeah he is,"I responded.

So, Esai is El Padrino's son?" EZ asked and I looked at him.

"was," I clarified, "Esai died 11 years ago. Bodged up a job for the club. The price was his life."

"Shit," he said, "I'm sorry." I shrugged.

"It was a long time ago, " I assured him. "I miss him but… he gave me the best thing in my life." I smiled as Andy potted a ball, watching how happy he was, before turning back to EZ. He was watching me intently.

"I meant what I said. You're a good mom," he said quietly and I blushed. "He was a fool for choosing the club over his family." I looked at him sharply then.

"If you're not prepared to ride or die for your club, you'll never earn that patch," I said coolly and he nodded, smirking into his glass slightly. "What?"

"You sound like you would've made a good old lady," he laughed and I rolled my eyes.

"Pour me another drink and you might find out," I flirted, smiling when he grinned at me. He was saved from replying by Bishop coming over to us.

"Wash the bikes prospect," Bishop ordered, after looking between the two of us. Ez looked at me before nodding, leaving us to it. I raised my eyebrows at Bishop, letting him know I knew exactly what that was about.

"Marcus is on his way. He's asked that you stay here and wait for him," he told me.

"Did he ask or did he demand?" I spoke sassily, earning an eyebrow raise from Bishop. "I'll wait, it's not a problem. But I get to decide when it's time for Andy to meet him. Marcus and I have a few things to discuss first." I took another large gulp of my vodka and coke, in anticipation of the next conversation.

"I think that's fair," Bishop admitted. "He can wait in the prospect's trailer with one of the guys. Your choice." I nodded over to where Coco was still keeping my son merrily entertained, oblivious to the anxiety I was currently feeling.

"Can you ask Coco to watch him, please?" I asked and Bishop nodded.

"Of course, sweetheart," he said and surprised me with a hug. "It's gonna be ok."

"We'll see," I groaned, wishing more than anything that the next conversation didn't have to happen.