Chapter 57

KRAY

I left the bar because I didn’t want to argue with her. I didn’t want to upset Jo any more than I already had. I never saw her that mad since the day I met her - even then she was just frustrated.

Sure, I didn’t start the fight, but I sure as hell didn’t stop it from going any further.

There was a bruise blossoming over my ribcage, someone had taken the leg of a chair and swung it into me while I was shifted. It didn't even make me stumble backward in my bear form, but as a human, I could feel the full effect.

Glancing in my mirrors, I could see there was another motorcycle on the road.

Fuck, I just wanted to cool off, ride off some steam before I figured out what to do about all of this, but it looked like I wasn’t going to get the chance to do that. I rode on a little further, just about half a mile from the river, and then pulled over to the side.

The rider behind me pulled over too. Sawyer, her brother.

As I got off my bike, he quickly dismounted his and shifted as he charged at me.

Fine, I could use a good fight.

Shifting quickly, I blocked his teeth with my arm, before swinging at him.

He grabbed ahold of my arm, teeth not quite cutting through all my fur to get to my skin, and I tried to throw him. I was angry, sad, guilty, I needed to get out some of this frustration.

Today could have been great.

Jo and I were finally there, I could have mated with her, taken her as mine and then figured out the rest after that. I needed her, craved her, and this fucking shithead had to come in and ruin everything.

She finally shifted, after telling me she hadn’t done it for ten fucking years, and it had to be for this.

I hated that for her.

Pounding her brother down into the ground, I wanted to kill him. He was still her brother, though.

She’d already lost one to biker wars, she didn’t need to lose another.

Even if he was a total piece of shit.

I held my paw over his throat, waiting for him to just black out. Instead, he shifted back.

I shifted as well, still pinning him to the ground. “I don’t want to kill you,” I said simply.

He went still, his dark eyes watching me intensely.

“It would hurt your sister too much, and I don’t want to do that,” I explained.

“The rest of your gang doesn’t seem to mind killing,” he spit at me. “What the fuck do you mean?”

I slowly let go of his throat and sat on the ground a few feet from him.

“The Lions, your gang killed my brother about ten years ago,” he hissed out. “I can’t believe you had the gall to show up in Ember Abyss after that.”

Suddenly how he was acting made sense.

I was part of the gang ten years ago, just hardly nineteen and ready to devote myself to anything that would accept me. I almost signed up for the military, but my mother talked me out of it. I couldn’t break her heart like that.

Thing is, we didn’t kill anyone.

We didn't lose any members fighting ten years ago.

Sure, we got into scuffles, but I don’t remember a single funeral in the club before I turned twenty.

“You have the wrong club,” I said dumbly. “My club didn’t lose any members when your brother died, there are other clubs with lions.”

He went stock quiet.

“We’re the Speared Lions, we’re not even from the area,” I explained.

“Oh fuck, I’m an idiot,” he hung his head into his hands. “I was just trying to protect her, you all trashed her bar that first night and I got word from a regular,” he admitted.

“Yeah, we did that,” I huffed out a laugh. “We fixed it, though.” “Oh God, she’s going to murder me, that bar is her child.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, it was a shack when she got to it, she spent years fixing that whole place up,” he sounded like he wanted to die. “She’s my little sister, I was just trying to look out for her.”

“You should know Jo can more than look out for herself,” I laughed. “Did that customer tell you she almost kicked my ass that first night?”

He laughed wryly and shook his head. “That’s Jo for you.”

I nodded.

Yeah, that’s Jo.

She was incredible.

I helped him up, then headed to my bike to get a change of clothes out of my saddlebag. I hated shifting fully dressed, it shredded everything. I was too old for the tear-away clothes they had for kids who had trouble accidentally shifting wear, so doing it was an expensive habit.

“Are you going back to town?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “Gonna head over to that neighboring city, pick up a few things at one of those 24-hour stores,” I explained. “Can’t leave her bar like that.”

“Guess I should do something too,” he sighed. “She deserves that much.”