Julian winced. “Ow!”
Stranger danger.
What did mommy say he was supposed to do?
Yell!
Julian opened his mouth and let out a loud shriek.
A hand clamped over his mouth, stifling his yell. He bared his teeth and bit as hard as he could.
“Fuckin’ A, you little asshole!”
Julian was struck alongside his head.
“Look, kid. We’ll kill her if you don’t cooperate. You need to be a good boy or you’ll never see your mommy again.”
What? He’d never see his mommy again?
Tears began to leak from his eyes.
“You think he understands any of that, asshole? He’s what? Three?”
“He ain’t three. Are ya, kid?”
No, he was four.
That was what his mommy told him when he blew out the candle on his birthday cake. It was ice cream, too. Chocolate and vanilla with chocolate crumbles in between.
But he couldn’t answer, the man’s hand was covering his mouth.
“Doesn’t fucking matter how old he is. We got something to tie his ass up?”
“Need to keep him quiet, too. Can’t be driving and hearing his ass screaming.”
The fat man’s big belly jiggled when he laughed. “Now I’m glad I’m driving her car. Wouldn’t want to listen to that.”
“Let’s get him tied up and gagged then.”
“We need to tie her up, too, in case that shit wears off.”
“It won’t.”
“You wanna risk it?”
He tried getting loose, he tried biting the man’s hand again. Nothing was working.
His mommy still wasn’t moving.
She couldn’t help him.
She couldn’t.
He was supposed to fight and shout, “Stranger danger!”
But he couldn’t.
He hated the mall.
He never wanted to come back here.
Mommy would have to get him ice cream somewhere else from now on.
He wasn’t coming back here again.
He wasn’t.
He needed to wipe his eyes so he could see. He needed to wipe his nose so he could breathe. Snot was filling it and the man’s hand was smearing it.
He was thrown onto the dirty floor of the van and before he could scream again as loud as possible, something was tied tightly around his mouth. It tasted yucky. He’d eaten dirt before and that was what it tasted like.
His arms began to hurt because they were yanked behind his back and his hands couldn’t move anymore. He couldn’t kick because the man tied his legs together.
The big side door slammed shut and the back of the van got darker.
He no longer heard the men talking.
He couldn’t see the front of the van. He could only hear another door opening and slamming shut. Someone starting the van. The rumble of the floor beneath his wet cheek.
He stared at his mommy’s face, making a wish just like he had with his birthday cake. He squeezed his eyes shut really, really hard and wished and wished and wished.
He wished Mommy would help him.
He wished she’d tell him what was happening.
He wished she’d open her eyes.
She didn’t.
None of that happened.
Not until much later.
Chapter One
Shade’s boots crunched on dead leaves as he worked his way through the woods. Since he knew the area inside and out now, he no longer needed to refer to his hand-drawn map. He no longer needed to refer to the marks—the symbols and numbers—he’d made on that map, either.
He should probably burn it since it was evidence. It was always best not to keep shit like that around.
Which was why he was dragging tonight’s catch behind him down the mountain instead of leaving it behind. He didn’t care that it made more noise than his footsteps.
Tonight he hadn’t needed to go all the way up to the main clearing. Instead, he stumbled upon a “guard” close to the bottom. The Shirley clan had set up a few since the last time the Blood Fury went up Hillbilly Hill to bring home one of their own.
The first time, last November, it had been to retrieve a pregnant Autumn, aka Red. Sig’s ol’ lady.
Then last week, they all went up again to take back more stolen Fury property. The hillbilly inbreds had knocked Jemma out and taken Cage’s baby girl, Dyna. Then had the balls, or the lack of brains, to use her as a tool for an ambush.
The Fury wasn’t playing anymore. They had warned the Guardians of Freedom, a sovereign nation otherwise known as the Shirley Clan, not to fuck with them after the first time.
They dared to fuck with them again.
Now the Fury was fucking them up the ass without any lube. Not even with a little bit of spit.
They were doing it quietly.
Carefully.
Slowly.
While Judge, the sergeant at arms, along with their prez, Trip, were in charge of this undertaking, Shade was the main player.
He asked them. They agreed.
Shade had nothing to lose.
Nothing at all.
Not like some of his brothers who had families, like Cage and Judge, or ol’ ladies, like Trip, Sig and Deacon. Or siblings, like most of the rest.
Shade had no one.
If he fucked up and something happened to him, it would be no loss. No one would mourn. Except maybe his brothers.