We slowed enough to turn into the drive without wiping out on the fucking gravel. Upon reaching the clubhouse, we pulled around back. Not waiting, we were parked and off our bikes in a flash. Three red-tailed hawks landed on the roof and watched.
“Inside!” Raptor called out, but he didn’t need to tell us. Jigsaw and I were on his ass and through the door, slamming the lock the second we cleared the door.
“Look alive! Coming in hot!” Raptor called out as we rushed down the hall and into the common area where everyone waited.
Armed to the teeth with weapons provided by our new friends, they waited. Stone was at the window with Voodoo. They both cautiously watched from the sides. While Voodoo appeared grim, Stone had what could only be described as a predatory half smile.
I made my way up to the front with them.
“They stopped out at the edge of the car park,” Stone said in a deep rumbling tone. “All I need is for them to get out of the vehicle.”
“Do you think you can get a good shot off at them?” I asked Voodoo and Static, who were preparing to go outside.
“If Stone can keep them occupied, I believe we can,” Voodoo replied.
“If?” Stone questioned.
Except no one got out of the damn car.
“Look, I’m not going to sit in here and do nothing. This isn’t a standoff. We need to lure them out of the vehicle,” I said, double-checking my weapon, chambering a round, and ensuring I had my extra clip. Then I met Voodoo and Raptor’s gazes. “I’m going out.”
“Phoenix, wait! You can’t go out there,” Sloane said from behind me. I stopped three feet from the door.
“This ends today, Sloane,” I told her. There was no way she was living in fear for her, her mother’s, or her friend’s lives. Maybe things weren’t going to work out for us, but I wasn’t leaving her in constant danger. If it meant I ended up sacrificing myself, then so be it—but I wouldn’t go down without a fight.
“I’m going with you,” Stone said from behind me.
“Me too,” replied Evan. His feathery friends stood behind him, though they were in human form, so that probably wasn’t an accurate description. “They will remain in here to watch over and protect the women.”
“We’ll stay in here as well, but if you need us, we’ll be there. I just don’t feel right leaving the women with so few to watch over them,” Rooster said as he checked his pistol. Static stood at his side and nodded his agreement.
Not thinking for a minute that I had taken over as if Sloane was my ol’ lady, I gave a thankful chin lift and headed toward the front door. Sloane tried to come after me, but one of Evan’s crew stopped her, then Niara came from the rooms in the back. “Sloane! It’s your mom!”
Sloane immediately rushed to follow Niara to the back. Two of Evan’s men followed, along with Raptor’s father. Intentionally shoving all that to the back of my mind, I gripped the knob and swung the door open.
The sun was insanely bright, but there was a decided nip in the air that I ignored.
Flanked by Stone, Evan, Raptor, Voodoo, and Jigsaw, I moved out into the open. The doors opened, and the crazy blonde bitch and her asshole brother got out. Reading auras wasn’t my jam, but it didn’t need to be to sense the blackness rolling off the two of them.
“Well, look who we have here,” she called out with no concerns for the fact that they were outnumbered. “Sloane’s little temporary hero.”
“Temporary my ass,” I bit out.
The bitch laughed, and her brother gave me a sardonic grin. “It’s cute that you think any of you can stop us.”
“Oh yeah?” I questioned with my own evil grin as she approached us. My heart was racing, but a deadly calm enveloped me.
Stone stepped to my side and I jumped as the earth below us trembled. It quickly grew to a rumble before it seemed the ground began to crack open. Neville seemed to grab a handful of the gravel drive and hurtle it at my brothers and our new friends. Except each one flew with the speed of a bullet.
“Shit!” someone behind me cried out as one obviously struck.
As everyone scattered, dirt rippled and came up from the earth to wrap around Belinda and her brother’s feet. Without hesitation, I fired my weapon three times—twice at the bitch’s chest, once at her head.
Except the bullets stopped just shy of penetrating either of their flesh before the brass dropped ineffectively to the ground.
“So juvenile.” Belinda laughed, then kicked the dirt off her feet. I wanted nothing more than to bury my fist in her face.
The bitch-witch drew her arm back and cast a roar of flames at us. It took everything in me to absorb it all before it affected anyone around me, but the effort threw me back and to the ground. The fire seemed to be a living, breathing demonic thing and taking it in singed my veins as I attempted to process and neutralize it.