As we left the warehouse, it differed from how I remembered. It was worn and dirty, with hardly any walls, and the rooms that held all the women were now blasted open. Some doors hung off hinges, giving me the perfect glimpses of lifeless bodies on the floor.
I whimpered—those poor women.
Grim pulled me closer as I tried to roll up into a ball. I should feel repulsed by this man holding me so close to his body, but I felt more at ease as each passing moment went by. He’d killed one man that was the bane of my existence, but that didn’t mean I should trust him.
Locke was certain that they were going to let me go. But as we trailed through the frosty night air and traveled five blocks away from the warehouse, I realized I wasn’t being let go soon.
Rows and rows of bikes parked in a perfect line. So, this was an MC club then? Only a few of them put on their helmets. They started their engines and drove off with the loud sounds of their motors announcing their departure..
Oh, my god, was I going to ride this thing?
Grim set me on the motorcycle. It was large. Definitely could travel long distances, yet small enough to go wicked fast. He had a bag on the side, which he opened and handed me a helmet. I stared at it, glancing back up at those haunted blue eyes.
“She can ride with me,” Locke mentioned as he kicked the kickstand up. “Whatever makes you more comfortable.” Locke shared a knowing look at Grim, who only shook his head.
Locke raised a brow to question, but Grim nodded him away. We were the last bike since it took me a moment to settle the straps. He climbed on the bike. His legs were so thick that they tightened his dark leather chaps as he sat.
Grim reached over, pulling one of my arms and guided me to sit behind him. He took one of my hands and wrapped it around his body and gestured for the other hand to follow.
He was like a tree trunk; my arms could hardly go around the wall of steel.
The bike rumbled, and I lifted my legs, but it wasn’t just the rumbling of the bike I felt. His back had a constant purr-like vibration coming from it. My breath stopped, trying to feel the gentle vibrations until he revved the engine and I could no longer feel it.
I gripped ahold of him tighter, and he took off quickly, traveling into the dark, cool night. Goosebumps rose on my legs as we forged ahead.
“Name?” He yelled over his shoulder. His voice wasn’t as strangled as when he told me to come out from under the bed. This time, it was much smoother, less animalistic.
“Journey,” I replied in a normal voice, not expecting him to hear. But somehow I think he heard because he didn’t ask again.
Chapter Three
Grim
Wepulledupoutsidethe bar. Humans stumbled out, tripping over themselves after the last call for shots. Two a.m. came fast for these low lifes that had no one to go home to.
Locke shouted to them, pulling some up off the sidewalk. Vomit ran down the curb while they steadied themselves to stand. The last taxi drove up, coming by to pick up the last lot of them. Three piled in one taxi, and Locke shut the door with a slam, waving for the car to go.
The other lagging humans staggered down the street, humming a tune or punching the brick walls of the joint. The girls must have had a handful tonight if the customers didn’t want to leave.
“I’ve got Delilah coming, she’s going to take her,” Hawke stuck his phone back in his pocket. “She has a spare room in her apartment with the rest of her kind. She’ll get her settled.”
Delilah was Hawke’s distraction. Nothing more, he said. But I saw the way he looked at her. He was infatuated with the human. He always brushed her hair back and whispered things in her ear. She was one of the many humans we’d saved. She had no family or friends to speak of. Locke let her stay in one of the apartment buildings he owned to give her a chance to start over.
The constant flirting between the two sickened me. But we all deserved to keep our minds busy instead of concentrating on our loneliness.
“No,” I grunted. Journey slid off my bike, my shirt covering her ass just enough, but her poor legs were cold. Goosebumps rose on her skin, her legs pushed together to try and retain what little bit of warmth she had left.
Locke leaned on his bike, lighting a cig.
“She can’t stay here with us, Grim. You know the rules.” He flicked the cig from his mouth and stomped on it.
Hell, I knew she couldn’t stay, but I didn’t want to part with her either. Not until I figured out why my wolf was all up in a huff about her. He had his eyes on her from the very start, and the jolt of electricity under the bed made me question what it could be.
Humans weren’t allowed to go into the living quarters of the bar. We had rooms for prospects that wanted to join and for members. They were wolves mostly, and Locke stayed in there with all of them. It was their own space, their own unofficial pack, to sate their animals need for company. It was a place to let their wolves growl and howl and not worry about showing too much animal to anyone outside the club.
I didn’t sleep there much. There were two studio apartments above the tattoo parlor that Sizzle owned. I work with him, and he offered for me to stay there if I felt more comfortable being alone instead of at the bar. I was afraid I would go rabid and the fewer souls around the better.
Maybe my wolf was regressing far faster than everyone else because I stayed alone and away from other wolves.
