double insult. Hunter enjoyed the challenge she presented and wanted to
find out more about the ritual he’d taken part in, but not like this.
“Are you gonna tell on me?” Ray mocked him,
and Hunter took a drink of his beer to keep his hands busy. He had always known
Ray was a self-centered dick, but this was too much. At least now he wasn’t a sixteen-year-old
Catholic school boy against a nineteen-year-old meathead. No, he’d toughened
up, been in his share of fights, and in the last few years, when he’d gotten
into scuffles with Ray, he’d won most of them to the dumbstruck surprise of his
“born and bred Rabid Hog” cousin.
“No. You go anywhere near her, and I’ll
smash your face in.”
Ray stared at him. “Fuck. Did that skank
bewitch you, or something?” At least his resolve to hurt Asty wasn’t nearly as
primal as that to kill her father.
“Are you a coward that you want to
involve women in business between men?” Hunter stared back without even
blinking.
Ray’s resolve was melting like the polar
caps. “She’s putting herself out there, but whatever. No taping,” he said with
a dismissive gesture. “I still wanna fuck her tight pussy even beyond the day I
kill Priest.
Hunter clenched his fist, and the homicidal
rage burning up in him could definitely take him to hell if released. “Keep the
girl out of this.”
“Fine,” growled Ray, and he uncovered his
teeth. “We don’t touch her. That includes you.”
Hunter chewed on those words for a long
moment, but nodded. If this would keep Ray away from Astaroth, he’d shake hands
on it. “Deal.”
Asty
The blue plus sign stared back at Asty,
making her heart gallop. She was content. This was, after all, the purpose of
the ritual she had performed two weeks ago. But there was still this tense itch
in her joints, and her head became strangely light when she saw the same result
for the third time. She placed the pregnancy test on the side of the tub next
to the two she used earlier.
She would be having a baby.
In the fleeting glow of the aromatic
candles she lit all over her bathroom, she felt like the only person left in
the world. Shadows were dancing around her, but she heard no whispering and
could not recall her mother’s voice to reassure her that everything would be
fine. This wasn’t as she had imagined. She’d have to go through this alone,
with nothing but her mother’s personal journals as guidance.
It had been two years since Bell’s passing.
He had died instantly—a bullet to the head—or at least that was what Tooth and
Dad had told her. They wouldn’t let her see the body. She couldn’t believe at
first that he was really gone. She had half-expected to see him in the kitchen,
with Mom feeding him pancakes for breakfast, or have him unexpectedly pinch her
when she was at the club. But he was no more after being there for her all her
life. A true older brother, Bell had always stood by Asty and scared off kids
who teased her, at least until she got older and was too embarrassed to ask him
for help.
Dashingly handsome and charismatic, he was
the future of the motorcycle club. Since Astaroth had been little, she had always
remembered him hanging out with Dad all the time. He knew how to fix bikes
before he got into junior high, and he dropped out to venture into club life as
soon as he could. Their parents had been fine with that decision, even though
they had tried to pressure Asty to finish her secondary education. She would
never have a chance at doing the job Bell was doing, and she’d never be a
member of her Dad’s beloved club. With Lucky more interested in trimming beards
than fighting anyone, after Bell’s death there was no one to carry on their
family legacy.
Asty knew her parents loved her, but she
couldn’t help but feel useless when her mother fell ill soon after Bell’s death
and ultimately followed him to hell. The last months of her life had been
dedicated to writing down the secret
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