As I pushed off the wall, I noticed a red pool on the asphalt beneath my feet. Blood lay below Lois. Red streaks were dashed all over the inside of her thighs.

Lois caught my hard stare and, frowning, she glanced down to her knees. “What…? Shit! Is that blood on my legs?” She jumped up and tried to wipe the red liquid from her skin. “Where the hell’s it coming from?”

I tracked the blood with my eyes and noticed a thin, fresh stream coming from around the back of the dumpster.

“Jesus! Is there a dead body out here again?” Lois said, trying to cover herself with her arms. Bitch was too soft for this kinda shit.

Without paying her attention, I rolled the blue dumpster to the side, revealing the source. A bitch’s body—young, black hair mangled around her face. Slim body covered in mud, her white dress ripped and sopping with blood.

I searched for the wound… Her leg.

A huge, gaping gash, deep enough that her muscle was exposed, some pitted f**kin’ rag attempting to stop the flow.

It weren’t working for shit.

Checking her pulse, not able to find even a lick of movement, I could only surmise one thing: bitch had croaked.

I turned to Lois, who was hovering behind.

“Is she dead?” she asked.

Go get Ky, Pit and Rider, I signed.

Lois ran for the door, hand over her mouth.

Moving forward, I pushed the stiff’s hair from her face and immediately let out a long breath.

Christ.

She looked like she used to be a f**kin’ stunner under all the mud and shit—creamy skin against that long black hair, big pink lips, killer frame. Damn shame she’d gone to the boatman, she’d have been one hot f**kin’ bitch.

Reaching into my pocket, I laid two dimes on her eyes. Poor bitch needed to pay up to go to a better life.

I put one arm behind her back, one behind her legs, and lifted. She weighed almost nothing. She was f**kin’ tiny.

Ky, Pit and Rider burst outta the doors behind me. My VP rolled his eyes and groaned as he pulled up his zipper—brother must’ve been busy.

“Not another one of ’em! I know. I’ll kill a bitch and dump the stiff on the Hangmen. Cocksuckers. Fuckin’ had to tear myself from underneath the licking twins for this shit!”

I tipped my chin at Pit, the prospect moved forward and I dumped the bitch in his arms. Get the van. You’re gonna dump the stiff. Usual place. Make sure the coins stay on, I signed. Ky translated, still pissed he’d been dragged away from his sluts.

And then I f**kin’ froze—lungs stopped, eyes bugged, heart jumped—froze. The bitch in Pit’s arms flinched and moaned, dimes slipping off her face to clatter on the ground.

“She ain’t dead!” Pit blurted. As usual, statin’ the f**kin’ obvious.

“Shit! We gonna dump her? Or we keeping her here? The Feds are watching us, Styx. Viking said we got two agents stationed undercover half a mile away. The good ol’ senator’s still on our backs. It’ll be risky to carry some bloodied bitch outta here without being pulled and questioned. Ain’t got those f**kers on the payroll.” Ky slapped my back and pointed to the bitch. “Could be a message from someone, or she could’a been planted to put us in shit with the law.”

I heard what Ky was saying, but I couldn’t stop glancing at the bitch’s pale face. She looked familiar somehow, but I couldn’t place from where.

Shaking my head, I looked to my best friend. Yeah. No getting out tonight. Bitch is gonna have to stay. Fuck! Just what we need.

I looked over to Rider, who was standing silently behind Ky. Brother had almost as much to say as me. Rider was ex-marine and fully trained as a medic. Saw some shit he couldn’t deal with in Afghanistan and left. Fortunately for us, all the brother wanted to do when he got off service was ride and serve this club. Rider could stitch something fierce and even operate if need be. Saved our outlaw asses more times than I could count.

I indicted for him to take possession of the half-dead stiff. He would see what’s up and either be able to fix the bitch or not. Hell, it’s not like death was a stranger around these parts. Sent more brothers to Hades this past year than are still standing in this club, f**kin’ war. Death’s a cycle. Sooner or later we all gotta meet the boatman, pay up for the f**ked-up shit we’d done in this life.

Rider reached for the bitch, when suddenly, she jerked in Pit’s arms, her eyes springing open, fixing right on mine, pure fear bursting through for less than a second before shuttering down again.

Fuck me. Those eyes. Even through all the blood, mud, and shit on her face, those eyes f**kin’ shone—ice-blue, like a goddamn wolf’s. Only seen one pair of eyes like that before…

I couldn’t help but think of that f**kin’ young bitch from behind the fence fifteen years ago. She was one of the only folks I ever spoke to in my life. Hell, I’d spoken to her. That howled f**kin’ volumes. She was number three. Ain’t talked to none since.

A long, pained groan slipped from her mouth, causing me to refocus.

Shit.

Ky moved to pull her from Pit’s arms. “Give her to me. Gonna dump her in your room, Rider, then get back to licking Tiff’s and Jules’s pussies. Fuckin’ bitch ain’t cockblockin’ me no more tonight.”

I watched as Ky touched her skin and all I could see was that young bitch behind the fence. Fuck! What if it was her? Nah, impossible. Load’sa bitches have those eyes. Right? Right?

Thinking I’d pulled my shit together, I relaxed. But when Ky took her in his arms, I f**kin’ lunged for him and grabbed his arm in my hand, dropping it only to sign, Back the f**k off. Give her to me.

My VP stepped back, his eyebrows bunched, trying to read my mood. “What the f**k?” he said out loud. The other brothers frowned in confusion. Lois’s red-lipped mouth dropped open.

Shaking my head, I signed, Back off. Give her to me. NOW.

Ky looking confused as all hell, put her in my arms, and raising up his hands, backed away. Pit gaped at me like goddamned fish.

“What the hell, man? I’m back, I’m back. Okay. Calm the f**k down!”

I cradled the bitch to my chest, some possessive voodoo shit taking over my mind, body… my f**kin’ soul.

I headed for the door, ignoring everyone but the bitch in my arms—pasty dying skin… white dying lips… bleeding, dying body.