Edge, Episode Two: Season One (Edge, A Serial Series Book 2) (6 page)

“Reveca,” Jamison said as she reached the door. “Be careful out there. Newberry’s people can’t tell
a Rouge from a lifer, a witch from a human. You know just as well as I do that the ignorance runs deep these days.”

When Reveca made it outside, just as she sat astride her bike she heard
the rumble of another bike echoing off the buildings on the narrow, aged streets. When she looked in her mirror she could not help but grin.

Cashton halted his bike next to Reveca’s an
d idled.

“What happened?” Reveca shouted over the thundering motor. “Caffeine
addiction get the best of you?”

Cashton gave her
a nod and winked. He glanced at Jamison’s establishment just behind Reveca then drove off.

Taking the long way back
, Reveca did her best to sort all that Jamison had revealed, the secrets he had alluded to. She didn’t get very far with that. To consider half of what he said, she had to reflect on her past, and the only way she was making it from breath to breath was by pretending that King was some haunt they were harboring and nothing more.

When she arrived back at the Boneyard the day had almost reached its end, or rather the garage was closed for the day. There was a band on the stage. Prospects were manning the
bar, bikers were outside drinking beer around their rides, more inside. Girls, wearing next to nothing, were sizing up their prey for the night. It was home. It was Reveca’s life.

The second she stepped into the lounge her gaze found Talon
. He was at the edge of the bar, his back to her, one girl at his side, one sitting on the bar just beside him. That was the girl that saw Reveca, the one that looked like she was going to puke just as she hopped down from where she was. Her friend followed, both looking down like scared school children.

Talon didn’t seem to notice that they were there or had left
. He was still going back and forth with Red, who was behind the bar, about something.

She didn’t see King anywhere
, but she felt him. He was close to the lounge but not within it.

All at once she heard Steele, one of the Son
s in the
life,
bellow a curse. He was in a side booth flinging a dingy blonde off of him. Seconds before, when Reveca had walked in, flinging her off was the last thing he was doing. Steele had no shame, never crossed his mind that it might be a good idea to close a door now and again when he was enticing a woman to bend to his will. He liked the audience. He liked how it put his partner in a submissive position. Hell, he just liked submissive.

“
You fucking bit me!” he roared reaching for his neck.

A few of the guys laughed, someone even yelled. “She must want a spanking, Steele!”

Reveca didn’t think it was very funny though, not when she saw that girl shove something in her bra just before walking away. To the crowd she looked like a girl who had gotten in over her head. To Reveca, she looked like a woman who had just gotten exactly what she wanted.

Just as that girl reached the door, Reveca grasped her arm then slammed her against the wall.

“He said he didn’t have an Ol’ Lady!” the girl yelled. “I’m leaving.”

Reveca held her with a glance as she reached in her bra
. The first thing she pulled out was crank—that alone was enough to boil Reveca’s blood. Then she found what she was looking for, a small vile full of blood.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw two other girls bolting for the door,
the two girls that were lingering near Talon just before. “Stay,” she said to them. The force of her energy demanding that they did so.

The entire room was near silent then
. The band had even decided to stop playing.

“I didn’t fuck him
,” the dingy blonde said as she started to shake.

“No you fucked
with
him.”

“He said he had no Ol’ Lady,” she
bleated in a frantic cry.

Still holding the other girls in place with her energy, Reveca slid her hand up the dingy blonde’s neck
and squeezed it just to scare her.

“
They’re all
mine
. Every last fucking one of them are
mine
,” Reveca seethed. “You fuck with them, you fuck with me. You brought crank into my club.” Reveca adjusted her grip. “You tried to fuck my boys and brought crank into my club.”

“No, no,” the dingy blonde babbled over and over.

“Family business,” she heard Talon say.

That clearly meant if you were not patched into the core of the MC, if you were not in the
life,
to
get the fuck out of the room, and everyone that wasn’t scrambled to do so, knocking over chairs and tables in their wake.

Those other two girls tried to move, couldn’t figure out why they couldn’t
. There was no doubt they were stoned off their ass as well.

The Son
s that were present circled behind Reveca trapping the girls between them and the wall, in a cage with the violent lioness that Reveca had become.

Reveca patted down the rest of the girl, found more drugs, just enough for personal use. “What the fuck,” Reveca said as she made her next discovery, a used condom that had been stuffed back into its pouch.

The girl refused to answer.

“Who fucked this girl?” Reveca said turning to her boys.

“Red,” Talon said. “Saw them in the bays earlier.”

Reveca rolled her eyes then moved to the other girls. “Who was on your to-do list tonight?” she asked as she flung the pair of them against the wall with a glance.

Both of them looked to Talon, there was a plea in that stare.

“That one right there?” Reveca said with a sly lift to her brow.

Clearly those girls understood it was mistake to make eye contact with anyone and began shaking their heads frantically.

Reveca seized them with her energy, nearly to the point of suffocation. “Ladies, I hate to spoil your night, but your ass isn’t nearly big enough to get his attention
. Oh, and he’s taken.”

She heard the other guys let out low rumbles of laugh
ter but it didn’t change her mood. She searched those girls. She found empty vials on them, more drugs, unused condoms.

“Who sent you here?
”

“Nobody
,” the blonde answered.

“Who sent you here for blood
?”

The laughter behind her stopped
. She had everyone’s attention then.

“Who sent your
skank
ass into my club to fuck with my boys?”

“
We don’t know,” the dark haired girl said.

“I got this, Vec
. Wash your hands, that shit is gross,” Thames said as he stepped forward. Judge was not far behind him, both prepared to get in those girls’ heads and find the answers they needed.

“What the hell is going on, Vec?” Talon asked her as she did as Thames told her, went the bar and started to scrub her hands with scolding water.

“Those quote un quote friends of Newberry’s we were told about, they’re after blood. Literally. Trying to get power out of it.”

There were grumbles of cuss words among all of them.

“We’ll search everyone as they come in, tell them we’re looking for drugs,” Talon said.

“And what’s our next plan?” Reveca asked. “Make sure all the boys gag the girls they fuck, bind their hands so they can’t draw blood
?”

“Fuck
that
,” Echo said. “I’m not turning into a dominator fuck like Steele. I like my women with a bite. We’ll find the son of a bitch behind this and turn his world upside down. I fuck how I want, when I want.”

“You’d like it,” Steele said grinning sheepishly as his teeth grazed his lip ring. Steele was like Thrash
. When he came back his animal instincts were loud and proud, especially with the phases of the moon. He was what Saige assumed would be a lyke one day, first generation werewolf. 

“What do you got?” Talon asked Thames
. He’d been pushing his way in the druggie’s head nice and hard.

Thames glanced at Judge who was looking more pissed by the second then shook his head. “They don’t know shit. They were at a rehab, nurse gave the
m meds, stoned them off their ass, then they saw a room full of girls. Guys wore masks when they gave them their daily dose, and what food they did get. Tonight they were shown Talon’s picture and were told to get what they could off him, if not him any one that had a crow with its wings spread tattooed across their shoulders.

That tattoo, along
with the words ‘No Last Ride,’ was a mark of all those patched deep within in the MC. Those that carried mortal lives in this MC they had the Club’s symbol on their inner forearms with the same words.

“Red doesn’t have that tattoo,” Echo said.

“Yeah, well,” Thames grunted. “This one right here,” he said with a nod to the dingy blonde, “is smart for an addict. She figured they couldn’t tell the difference. She was getting her crank one way or another.”

“Fix them,” Reveca said as she nodded for Steele to come to her
. She wanted to look at that bite on his neck.

“Already did. Now they have this truth that tells them if they ingest anything but whole foods or water that spiders will burst from their skin. They also think they’re from California, and need to make their way home on the next bus.”

“Use the van and get them to that bus,” Talon ordered.

Steele had made his way to Reveca
. She had to stand on her tiptoes to see his neck. His dark brow drew together and he nearly hissed. “Shut up you big baby,” Reveca said as she cleaned. “You’re lucky I’m not pouring bleach on your cock.”

“Didn’t get that far, momma,” Steele said as those grey eyes rained down on her.

Just as she was about to give him hell she heard a fake gasp.

“Oh my, now they told me outside that there was
a ‘family’ meeting going on in here, and I was like but I am family, and what do I see, tsk tsk, Reveca dangling on a Son that is not hers.”

The entire room turned to see Tisk. Her hair was wild with
dark curls that reached just to her shoulders. Her makeup was nothing less than Goth—black lipstick, shadow—her clothes, more of the same, fishnet stockings, short skirt, and a loose tank.

“Get out of here you Rouge fucker
,” Talon said coldly.

“Darling, lest you forget, I’m not a Rouge fucker
. I simply fuck Rouges…which means I have information you may want.”

“I don’t want shit from you
,” Reveca said and meant it.

Tisk was a witch
. She’d been kicked out of the Dominarum Coven for practicing dark arts, had come to Reveca thinking she would take her in. It wasn’t hard for Reveca to see why the others wanted her out. She was downright abusive, used magic for gain.

Now she
sold hexes and such at a little shop in the Quarter where tourist and locals alike come in looking for some dime store magic. If she wasn’t there she was at St Louis graveyard doing more of the same to those that thought they were clever enough to pull power from empty graves.

“Well, then I suppose I’ll have a beer, and wait until you find the need to listen to me.”

Reveca rolled her eyes looked up at Steele. “Come up with me so I can cleanse this the right way.”

“Sure that sounds like a great excuse,” Tisk said as she sauntered closer to Talon. “You’re very trusting,” she said with puppy dog eyes. “Letting that big bad wolf go with your woman upstairs.” She moved her hand up his chest. “I could keep you occupied.”

It wasn’t Reveca’s energy that had Tisk pinned to the wall, spread eagle, arms out wide, it was Talon’s. He strolled right up to her, let his lethal gaze ease down her like she was a steak dinner. He leaned in nice and close and said, “You wouldn’t survive it.”

He meant that, in more ways than one.

“Promise?” she gasped.

Tisk was a human witch, and wanted desperately not to be
.

Talon shook his head and walked away leaving her pinned there. “Get this cleaned up,” he said with a nod to the druggies
. He glanced to where Reveca was, wanting to know what she wanted them to do with Tisk, but she was gone.

Didn’t really surprise him. Reveca had a calm temper for the most part, but druggies in the club
, sent to hurt her boys, followed by the uninvited appearance of Tisk was enough to stretch her limits. She needed space to think right now. It was going to kill him, but he was going to give it to her.

Chapter Four

No wound lasted long on any of the Sons or Reveca for that matter. Their flesh could still tear, they’d feel that pain like any human, but near instantly the pain would numb, the wound would begin to heal. The more serious ones, like bullet holes, they took longer, a solid night in some cases.

Her wanting to clean Steele’s wound had more to do with her protective nature than it did with any fear that cranked out girl could have hurt him.

Reveca was in the second floor bath with Steele holding leaves against his already healed flesh. The herb purified, pulled toxins from the skin. If that girl did pass anything into his bloodstream with that bite this would help his body fight it off all the faster.

She was doing her best not
to laugh at what he was saying to her. She wanted to be mad but every one of the Sons made it a point not to let her stay that way.

“You should kill that twisted bitch, Tisk, then like botch how you bring her back, hell don’t botch it
—nature will have its way. I bet she comes back as a horny nymph. Screw the name Tisk, we’ll just call her Cock, you know, because she’ll be mad craving that all the time but no will give to her because they’re afraid they’ll fall in the massive black hole her—”

“Shut up.”

“What?” Steele asked clearly amused by his words.

Reveca was too, but she heard something, a pounding, then
a curse.

Right as she charged out of the bathroom, Shade came out of the room down the hall yelling her name. That was the room mystery girl was in.

Reveca all but propelled herself there.

The girl was in the bed soaked with sweat
. Her body was jarring forward violently. Her stomach jutted up then her shoulder slammed back, then finally her head. The same places she had been shot before.

“What the hell is happening?” Steele yelled.

“Run a bath, Steele. Strip her down,” she said to Shade.

Reveca started pulling things out of the chest that carried all her natural meds and cussed when she saw
she was all but out of three of the living herbs she needed.

Seconds later Shade was carrying her down the hall
, Reveca was running after them.

Inside the bath Shade clenched the girl to his chest hiding her from Steele. “Out
,” he growled.

“I’m helping
,” he argued.

“I said OUT.”

Steele grunted then left. Reveca adjusted the water to match the temperature the best she could then went through the process she had done when she brought this girl home, and at least once a day since then.

“Put her in.”

The girl went lax in the water, at ease once again.

“What’s going on with this girl
? Why is she not coming out of this?” Shade asked with a gravelly voice.

“When she can’t rise, her mind pushes her back to before she died
. It’s trying to tell her to let go.”

“I’m going
to rip Holden’s flesh off of him slowly,” Shade said through gritted teeth.

“She went quickly,” Reveca offered.

“No, she didn’t,” Shade said as he caressed her forehead. “I can’t figure out if he raped her or not.”

“What are you talking about?” Reveca asked
, hesitating placing the last of the leaves she had on the girl.

“I watched her last night, and tonight. About an hour before she reenacts the shots, her hands clench, like she’s holding a gun, then she falls back, tears come out of her eyes, then she holds her hands before her like they’re bound, stays that way for a moment then spreads her legs wide,” he clenched his jaw. “She stays that way for a long time, then
flails like she’s running. The shots come ‘bout five minutes after that.”

Reveca put her hand on his shoulder. “He didn’t.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I’ve been caring for this body for days. I know she was not hurt that way.”

“I’m still ripping his fucking flesh off.”

“Okay, buddy
,” she said patting his shoulder.

When she stood he looked up. “Where are you going?”

“I need to get some more stuff from the garden. Tomorrow I should have what I need to break her out of this cycle.”

“I’ll go.”

She shook her head. “She rests more calmly when you’re here.”

Shade lowered his head.

“What is it about her? What’s with you?”

“I don’t know, Vec, I don’t fucking
know. It’s just a hum.”

Reveca tensed but he didn’t see it. She had to get out now. She could feel her very own hum not far off. There
were one too many emotions roiling through her right then.

When she went outside she saw that half the bikes were gone
. It looked like only Club members were left, and they were all sealed in the lounge with loud music.

She roared her bike to life, meaning to sling gravel all over Tisk’s Honda as she pulled out.

Her garden was at the edge of the Boneyard, miles away from where she was, close to the river. Normally it was her sanctuary. In all truth, if it were any other night, feeling the way she was, she would linger there for hours, meditating her building emotions away. But tonight she didn’t understand what was going on with that mystery girl, wasn’t entirely sure that she would make it until Jamison gave her the herbs she needed, so she grabbed what she came for, packed her saddle bags, then made her way back.

She’d barely made it on the road
when a truck came up behind her. She twisted her throttle trying to get out of its path. It charged on, barely missing the back of her bike. It was instinct for her to use magic to tell this ass to go on, but her lawmen buddies were parked in their regular spot and the last thing she wanted to do was give them a show. She was too amped up and she knew with her luck one wave of her power would cause an explosion that would bring all kinds of people she didn’t want to her doorstep tonight.

She twisted the throttle once again
, weaved on the road just to dodge the truck. It stayed right on her.
“You after me?”
she thought.
“Fine. Follow me.”

She raced forward then turned into the gravel lot
. Her turn was too sharp and the bike slanted to the side. Reveca closed her eyes and prepared for impact, but then all at once she felt a body encase her. She felt a deep throbbing hum drowning her adrenaline.

The bike spun, keeping its near parallel angle with the gravel ground. Three complete sharp whirls occurred before it came to a halt. The truck had swerved
. It plowed into the ditch then dug its way out and burned rubber as it peeled off down the road, apparently deciding it didn’t want to play anymore.

Reveca felt the bike balance, its engine thundering along as it sat at idle.

She felt strong hands ease up her legs, past her hips then her chest, only to fall back to her leg once more. She had all but laid this bike down, her leg had been thrashed against the gravel, the heat of the bike had burned her as well.

King, he was astride the bike behind her, he’d stopped the bike from spinning, from crashing
. The how and why was something that Reveca could not process at that moment. No, that hum it was penetrating, concentrated on her leg that had felt an instant sharp pain in the middle of that drama. She felt her flesh healing more rapidly than it ever had before.

Against her ear, she sensed his heated breath. “When a vehicle is crashing, a soul as powerful as
you
, should vacate said vehicle.”

That powerful hand of his was sliding up her leg once more, moving to her hip, easing up her side, carefully g
razing the side of her breast before it rose to her shoulder then eased down her arm. She couldn’t feel anything right then but the pain of want, her body, her soul reaching for what felt like a life force. Her mind, it was the barrier holding her back, the one thing demanding that she held on to who she was that day.

“If I did that it would’ve crashed into the wall, could have burned.”

“And?” he nearly growled against her ear.

“And I like my bike.” Her speech was lazy, near seductive
. Her eyes were hooded, the bike was humming between her legs, hot, and full of power. The body she was pressed against, his long legs, his strong chest, those arms…they were putting that bike to shame. 

His long arm reached down to her leg once more
. This time her skin felt smooth, like nothing had happened seconds before. She couldn’t feel a damn thing. Nope, nothing but the aching
want
right at her core. She had no idea what he was doing, needed him to stop, but sure as hell didn’t want him to. She was out of it, so much so that her head naturally fell back on his shoulder.

“I don’t have idle hands,
Reveca
. I would have repaired your bike, made you a new one.”

No
, those hands were not idle, she thought to herself as he followed that same path once more, reaching his hand to her calf then sliding forward, all the while his other hand kept her pressed against him like a vice. He may have sounded like he was in control, the tone of his words may have said as much, but she felt his want growing against the base of her spine.

Her hooded eyes glazed over as her mind took her back to the first time she’d explored him, how she
’d hated that water barrier. She didn’t know how good she had it then. Now, they had far more clothes, and entirely too much time and emotion between them.

“I don’t get you,” she said as her body acted on its own and rocked back against him.

He let out a hiss, his hand that was just passing her chest clasped over her hardened peaks. That one grasp sent a shiver down her body.

“Why?” he breathed
as she felt his lips graze her neck. “I thought you liked the quiet ones.”

She
squeezed her eyes closed. Felt an eruption of emotions fighting to explode within her. The very idea that some part of her Kenson was within him still, and that part thought she had moved on, had some life with Lorecan, it was agony.

Before she could find the will to openly face their end, her beginning in the life she was in now, and deny his words, she heard another bike rumbling into the lot.

King’s energy that was encasing her slipped back, giving her some sense of clarity. When she opened her eyes she saw it was Cashton.

King braced his arm around Reveca, then moved the bike they were on, placing it back where she always left it.

Cashton took his time parking his bike, keeping his glare firmly on King. Without looking, the tension in the air told Reveca that King was returning that glare. She felt him dismount, then did so herself.

She was a bit wobbly, surely looked like she had been to hell and back
, but she was ready to stand between them if she had to.

King breathed in as Cashton approached. The
ice cold blue shade of King’s eyes was murderous. “Have fun tonight? Too innocent out there? Come back to get your kicks here?”

“You want to get that look off your face
?” Cashton said pulling his shoulders back.

“You going to make me?”

“Look, mate. I don’t remember shite I do in the Veil. And when I’m there I only vaguely remember any of this. So if I’ve fucked you over, you might want to wait until I remember doing so. Otherwise, whatever satisfaction you want to get out of this rumble your asking for isn’t going to mean fucking shite to me.”

Right then they went chest-to-chest, glare-to-glare. The tiny rocks across the ground started to move with the force that was in the air
. Seconds later it was too much for the metal bins lined up against the garage. They all started to bang against the wall.

“Call it off
,” Reveca said through gritted teeth. “Or I will march you both back into the grip of death and let you have at it out there. You’re not destroying my Boneyard over some petty shit that clearly happened long ago.”

King lifted his chin. “Right. Because around here, the past doesn’t mean shit.”

Right then all the Sons came outside, surely wondering what the sound was, why the air felt dense all at once.

Judge and Echo wasted no time coming to King’s side, Thames and Thrash to Cashton’s, edging them back
, all of them laughing their asses off.

“I won that bet!” Steele yelled.

“Not yet, you fuck! They didn’t hit each other,” Echo shouted back, trying not laugh. He patted King on the shoulder. “Do me a favor, buddy, don’t hit him for another two days. I’ve got a lot riding on it.”

King didn’t bother to respond.

Talon was looking all over the lot at the obvious damage from Reveca’s near accident.

Tisk, she was pis
sed. “What did you do to my car?”

“I did that,” Reveca said with a cool gaze.

“You bitch.”