In the Arms of the Beast (Kings of Hell MC 5)

Shadow crawled in the grass, a flat shape among the darkness cast by the branches above, but the man was too busy with his tirade to notice. Once he finally reached his body, it came to life in an abrupt jerk. He sat up, gasping for air as if he’d been drowning. The sealed container of sap was in the grass behind Gray’s back.

“Jesus Christ! What did you do to that poor fella’?” the older man said, this time taking a step back. The camera was ready to take another shot, but he let it dangle from his neck when Beast took a step toward him.

“We were about to leave. Have fun tree-hugging.”

The man shook his head. “I’m birdwatching. But I will report this to other members of the association. We will keep an eye on this tree, so don’t you think about coming back here in the dead of night for your Satanic rituals. I will also confiscate that poor chicken!”

Beast sighed and glanced at Vars, who shrugged and passed the birdwatcher the cage, shaking his head. If the fucker only knew…

Vars discreetly took the sample from Gray, checked the seal once again, and put it into a second container, which would then go into his saddlebag. Easy-peasy. Though Beast wondered what Magpie expected to find out from the sample. Maybe it had been yet another meaningless chore to pass the time before they could pull out the big guns.

The ride back to the clubhouse took a couple of minutes, but once they arrived, Beast excused himself with the excuse of having to do some maintenance on his bike and watched the others leave. Finally, some peace. Without Laurent to worry about, he would have a few hours to himself for once. He could play a video game, or maybe read. Or take a bath, since Laurent often hogged the bathtub in the evenings. Or watch porn without having to sneak around because of Laurent’s disapproval.

But there was a problem with that plan. He’d tried to treat himself to the filthiest of movies, and even some of the sweeter ones, but they directed his thoughts to Laurent every time. He might get an orgasm out of masturbating to a video, but he wouldn’t have a warm body to hug once it was over.

After years of being single, he hadn’t expected Laurent’s absence to hit him so hard, but after only forty-eight hours, the empty apartment had stopped feeling like a peaceful oasis. And now, three days since Laurent had left him, he resented going back to their place on his own.

Fuck video games. Fuck all the unread books, the bathtub, and the goddamn porn.

What the fuck was wrong with Laurent? Why hadn’t he listened to what Beast had to say?

He was in the process of wiping bird shit off his bike when the hum of a car appeared at the edge of his consciousness and gradually got louder. Great. Maybe Beast could make whoever this was get out of his hair fast.

The black vehicle was Elliot’s, and Knight sat next to him in the passenger seat, but it was the third person sitting in the back that made Beast pause, throw the wipe into the trash and tidy his hair.

His heart thumped, his body too hot for the clothes he was wearing, but no matter how much he itched to approach the car, he pretended to rummage through his saddlebag.

Laurent left the car, chirping to Elliot about an upcoming shopping trip, and it felt as if he were talking a lot only to make a point of not saying a word to Beast.

So maybe Beast shouldn’t have said that he didn’t want a kid, but what did it matter? The egg was here, had a name, and wasn’t going anywhere. Just because Beast was freaking out over fatherhood didn’t give Laurent the right to judge him. Like Laurent knew anything about parenting.

Beast followed Laurent with his gaze, and was startled by the unusual elegance of his outfit. Laurent put a lot of work in his appearance, but he favored T-shirts over ironed dress shirts and typically kept his hair down, not tying it back into a tidy ponytail. But worst of all was the fact that the property vest was gone, as if Laurent didn’t want to be associated with him any longer.

The chatter of Laurent and Elliot left a buzz in his head, even when the two men had gone behind a heavy door, and only the loud sigh reminded Beast that there had been a third person in the car.

“What are you looking at?” he asked, without sparing Knight a glance.

“Aren’t you going to ask how he’s doing?”

Beast wished there was a stainless steel surface he could bang his head on. “How is he doing?”

“Pretty good. He got the job,” Knight said so happily it took Beast’s brain a couple of seconds to understand what it was he’d said.