Doc (The Kings of Mayhem MC Tennessee 2)

Dropping my medical bag by my feet to unlock the ambulance, I’m startled by a noise behind me. I turn to look over my shoulder, and the hair stands tall on the back of my neck as a shadow comes to life in the darkness and rushes toward me. It grabs me around the neck, and I feel a sharp sting in the side of my throat, then a violent knock to my skull.

Within seconds, my world turns black.

DOC

The first thing I see when I come around is a pair of bright, sea-green eyes.

Followed by lush, kissable lips and soft curls falling around a face I can only describe as painfully beautiful.

Where the fuck am I?

And who the hell is this angel kneeling over me?

I struggle to think, blinking a few times. Gauging the softness beneath me, I’m lying on a bed or a mattress of some sort in a room that doesn’t look familiar.

The angel leans forward and wipes her cool palm across my forehead, and I close my eyes again because her touch is gentle and comforting, and it momentarily soothes the violent thumping inside my skull.

“You’re going to be okay. It’s only a mild concussion.”

My eyes flick open.

A concussion?

I try to sit, but blinding pain sends me back to the bed again.

“It’s probably a good idea if you don’t try that again so soon,” the angel says. “The drugs won’t take long to wear off, but you’ll probably have a headache for a while.”

Drugs?

What the hell?

Squeezing my eyes closed, I force my mind back. The last memory I have is leaving Bronte and Jack’s home. I was next to the ambulance, and there was a noise behind me.

I turned…

There was a dark figure…

It raised its arm, then…

… nothing.

Opening my eyes, I turn to look at her. “Who are you?”

She smiles, and it’s the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen.

“My name is Tiger Lily, but call me Lily.”

Crazily, I think it’s a beautiful name.

I say crazily because there are a million other things I should be thinking about right now.

Like what the fuck happened to me?

“Where am I?” I ask groggily.

She opens her mouth to answer, but it’s a male voice who replies, “You don’t need to know where you are,” it says. “All you need to know is that nothing is going to happen to you if you do as you’re instructed.”

I turn my head and squint against the blinding light. My eyes slowly adjust, and a man finally comes into focus. He’s about five-eleven and somewhere in his late fifties with salt and pepper hair pulled back into a ponytail, a closely cropped beard, and silver earrings in his ears. He’s wearing camouflage pants and a Black Sabbath T-shirt under a leather cut. The patch on the front of the cut reads President.

He looks familiar, but I can’t place him.

“Who the fuck are you?” I ask.

He smiles. “You can call me Max.”

Coming out of the haze, my dazed brain slowly pulls all the pieces together, and I feel my stomach drop.

“Max Stonecypher?”

The man simply smiles.

Fucking great.

I’ve been kidnapped by the goddamn Appalachian Inferno—the Kings of Mayhem’s biggest rivals. Technically, they’re an MC, but they don’t comply with a code of honor like trust, loyalty, and brotherhood. They’re greedy fuckers who will burn down anyone or anything that gets in their damn way. Fire is their weapon, and they use it mercilessly. They’ve already burned down two of the Kings of Mayhem cannabis crops and a Christmas tree farm because the farmer was working with us.

In retaliation, the Kings have almost decimated their cannabis territory, forcing them out of Flintlock and the neighboring towns. Jack’s goal is to shut down the club completely by also destroying their meth empire. But the Inferno are masters of disguise, and not even the DEA or other sophisticated agencies have been able to locate their labs. They’re dotted throughout the Appalachian trail but too well-hidden to find.

The Inferno are cunning fuckers.

Not to mention unpredictable.

Now, they’ve abducted me, and something tells me it’s not because of my shining personality.

I struggle to sit up. I’m dizzy as fuck but need to get myself out of such a vulnerable position because I have a feeling things are about to go even further south, real quick. But a wave of nausea washes over me, and I think I might puke.

“Take it easy,” Lily soothes.

“That’s the drugs. It’ll pass,” Max says.

“What drugs did you give me?” I croak.

“Something to make you more agreeable to our plan. You put up quite the struggle. Lucien had to give you a little something to make you less feisty.”

Fuck.

“What was it?” I look at Lily, and she shakes her head as if she doesn’t know.

“You were also knocked out for a moment,” she whispers. “So you should take it easy.”

The motherfuckers drugged and knocked me out.