His Property (Iron Bandits MC)

Then, I would turn this disaster of a sham marriage into the real thing. Since they were both mine already, there was no reason for us not to—unless, of course, Ellie really wanted out of it. But I couldn’t see that. I figured we were both miserable not being together, so the obvious solution to all our problems was to just be together.

And that’s what drove me. That idea filled me with anticipatory gladness. That was my light at the end of this fucking tunnel from Hell.

When I finally made the final turn around a rock column outcrop, I let out a breath in relief and repositioned myself a step back. I could see Ellie just settling down to nurse Peter in a low camping seat near the tent. The lowness of the seat put her at a distinct disadvantage, as far as movement went. With the baby in her arms, she’d have a difficult time getting up, should she need to in a rush. McAfee was talking to her, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying.

I indicated to the guys behind me to fan out, to encircle the area so we could close in like a noose. No way in fuck was this cretin going to get out of here freely. It would take several minutes for everyone to make it around, so I watched the camp while I waited.

The difficulty for us, of course, was in the outcroppings and general terrain, which was packed with various cacti and spine-laden growths. The desert was no place for the weak. And Brian appeared well-settled in here—he even had a clothesline hanging. Seriously.

Still, we were more than thirty strong in number—that only counted the men who had made it here in time to be part of this take-down. And several in our ranks were military-trained, practiced, licensed, and tested. Not to mention, we had some true native blood—including one guy, Patch, who boasted his Apache lineage to all and sundry. Since we were on his own home territory, the very site of Geronimo’s decades-long stand-off with the U.S. and Mexican militias, Patch was in prime mode for one hell of a fight today. The guy was pumped up. If things hadn’t been so serious, I would have laughed. As it was, I was goddamned thankful to have him on our side.

Because of the massive proportions of the rock columns surrounding McAfee’s camp, our sightlines were severely limited. So the idea was to form the circle, then close ranks. We’d have to tighten the noose in order to act. So be it.

When enough minutes had passed that I figured everyone had to have either gotten into place or close enough, I looked one more time to see what Brian was doing. He was standing over Ellie and Peter, with her backpack in one hand, hefting it, testing its weight. Shit. Looked like it was go-time now, before he discovered the gun I’d put in there for her.

But wait—what was she doing? Damn, my woman was smart. She had him handing the pack to her, and she started to dig through it with her free arm, looking—or pretending to look—for…

What the fuck was she doing?—She had Peter nursing in one arm, and her little gun trained on the psycho with the other.

Jeezus! “GO!” I yelled, and we all ran in, closing the circle, guns drawn, all beaded on McAfee, who was also looking in surprise at Ellie, from just a few feet away.

We weren’t quiet anymore. We used our own version of a rebel yell, which echoed strongly in the rocks and must have shocked the hell out of McAfee, who immediately moved to close behind Ellie’s seat, between her and the tent, and he whipped out a switchblade and held it at her neck while watching us all close in. His other arm had knocked the gun right out of her hand and it flew several feet away from them. Then he wrapped that arm around her shoulders to keep her in place.

Fuck. The guy was strong and fast.

“You want her dead? Keep coming,” McAfee yelled out.

Almost as one, we stopped in our tracks.

I called out, “We got you, you fuckface. You’re trapped in here, no way out. You want to add murder to the kidnapping charges?” I thought about Keith, and how murder should already by on his rap sheet, but we didn’t have proof of that. Not yet, anyway.

“Back off, biker. She’s mine. She’s just been waiting for me to get everything ready for her. Now she’s here—by choice, I’ll point out—and you need to accept reality and leave. All of you. Just go. You have no right to be here. Ellie came to me, just like I dreamed. Just like I knew she would. It was perfect. You shouldn’t be here. Go away!”