Axle's Brand (Death Chasers MC 3)

“Why would she need to give you a name? I’m just trying to understand this,” she tells me softly.

I hesitate, almost deciding not to answer.

Opening the door and not turning around, I quietly murmur, “Because until then, I was only referred to as the Demon’s Child.”

I hear her breath catch, and I never look back to see her eyes as I walk out, heading downstairs to find Drex and update him on Maya’s business situation.

Before I even reach the bottom of the staircase, Drex is already walking toward me, his eyes shifting toward the closed door of my room before finding mine again.

“Maya is the real deal,” he says quietly, glancing over his shoulder at the warehouse full of guys who have gathered for a ride today.

We’re getting back to basics, boosting morale and all that shit. Some of us joined this club because our lives were too fucked up, and no one else could understand us except for others who lived through their own twisted version of hell.

Some of the guys just joined because they liked to ride and raise some hell. So today, those guys are riding and raising hell, while the rest of us are hanging back to deal with the financial situation.

A financial situation that Maya is about to save our asses from.

“Thought you already assumed she checked out,” I tell him gruffly.

“I did assume it. Now I know it. Sledge has a friend in New York who rides with a different crew. They don’t know the names of some of the Family Heads, but they do know all the shit she’s told us is legit. That bomb and all. And the fact the Families have been too quiet, meaning they’re up to something. Another guy says Blackbird is a family operation, and they know for a fact a girl is running the show now. And the girl is a little…wacky.”

Definitely sounds like Maya.

“Still doesn’t explain how you know for sure it’s her,” I say, even though I know it’s her.

I’m not sure why, but I fucking trust her. She’s too genuine…too real. And it’s easy to tell from her haunted eyes and bizarre reactions to tense situations that she’s not exactly playing pretend.

She’s her own breed of fucked up. Just like the rest of us.

“The girl had twenty of Phillip’s men executed,” Drex says quietly. “Point-blank shots to the head after the bomb.”

I tense a little at that.

The fucking hell? Maya? I see her as…well, crazy. Not murderous.

“One of them was her boyfriend at the time,” he goes on, quieter still. “Apparently he was a spy for her brother and Phillip.”

I swallow a little harder on that. She mentioned loyalty upstairs. She didn’t mention why it was so important. I assumed it was because her brother betrayed her. She also mentioned guys weren’t strong enough for her. I took that as cowardly, not traitorous.

“That’s—we’re talking about Maya, right? You think she’s capable of killing a guy she was with?” I ask, unable to process that part of the story.

“Not directly, but she definitely issued the order. It was what kept anyone from assuming they were too weak to handle things after the sudden deaths of their parents. It was probably also the reason Blackbird became the head Family in charge of leading this war.”

He once again glances up toward the door, and I cross my arms over my chest.

“Still not sure how you know it’s definitely Maya.”

He looks back at me, eyes bland. “Because the girl who issued the order rolled in on roller skates, tall socks, short shorts, and had braided pigtails twisted in balls. Made her a little legendarily insane when she issued the order to kill them all and round up anyone else still in New York who sided with Phillip. Then she played a Spice Girls’ song directly after and skated around in circles while dancing to it, all while they put bullets in the heads of the guys. This reaction is what sent Phillip’s operation deep south.”

Definitely Maya.

Girl is just as fucking insane as we are. Possibly more so. In a different way, of course.

“The boyfriend was worked over for a few days before he was finally killed,” Drex goes on. “That’s apparently how they got their information that led to the trail here. It’s also how they turned someone in his crew. No one wants to fuck with the kids who’ve taken over. They’re all batshit fucking crazy, and they don’t care who knows it.”

Not sure why, but my lips twitch. I remember thinking the scared girl in my backseat was too sweet to hang with this club. Turns out, the scared girl was just a resident psycho who enjoys getting to live another day to wreak more havoc in the most bizarre of ways.

I quickly fill him in on the bad news Maya got, and he curses under his breath, trying not to draw attention to us. No one needs to see us frustrated or concerned right now.