Axle's Brand (Death Chasers MC 3)

Herrin is taunting us by being this close.

“Hershel’s bike is definitely parked out there, along with a few others I recognize,” Jude says, walking from around the corner and coming back to his ride, while I listen to my messages, feeling my stomach sink.

“Answer your fucking phone!” Drake is shouting in the message that’s just a few seconds old. “Maya says they’re coming here. She’s fucking positive for some reason, and—fuck!”

His voice cuts out as gunfire sounds against my ear—rapid, unrelenting gunfire.

Screams tear through the message, and I hang up, revving my bike. “The girls are under fire. You deal with this!” I shout at Drex, whose eyes widen.

“Go,” Sledge says to Drex, his eyes on the Royal Inn. “Leave half with me.”

Drex starts snapping out orders for which ones need to follow us, but I’m already driving, weaving in and out of traffic the second I get turned around.

My entire body is strung tight, and an old, very distant feeling I haven’t felt in years almost chokes me.

Fear.

I haven’t been this scared since I was a kid, but right now, I’m barely holding it together as I skid around a curve, almost colliding with a car that manages to hit a ditch instead of me.

It doesn’t slow me down, because it’s not my life that has fear settling on me like a tangible force.

It’s Maya’s.

Cutting a ten minute drive in half, I slide in sideways on our street, seeing the building come into view. Sirens wail in the distance, probably on their way to us, and my stomach drops when I see the smoke blowing through the window near the top.

It’s not on fire, but I can tell they just blew the fucking hangar to pieces.

I leap off my Harley before it even comes to a full stop, letting it skid across the pavement on its side as I burst through the door.

Colleen is frantically pulling at the door near the back that probably sealed after the explosion, a safety mechanism. She’s screaming, and ash falls down, landing everywhere like a blanket of gray snow. Wires hang and flicker with electricity. Glass is shattered everywhere.

The worst of the damage is closer to the hangar, leaving half the warehouse barely affected.

My eyes scan the place as Drex bursts in behind me, rushing to Colleen. More panic rises when I can’t find Maya, fear ratcheting up more by the second.

“Maya!” I shout, barely getting the word out as my heartbeat echoes inside my own ears.

Drex is typing in the disable code to open the door, and I rush to it, looking for Maya to come out. Women pour out, including Eve. Drake hobbles out, grabbing and hugging Colleen as his eyes flick to mine.

“Where’s Maya?!” I bark.

Before he can answer, my eyes dart to a corner, and I see her. My entire body is filled with so much instant relief that my legs almost give out.

“Don’t!” Colleen shouts at me as I start walking toward Maya. “Don’t! She’s freaking out! Don’t touch her!”

I ignore her, watching as Maya rocks, her eyes wide and fixed at the end where the explosion was. It’s not hard to figure out that an explosion is rattling her, considering she watched her parents die in one.

Slowly, I kneel down, but when my hand reaches out to connect with her knee, she jerks, panic clear on her face. But the second her eyes meet mine, tears start leaking, and she reaches for me.

I lift her from the ground, carrying her toward the exit, getting her out of this hazard and away from the visual. She clings to me, her face buried against my neck.

Carrying her like a broken bride, I step outside, walking toward the back where SUVs are pulling up.

“I have to get her out of here before the cops arrive,” I tell Byson as he glances at her.

“Take this. It was one of the few that survived in the other garage,” he tells me, putting the keys back inside the ride as I open the passenger seat door for Maya.

She doesn’t speak when I put her in the seat or buckle her up. Drex comes running out, Eve’s hand clasped tightly in his as I shut the door on Maya.

Maya is just staring blankly ahead, possibly not seeing anything.

“Get her out of here, too,” Drex says as he opens the back door for Eve. “Last thing we need to deal with is them asking questions about her, since her uncle is currently ‘missing’.”

I just nod. He’ll know where to find me.

Maya says nothing as I start pulling us away from the warehouse, and Eve blows out a shaky breath.

“What now? That’s where we were hiding out,” Eve says quietly.

“We weren’t hiding,” I tell her tightly.

As I back all the way down the alley, I notice her in the rearview as her shaky hands swipe an errant hair out of her face.