Dauntless (Sons of Templar MC 5)

I considered myself a strong woman. Only recently had I come to believe that was true after the events in that room, but I was getting there. The weight of their stares proved too much, as was the memory of my two newest friends almost dying.

I looked at my hands. “I’m sorry. I know I brought all this shit here, almost got Rosie and Lucy killed—”

“Stop,” a male voice growled.

I glanced up to Gabriel. He was hard-faced, but wasn’t the one who spoke.

It was Bull, the scary large one with a lot of tattoos who barely spoke but had a crazy wife who spoke enough for the both of them.

“None of this shit is on you,” he told me, his voice excruciatingly gentle for someone I thought would have been on a watch list somewhere. “This is on them. The fuckers who made the bomb, placed the bomb, and pressed the button. No one else. We clear?”

I nodded. “We’re clear, Rambo.”

Gage shook his head and grinned at me. That weirdo grinned whenever everyone else was grimacing, and grimaced whenever everyone else was grinning.

After that, I’d been kicked out of the war room so men could talk battle plans, I guessed. The women and their delicate ears were obviously placed outside.

Gabriel set me on the sofa beside Lily, who reached out to squeeze my hand. “You feel sleepy, nauseous, or get dizzy, you fuckin’ tell someone. None of this staunch woman, crap. It’s hot as fuck everywhere else, but not here,” he ordered.

I nodded, though the motion hurt. I didn’t tell him that, I was a staunch woman after all.

He leaned forward to press a hard kiss on my mouth before disappearing into the war room.

I looked around the room.

Evie locked eyes with me, smoking. “Well, babe. You know how to make a fuckin’ entrance,” she stated mildly.

Maybe I was concussed, but I grinned. I had the biker queen’s approval.

All it took was a car bomb.

The men appeared not long after Amy had sucked down her third cocktail. I was totally jonesing for one, but I resisted.

Rosie and Lucy were mysteriously absent. I had an inkling that their non-biker significant others had spirited them away somewhere.

I’d so like to see how they’d managed that.

Cade stood at the front of our strange little crowd, his face grim. “We’re on lockdown,” he declared.

All women groaned, and Amy let out a string of curses that so didn’t go with the while Upper East Side princess thing she had going on.

“Lockdown?” I asked Lily. “Please tell me that isn’t what it sounds like.”

Instead of Lily answering, Gabriel pulled me closer to his side. “That’s exactly what it sounds like,” he murmured. “You not leaving and going somewhere where you’re in danger.

I swallowed and tried to ignore the panic at being locked anywhere. Unable to leave.

Nope. Not happening.

“We’ve got some major shit going down,” Cade continued, oblivious to my incoming freak-out. His gray eyes touched his wife. “Shit that will not come anywhere near our women. Or our kids. But shit that is dangerous. Players who won’t hesitate to hit our hearts. Which is you.” He hadn’t stopped looking at his wife. “As evidenced by today’s events. Luckily, we got warned.” His gaze flickered to me. I barely noticed it.

I had one word replaying on my mind.

Lockdown.

“So we’re going to make sure these players are wiped from the face of the earth. We just need to make sure you stay safe while we’re doing that.”

“Nope,” I blurted out.

Gabriel’s hands tightened around me. “Becky,” he warned.

I yanked out of his arms. “Don’t ‘Becky’ me,” I snapped. “I’m not getting stuck here while you all run off and save the day. Leaving us here in some biker version of an ivory castle. I don’t know what acid trip you’re on, but this place got blown up not three hours ago. I’m thinking it’s not the best place to serve as a fortress.” I paused. “In fact, nowhere is going to serve as a fortress, at least not for me. Welcome to the twenty-first century. Men no longer ride steeds, and women no longer are confined to palace walls having to wear corsets—outside the bedroom, anyway.”

Gwen choked out a giggle at that.

“In light of these developments, I think I’ll have to use my not-so-recently liberated voice and say you are not fucking locking me down. Anywhere.”

Amy grinned at me. “Amen to that, sister.” Brock glared me, then her. She blew him a kiss.

The weight of every single alpha male’s stare was heavy, but I managed to shoulder the load.

I looked around the room, running my eyes over the attractive, grim-faced stares. All were grim-faced, apart from Gage, of course, the crazy fuck he was. I purposely didn’t stare at the man behind me.

“You men, you’re all so desperate for validation for your manliness that you seek out women you think need saving. Fashion them into damsels who need their dragons slayed. Have you ever thought for a moment we could slay our own fucking dragons?”