Out of the Ashes (Sons of Templar MC 3)

“In Hope?” he gritted out.

I straightened. “How did you know that? Did your friend call you already?” I asked, confused. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe that guy was Zane’s friend, no matter how skeevy. “If that’s the case, tell him he’d be decidedly less creepy if he showered, and kept the leering of my daughter at a complete fricking zero, even if he was promising to look out for us,” I added, sounding slightly pissed at the end of the sentence.

There was a pause. A loaded pause. “Leering at Lexie?” he repeated quietly. Dangerously quietly. “Mia, who the fuck are you talking about?” His voice was urgent.

At that moment Lexie came out, wearing a green dress that did nothing for her. I made a cutting gesture along my throat. “No honey, that one is not cute,” I told her firmly and she disappeared back into the room.

“Mia,” the voice was more furious than I’d heard in a while.

“Logan, your biker friend,” I told him patiently.

His response was instant. “Tell me where you are right now.”

I rattled off the address, more out of reflex than anything else. He sounded…freaked out. It chilled my bones slightly.

“Do not leave that fuckin’ store,” he commanded, then he was gone.

I frowned down at my phone, my stomach swirling slightly. The way Zane had sounded caused me to realize my first instinct with these guys had been correct. They were bad news. And not friends of Zane if his excessive cursing was anything to go by. I was more than happy to stay in the store if that meant we were safe from creepy bikers. It also meant we got to shop more. Twenty minutes and a small fashion show later, I heard the rumble of motorcycles, plural. Which was good timing as we had just rung up our considerable purchases.

I didn’t tell Lexie about Zane’s strange call, only mentioned he might swing by and say hello. Her face had brightened at this. But on peeking out the window at the multiple bikes, I didn’t exactly know how to explain that.

“Wow, looks like half the club is out there,” Lexie remarked in amazement as we left the store.

“Maybe they like vintage shopping here too,” I answered, not missing the way Zane nearly leapt off his bike when he spotted as. “Who knows,” I added, trying not to seem nervous, “maybe there’s a shop called ‘Alpha Style’ around the corner.”

Zane made it to us and he quickly ran his gaze along us both, as if he was checking for something. His face relaxed a tad when he seemed satisfied. I say a tad, because he still looked ready to blow.

“Zane,” Lexie greeted enthusiastically. “Fancy seeing you here. You coming to the movies?” she asked with a hopeful tone. I don’t know if she ignored the scary look on his face and the lineup of bikers at the curb or just didn’t notice it. My girl was observant, so I knew it wasn’t the latter.

“Come to make sure you and your mom got home okay, Lex,” he told her quietly.

I jerked slightly at this and Lexie’s face turned blank. She knew what was going on. I didn’t. “We weren’t going home–” I started to argue.

Zane silenced me with a look. “Car. Now, Mia,” he ordered quietly.

Something in his tone, his look had me complying without another protest. Something that told me Zane and half the club would not come hurtling to another town in order to escort me home if it wasn’t important. Wasn’t dangerous. Lexie’s safety was tantamount to me at this moment. I’d get to the bottom of this when we were home. The look I gave Zane hopefully communicated this.

The whole drive home we were trailed by bikes. It felt kind of weird, like we had some sort of royal escort. Then I remembered the other bikers. It went from weird to downright scary. I didn’t let Lexie think this was the case. I acted like having a motorcycle club escort us home from a shopping trip was something that happened every day. She played along, joking and talking about her various purchases. But her eyes flickered behind us every now and then. When we made it to the sign welcoming us to Amber, most of the bikes veered off. Except one. One that followed us the entire way home. Another bike was parked outside our house when I pulled up which had Killian leaning against it, his shades watching the car’s journey.

Lexie leapt out of the car to run over to him.

“Don’t worry!” I yelled to her back. “Your humble slave will carry your considerable purchases inside.”

She waved a hand. “Thanks, Mom,” she called distractedly.

I shook my head as I got out of the car and prepared to get the bags. Tattooed hands snatched them before I could even understand what happened. Stormy eyes met mine. “House. Now,” he barked.

I jumped at his harsh tone.

“Mom!” Lexie yelled, interrupting the stare off I was about to commence.

“Yeah, doll?” I called back, ripping my eyes away from Zane.

“Is it okay if Kill and I go to the movies?” she asked, her eyes flickering to Zane a moment.

I chewed my lip. Things had obviously been serious, considering the escort we got home. I assumed whatever was going on was in Hope, and Lexie would be okay going to the movies in the late afternoon. If she wasn’t, things would seriously have to change with Zane and I.

“Sure,” I told her and Zane’s form stiffened. I ignored this. I moved away from him to make my way over to the couple.

Killian’s face seemed to be as hard as Zane’s, although his eyes softened looking at Lexie. It was a look which exceeded his seventeen years. “Hey Killian,” I greeted him warmly.

“Mia,” he nodded. I guessed that counted as a warm greeting.

“You both know my rule about motorcycles,” I said firmly. I threw my keys in Killian’s direction. He caught them with one hand. “Therefore you may take Betty. Lexie only has her learners permit and I do not trust her not to crash it. Her mad skills in most things are yet to translate into knowing how to control what we call a motor vehicle,” I told him seriously.