In the Arms of the Beast (Kings of Hell MC 5)

Knight ruffled Nick’s hair. “You did good.”

Nick’s smile was so wide it had no place on the face of a man whose neck and arm were scorched black, and the sight of it pushed a speck of dust into Beast’s eye. Here was a young man who lived for the club already and would prove himself worthy.

Nick gasped, reaching out for the cut, and Beast didn’t even have the heart to tease him about it. “I thought I fucked up.”

Beast sighed. “Wait for explicit orders next time. You’re too reckless, but you’ll learn. I’ll make sure of that,” he said, and gently squeezed Nick’s healthy arm.

Fox still sent Beast a grim stare that scorched like the sap of the demonic tree, so after a few more exchanges, Beast left the room. Laurent stood outside, but Beast shook his head.

“I’ll be back soon. I need to clear my head.”

Laurent gave his hand a kiss, but let go without a word. They would need to talk, but right now Beast wanted to be alone with this failure. For no one to see him or bother him. Not even Baal.

So as soon as he escaped the clutches of responsibility, he rushed for the garages, got on his Harley, and drove off. Without a purpose, without a place to go to, he could focus on the road itself, not on getting from A to B.

Thoughts got trapped under his helmet, but those he wouldn’t be able to escape, even in his sleep. Nick’s injury wasn’t technically his fault, but he’d made the call and pushed them all to failure.

Chapter 14 - Laurent

Within the span of the following two weeks, the egg doubled in size and was getting increasingly heavy. Since Laurent refused to let it out of his sight, Beast insisted they get a stroller, and Laurent was touched by how much Beast worried about him carrying too much weight on his back all the time.

It sometimes felt like it had been a lifetime since Laurent arrived in 2017, not a year. So much had changed since, and he couldn’t believe how clueless he’d been about all the aspects of modernity. And now? Here he was, with a smart phone in his pocket, a pair of corrective glasses on his nose, sitting in a mechanical vehicle with his husband, and a child on the way. Maybe he didn’t have a driver’s licence just yet, but he did know how to drive a car, if push came to shove. For now, he left the steering wheel to Beast, especially that he’d been a more careful driver since Marcel arrived in their lives.

“Maybe we should additionally secure it with bubble wrap. Just in case,” Beast said.

Laurent smiled. “Oh yes! I love bubble wrap. Wonder if Marcel will take after me and enjoy popping it. Just imagine what kind of mischief he will be getting up to with a father like you.”

Beast’s lips quirked, but his gaze briefly drifted to the rearview mirror to check on Marcel in the backseat. “I’m starting to wonder what he’s gonna look like when he hatches. I mean, the egg’s already larger than a newborn.”

Laurent looked back as well. “Hm. Maybe there are a lot of fluids in there. We can’t tell. Wait, Beast. What if we pull over and you hold it against the sun? Do you think we could see through the shell?”

Beast snorted. “No. Of course not. I was just wondering if the child we get will really be… you know, a baby.”

It took Laurent a couple of heartbeats to understand Beast’s meaning. “Surely it will. We’re buying items for a newborn. I will have a word with Magpie if he is born older than that.”

Beast shook his head. “As if that’s going to change anything. But on the upside we wouldn’t have to endure sleepless nights if he came out as a toddler.”

Laurent couldn’t believe his ears. “Would he be born with the body of a two-year old yet the mind of a baby? No, no. I will not accept that.”

“Maybe you can tell that to Mr. Magpie later. I heard he finally sent us something for the trees. We should succeed with the right equipment.”

Nick was recovering unnaturally fast, but Laurent still cringed at the memory of his blackened skin, and was close to going mad with worry every time he imagined Beast in his place. His husband had already been through so much and didn’t deserve further pain, even though he’d been too hotheaded in his actions.

“Will Magpie take care of the trees for us?”

Beast swallowed, his gaze darting briefly to a hill on the side of the road, and Laurent understood. They were passing one of those monstrous spawns of the devil, and he wished he could have Marcel in his arms until it was all over.