Alex

Dreams of peace and happiness swirl through my mind. I've never been so fucking satisfied in my life. Is this what people mean when they talk about soul mates and shit because I believe it. Laura and I explored each other's bodies until both of us were so exhausted we fell asleep. I hear my heart pounding in my ears as I pull her closer to me and fall deeper into sleep.

Laura jerks awake in my arms and the second I feel her body go taut with fear, my eyes spring open.

"What is it? What's wrong?" I croak out. She's gripping the sheets so hard her knuckles are white. She has them pulled up to her chest and she's staring at the doorway.

"Laura! What's wrong?" I try to break her out of the state she's in, but she doesn't say anything. A loud banging sounds and she flinches hard. The door, that's what we're hearing. She must be absolutely petrified that someone from the Rolling Cobras is coming for her. I did this. I made her feel like this. Fuck I feel like an ass.

"Hey, Laura, look at me. It's okay, it's probably just my brothers. I'm going to check." I tell her and try to get up from the bed.

She grabs hold of my arm stopping me. "What if it's them, do you think they could have followed me?"

"No, they don't know who you are but even if it is them, I'm not going to let them get to you." I swear to her and hope that she believes me. She stares in my eyes and nods her head once before she lets me go.

I quickly throw on my boxers and my pants right as the person bangs on the door again. I wish I had my gun, but I don't, so I go into the kitchen and pull out a steak knife. Another round of banging and if it is one of my men, I might just stab him because they fucking deserve it for scaring Laura like this.

I look through the small window on the side of the door just to see who it is. Fucking Max. I see him raise his hand ready to bang again.

I rip the door open before he has a chance.

"Bang on this door again and I'll fuck you up myself." I snap at him.

He jumps back startled. "Oh shit! Prez! What the fuck happened ." He steps in the house and pulls me into a hug I wasn't expecting.

He lets me go and takes a step back outside. He whistles and Wire comes out from around the corner.

"What the hell were you doing back there?" I ask when he gets closer.

"I was going to break in and kill people. Thought maybe you were hostage. I'm not thinking that's the case unless that pretty woman in the bed is keeping you hostage and if so, do you really want to be free." Wire smirks and I realize he was just spying on Laura. My fucking Laura.

I raise the steak knife I still have in my hand and press it almost flat against his kutte.

"Wire, brother, I'd give my very life for you, but if you ever fucking look at her again, I'll gut you. Understand?"

His body stiffens but he doesn't show signs of fear. Wire doesn't scare easily, instead he simply nods and apologizes, "My bad Prez."

I move the knife and focus back on Max. "Did you have any trouble? Anyone following you?"

"No, we made sure and doubled back just to be triple sure." Max replies.

"Good, let me get my things so we can get home. Stay out here and make sure that no one pops up." I order and the both of them turn to stand guard.

I do my best to quickly grab up my things before I go in the room to get the rest of my clothes.

"It's your friends, right?" Laura asks. I can still see the fear on her face. What happens when I leave? I can't leave her alone to be scared. I don't want to leave her at all. She needs to be with me. I need her with me.

"Yeah, everything is fine. I need you to get dressed."

She tilts her head, "Oh how come? I thought you said everything is fine?"

"It is, but you're coming to the clubhouse with me." I say grabbing my shirt and slipping it over my head.

"What? Why? I don't need to come with you." Her eyebrows press in together and she shakes her head.

"Yes, you do. This time it wasn't them, but I don't know about next time. I can't tell you with a hundred percent certainty that none of the Rolling Cobras will come here looking for you and there's no way that I'm leaving you here alone with less than perfect odds. I know I'm high handed and overwhelming, but I know what I'm doing. I promise you that while you're with me I'll do everything in my power to make sure you're safe. Once we get rid of this threat, you can let me know what you want to do." I say shoving my hands into my pockets and waiting for her to make the decision.

"Okay, I'll come." She says quickly.

That was easier than I thought it was going to be. Either she's much more scared than I thought she was, or my powers of persuasion are off the charts.

She chuckles when she sees the look on my face. "It's like I told you back in the woods. I know you have what it takes to lead me. I'd be dumb not to take you up on the offer." She shrugs before she walks over to her closet and starts to get dressed. Once she's done, she packs a small overnight bag, and we walk out of the house to the truck. Max and Wire look at me like I'm nuts but neither say a word. I get in the back seat with her and we both fall asleep on the way back to the clubhouse. I'm safe with my brothers and she's safe in my arms.

Once we get back to the clubhouse, Ryder is the first one to stop Laura at the door.

"Prez, what is this?" He points to her not even bothering to ask her who she is.

"Let me get her inside and then we can all talk about it."

Ryder blocks both mine and her path again, "Get her inside? You know we can't, unless she's a bunny and she intends to hop my dick next." He turns her gaze back to her. That same rage I felt in the convenience store bubbles back to the surface. Before I know what's going on I'm swinging my fists into Ryder's face.

Who the fuck does he think he is? How dare he talk to her like that. She's mine. No one fucking talks to her like that.

I feel only one set of arms pulling me, small and petite. Laura.

I let her move me only because if I don't, I'll hurt her. My eyes never leave Ryder who is on the floor looking up at me in anger.

"Papi, look at me." Laura talks but instead of panic or anger, her voice is soft and soothing. "Please." She says again and my eyes reluctantly drop down to her. The anger I felt moments ago towards Ryder dissipates more every second I'm looking into her eyes. "It's okay. You know he didn't mean it. Your friends wouldn't do that to me right?"

"No, he wouldn't. He didn't know." I reply right away. My voice just as low as hers. It's like she is my conscience but in the flesh. Ryder is only acting in his normal asshole way. It's true that any women brought into the club unless it's a party are club bunnies and club bunnies are for everyone's use.

Laura isn't a club bunny and never will be.

"I'm good. Let's get you inside." I tell her and pull away from her grasp. I walk over to Ryder who is now sitting on his ass on the floor. I put my hand down to him and he grabs it so I can help him up. It's as close to sorry as I get before, he turns to walk into the clubhouse. I brought Laura in and set her up in my room. Once I'm satisfied, she's comfortable I go back out to face my club.

Clean is by the bar and he looks at me with worry in his eyes. He was the last one to see me before all this shit went down. It does look like Larry was exaggerating about Ryder trying to kill Clean but not by much. Clean has a shiner and it looks like he got cracked upside his jaw based on the bruise and the busted lip.

"We can talk out here, what happened earlier concerns everyone."

Gin is the first one to step up, "Can we talk about what happened just now? Who's the broad?" He says and points to my room. The dumb fuck didn't he just see what happened to Ryder.

I take a step in his direction, but Max is the one to reply.

"She's not doing anything to anyone right now. Prez knows why she's here and that's all that matters. Now shut the fuck up and let your president speak." Max snaps at Gin. Gin looks from him to me and then shakes his head. He moves back though.

"I'm assuming you all know by now that I had to leave Clean back at the bar because he had a tummy ache." I shoot a glance at Clean who grimaces and drops his head down in embarrassment.

I snicker slightly before I continue, "You're good Clean. This wasn't your fault. I made you stay." I refocus and continue with the story. "While I was on the way back, I was chased down by four Rolling Cobras. I killed one of them down by Hutton Pass, but those assholes got a good shot in and they disabled my bike." I stop and turn to find Larry. "Larry, when I'm done, you, Archer and Barry take the truck and get my bitch." The three of them nod and I continue.

"Once I realized I wasn't going to outrun them on my bike, I jumped the hill and took off by foot. I ran through the brook and into the woods trying to get to the suburban complex on the other side."

"The complex isn't by Hutton though, it's closer to Lambo pass, that's a mile further." Max says and I squint my eyes at him.

"I know that shit now, don't I?" I roll my eyes and continue to tell them all about falling down the cliff, ending up in the soccer game, and finally hiding away in one of the cars in the parking lot.

"Let me guess, it was her car?" Ryder asks.

"Yes. Laura. She's a chef and I held her hostage, put her life in danger and she's been taking care of me like I'm a fucking king ever since. I don't deserve any of what she's done for me and I damn sure am not going to let anyone," My eyes scan the room so I can capture everyone's attention, "disrespect her. Ever. If it wasn't for her, I'd be at the bottom of the fucking river dead."

Max nods as do Wire and Mick but that's all the support I have right now.

"What happened after you guys got safe?" Archer asks.

"We took a cab back to her house and I waited for the calvary." I reply.

"That didn't happen right away. Why didn't you just take a cab home? Why go to her house?" Gin asks the question in rapid succession. "Did you think they were following you or something?"

I don't like all the questions. "What the fuck does it matter Gin?"

"Is that why she's here? Is she not safe?" Clean asks this time.

"I think she is but we're going to make sure of it. We hit the Rolling Cobras tomorrow." I announce and I watch everyone's jaw drop.

"Whoa, whoa, we can't just rush in there now," Archer says.

"You want us to go to war, tomorrow?" Clean questions, his voice raising an octave.

"This is bullshit, you know we don't have the firepower or the funds to get the fucking firepower in order to pull this shit off." Ryder offers up. "This is fucking suicide, ."

"You not thinking this through. This is your dick talking." Gin snarls at me, "Prime would never—"

Picking a glass up from the table and hurling it at his head effectively cuts off his words. "I'm not fucking Prime! This club isn't run by fucking Prime. He left, stepped down, retired! I am the fucking president here. This is my club. My patch. My family! I run this shit and my word is law! I don't give a fuck if you agree with me or if you don't fucking like my decision, but they're my fucking decisions. I don't have to explain myself to anyone. I speak and you fucking listen. I order and you do. That is the way this fucking world, the Wings of Diablo world works." I stop to catch my breath and look around the room to see if anyone dares to question me again. "Now, all of you have a choice, you can get your shit ready to go after the Rolling Cobras tomorrow or you can drop your kutte right now. You want to leave get the fuck out but if you want to be part of this family it's time for you to realize that Prime's time is over. It's my time now." I look to Max, who has something like pride on his face. "I'm going to get some rest. I want to be on the move by dawn. Make sure we have everything we need." I swing my head to my enforcer, "Wire, I'm going to need your skills. Maybe pack a special bag?"

"Heard." He nods his head without hesitation.

Everyone else just stares at me but no one has given up their tags yet.

I can feel the tension in the room and part of me starts to second guess what I'm doing. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe… no.

My mind drifts back to what Laura said. I know what I'm doing. I can lead us to greatness, I just have to stick to what I know is right.