9. KC

Chapter 9

KC

W e've been waiting for an update from Jax for so long, I think we're all going stir-crazy. We finished work hours ago and have been sitting in our corner of the clubhouse watching the rest of our members drinking and fucking around with the sweetbutts.

"I can't do this anymore. If one more sweetbutt throws herself at me tonight, I'm gonna shoot someone," Cree snaps.

Beck and I share a look, fighting back our grins. Whenever we hang out at the clubhouse, we take bets on how long it'll take Cree to lose his shit.

"Alright. Let's go to the office." I smack my thighs and stand up. "You can tell me how good the bars are doing."

Cree's eyes light up and I just know I'm going to regret this. The man can bore you to death talking numbers. Beck chuckles and I smirk at him.

"You too, Beck. I'm sure Cree's got lots of paperwork for you."

"Mother fucker," he mutters before glaring at me then tossing back the rest of his drink.

Cree doesn't even wait for us, pushing his way through the crowd in his rush to my office.

"Have fun with that," Neo laughs.

Flicking him off, I leave without a word. Neo's the smartass of the crew. His type of humor's not well received by most. But we're used to his shit.

As I walk toward my office, I'm pleasantly surprised no one stops me wanting to "show their respect", otherwise known as kissing my ass. I must be giving off a serious stay-the-fuck-away-from-me vibe. By the time we get to my office, Cree's already sitting behind my desk typing away at his laptop. Hearing the door open, he snaps his head up, but immediately looks back at whatever's on his screen, dismissing us as a threat. I'd take that as an insult from anyone else, but he's right. I'm no threat to him. If I walked in on anyone else sitting at my desk like he owns it, I'd shoot first and ask questions later.

Closing the door behind him, Beck grumbles just that. "I still think it's bullshit that he can sit behind your desk but no one else can. The fuck? I'm your brother too, asshole. Why can't I sit at your fucking desk?"

"Guess, I'm just the favorite, fucker," Cree taunts with a grin as his fingers fly across the keyboard, never slowing their pace as he flings the barb.

"Now, now, children. There's no favorites in this family," I scold, interrupting their bickering before it can get out of hand. "What have you got for us, Cree?"

"The Brew Hog is steady. We knew that wasn't going to be a cash cow. The new bar is doing better than predicted. Here. Sit down, look at the numbers and the new projections," Cree says, jumping up and walking around the desk.

Chuckling, I shake my head and take his place in my chair. He's right. The numbers are looking good. Really good .

"This is up-to-date?" I raise a brow. If so, that's damn impressive. I'll have to take his advice more often.

"It-" Cree starts before my door suddenly bursts open, slamming against the wall.

I jerk my head up with a scowl. Who the fuck… Jax. I should have known. The fucker has no respect for personal space. He's the only asshole in this club who can get away with storming into my office without knocking.

Rage wafts off him in waves and I arch my brow as he stomps around my office. "I take it he eluded you?" I ask him.

Jax mumbles something about a minx and slipping away. I don't know what's set him off but if he shifts in my office, I'm kicking his fucking ass.

Cree takes a subtle step back, putting some distance between him and Jax. We've been together long enough to know when to push and when to give him his space. Right now, his scorpion is so close to the surface, it'd be a death wish for anyone to get too close.

There's a quick tap at the door before it opens to reveal Neo and DJ. The pair freeze in the doorway, taking in the scene. DJ's eyes flick to mine in silent communication and I shrug a shoulder. His guess is as good as mine. Shoving Neo into the room, he closes and locks the door.

"Hey, Jax. What's goin' on, brother?" he murmurs, his voice taking on the calming timbre he reserves for when one of us is too far gone to respond to anyone else. DJ has a way with our scorpions that I've never seen from anyone else. He's like the scorpion whisperer.

"Bro, what's up? Your scorpion's way too close to the surface. If he's coming out then we need to get you to a better place. KC's office is a bit small for him," he reasons when Jax doesn't respond.

Jax's steps come to an abrupt stop and his brows furrow before he shakes his head. "What?" He looks around the room with wide eyes as if just noticing that he's not alone. "Fuck. Sorry guys. I…" He sighs, dropping down into a chair, and putting his head in his hands.

"Talk to us, Bro. What's going on? This isn't about Stanley, is it? What happened?" I question as I squat in front of him, my arms resting on my knees.

Jax drops his hands and his eyes meet mine for the first time since he walked in. "I lost Stanley. But I found-" He shakes his head and runs his hands through his hair, pulling at the root.

Neo pats his back. "It's all good. We found him once, we'll find the scumbag again."

"No, you don't get it." He shakes his head again. "I found my mate , and she… she ran from me," he stutters.

A choir of what the fucks and similar shock rings out. "Seriously? Your mate? Are you positive?" Neo gapes at him.

"Ok, guys let him breathe a minute and then we can ask questions." I glare at the others who all nod. This is a big deal. Honestly, most of us never wanted mates. Females complicate shit. But it's in our DNA to long for our missing piece. As shifters, we'll never be complete without our mate. As bikers, we don't give a fuck. We'd rather not be tied down. I can only imagine what a mind fuck this is for Jax.

DJ walks to my mini bar and I just know the fucker's getting my Johnny Walker. He smirks at me as he turns around and unscrews the lid before passing the full bottle to Jax. He takes a long swig and sighs.

I take a deep breath, reigning in my desire to throttle my VP. "Ok, walk us through what happened when you left this evening. That'll help you get it out and us to know how to help." I find when you don't know where to start, the beginning is usually the best choice.

Clearing his throat he starts walking us through it. Everything was going as expected until some purple-haired pixie ran into him.

"I'm tellin' you, this girl… Fuuuck. Never thought I had a type, but Fate hooked a brother up when they destined her for me. Beautiful and badass. Makes finding my mate not as bad as I've been imagining. Hell, she even rides," he groans.

"What's she ride?" Neo asks and DJ smacks the back of his head. "What? It's a valid question," he huffs.

Jax meets his eyes with a wicked smirk. "A 2023 Indian Dark Horse."

"Oh damn! Your mate rides a beast. That's fucking hot as hell." Neo dodges Jax's swing with a laugh as DJ gets between them.

Jax and Neo may like that she rides, but if she were mine, I'd prefer to have her riding with me than on her own. If I had a mate, I'd want her arms wrapped around me as I sped down the road on my hog.

Jax glares at our jackass brother before continuing his story. "As soon as she bumped into me, I knew she was mine. Her ginger and cinnamon scent hit my nose and I was a goner. I had to force myself to let her go when she apologized and walked away."

"You let her walk away?" Cree snarls, clinching his teeth so hard his jaw twitches and I worry he's going to crack a molar. Both his hands curl into fists and the muscles in his arms bulge as if he's ready to throw down right here if he doesn't like Jax's answer. Cree's the only one of us who ever wanted a mate. His parents were mates. He always said he wouldn't settle for anything less than his soulmate. He doesn't even fuck with the sweetbutts, though it doesn't stop them from trying. I swear, he's gotten bitchier and bitchier when it comes to unwanted female attention over the years.

"I was working ," Jax growls. "And I kept my eye on her. I wasn't letting her get away. I held my ground, watching her even as she approached Stanley and flirted with one of his fucking guards. But I snapped when he touched her. The fucker put his disgusting lips on her before I could stop him."

She's not even Cree's mate and his eyes glow at the thought of some stranger touching her. "Is he dead?" he demands with a curl of his lip.

"I pulled her away from him and slammed my fist into his face harder than I'd ever hit anyone in my life. He crumbled to the ground with one hit, but I didn't have a chance to rain more blows on him before two more of Stanley's goons tried to jump in. That's when I lost her. In all the commotion, Stanley snuck away. I heard my mate grumble about him getting away before she took off after him. Once I laid out the rest of the guards, I rushed after her. Stanley was gone by the time I got there, and as soon as she saw me she bolted. Naturally, I gave chase."

"Naturally," Neo agrees.

"Well," Jax chuckles. "She can seriously ride. Like, Neo level." A round of whistles and a few damns echo around the room before he continues, "I almost lost her a couple times. We wound up in the old packing district where she drifted her fucking bike through a barely opened door. It was seriously hot as fuck."

"Don't kill me, dude, but if you don't want her, can I have her? The thought of a chick that good makes my dick hard." I beat the others to Neo this time and punch him right in his pie hole.

"Thanks, King," Jax murmurs, and I nod. "She was waiting inside to ambush me. She wouldn't tell me her name, just called herself Death." He shakes his head with a chuckle. "I told her if she was gonna kill me, the least she could do was kiss me first. Then I didn't give her a chance to say no. Let me tell ya, it was the best fucking kiss of my life. Until we finally separated and she started apologizing like she thought I was going to keel over any second. First I thought she had poison on her lips. She clarified it was venom and there was no antidote."

DJ steps closer. "Your mate tried to kill you? What kind of venom was it? All venoms I know of have antidotes. Yeah, some you have like five minutes to take, but we're tolerant of those. The worst that can happen is a headache or flu symptoms. But you seem fine."

"Um…" Seriously, Jax is blushing. "I never tasted venom or poison like this, and certainly never got a raging hard-on that put Viagra to shame, before."

We all just stare at him. "I'll do some research and see what I can find. But I know every toxin, or I thought I did," DJ mutters with his brows furrowed. He had us all taking doses of any poison or venom that could hurt us by the time we were sixteen. Now we're immune to them all.

"What happened after you grew wood?" Beck arches his brow with a hint of a smile. I glare at him and he shrugs. Juveniles, I'm dealing with fucking children, I swear.

"She sorta noticed my hard dick and…" He rubs himself and we all cringe. "She dropped me fast. It triggered my scorpion. Not just because of the pain. It wanted to get to its mate. So yeah, she sort of saw me."

"Is she human?" I ask him. "Because if so, we need to find her now. If she talks… hell, even if she's a supe, we could be fucked." This could be bad. Very, very bad.