Chapter 5

Alicia

W e’ve been here at their little bunker in the woods all night. Mace had sent me to the one and only real bedroom, which I assumed used to belong to the serial killer he mentioned, because the décor was spartan and there was a huge weapons collection on the wall gathering dust. Having so many tools of death nearby was making me anxious. Also knowing that bad things happened down here wasn’t doing much for my state of mind. Maybe there was a market for vacation rentals in serial killer’s disused lairs, but that would not be my first choice for accommodation. Though beggars can’t be choosers, as my mom used to say, so I had to be grateful that Mace had found us somewhere safe.

Since I tended to pace when I was nervous, I’d been wearing a footpath into the concrete for hours when I should have been sleeping. I didn’t know exactly what tomorrow would hold but I couldn’t calm down long enough to rest, much less sleep. The lack of windows was freaking me out and learning for the first time that you suffered from claustrophobia was no fun.

Two things were bearing heavy on my mind. The first was being swarmed with Mace’s club brothers tomorrow. Just because Mace seemed like a nice guy, didn’t mean his club brothers were. It only took one bad apple for me to end up raped, beaten, or dead. I’ve learned that strangers were not to be trusted and men in general could be unpredictable. I planned to stay as far away from them as possible.

And the second was knowing my father and Alejandro were close by and might stumble upon this bunker. I remembered Mace saying it was secure, but my father was a smart and determined man. If there was a way into this bunker, he would find it. I hesitated to think what they would do to me if they found me. My best guess was that my father would give me to his right-hand man with no questions asked. And Alejandro would think nothing about making me pay for hitting him with that rock, and running off with Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome.

I kept looking at my phone and pacing until I dropped with exhaustion. There was no signal down here, which was another worry. I wasn’t sure how my contact would get in touch. I’d kept my phone with me at all times since I’d arrived in the US. I couldn’t risk it falling into my father’s hands, so I even took it in the makeshift shower with me in the waterproof pouch I kept it in. I was thankful for my paranoia, because at least it meant that I’d escaped my father’s clutches with a means of contact, and the pouch had kept it dry when we were in the river.

Instead of crawling into the camp bed, I cuddled up in a big easy chair and finally fell asleep in the wee hours of the morning. At first my dreams were haunted with images of being found and punished by my father.

Slowly, those nightmares gave way to Mace coming onto me. Unlike Alejandro, he was bold, sexy, and sensual rather than grabby and threatening. He pulled me down onto his lap and kissed me. He wasn’t wearing a shirt so there was nothing but his burnished skin and miles and miles of muscles and intricate tattoos. His arms were like steel band pulling me ever closer.

And I came willingly to him because here there were no consequences for following where my desires led. When his hands slid down my body sparking sensations of pleasure along the way, I moved closer, willing him to take me and do as he liked with me. His hand moved up beneath my shirt to cup my breasts and toy with my nipples. My virgin body responded to his touch. His mouth nipped at my neck and then licked away the sting.

I whimpered when one of his big hands came down to pull my legs apart. I craved his touch there as well—and this hot biker didn’t disappoint. I was unbelievably wet for him and when he rubbed my clit, I moaned his name.

And in doing so I woke myself up. I was shocked to discover the fingers rubbing my clit were my own, but I didn’t stop. I closed my eyes and pretended it was him. When I came, it was the hardest I’d ever come in my entire life. I lay there, curled up in the huge chair trying to catch my breath as I thought about what just happened. I chided myself for developing a slight crush on my rescuer. He might be a hot biker, but he was still a biker—a criminal, any way you cut it. Fantasizing about him was fine, I told myself. I just couldn’t allow it to lead anywhere.

***

After tumbling back off to sleep. I woke up to the sound of fighting and growling. Alert in an instant, I rushed to the door and peered out, barely cracking it.

I could see in the living area that Mace had lost control of his wolf companion. They were circling each other, as if they were sizing each other up, and then the wolf suddenly lunged towards him. Mace brought out both hands, easily rolling him away.

My heart was pounding in my chest as I stood there watching this handsome man face off against his oversized wolf. I wondered if I should go for one of the rusty weapons hanging on the wall. Although Mace might be a gentleman, the wolf had an element of wildness about him. They circled each other again, the wolf growling and suddenly he lunged, this time knocking him down to the ground where his massive jowls wrapped around Mace’s throat.

Afraid he was going to rip his throat out, I screamed for him to stop. Hoping that one of the random commands would work, “Down boy! Stop! Sit!”

The wolf’s head popped up in an instant and Mace laughed, roughly shoving him away. When the wolf rolled over onto his back and stared up at Mace, I slowly opened the door. It hit me like a ton of bricks that they were playing with each other. This roughhousing was a game they both enjoyed.

When Mace’s eyes lifted to mine, I blushed. His expression turned bashful. “Come on out if you like. We couldn’t sleep. You caught us roughhousing.”

I walked into the room and sat down on the far end of the sofa. “You boys play rough,” I told him lightly.

He flipped his long braid back over his shoulder when his wolfdog reached out to paw at it. “Nine gets restless when he’s pent up for endless hours—so do I.”

“Do you mind if I ask how he got his name?” I knew that was prying but this man and his ginormous pet intrigued me.

He continued rubbing the animal’s belly as he explained, “I called him Nine because he’s a wolf that’s part canine.”

I couldn’t help but grin. “That’s clever. He’s really big. Is that the wolf part or the canine part.”

“A little of both, but mostly canine. He’s third generation.”

My mouth fell into a little circle. “Oh, that makes so much more sense. I just thought he was a huge wolf that you took as a pet, like someone would a dog.”

He shook his head, looking amused, “No. While it sounds awesome, you need the dog genes or else they’d be too wild.” He motioned me over. “You can pet him if you like. He’s really protective, especially of women.”

I came to my feet and knelt down beside them. As I reached my hand out to pet him, I asked, “Why women in particular?”

He rolled his eyes, “Because I have lots of women in my family and they’re all girly and squeamish about everything. The noises they make when they’re upset or disgusted with something, make him think they’re in distress. He’s really hypervigilant around them.”

When my fingers landed on the thick fur of his belly, it was so much softer than I thought it would be. I eagerly rubbed his belly, and he just lay there, staring up at us with clear green eyes. This wolfdog was all kinds of cute and petting him was a surreal experience.

I noticed a large toothbrush lying on the floor. The white bristles were tinged with pink. It took me a second to realize it was probably blood. Worried, I asked, “Did Nine eat something he shouldn’t have and injured his mouth?”

Glancing down at the toothbrush, Mace frowned. “No. He likes to run down, kill, and eat small rodents like mice or baby rabbits. I clean his teeth every evening, so bacteria doesn’t breed in his mouth.”

Picking up the toothbrush, he said, “Open up, boy.”

Nine opened his mouth, looking for all the world like he was yawning but held it open while Mace brushed his teeth. His mouth was huge enough to fit a cantaloupe in there. Nine’s canine teeth were easily the size of my index finger. I leaned over to have a better look, fascinated by how straight his teeth were. “So, he eats rabbits, does he?”

Mace pulled the toothbrush out of his mouth, clearly satisfied that he’d done an adequate job. “Yeah, it’s the wolf in him. It’s the same reason he likes to roughhouse with me.”

I smiled at him. “But what I want to know is why do you like roughhousing with him so much?”

He glanced away. “I’ve didn’t have many boys to roughhouse with growing up.” Shrugging, he continued, “I just like it. I use it as a way to stay in shape.”

“One of life’s simple pleasures?”

He nodded. “Yeah, Nine is a simple creature, with simple needs, just like his person.”

Just then Nine rolled over and laid his massive head in my lap. This animal was all powerful muscles and piercing green eyes. But at times he just looked like a great, big, soppy dog.

I glanced up to comment, but Mace was looking down at his watch, frowning. My intuition told me something was wrong. “What’s going on? You look worried.”

His eyes lifted to mine. “My club brothers are late. They should have been here by sunup.”

“What do you think happened to them?” I asked worriedly.

“I don’t know but I’m not getting a phone signal in this bunker and that means I’m gonna have to go out and check on them or at least try to get a signal and call them.”

A chill crept up my spine. Something told me he was going to try to leave me here alone in the bunker, where he considered me to be safe. I wasn’t having that. Not at all. “I’m coming with you.”

“No. You need to stay in the shelter with the doors locked.”

“That’s not gonna happen,” I shot back. “I’m a sitting duck here. If my father finds me, I’m dead meat.”

“Sorry, but I can’t take a chance on you getting caught in the crossfire.” His voice had a note of finality that I didn’t appreciate.

“I’m not going to allow you to abandon me here. Please, Mace. I’ll have a panic attack if you leave me here, I’m getting claustrophobic already.”

He stared into my eyes for so long I thought he was going to say no again, but he sighed and told me. “Go grab a shower and get dressed. You can come, but I’m moving light and fast down to the interstate. Are you gonna be able to keep up?”

His voice tone wasn’t condescending or disrespectful. It was concerned.

I quickly assured him that would. “I can move fast and have endurance. I used to be a distance runner in school.”

“Alright,” he said decisively. “Let’s get ready and meet back here. We’ll eat some energy bars, hydrate, and hit the road.

We scrambled to our feet and went our separate ways. I made short work of showering and getting dressed. Right before leaving the bedroom, I approached the wall of weapons. I didn’t know anything about guns, or knives either for that matter. Still, being outside the bunker without a weapon seemed like a foolish thing to do. I had Alejandro’s gun that Mace had handed me when I first escaped—but holding a firearm scared the hell out of me, so it was at the bottom of the rucksack I’d taken from the cabin. My hand landed on a hunting knife in a leather sheath. I pulled it out. It was large with a serrated edge. For some reason I felt happier about having a knife to defend myself, I quickly shoved it back down into the sheath and then positioned it on my belt.

I turned and walked into the living area. A pile of supplies caught my notice on the coffee table.

“Damn it!” I exclaimed. I instantly knew that Mace has double-crossed me. There were a dozen energy bars and three, liter bottles of water, along with a handwritten note. Reading it only jumbled up my emotions.

Please don’t hate me for tricking you into staying behind. I locked you inside the bunker. You can’t get out and no one can get in. Even though it may not feel like it, this is the safest you will ever be in your life.

I can’t risk running across your father and his men with you in tow. It’s too dangerous. We both know what would happen if they got a hold of you. I’m going to scout out to the nearest road while trying to get a signal on my cell phone. I don’t know what went wrong, but we can’t survive here without provisions. I’ll be back as soon as possible. If I fall, my club brothers will come for you. Don’t worry, you won’t be forgotten, they know you’re here.

He signed off his name with a heavy hand at the end and drew a big paw print. At the bottom of the page he wrote a note.

Nine says to stay safe and we’ll be back soon.

My hand holding the note dropped to my side as I slowly wrinkled it up in my fist. “Asshole!”

I couldn’t believe that I trusted him, and he left me behind. I scrambled up the ladder and tried to open the hatch. It didn’t budge. Knowing he took Nine and must have used the other entrance I ran to the other end of the bunker and tried that. It was locked tight as well.

I headed back to the living area and read the note again. He didn’t write how long he’d be, only that he’d be back soon. But what the hell did that mean? Soon could be an hour or a day. Allowing the paper to drop to the floor I sat down on the sofa and rubbed my hands up and down my face in exasperation. This was just great.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that Mace was probably right about me being safer here. He also nailed my fears when he talked about me not feeling safe all by myself and my fear of being locked in and forgotten. The part of his letter that softened my heart towards him was the part that mentioned if he fell. He meant if he was caught by my father and incapacitated or killed.

Rather than eating, I started pacing again. It was a useless waste of energy, so I forced myself to eat an energy bar while I paced, which made me thirsty, so I drank some of the water. It quickly occurred to me that Mace was pretty freaking good at getting me to do what he wanted without yelling and screaming or being rude. He had a quiet dignity about him that I really liked.

Though he’d locked me in a fucking underground bunker.

I tried to control my breathing, remembering to take a breath in through my nose and out through my mouth. And eventually I managed to convince myself I was just in a room without windows.

I finally parked my ass and pulled out my cell phone, intent upon trying to get a signal. I wasn’t sure how much metal there was down here, I knew that you couldn’t get a signal in elevators, but maybe the closer I was to the surface, the better chance of getting some reception. So up the ladder once more I went. I almost did a happy dance when I got one bar to flicker and immediately called my handler. He answered but the call kept glitching out and we never had a conversation. I typed out a text letting them know I was safe and would call when I could, but never got enough of a bar for the text to go through.

Damn it!

This was my one and only chance to get immunity and federal protection for my mom and myself, to keep us from getting arrested along with my father. They’d been trying to get their hands on Juan Ramirez for years. Deals like this only came once in a lifetime and I was blowing it.

***

I didn’t know how much time passed—because realizing my phone was nigh on useless down here, I’d switched it off to conserve power and stuffed it back in my neck pouch—but I heard a commotion at the door at the far end of the bunker. At first, I was worried that my father had found me but then I heard a soft growl that ended in a whining noise and realized it was Nine.

I rushed to the door in time to see it open and Mace stumble through it, one hand clutching his side. Nine had grabbed the cuff of his shirt in his mouth and was pulling Mace forward. I rushed towards him and helped him sit down. He was sweaty and grimacing.

“What happened, Mace? Talk to me!” I demanded in a panic.

“First aid kit under the sink. Get it for me.”

His halting speech made me do a double take. I lifted the hand he had clutched against his side and saw what he was covering. It looked like a bullet wound.

“You’ve been shot!” I exclaimed.

“Hurry, Alicia. Been bleeding a long time,” he mumbled.

I jumped to my feet and flew to the kitchen and pulled open the cabinet doors directly under the sink. Sure enough, there was a huge first aid kit. I tugged it out and rushed back to Mace.

Only when I got there, he had passed out. I’d watched my mother handle bullet wounds on my father more than once, so I had some vague idea what to do. I gently rolled him onto the floor so I could check for an exit wound and give him CPR if it came to that.

Thank God there was an exit wound, and the bullet looked like it had gone clean through his side. That meant the bullet wasn’t still inside his body. He’d not taken a bullet to the abdomen which I knew was dangerous, nor had it hit his lungs or heart as he was breathing okay. I didn’t know about internal bleeding or blood loss, but it wasn’t bleeding heavily. Likely he just passed out from the exertion of getting back here. I put a compression on the wound to help slow the bleeding and taped it down. Then I rolled him onto his back and saw to the front of the wound. I hoped that he would be okay until his club brothers arrived. That’s if he’d managed to speak to them. The thought that we were trapped down here had my heart racing again, but I pushed down that fear and focused on Mace.

I rolled him into the recovery position and put a cool compress on his forehead. He came around within a few minutes and tried to sit up. Even though I tried to get him to lay back down, he refused.

“What happened out there? Did you meet up with my father?”

He nodded. “Yeah, and they were none too happy to see me without you. We traded gunfire and I managed to lose them in the undergrowth.”

“Were you able to find out what happened to your friends? I hope my father and his men didn’t harm them.”

“I don’t think it was anything like that. I made it to the road, and it was flooded out. It’s been raining a lot lately and there’s a small dam about two miles from the road. I think it broke. There was no way to cross it.”

“Oh, wow. I can’t imagine how long it’s going to take to get that under control.”

“It doesn’t matter. I managed to get a call through to my club and they’re gonna send back up and supplies via the river, probably after dark since there’ll be less of chance of being seen by your father and his men.”

“How long will that take?” I asked.

“It might be five or six hours.”

I worried that he didn’t have five or six hours.

But Mace continued talking, “We installed a reverse osmosis filter on the kitchen sink so we have a continuous supply of clean drinking water. I think we have enough energy bars to get by, and I’ve got some jerky in my rucksack. We just need to sit tight until my club brothers show up.”

Shock roiled through my body. “We can’t sit tight for six hours. You need emergency medical treatment. If not, you might bleed out internally or end up with a raging infection. I need to go out and call for help.”

He frowned at me. “Your father and his men could be out there waiting. I don’t feel like I’m bleeding out internally. I’m not lightheaded or tired—”

“You fainted,” I said.

A look of indignation flashed over his face. I guessed that even in his injured state I’d wounded his masculine pride, “I had to run up the embankment, it was an aftereffect of adrenaline and exertion.”

I didn’t know if he was just telling me what he thought I wanted to hear, or if he truly believed what he was saying. Since we really didn’t have another option, I tried to be positive. “The bullet wound was so far on the outside of your body that it might not have done internal damage, but you really need to stay off your feet and let me do all the taking care of you.”

He reached out one bloody hand and thought better of it before he touched me. “Sorry, I need to wash up.”

“You sit right here,” I insisted. “I’ll get a bowl of warm water and clean you up.”

When he didn’t immediately object, I rushed off to the kitchen to get what I needed.

As I heated up a pan of warm water, I tried to logic my way thought this. The road was flooded, so his brothers were coming by boat. That made perfect sense.

I pulled out my phone and switched it on to see if my text had gone through and thankfully it had. Unfortunately, the connection hadn’t lasted long enough for me to get a reply back. I slid it back into my neck pouch and went out to tend to Mace.

He was definitely the hero of the hour. Taking a chance with his own life rather than risk mine. I was grateful but hated that he’d been injured. Maybe if I’d been with him, I could have talked some sense into my father? Unfortunately, I wasn’t given the chance.

I knelt down beside Mace. Wringing out a warm cloth I wiped it over his skin in a soothing manner that I’d seen my mom do a thousand times. I found myself praying that he didn’t have internal injuries as I cleaned him up.