14. Dragon

Chapter 14

Dragon

The minute we heard the sirens, I called my boys and told them to get their asses up here. Then, we charged toward the building that we knew King would be in with the women. We took on fire, however. There were three gunmen outside. I'm surprised there's not more, but then, the main club and most of the members are down below. This place has a unique layout in that you can ride a sky lift straight up the hill to get to the top. Apparently, that's where the FKMC keep prisoners and other shit they didn't want seen. I have to admit, I like the entire setup and kind of wish we had something similar back home. Although, it'd be a bitch to travel during the winter months. Of course, most of the places we use for housing prisoners and the like we can only get to by four wheelers and other UTVs. Skull and I duck for cover behind two huge poplar trees. We came set up with plenty of ammo, so we can handle these guys, but I don't want to take all night because I need to get in there and see what's going on with Nicole. If they got caught …

Fuck, I can't even think about that.

I get one of the assholes shooting at us in my gunsight and fire. He goes down and for a minute, the other two stop firing while they watch their buddy fall back. I got him in the head. I don't see him surviving it. They begin shooting again. Unfortunately, they have concealed themselves better, and it is difficult to get them. All at once, we hear a huge racket around the side where the chairlift is. I look over and see our SUV. They get out and immediately begin shooting. There are three of them—Dom, T, and Killer. There's two more FKMC guys joining with the remaining two here. I guess they were on the platform for the chairlift. Skull gets one of the men that is holding us up. That only leaves one other guy on this end. I can't make myself wait any longer. I have to get to Nicole. I reload my gun and then I take off in a sprint, aiming in the direction of the motherfucker that is still trying to shoot. By the time I empty the chamber of my gun, I'm close to the building and I duck down behind a faded wooden panel. I'm not sure what is painted on the front, but there's a cutout for two heads, so I'm assuming it's some kind of stupid cowboy thing painted on one side that kids would get behind and put their heads in the hole while their parents took the silly pictures. As a cover, it's not great. Wood doesn't always stop a bullet. Still, I get down low and reload yet again.

Skull joins me a moment later. He's as worried as I am. "We have to hurry. They'll have called the other club when the alarms sounded," he mutters.

"Let's get this asshole," I gripe, agreeing with him, but not wanting to think about it. The last thing I can handle is having my woman in the middle of gunfire. Skull clips him and I see the opportunity to jump out in the open and kill the bastard. We're about ten yards from the building and right before we get there, King comes out and right there with him I see her… my world.

"Mama," I yell, taking her immediately in my arms.

"Dragon," she cries, my name broken as she sobs. I hold her close, burying my face in the side of her neck. I pull back to look at her and the lighting sucks here, but I can tell her face is bruised and bloodied and her shirt has been torn.

"We have to get you out of here, Mama."

She nods, her body trembling against me. I pick her up with one arm under her legs and the other wrapped around her stomach, holding her as gently as I can.

"Let's go," Skull says, his voice dark and angry and I see he's holding Gabby much the same way.

"Take my gun," I tell King, cumbersomely holding out the gun with the hand on Nicole's stomach. I'm so fucking messed up that I didn't even realize I was still holding it until I picked her up. He grabs it, taking the lead and going in the direction of the others. When we get there, the boys are at the SUV, the ones they were shooting at are dead. Sadly, I don't see Eyeball in any of them. I jump in the passenger side with my woman. Skull gets in the backseat, while King gets in on the other side. Dom and T jump into the back hatch since the third-row seats have been let down, and it's all flat.

The tires screech as Killer turns quickly, making half a doughnut at such a high rate of speed we fishtail. We slam back through the busted-up gate, and I hold Nicole as tight as I can, trying to make sure she doesn't get jostled too bad.

"Are we going home?" she whispers.

"Not yet. I'm getting you to safety first. Then, the boys and I are going to take these fuckers out. I won't allow them to get close to you again."

As she moistens her lips with her tongue, I notice that the edge of her mouth is cut and swollen. Then, I finally see the side of her face better. It's clear some fucker took his hands to her. I'm going to choke the life out of whoever it was with my bare hands and maybe have Doc close by to bring him back so I can do it all over again.

"I'm sorry I let you down, Mama," I whisper against her ear, guilt shredding me inside out.

"You didn't. I knew you would come for me, Dragon. I knew you would."

"I always will, Nicole. Always. "

"And forever," she whispers so quietly I can barely hear her. My heart squeezes as she relaxes against me.

My brain just keeps repeating one thing.

She's back. Thank God, she's back. I'm never letting her go again.