7. Dragon

Chapter 7

Dragon

"He's late," Dom says. I grunt for my answer.

"He'll be here," T responds, sounding confident.

I let out a sigh. I look at the clock on the wall for the millionth time. I can't believe these fucks have my woman. I've already wasted too much time. She's been in their grasp for a little over twenty-four hours now. The only assurance I have that she's okay is coming from a man who hates me with every cell in his body. I don't know how I got here. I truly don't. The only thing I'm positive of is that I'm terrified I'm going to lose my woman. If she's harmed in this, I won't be able to handle it. I'll burn the whole damn place down to the ground. I've already vowed to be the motherfucker who takes Eyeball's head.

"What's taking so long?" I snarl while Bull stands beside me.

We're all in a small ass fleabag motel room. Ford called and told us to stay here. He booked the room for the meeting. I brought my boys, Skull, and Bull. Dancer is hanging back with our allies. I'm barely hanging on by a thread. Something has to give soon. I'm trying to use my head and devise a plan, because I know whatever I do, I need to extract my woman and Gabby first. I can't afford for Nicole to be caught in the crossfire.

"He's m-m-making sure it's clear b-before he meets with us. He c-c-can't afford to get caught, D-Dad."

"I'm not waiting much longer."

"I don't like it either. We don't exactly have a choice here. Hell, we're not even sure where they're keeping them," Dom says.

I don't respond. There's not much I can say.

"We need to have our men scouting the area. If they aren't where we originally thought, they have to be close by, or else this King wouldn't wish to meet here," Skull growls. He's been uncharacteristically quiet since reading the file that Dom gave him. His two boys are part of his club and are with the other allies. The oldest—Diego—looks exactly like Skull, the youngest—Carlos—has blond hair and is more like Gabby—obviously taking after their mother.

"We'll see what K-King says and go from there," T says firmly.

"I agree. It's the smartest move. Until we know where they're at, we don't want to risk overplaying our hand and being discovered," Dom adds, standing right beside his brother.

If my head wasn't a fucking mess, I'd be proud as fuck right now. This is what the future of the Savage Brothers MC was supposed to look like. Gabby fucked all that up and I'm having a hard time not letting that resentment shine through while dealing with Skull. I know he's worried because Gabby is his daughter, but I could literally not care less about Gabby. I just need Nicole back. Right now, I don't give a fuck what that says about me.

"I'll give him another hour. Then, I'll send Breaker out to scout the area and to check on the rest of our men that are gathered at the other hotel," I finally respond.

"Diego will go with him," Skull adds. I nod, but don't say anything more. There's no point. In Skull's shoes, I'd want one of my own there, too.

"Did Ford say anything else?"

My head jerks over to Bull. I didn't even think to ask T that. He told me about the motel, and I just came straight here. Fuck, I'm all over the place here. My brain is not in this. I'm too worried about my woman. I know that's the way a man makes mistakes. It's the way you get someone killed. I need to get control of myself.

"He said that him and our club will be here t-t-tomorrow m-m-morning."

I nod. "Okay.

"Also," he adds, taking a breath. "The Saint's Outlaws will be here too."

"Are you allies with them?" I ask, not realizing this at all. The Saints are pretty big. They have chapters all over the US. We've not done much business with them. There just hasn't been a need.

"We haven't b-been. They have a long r-r-running history against the F-Feral K-Kings MC, though. Their p-p-president is in jail. The VP is in ch-ch-charge—Hangman."

"The president is Blade, right? Got sent up for killing his brother, Bear, who was the president of the club first?" Dom asks, shocking the hell out of me. Apparently, the boy did have more on his mind over the years than just Gabby.

"Yeah," T answers.

"Word is the Feral Kings killed Bear and framed his brother. I remember that shit. I have a buddy in that crew. He's their enforcer, Viper. They're itching to take Eyeball down. Blade wants his head," Dom responds.

"He'll have to get in line," I growl.

"Si," Skull adds.

Our attention shifts when there's a knock on the door that has been locked since we got here. It adjoins this room with the one beside it. T holds up his hand and goes to the door. He doesn't open it, though. There are three knocks in succession, then a pause, before we hear three more. After another lull, there's five more. T nods. Dom draws his gun just in case. Watching the two of them work together seamlessly fills me with pride and makes me ache all at the same time. When he opens the door, King steps through. He quickly closes the door and he and T embrace with a handshake and slap one another's shoulders in a loose hug. There's a closeness there that leaves me feeling unnerved. I can see the same emotions reflecting in Dom's eyes.

King pulls back and scans through everyone. When he spots me, I can see the hate that radiates in his eyes. It's a quick flash, and then he locks it down. He completely ignores Dom. Slowly, he brings his attention back to T.

"We're going to have to try and get the girls out tonight. He's planning on letting the club rape them, tape it, and send it to Dragon as a gift. Fucker thinks I'm going to be the ringleader," King says, rubbing the back of his neck. It doesn't escape my attention that I do that same damn thing when I'm upset. Hell, I've done it repeatedly since Nicole was taken.

"Why would he think you'd do that shit?" I growl before I can stop myself.

"Gee, I don't know, old man. Maybe he thinks I would agree as a way of saying fuck you to Daddy Dearest," King snarls back.

Jesus, fuck. I didn't want to deal with this shit right now. I'm not sure I ever want to deal with it, although I know my woman is going to force my hand eventually. I don't even know what to say to King right now. It's not like I could be his father now. He's a grown-ass man and we're strangers. He hates me. Hell, I'm not so sure there's a way I could ever like him. It also appears there's no stopping our confrontation.

The gloves are off.