Prologue
Blaze
Two Weeks Ago
There are times when you get a gut feeling something’s not right, but you don’t know the cause. It is this feeling that woke me in the dead of night with Raven in my arms. Pressing my hand to her rounded stomach, I allow myself to relax. Feeling our kid kick against my hand makes everything ease within me completely.
When my ex-wife ran into the guardrail killing my daughter, I never thought I’d have this feeling again. A sense of family. My little girl was my world. The reason for my smiles. I regret losing her but I know in my heart she’s with me.
For my birthday, Raven had bought me a chain to wear with my daughter’s name inscribed between a set of wings. “She’ll fly above you and fly within you, babe, this way you can feel the wings touching you.” Her words meant everything to me when she gave it to me, and I haven’t taken it off since.
Making Raven my ol’ lady was the best damn decision I could ever make in my life. She was meant to be mine as I was for her. It might have taken her a bit, but she accepted the truth of it and finally let herself be who she was fated to be. To use her gifts she’d been blessed with. Not the ones that put her in danger.
As her mother told me, I was the anchor giving Raven the strength she needed. At first, I didn’t understand it. Some days I still don’t; but I stick by her through it all. The first time it happened to her was when she was on the back of my bike, the wind spoke to her warning her something wasn’t right. I believed her and knew to trust what she says. Especially when everything went down with Dixie and her claiming to carry my kid. A kid who ended up being my father’s. Bitch tried pinning it on me and Raven made it known she was lying from the get-go.
After what went down with the birth of Matthew, how Dixie tried to destroy what my woman and I have, I never want to experience anything like it again. Matthew may not be my son by birth but rather my little brother; however, he’s my son all the same. Raven is his mother not the woman who pushed him out. No, that bitch can stay rotting the rest of her days in the shithole Raven sent her to, under the watch full eye of Raven’s cousin, Trevor.
Guy’s freaky as hell with his tattooed covered face looking like a skeleton but he runs a place where no one will see the light of day again. Not where he puts them. From what Raven told me, this is the place she and Victoria put people they deemed needed to suffer a hell of a lot longer than simply putting a bullet in their heads.
Couldn’t agree more. It didn’t sit well with me thinking of killing the bitch, doesn’t mean I wouldn’t though, if it meant protecting my family.
“What are you doing awake?” Raven asks groggily.
“Don’t know, Bird, something woke me and I can’t put my finger on what’s going on,” I explain, keeping my voice low, not wanting to take the chance of waking Matthew, knowing if he does it’ll take a while to get him back to sleep.
“Are you nervous about the baby?” she asks just as quietly, lifting herself up to look down at me. Her dark hair cascading around her brushing my shoulder.
Giving her a grin, I place a hand on her stomach once again. “Nope, not nervous about meeting this kiddo.”
“You sure?” I don’t miss the tremble in her lip. Something’s bothering her.
“Little Bird, I couldn’t be any more sure about it. I cannot fuckin’ wait to meet this little one,” I say reassuringly.
Nodding she gives me a tentative smile and I realize something. She sensed what I did, she feels it. Something’s coming and whatever it is isn’t good. I’ll need to keep my eyes open more than usual to make sure my woman, our son, and unborn baby stay safe from what’s coming our way.
Chapter One
Raven
Present
Since the night two weeks ago when I woke up sensing something was wrong, the air around me was still and for the first time, I didn’t know what was coming. When I spoke with my mom about my concerns, she’d simply said its okay nothing to worry about but then she stated my brother, Pitch Black, was on his way up.
Now I’m more than worried.
Pitch Black wouldn’t have come up here unless it was on club business or without my parents. I love him to death but after what happened with his high school girlfriend, he’s become a moody bastard. He’s supposed to be here today with a few of his brothers from Inferno’s Clutch MC.
Sighing, I can’t help but feel the nervousness of not knowing what’s coming my way. Not after finally excepting and getting used to my gift.
“Ma-Ma-Ma.” Shifting my thoughts from the things making me wary, I turn my focus to my little man, Matthew. I still can’t get over him being mine and Blaze’s. I might not have carried him within my body but he’s mine. The woman who gave birth to him should have known the depths of what would happen to her for attempting to go against a member of the Devil’s Riot MC. Worst she tried to lie about who the father of her child was. I’m sure if she’d been honest with Blaze about her having been with his father, things might have been somewhat different. But she was a whore that couldn’t get it out of her head she wasn’t going to be getting what she wanted.
It’s why Dixie is sitting pretty in the Fairy of Healing Institution under the watchful eye of my cousin, Trevor, who is also known as Reaper or Lord of the underworld, Hades.
Smiling at Matthew, I give him his sippy cup and place some slices of banana on his tray. “You want to go have some fun today?” I ask him, getting a squeal in return. “Guess that’s a yes.”
I’d made plans with Victoria today to take the boys to the zoo, but in all honesty, I’d prefer to stay home and keep my feet up. With the way their swelling, I can barely walk without doing it like a freaking duck. Worse my bladder feels like a I’m going to pee on myself at any minute.
Plus, with the pressure I’m feeling constantly I know it won’t be long before this kiddo is here.
My phone vibrating on the counter pulls me from thoughts of impending birth coming up. Ruffling my little boy’s hair, I move to grab it at the same time someone rings the doorbell.
What the hell?
No one comes over without letting us know. I don’t like surprise visits and those who would know to call way in advance to make sure Matthew isn’t down for a nap or what not. Picking up the phone, I swipe my finger across the screen to answer it while heading for the door.
“Hello.”
Heavy breathing comes through the line, pulling the phone from my ear I look at the screen to find it’s a blocked number. Dread starts to seep into me. As I go to hang up, the person starts cackling like a lunatic.
Feeling completely uneasy, I pull up Blaze’s number on my phone as the doorbell rings again.
Who the hell is here?
“You okay, bird?” Blaze asks, answering on the second ring. He’d left this morning to handle some things with Tracker. They were taking care of things around the club while Stoney helped take care of his ol’ lady, Rachel. With what happened to her at Christmas, I don’t blame him for getting his brothers to help out more while he sees to her. They’d been through enough and deserve a little time together without the craziness.