Page 158 of Where Sinners Repent

Looking out at the hundreds of Devils, something violent pounds in my chest. I’ve stood beside these men for years. They’ve taken my orders countless times. Rode behind me during runs. Lived amongst me. Lost their brothers beside me.

Now, they will fight beside me.

Griff stands next to me, facing the crowd. His body rigid and ready for a fight. The empty space on my other side feels fucking enormous.

Curling my fists, I feel Roxy’s crumpled note burning a hole in my pocket. Kaleb’s knife sits against my back where I’ve tucked it into my waistband. Pieces of them. It’s all I fucking have.

Maddison stands next to Matt. Because of course, she refused to stay behind. Her hair is tied back, and she’s wearing a leather jacket, a helmet held under her arm. She’ll be riding with Matt and I put the fear of God into him to keep her safe.

If I save Ash, only to come back with his angel gone... It would be mayhem.

My brother is out there and I’m not sure if he’s alive. Not sure what he is going through.

“Listen up!”

My voice tears through the air. Everyone stills, hundreds of faces looking to me. The air is heavy with tension and fury, yet it remains silent while they wait for my command. For a brief second, I wonder how Ash does this every day. How he carries the lives of all these men on his shoulders day in and day out.

How he carries it without breaking.

“Tonight, someone walked into our fucking home and took four of our brothers.” My jaw locks. “Our fucking president.”

Angry shouts fill the space, each of them as furious as the next. I can taste it in the air. Maddison’s face is a mask of everything she is trying to hide, but the girl is strong.

“We have spent months being attacked, being robbed. Being made to look like a fucking joke!” My voice is a growl. “That ends tonight! Tonight we show them why the Devils are to be feared!”

The Devils roar. Bikes rev to life, and the ground rumbles under my boots. Slowly, I pull on my helmet. Griff does the same beside me. He nods, hand flexing around the handles.

I nod back. And then we leave.

The roar is deafening. Hundreds of bikes tearing onto the road. It vibrates through my chest. Griff rides beside me, and we lead a reckoning of Devils.

Headlights paint the dark street, and I glance at them in my mirrors. They stretch so far in the view that I can’t see the end of them.

We only have one destination.

The freezer.

The place we were going to hit tonight before those fuckers got to us first. I rev the throttle harder, letting the cold air cut through my leather. Griff stays with me. I don’t let myself think about what we are walking into. Because we have no way of knowing. No time to do recon and no Leon to bust through the cameras.

It doesn’t matter.

Whatever we walk into, we fucking deal with it. Kill any Wraith in our way. Find our men. They are alive. They have to be.

There has never been a world where Kaleb doesn’t exist beside me. Unless it’s with her between us.

By the time we round the corner to the huge buildings, we spread out, circling it. Surrounding them. There are a few men outside, but most of them seem to be inside. Before we can stop our bikes, gunshots go off. But the Devils are ready for it, sliding off their bikes and advancing. Knives are out. Guns are out. Every single one we had available.

The night explodes.

Bullets fly. One tears through the bike beside mine with a deafening crack, sending sparks across the ground as I throw myself off Shadow and duck behind a truck. Griff drops beside me, already returning fire.

My eyes scan the area. The stupid fuckers only have one of the roller doors open. One entrance and one exit.

“Block the entrance!” I roar. “Don’t let anyone fucking leave!”

They advance like a dark wave. Guns raised and muscles tight. The Wraiths try to hold their own. Bullets land and Devils’ cuts drop to the ground, only to be replaced by more.

“Push!” I scream, voice breaking.