AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Just go,’ Wolf said. ‘Pack up and go. We don’t need to fight. No-one wins a knife fight.’ He thought back to the advice Baron had given him. If two people slash at each other with knives, the chances of both of them getting serious wounds was close to a hundred percent.
He had a feeling that Whip would never back down from a challenge, though. So what the leader of the Death Division said next shocked him to his core.
‘Alright.’ He nodded. ‘Take the girl and go. It’ll be better that way.’ He tucked the knife back into his top. ‘But know this: she’s my property. This is just a loan.’
Wolf was waiting for the trick, but it didn’t come. Sophia ran to him, threw her arms around his body, then he pulled her up onto his bike.
He kicked the engine on and drove off, the rumble of the bike carrying them away from the alley and farther into the unknown.
CHAPTER 7
It felt like trauma. Wolf was sure that if the engine hadn’t been rumbling, he would have felt Sophia’s little body trembling against his as she sobbed her eyes out. It was dumb, but he hated not being able to see her as she sat behind him.
Little thoughts like this kept surprising him: every second that he wasn’t looking at her was a second wasted.
He had so many questions for her, so many secrets he wanted to delve into. It tore him up inside to think that she could have ended up married to Whip. He had to know everything. Who her father was. What she knew… But all of that could wait. Right now, we had to get them safe. Who cared if the Death Division headed in and destroyed his bar even more? Sophia was suddenly the only thing that mattered in Wolf’s life.
The drive to Baron’s place was long — nearly three hours. It was about the safest place he could think of to go with Sophia, and there was something calming — he hoped — about being surrounded on all sides by the greenery of this lush part of New York State. Baron lived a simple life in the woods near Albany, a town to the northwest of New York City. When they’d succeeded in getting the Death Division criminalized again, Wolf had assumed that Baron would move back to the big city, but he couldn’t have been more wrong.
If anything, Baron had gone even more feral. His beard had grown long, and he’d started getting into weird stuff like ‘foraging’ and ‘forest bathing.’ Baron was a blacksmith, and he’d even started working with wood — whittling little figures for the club members.
Eventually, they pulled up into the driveway of his blacksmith’s shop. The sign said Forged by Fire in wrought iron letters over a fearsome looking dragon. Both Baron and his Little, Molly, had a thing about flames.
‘We’re here,’ Wolf said, as he turned off the bike, and pulled up his visor.
‘My legs feel like Jell-O,’ Sophia said, tugging at her helmet. He’d stopped in at a supply store on the way up and bought her one — there was no way he was having someone in his care riding without a helmet.
‘First time on a bike?’
‘Uh-huh,’ she replied.
‘You’ll get used to it. Sorry ’bout the long drive.’ He’d explained where he was taking her and she’d seemed happy enough — he just wanted to make sure she didn’t think he was kidnapping her or something equally creepy.
‘Feels like the whole world’s been turned upside down,’ Sophia said. ‘It’s like… gravity’s been turned off.’
‘I’m gonna help you turn it back on,’ he said.
Sophia nodded. She looked so sweet, so innocent. Wolf’s soul responded to the vulnerability she was showing him. He wanted so badly to make it all better.
‘I know it’s crazy,’ she said, ‘but I keep thinking of Teddy. He’s all alone back in the Den, and he’s half smooshed. I know I can fix him, but not if they set it on fire or smash him again.’
‘They won’t,’ Wolf said. He felt fairly confident in this. The way Whip had let him go without a fight also made him feel as though the Death Division had some bigger plan in mind. ‘I don’t think they want to burn the place down. More likely they want to claim it. And they don’t care about stuffies, no matter how important we know they are.’
Sophia gave a smile, just for a moment. He wanted to kiss her again, but he couldn’t, not now, not when she was so vulnerable.
‘Come on,’ he said. ‘Let’s go see Baron. And Molly. I think you’re gonna like Molly.’
Everyone liked Molly.
Of course, they had a fire going. The flames danced in the cast iron stove, giving the space an incredible sense of warmth and comfort.
Wolf hadn’t visited Baron’s place for a while, but it had definitely changed in here — no doubt because of his relationship with Molly. The walls had been repainted a bright white, and the color of the fire spread across them, making the place practically glow orange, yellow, and red. Comfortable leather couches were arranged around the stove, and the four of them had plenty of space to relax.
Sophia was far from relaxed, though. She kept shifting in her seat, almost like she didn’t know how to sit still. Wolf wondered if she was uncomfortable because she didn’t spend much time with people. Most likely, she was just on edge after what she’d been through.
‘You’re safe here.’ Baron was leaning forward in his seat, his hands clasped together. He was an imposing figure. Working the forge for so many years had sculpted his body into an almost impossibly ripped form, plus he was tall. ‘I want you to know that.’
‘Thank you,’ Sophia said with a nod.
