Wolf

Chapter Nineteen

  I wake up to the yellow walls of my childhood room. My chest tightens, the last time I was in here I woke from a nightmare. I was able to go down the stairs and fall back asleep, this time I would find him nowhere near.
  I slowly sit up, my feet touching the cold hardwood floor. I look down at the outfit I had hastily put on two days ago.
  I stand up, walking to the dresser that held my most comfortable clothes. My feet become used to the coldness of the floor as I find a pair of blue fuzzy pajama pants and an old grey t-shirt.
  I walk out the door, shutting it behind me, not knowing what time it is, I hadn't bothered to look out the window. My feet lightly patted the wood floor, stopping when I hit the grey tiled floor of the bathroom.
  The shower is overflowing with kids toys, Roman likes to play in the bathtub when it is raining outside. I get undressed, kicking the toys to the back.
  The water was cold, but quickly getting warm. The freezing water woke me up quicker than any coffee could ever.
  The shower is quick, not wanting to hog all hot water, there was always a guest at the house. Mom was the listening ear of the club, for the women and men.
  I get dressed, leaving my hair wrapped in a towel on top of my head. I walk down the steps, as quietly as possible.
  I am shocked when I see Dad and Uncle Lucas sitting on the couch together, Mom speaking to them both in a hush harsh voice. As if on cue the last step to the stairs groans, every head turns towards me.
  Mom stands up and walks over to me, lightly setting her hand on my lower back, leading me towards the kitchen.
  I glance at Dad and Uncle Lucas, who ate staring at me. I stop take a deep breath, then turn my head towards them. I glare at them before walking to Uncle Lucas. He stands up, bringing us toe to toe. I lift my head to look in his eyes, " This is your fault, Lucas. Wolf would be safe with me if you weren't an asshole. If you could put something else before the club maybe you would still be married."
  I see his eyes switch emotions for a moment before he takes a jab at me, " Where is your pretty boy at, Harmony? I don't see him here."
  Before I could do anything a hand reaches and slaps Lucas. We all turn our head to Mom. She glares at him before, lightly pushing me away from Lucas, " Sweetcheeks, what was that for? I was only telling her the truth."
  Mom grabs him by his collar, bringing him down to her height, " Listen here, Lucas Collins, that boy isn't here because he is protecting her. If she was with him there is nothing he could do to protect her from that father of his you fucking know that.
  He left her to protect her just like Joseph did all those years ago. Now, I want you out of my fucking house until you can act like the man I know you are."
  Lucas looks at Dad, who can only glare at him before glancing at the door. Lucas straightens up to his full height before storming out of the house. The door slamming behind him rattles the pictures by the door.
  I glance at Dad, who glances at the ground. His shoulders sag, looking nothing like the man that raised me. He looks like all the fifty-three years of his life had caught up with him at that moment.
  "Harmony, I was wrong. I was only thinking of the club. I have always put it first, but not anymore. I am getting out at the end of the year. I gave them twenty years of my life, now I am giving the rest of it to my family."
  I walk over to him, wrapping my arms around him. He smells like leather as always, " Dad, you always put us first, no matter what was happening at the club. I am sorry for the things I said that day. I love you."
  Dad wraps his arms around me, giving me a short hug, " I-"
  We are cut off by the front door is slammed open with a body. I pull away from Dad as five men walk into the room. I recognize one of the bikers from the party the other night. I look at the body on the floor, Lucas is bruised and bloody, but alive.
  I let out the breath I was holding, happy that he was breathing. One man tackles Dad as another grabs Mom by her hear, pulling it back.
  I go towards Mom, avoiding Dad trying to throw the man off of him. I am cut off by a man with a scar going down the side of his neck and hidden underneath his cutlet. The white shirt enhancing his dark skin tone.
  He grabs my jaw, " You're coming with us. You have to options; come with us peacefully and we leave them alive or fight us and they die." My blood freezes at the sound of his voice. It was the same voice that had talked outside the pantry door with Wolf. This was the man that fathered Wolf. The man that made him a murderer. 
  "Leo, leave my fucking daughter out of this," Dad yells while still fighting the man.
"Pick now, you have three seconds, two, -" Leo says, his voice sounding like nails on a chalkboard.
  " I'll go with you, just don't hurt them. I will walk out that door as long as another hair on their head is harmed.
" Deal, no let's go, don't want anyone popping up. Boar, tie them up, someone will come along eventually."
  "Harmony, don't do this." Dad pleads as two men fight to get him to sit in the recliner.
  I look at him. His cheek is bruised, already turning purple, a shiner on his left eyes, lip split, and a bloody nose.
  I look him dead in the eyes, " It is my turn to protect you Dad. You kept me safe from my past, from my nightmares about. I'll protect you both now. I love you both very much."
  Mom has tears running down her face, shaking her head no, Dad still fighting. I close my eyes, turning away from them both, the image too painful.
  Leo leads me outside, we wait for all the men to come out of my house. It takes them about fifteen minutes. Leo smiles a sinister smile at me, " I can't afford you alerting anyone, sorry."
  I feel a sharp pain on the back of my skull before my world goes dark, Leo laughing is the last thing I see.
  The next time I wake my head is pounding. I reach up to touch the spot that seems to be the center of the pain, but my hands are tied to my side. I remember what happened at the house, Dad's bloody face and Mom's look of panic. That, someone, had hit me from behind.
  I try to tamp down the panic, but there is only so much one can do in this situation, panic is one of them. The room is dark and damp, the only thing in it was me and the chair I was tied to in the center of the room. A light in the far corner was the only thing lighting the room. I was too far for it to actually fall on anything of importance.
  My hands were tied behind me, I could not feel any of the knots, realizing soon that I was truly trapped. The ideas of different fates kept running through my head, none with me leaving alive.
I sit tied to the chair, my legs wouldn't even budge, these people had experience with trying people up. I only hoped that one had been a boy scout and not that other people have been in my predicament.
  It seems like hours but was probably only fifteen minutes before someone walked into the room. They didn't bother to bring a light with them. I could only catch a glance at the tall figure walking towards me slowly.
  I wasn't able to get a look at his face before the light left him to the darkness again. His boots echoing off the concrete floor, each step made my heart stop. When he came to stop in front of me he was nothing but a shadow in the darkness. 
  "Someone is going to be down here real soon to deal with you." Leo's voice seemed to boom in the room. I look down at my lap, trying to not show him how scared I was, though inside I was the girl from before my life changed.
  I feel a slap coming across my head, hitting the tender spot, making me whimper from the pain." I expect you to act like the whore you are, he knows his way around women. I don't want a struggle, you can either lay there and take it or you can participate, that is it. Do you understand?"
  I nod my head, silently hoping that Theodore would forgive me. He thought I was safe, there was no way he would know that I would be killed by his father.
  A booted foot comes in contact with my shin, a small yell comes out of my mouth, Leo chuckles when his foot slams on top of my right foot. I couldn't hold back a yell of pain. I thought I heard a crack. Leo's hand comes in contact with my face, the tears begin to fall down my face. The pain is too much, as well as the memories making their way back.
  I asked the man coming not to kill you. He said he wouldn't, a few more of my men want a turn at you." I visibly shiver before Leo lets my face go, laughing as he walks away. Through the door, slamming it behind it.
  It only takes a few minutes before another tall man walks into the room. I spit out the blood from my busted lip, tears falling faster at my known fate.
  The body walks quickly over to me, walking behind me. I become stiff once I can't see his dark outline anymore. The feeling of a blade against my arm makes me jump.
  "Be still, Baby, I don't want to cut you." The tears of joy run down my face as Wolf cut the binds holding me. His voice sends happiness through my veins. When he is cutting the binds on my arms he moves to the ones on my legs. The pain that runs through my arms and legs, both numb and asleep from being the same position for who knows how long. My foot has me gasping as pressure is applied to it. I sued the chair as a crutch until the feeling is back in my legs.
  Wolf grabs my arm, pulling me behind him, pressing a metal object into my hand. He pulls me to get moving, I have to keep myself from crying out every time I take a step on my right foot. He pulls me out the door, and down a hallway. I glance down, realizing he had handed me a gun. He pulls me into a room quickly, shutting the door behind us.
  He grabs the hand that is holding the gun, " Listen, Baby, if I tell you to you need to run. I don't want to argue. I am getting you out of here alive. I only want you to use this if you absolutely have to, you don't have to conscious to kill someone and be able to sleep that night.  I want you to remember I love you." He bends down and gently presses his lips against mine.
  I try and remember the feeling of his lips and the heat coming off his body. He pulls back and I try to remember every detail if his face, down to the lonesome freckles on the side of his nose.
  Before I could say anything he pulls me out the room, having use creep down the hallway.
  "Hey, Wolf, thought you were in the basement with that gift you begged to be first to have." I stand in the exact stance that he is in, his body keeping the man in front of us from seeing me.
  "Yeah, she wasn't that good, so I finished and left. I would leave her be for awhile she is a biter."
  " Oh, damn, well I got third, Boar has second. Leo still doesn't know who he is going to let put her out if her misery."
"Damn, you might want to go tell Boar that warning."
  "Will do, see you later at the bar, Wolf, try not to get bit tonight." The man walks away laughing.
  Wolf quickly pulls me through the house, avoiding everyone. We finally make it into the kitchen, Wolf pushing me out the back door. Where we both freeze.
  Wolf pulls me behind him, Leo smirks, " I knew this would happen, especially when Axe told me that he had recognized her in bed with you. The night after that party. That at the party you had been very protective of her. When he saw the picture he told me straight away. He is more a son to me than the one I raised."
  Wolf takes a few steps forward, pulling me with him. He walks straight letting me go at the steps, walking right up to his father, looking down at him. The resembles is uncanny except for the four inches of height Wolf has on his father, and Wolf's brown eyes are unlike his father's hazel ones.
   " I fucking call a reto." Wolf snarls in his father face.
  "Guns is my choice, boy, you need to remember who taught you to use one." Leo laughs.
Wolf walks over to me, pulling the gun from my hand. My hand begins to shake, " Theodore, what is a reto?" I ask, looking up at him.
  He leans down and kisses my forehead, " A challenge, Baby. Who wins runs the club. Now, what do you remember?"
  The tears begin to wet my cheeks, " That you love me almost as much as I love you." My voice begins to break.
  "I'll let you believe that, Baby." He turns and walks away. He walks about ten yards away from Leo before he stops. The clip of the gun lands in the grass about a foot in front of him. I watch as both of his arms are raised high above his head, Leo mimicking his son's movement. The boy from the room, who I assume is Axe walks in between them.
  " You both know the rule, at the drop of the bullet you pick off your clip, and the first one to shot and kills the other man wins."
  My blood runs cold at his word, only one would be coming out alive. Leo was smart, he would know not to teach his son all his moves. I go to take a step to stop him, but someone grabbing my arm stops me. "I wouldn't do that, Sweetheart." I turn and see Parker beside me.
  "I can't let him die for me, Parker." I lead with him.
  Parker shakes his head," He said that it would come to this; and that no matter what you are to leave here alive. Now, we are leaving while everyone is distracted."
  I shake my head no, " I'm not running, Parker. I have to know if he leaves here okay or not."
  Parker glares at me then sighs, " Okay, Harm, but as soon as those guns fire we leave." I nod my head, knowing that it was a lie.
  I turn my head towards the two men, a few seconds later Axe drops the bullet. When it hits the ground two guns go off, making me jump. My ears ring as I watch both bodies hit the ground.
  My feet move before Parker could grab me. Wolf is on the ground blood spreading on his chest, a hole just to the right of the center.
  He looks shocked when he sees me, " Baby, go" That is all he managed. I press my hand to the hole, applying as much weight as I could.
  "Fuck no, Theodore, I am not leaving you." Parker rushes over to me, " Wolf do it no, he is dead. He was shot right between the eyes."
  "Death's Vengeance are our allies." He yells with the last of his strength. I apply more pressure to his chest. His eyes look glazed, "I believe I love you more." Wolf says to me before passing out. I try to shake him. I am pushed out of the way, an old army medic takes my place, he is the one from Dad's club.
  He wipes off the wound before applying duct tape over Wolf's wound. I go to walk forward before someone grand me, " Sweetheart, let him do what he needs to, he can keep him alive while the ambulance makes their way here." Dad whispers to me.
  I run my fingers through my hair, watching as the man worked on Wolf. "I can't lose him, Dad. I know you think it is too soon, but he is my other half. He is the other half of my soul. The one that helps me with my nightmares. He is the one that helps me fight in my dreams, he always protects me. I can't lose him. "
  Dad turns me around in his arms, pulling me into a right hug, " We'll try everything we can, Sweetheart. He knows you love him, he is going to fight to live because of that."
  That is when the ambulance pulls into the yard.