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“They told me they had a place for me there if I was interested.”

I make a noise in the back of my throat, but not even I can decipher what I mean by it.

“Let’s go,” General says, starting his bike up, and the rest follow, even me.

Natalie looks at each of us, but I keep my eyes on her. It’s the only invitation she’s going to get, and she’s smart enough to not play games. She puts her helmet back on, rests one hand on my shoulder, and swings her leg over without hesitation.

I don’t pull any bullshit moves to get her to put her hands on me. She’s been kidnapped twice in the last few months. I’ve got problems, but I’ve never been a dick about shit like this. Half the reason I was chosen to do the pickup.

Most of the brothers have women of their own, a family. Not saying the five of us are the last men standing, but we’ve got no one to mourn us beyond the brotherhood if things went sideways today.

We took a chance coming all the way out here to pick Natalie up. A prisoner exchange with no one on our side to exchange.

Devils and Hounds ain’t friends by any means. Not before, not now, not in the future. This deal wasn’t made from trust but necessity.

Psy did what the entire club’s been gunning for since Chains got his old lady. He killed Duke.

Which is a problem in itself. We wanted that honor. The only peace we have to live with is that he’s gone. And this time we know for sure. None of that Crazy Eights bullshit about leaving him alone or faking his death. We saw the bullet go through his skull.

It was a live feed. Nothing doctored to make us see something else.

Ten minutes later, Casper got a call. Took them a while to come to terms, and when they did, he had us riding out to collect someone who was brought into this because of us.

A civilian to us, but a survivor in her own right.

Natalie has a fucked-up past. We learned that the hard way.

But this kidnapping? This was on us. Which means Hounds will fix it.

Not that she’s going to like what that means. She made it clear to us, and in the video, that the Hounds mean nothing to her. If we left her on the side of the road right now, I don’t think she’d care. She might even say thanks, maybe.

Instead, she’s grabbing the handles on the back of my seat and holding on while I follow General and Walker out, with Jumper and King behind us. We’re caging her in the middle for protection, but I bet she sees it as a cell.

Four brothers willing to shield her from the outside elements before they get close to me and her. Four men who would die if needed.

But she doesn’t see it.

Which is fine. The club owes her. She took out an enemy in a way. Without her, Duke would still be alive. And I know more than one old lady will sleep better tonight knowing he’s dead.

We ride for another two hours before we pull off at a hotel we’d already secured for the night. Jumper gets the keys while the rest of us wait. Takes less than five minutes. Despite that, Natalie keeps quiet. She hasn’t said anything. Hardly even moved on the way here. But I know she’s tired.

The drop-off location was midway between our two clubs. If it took us seven hours to get there, it took just as long if not longer for them. I’ve never seen her on the back of a bike before. I’d bet this is the most she’s ridden on one, and it can be exhausting in its own right.

Freeing as hell, but tiring after nine hours sitting on your ass.

“Round back,” Jumper says as he gets back on his bike, and we follow him.

The hotel, just like the small town we chose, isn’t much. One of those that doesn’t have a lobby, just a door to the street. It’s not that we can’t afford better, but there isn’t much out here. And we ain’t planning on staying long. Just enough to get a few hours of sleep and clean the dirt off us a bit.

I get off the bike and follow Jumper into the room he opens up. Natalie trails behind us, as does General.

King and Walker take a key off Jumper and go to the room next to us. We’d have preferred connecting rooms, but they don’t have that here. I’m just happy to have rooms close.

For a town with only two hotels, both were surprisingly busy. Guess there’s some kind of family reunion or something going on, and there aren’t many extra beds in the trailers most of this town is made up of, all with picket fences and gravel driveways.

“Going to call in,” General says after dropping his stuff off and heading back out.

“Man, this town sucks. They don’t even have a chain restaurant,” Jumper complains as he looks on his phone.