The Biker's Fate Chapter 176

"Oh, okay, honey." I heard Millie's quiet chortle as I took one more bite of toast then reached for my laptop, snuggling closer to Mack. I scrolled through my email and saw a familiar name. "Oh, wow." I leaned forward slightly. "Mill, remember that agent I contacted ages ago?"

"Yeah, the one who requested your book?"

I nodded. "She just emailed me. She wants to sign me."

"Ohmigod, that's awesome."

"Is it? I'm not so sure."

"How come?" Mack asked.

I leaned back again. "I just feel like she wants me now that I'm on the NY Times. Before that, I didn't feel like I could even get arrested and she didn't contact me sooner, so I don't know. It just feels weird."

"You could tell her you'd like her to help with movie and television options, but you don't need her for your print options."

"Can I do that?"

Mack smiled. "You can do anything you want, babe. I can help with the contracts."

I grinned. "Sometimes I forget just how useful you are."

He kissed my cheek and whispered, "I grabbed something from the house, so I can remind you how useful I am later."

I shivered and kissed him gently. "Can't wait."

"Email her back... no, hand me your computer, I'll email her, you can approve it and send."

I nodded and handed him the laptop. He wrote a much better response than I could have, and then I made it sound like me and sent it off.

"I found the perfect song for our first dance," I said.

"Yeah?"

"Yep, here, listen." I handed him my ear buds and he slid them in, I pressed play.

The next thirty seconds seemed to happen in slow motion as our happy banter and conversation went from light and easy to the world exploding around us.

A sharp pain sliced through my arm and then Mack's body was on top of mine as we lay on the back of the sofa. Somehow, it had been flipped on its side and he'd come to rest on top of me. Through the cloud of smoke, I could see his lips moving, but I couldn't hear him. "What?"

He waved his hands in a "stay" motion and I nodded. The sudden pain and ringing in my ears pulled focus from my arm as I craned my head to see Millie beside me, her left leg soaked in blood. Once I saw her, my pain seemed to disappear.

Before I could crawl to her, I was picked up and dragged out of the common room and away from my best friend. I tried to protest, but we were in chaos. "Mack!" I screamed. "Mack!"

Strong arms held me tight, but I knew they weren't his. I looked frantically around, swallowing down bile to see part of the building at the front gone, bloodied bodies stumbling around, some lying on the ground... I didn't know if they were alive or dead, it was total carnage.

I tripped and as I was righted, I saw Train holding me to him. "Where's Barney?"

He mouthed something to me, but I couldn't hear.

"Where's Barney?" I screamed.

He scowled and then lifted me in his arms, running toward a van. I don't remember anything after that as my world went black.

Mack

I saw the explosion, more so than heard it and flipped the sofa as quickly as I could. When I ripped out the ear buds, I realized they may have saved my hearing. Millie had just stood up to get more coffee and she was flung backwards, hitting the ground, hard. I shielded Darien the best I could and checked her for injuries, tying off her arm, before inching toward Millie. I tore a piece of my T-shirt and tied off her leg, but it was a mess. She'd taken the brunt of the hit as the blast went off just as she was passing us.

Surveying the room, I waved Train over. "Get them somewhere safe. They need to get to the hospital. Make them priority, Train, yeah?"

"Yeah, brother."

Confident Train would take care of my woman; I rushed into the fray and found a bloodied Flick curled in a ball by the television, white fluff squirming in his grip. I knelt beside him and forced back my emotion as I felt for a pulse. There was nothing.

"Fuck!" Barney squealed in pain and I helped to free him from Flick's grip. The dog barked at me, growling and showing his teeth the closer I got to Flick. "Barney, boy, it's me." He continued to snarl. "Come here. We'll get you to Darien." Barney wouldn't leave Flick, so I had to make a decision. It was dog or human at this point, so I rose to my feet and Barney curled up next to Flick. The man had protected him this far, I hoped he'd continue to.

I headed to the safe room where I was relieved to find we hadn't lost anyone in the meeting today. Jaxon, Brock, and Dallas were still there, on their phones giving orders to their superiors, I assumed.

Everyone was bloody. Whether it was theirs or someone else's, I couldn't be sure, but it was a sobering sight.

Hawk stepped forward and hugged me. "I've got the recruits sorting through injuries."

"Pretty sure Flick's dead," I said.

"Fuck!"

"I can't get that damn dog to leave him, so we'll need to get him to the vet as soon as we can. Darien's gonna be frantic if she doesn't know what's going on."

Hawk nodded. "Dallas called Macey to alert her to the situation, and we've got ambulances on the way."

"I didn't think they'd go this far."

"Me neither, brother."

"It's war," I said.

"No, it's not," Jaxon countered.

"Where the fuck did you come from?" I snapped.

Jaxon gave a wry smile. "Give us two days, Mack."

"No! They almost killed Darien and our baby, not to mention her dog. They killed Flick and we don't know how many others yet." I shook my head. "We'll deal with them."

"You deal with 'em and we have no case, you get sent up for murder, and we're mutually fucked. We'll deal with 'em."

I dragged my hands through my hair.

"Jax has a point," Hawk said.

Before I could respond, my phone buzzed in my pocket. It was Train. "She okay?"

"I got them both to the hospital. Some red-headed nurse took it from there. Fuckin' hot, man," Train said.

"That's Dallas's wife, dumb shit," I ground out.

"Fuck, seriously? Damn."

"How's Darien?"

"They haven't come out to tell me anything yet. Want me to come back?"

"No, I'll be there soon and then you can," I said, and hung up.

"Let me look at Barney," Knight said.

He was studying to be a vet, so he'd know what to do.

I nodded at him, then faced Jaxon again. "You've got two days. I'm going to the hospital. Call me if you need me." I walked out of the room, following Knight to the dog. He scooped up Barney, despite the barking, and cradled him as gently as he could.

"He's bad, Mack," Knight said. "I'll take him to the emergency vet."

"I'll take you. Dare'll kill me if I let him out of my sight," I said, and headed to my car. My bike had been parked in the front, so I could only assume it was destroyed, along with the front of the building.

The BMW was intact, so I reached under the wheel well and grabbed my spare key, while Knight climbed gingerly in the passenger seat.

"You good?" I asked.

Knight nodded and we took off.