Ollie leads me down a short, dimly lit hallway and through a set of heavy wooden doors. My eyes are wide as I look all around the secret, sacred room. A long wooden table stretches the length of the secluded chamber. Nine chairs flank the central tablet, which sports the Dante’s Nine sigil. The pair of dice rolling a four and five are carved into the center of the table. The brothers sink into their chairs, each gravitating to his own place. Only I am left standing as the doors swing shut behind us. Alone with the men of Dante’s Nine, I hold my head up high. I may be frightened, but I’m not about to let them know that.
“Now,” John Baxter says from his place at the head of the table, “What’s this about you having access to the Wraiths?”
“It’s a long story,” I begin.
“Make it short,” Declan quips.
“Fine,” I shoot back, pissed at his dismissive tone, “The long and short of it is…I have a cousin who’s a patched member of the Wraiths’ SoCal chapter. He became a prospect when I was still in high school, and I got to know a few of his brothers.”
“How well did you get to know them?” Kip asks.
“Not very,” I shrug, “Some of the younger Wraiths would hang out at our parties. My older sisters were very into the biker boy thing.”
“But not you?” Declan challenges.
I draw myself up and level my gaze against him. It’s clear that Declan’s angry with me for being here in his boys’ club, but he has no right to be so disrespectful. I’m here to help get Kassie back, after all.
“I was intrigued too, yes,” I allow, “I didn’t have a very stable home life. Dad hit the road when I was tiny, Mom worked all the time. The family aspect of the MC was really appealing.”
“Ever act on that curiosity of yours?” John asks.
“No,” I say honestly, omitting the fact that I came extremely close to doing so. “No, I never even made it to the clubhouse. I went off to college and that was that. Haven’t even seen my cousin since then.”
“Why not?” Chuck asks, “You got beef with him or something?”
“Just grew apart,” I say, wincing inwardly at my white lie.
The brothers trade glances, weighing my statements. Their unspoken communication makes me nervous. Declan crosses his thick arms and raises an eyebrow at me. Even though I’m still feeling woozy from the roofies, I refuse to waver under his gaze. I don’t know what I’ve done to piss this guy off, but do know that I’m sick of his attitude.
“So,” he says snidely, “You have a cousin in a different chapter of the Wraiths who hasn’t heard from you in years. How, exactly, is this supposed to help us get Kassie back?”
“I never claimed to know that,” I reply, “You’re some kind of strategic mastermind, right? You figure the rest of it out.”
“Don’t get cheeky,” Declan warns me, “I, for one, would like to know why you didn’t tell us about this little connection of yours sooner. That’s the kind of thing one ought to be transparent about, Kelly.”
“When would I have had the chance to bring it up?” I ask, “I’ve only been back in town for a couple of weeks, and it’s not as though I’m in your inner circle, here.”
“No. That’s for sure,” Declan scoffs.
“Look. You can figure out a way to use my in or not,” I say, “But I suggest you think on it quick so we can make with the rescuing, yeah?”
“She’s feisty,” John says, a corner of his mouth lifting in a smile.
“She’s a pain in my ass,” Declan mutters.
“What the hell is your problem, Declan?” I snap, before I can help myself, “I’m here trying to give you guys a hand in getting Kassie back, and you’re—”
“You should have stopped them from taking her in the first place!” Declaim exclaims, his fists balled on the table. “What kind of friend are you, just letting her get carried off like that? You were too busy hiding to stop them from—”
“Maybe you should have been around to protect your old lady,” I shoot back.
“Whoa—” Chuck says, grabbing onto Declan’s arm as he leaps up out of his seat, “Easy there, Dec.”
“We’re all responsible for Kassie being taken,” John says, shooting Declan a look, “Assigning blame to one person isn’t going to help get her back. We need to work with the situation at hand.”
And the very end of the table, the prospect Tot raises his hand like a schoolboy. I’ve never actually heard him speak before. His voice is high pitched, a little eerie.
“Why can’t we just...you know...storm their castle?” he asks.
Despite the gravity of the situation, the men around the table can’t help but laugh at his naiveté. The prospect’s ears burn red as their raucous laughter rains down on him.
“It’s a good thing you’re book smart,” Declan says, “Cause you’ve got no clue about the real world.”
“Do you know anything about the Devil’s Wraiths, Tot?” Kip asks.
“They’re ruthless,” Ollie says.
“Barbaric,” Teddy puts in.
“Fucking scary as hell,” Frank grumbles.
“The last thing we want to do is go swatting at their hive with a baseball bat,” John says, “If we do, we’re done for as an MC. Period. We’ve always been on good terms with the Wraiths, let them expand their territory while holding onto our little plot of land. We just need to figure out how to restore the peace.”
“But how do we do that?” Tot asks.
John swings his gaze back to me. “I have a feeling that we can find a way to use of Kelly’s connection, if we put our minds to it.”
“Whatever you need me to do, consider it done,” I tell him, “Kassie’s my best friend. I love her more than anyone in the world. I want to help you get her back.”
“That’s good,” John nods. “Tell me, Kelly, what kind of skills do you have? What do you do professionally?”
“I work with Kassie. We were in the same computer science program at Berkeley,” I tell him, “Coding, programming, that sort of thing.”
“Would your cousin be suspicious, if he heard from you?” John goes on.