Crimson Storm, Crimson Riders Book 1

Prolog

Keith hated gate duty anytime, but tonight, it was colder than a witch's tit out here. It was time for a patrol. Inwardly groaning, he put on his heavy coat and opened the shack door. He started his circuit and was just about to turn around when he saw it. What it was, he didn't completely know.

As he watched it got closer, and for a minute, he thought the cold had raddled a few screws loose, cause no way in fucking hell could he really be seeing what he thought he was.

There was a figure fighting their way through the snow. As it got closer, he noticed it was a woman. She wasn't dressed for being outside, no way, no how, damn, she was even barefoot. She had a bundle pulled tight to her chest, and someone had hurt this woman, hurt her badly.

Once on the other side of the gate, she muttered, "Hollow and Night, have to see now."

She was stumbling over her words and shaking, but he understood she was asking for Prez and the VP. "Please," she begged, "I need to hurry, they're coming, it's not safe, I have to warn them." As soon as she said that, he was on his cell phone.

"What, Keith?" Nomad, his contact for duty rosters, answered perturbed.

"I have an emergency out here. Get Prez and Night now." Nomad hesitated for a moment.

"If this ain't an emergency, it's your ass prospect." Then he heard shouts for Prez and Night to the gate, there's an emergency.

He opened the gate and led her in. By now, he was mostly holding her up, rather than her supporting herself.

Then Prez and Night were running for the gate. " What's wrong?"

Just then, they arrived and saw her, looking puzzled. Then she spoke again.

"They're coming, Devil's Hogs, and the Savages, coming to kill and steal women and children. Have to protect them, please, protect them."

She collapsed on her knees, and the jarring of her landing, as he didn't grab her in time, jarred the bundle. Then, there was a weak baby's cry. Sweet Jesus, she had a baby.

Night dropped to his knees in front of her, "Who are you, darlin'? Who hurt you, little one?"

She pushed the bundle to him, "Protect my daughter, please. Blood is going to kill us both for this, but I had to warn you. He's my father." With that, she fell face-first into the snow.

When Prez turned her over, the front of her shirt was covered in blood. He scooped her up and ran for the clubhouse. Night held the baby in that bundle and ran after his dad.

Night

I got Bones so he can come and treat the girl. Bones rushes into the room, and the second he sees her condition, he growls as I did. This girl has been used as a punching bag, and not just recently, judging by the multiple shades of bruises all over her.

"What in the mother fucking hell?" Bones curses, and I whirl around.

He has her bloody tank top cut open, and across her stomach is blood-streaked duct tape. He shakes his head and starts cutting the tape away, trying not to hurt her while peeling it off. Suddenly, he stops, and his face gets really red for a minute. He hangs his head and shakes it back and forth.

"This is some seriously fucked up bullshit right here, Night. I'm gonna need Shannon in here with me."

I nod and go to tell the prospect in the hall to get Bone's old lady. I go back over and see what had him all fucked up. This girl has a hole in her stomach. Some mother fucker stabbed her in the god damn stomach. I can't tell what all she's done, but it looks like a street patch job.

"I don't know if this is brilliant or fucking crazy, but this girl has some balls on her, cause whatever it is, it hurt like a son of a bitch to do this shit." Bones rants to me.

"What'd she do?" Curious about what she had done.

"She shoved tampons in the stab wound, then put a maxi pad over it, and duct taped the whole thing together."

"Sounds rather brilliant and resourceful to me. What do you need me to do, baby?" Shannon asks Bones as she enters the room.

"Check the baby for me, will ya, darlin', then you can help me with her." Shannon nods and moves to the baby.

"Well, look at you, you beautiful little angel. We are gonna fix up your moma in no time, and have you back with her."

Shannon looks at Bones," She's resourceful, she probably used every scrap of clothing and blankets she could find to wrap up her baby. That's one hell of a momma there."

I had to agree. She'd walked barefoot, scantily dressed, stabbed, and beaten all to hell, and who knows what else, to warn us they were coming. I didn't miss that she kept emphasizing the women and children.

I've heard horror stories about both The Devil's Hogs and The Savages. Lots of talk about human trafficking and abusing club girls.

"My baby, where's my baby?" I hear frantic questions from the bed where the girl lies.

"Don't you worry, Momma, she's right here, and she's right as rain, you did good, honey." Shannon goes to her side, holding the baby in her arms.

"Her name is Hope." The girl said while looking adoringly at her daughter.

Then she sucked in a sharp breath and bit down on a scream or cry, or hell, both. "Sorry, hon, but I gotta get this wound cleaned out. You did well stopping the bleeding. I can honestly say, I have never thought about shoving tampons in a bleeding wound."

"It was all I had that I thought might work."

I just shook my head at the thought that this beautiful girl was put in this situation in the first place. She said Blood is her father. That man is just evil; lord only knows what he's done to her.

Bones looks at her, "Okay, I don't have anything really strong here, and if you're nursing, that might be a problem anyway. So, I'm just gonna use a local. It should help with finishing cleaning out the wound and stitching you up, but it's gonna burn like a bitch."

She nods at him, and he gets the shot ready. As he inserts the needle, she doesn't even flinch. When he starts to push the plunger and inject the medication, she grits her jaw and closes her eyes.

"What's your name, honey?" I realized we've never asked that.

"Well, my mom named me Rayne." She didn't look at me when she said that, and I wondered why she worded it that way.

The longer I stand here and watch her, listen to her voice, and watch her interact with her daughter, the surer I am that I'm never letting her go back to that hellhole.

Whether she knows it or not, she and her daughter just became mine.