Tommy
I woke up to the sound of rain hitting my window. The steady pitter-patter of water against glass should have been welcome after the unbearable heatwave that we were going through. But it did nothing but open a pit of dread in my stomach.
I didn’t know why.
All I knew was that something wasn't right. Something I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
For a moment, the sky outside my window was split open and lightning illuminated my bedroom in an eerie white light. I used the sudden flash to glance around, my eyes sweeping over the room.
There was nothing different from what I could see, not one thing out of place. Everything was exactly how I had left it. Hastily discarded clothes littered the floor and there were three beautiful, naked figures in my bed, their lithe limbs entwined with mine.
Everything was how it should be. And yet I couldn’t shake the feeling that something horrible was about to happen. And I knew better than to ignore my gut.
I hadn’t survived so long on my own by ignoring my intuition. And it was screaming at me that something was amiss.
Something big, life changing.
Sitting upright, I let the tanned arm that was looped around my midsection fall. A quiet grumble left the girl’s lips at being disturbed. I didn’t even glance down at her. She would never grumble to my face. She knew better.
Being in my clubhouse was a privilege I didn’t give to many. Being in my bed was an honour. And they all knew better than to get on the wrong side of me.
I may have changed my name to Tommy, but I was still the monster the myths and legends told of. I was still Bloody Bones. That hadn’t changed just because I had moved across the world and gathered a new family of sorts around me.
Clambering over the tangle of arms and legs, I reached for my jeans, pulling them up over my legs in jerky movements.
The feeling of dread wasn’t going away. If anything, it was getting stronger. I couldn’t shake it, so I didn't even try.
If something was about to happen, and I was sure it was, then I needed to be ready. I couldn’t be caught with my pants around my ankles. Literally. It wasn’t unheard of for us to be attacked. Rare, but not unheard of. We were the Legion of Vidar, and we had made more than a few enemies over the years. Both in the human world, because we were to them at least an outlaw motorcycle club, and with the paranormal community as a whole.
It wasn’t the humans I was afraid of.
But the paranormal community could be...bothersome.
The thought made me grin as I shoved my bare feet into my boots, not bothering to tie them. Bothersome was a good word, or as I liked to call them, massive pains in my ass.
As president of my chapter, it was my job to deal with them, and whatever else Levi sent our way. How did the saying go? s**t rolled downhill.
I wasn’t exactly at the bottom of the pile anymore. But that didn’t mean it wouldn’t land on me. I knew it was coming.
Making my way from my room and into the common room, I paused just long enough to take in the bodies that were strewn across the couches and floor. The previous night hadn’t been a party, but that didn’t mean the men hadn’t enjoyed themselves.
A lot.
Empty bottles littered the tables. Glasses were piled high on the bar.
Someone would have to clean it all up, and that someone wouldn’t be me. Maybe one of the club girls. It didn’t really matter. All that mattered was that the mess was sorted out. I had a thing about mess. Maybe because for centuries after my brother’s suicide, my brain had been in turmoil. Until Levi had found me, the only creature I had ever met that was scarier than I was. He had given me a reason to carry on living. A family.
He had given me the Legion MC
I owed Levi my life, and I was loyal to him above all others, but that didn’t mean I always agreed with his methods.
“Tommy?”
My head snapped up as I pushed my way out of the wide doors and into the storm. We had prayed for this. For any kind of break from the relentless heat that had been plaguing us, but this storm held no relief.
The air was muggy, and lightning forked through low hanging clouds. The atmosphere was charged with electricity, heightening my sense of unease.
“Hey.” I nodded my head at my VP as I stepped up to his side. My eyes followed his to the sky. His face was as troubled as mine. Whatever it had been that had woken me up, he had felt it as well. Which wasn’t surprising. There was a reason he was my vice president. He worked from his instincts just like I did. And those instincts very rarely failed us.
“Any idea what is going on up there?” I peered into the gloom. Dawn was approaching fast, but it would be a long time before the sun pierced through the clouds. If they did at all. The storm was too strong.
And above it, there was something else, the sound of something large approaching. A predator to scare all predators. The trees bent with the force of a hurricane.
Something massive was above us.
Even with our advanced sight, we couldn’t see what it was.
“It’s one hell of a storm, that’s what.” Raze’s eyes never left the fast-moving clouds swirling above our heads.
It wasn’t that. I was sure of it.
Something else was up there.
And I had a sneaking suspicion I knew what it was. Moving without thinking, I shoved the taller man back into the doorway.
“Get back.” I knew what was about to happen, just as I knew what was above us.
Something white fell from the sky, landing with a bloody thump where only moments before we had been standing.
A white goat.
Its neck was bent sharply, and its glassy sightless eyes stared up at the sky.
“Is that what I think it is?” Raze said on an in-breath, his barrel-like chest swelling.
Risking a quick glance at him out of the corner of my eye, I nodded.
“Yeah, Levi has sent us a message.” Crouching over the bloody remains of the animal, I threw a glance over my shoulder, my eyes meeting Raze’s. “Get the others up and prepare. Levi has a job for us.”