Redemption (Rogue Nation MC #1)

3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Mako

“Oh, hell no!” Bear shouted as he slammed his fist down on the table. “We ain’t doing this, Mako. NOT HAPPENING!”

“Oh, it’s happening, brother.” I could feel the anger rolling off Bear in waves. If I were a weaker man, his alpha energy would make me tremble as it did for many of our other brothers around the table. With my signature shrug and a smirk, “Just not the way he thinks it will.”

I could feel the tension ease a bit. He was my brother; he trusted me. He. Knows. Me. As disgusting and difficult as it was to explain it all to the club, it was hardest to explain to Bear. He watched his parents being run off the road and killed when he was 13. All because his omega father told an alpha ‘No’ when propositioned at a gas station. The alpha and his buddies in the truck did a whole 5 years in prison for killing both his parents and putting him in the hospital. The courts determined it was his father’s fault for saying no. He should have deferred to his alpha husband to make that decision. I knew Bear’s parents. There was no decision. His alpha father would have killed the other alpha for hitting on a claimed omega. Fuck, our world was so fucked up. “We need to work out a foolproof plan for this. Get Hogg’s money and get his son the hell out of this fucked up place.”

“How? He’s the fuckin mayor, he’s got connections. He’ll bury us if this goes sideways.” Leave it to Gates to be the voice of reason. “We shouldn’t touch this with a 10-foot pole, Mako. Shoulda just told him ‘No’ man.” Gates leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms across his chest, waiting for a reply. He didn’t speak out often, but when he did, we listened. The man was just that damn smart. Like scary smart sometimes. He could do things with a computer that would baffle the best tech engineers, but he was all ours. Our brother, our info line, our hacker when needed. Plus, he had a heart of gold that was a well-guarded secret

“With as much shit as we’ve got on him, I doubt he’d push too hard in our direction. One wrong step and we let the cat outta the bag in the right direction. The man will spend the rest of his miserable life in prison. His woman has zero standing other than being the greedy whore she is, and him and his son are as corrupt as they come. We can destroy the whole fuckin’ family. Remove the blight from our town.” Just thinking about this whole mess gave me a headache.

“No one has seen this Theodore kid in over 5 years, man. No medical records, passport or ID on him. We know nothing about him other than what Hogg told you. Last time anyone lay eyes on him outside that house was the old man’s funeral. They pushed him from the car into the church and pushed him from the church to the car. That’s it. He might as well already be dead, brother.” I knew Gates had dug as far as he could on the computer. Now we were coming face to face with someone who might as well be a ghost. I wasn’t completely comfortable going into this, but there was no way in hell I was going to let that bastard kill someone, anyone, over fuckin money. Everyone has a line they won’t cross. Well, most people have one anyway. This was mine. Not everything I did was completely legal, but I’ve never done or let physical harm come to anyone over something I did. My grand dad didn’t, my father didn’t, I’d be damned if it started with me.

Taking the envelope with the information Hogg gave me from my cut, I tossed it on the table towards Gates. “That’s him and the information. Get it done. Bring him here and put him in the guest room upstairs. We’ll explain everything to him and go from there. Meeting adjourned.” I was done with this shit for now. I needed a drink and maybe a blow job. Not necessarily in that order.

I walked into the bar from the back of the clubhouse to find one prospect tending the bar for the night. “Beer”. He nodded his head. I waited for him to pop the top and set it down. I sat on my stool at the end of the bar. “Perks of being Prez.” my dad always said. No one sits in your seat.

Trying to relax and ease my mind as I scanned the bar, I felt a familiar peace roll over me. This was home. These men (and women) were my family. It was my job to keep them safe. Bear sat next to me. “Beer, prospect.” More of a grumble than actual words. Then again, none of us had difficulty understanding him. It was just how he spoke.

Bear stared at the wall covered with bottles behind the bar and huffed a laugh. “Lording over your kingdom again?”

“Fuck you, man.” He could always make me smile when I needed it, and he always knew when the need was there.

“Nah, I got no interest in being anybody’s alpha hole.” The laugh came from deep in his belly.

“I got no interest in your smelly ass alpha hole, ya dumb fuck.” I couldn’t stop the laughter in my voice. He always knew when to start his shit with me.

“Seriously, though, Eddie. You good man? It looked like you wanted to kill someone. You can’t let this shit get to you, brother.” There were times I felt like I hated this fucker, if for nothing else but how well he knew me. Friends for over 25 years could do that to people.

“Yeah Nate, I’m good man. You know how it is. Just gets to me when some asshat alpha wanna be using his designation to bully and hurt people, especially those weaker than them. I mean, Jesus, you saw what Gates got. Fat fuck is worth 25 mill himself and he wants to off his kid just so he can pad his bank account with more money. His fuckin kid man. His omega kid. You shoulda seen his face when he had to admit his kid was an omega. You woulda thought the kid was a leper licking every donut on the tray.” So much for trying to relax.

“I get it, man. I do. Women and omegas been at the bottom of the barrel for a long time. I’ll be the first to tell you they don’t deserve it. Some fucked up shit went down a lot of years ago and now we’re all paying for it. Shifters paid, women paid, hell brother… we’re all still paying. All we can do is the best we can and help those we can. Look around Eddie. Your Gramps built something great. A home, a SAFE place for everyone. Biology doesn’t dictate what goes on here. WE DO.” Not the first time I’d heard the speech, and it wouldn’t be the last. Once again, it was just what I needed to hear in the moment. He leaned over and elbowed me in the ribs. “Speaking of holes, man, Owen is checking you out again. You should hit it, man, hit it hard.” He knew that wouldn’t happen. I didn’t dip my dick in the pool where everyone else swam, but he pushed it anyway. Bastard.

“Nah, head is one thing, ass is another. I ain’t going there and you know it.” I chuckled as I smiled in Owen’s direction. He was a cute kid. Been through hell but doing so much better since he showed up at our door a couple of years ago. No more being forced to do anything he didn’t want to do. Still, he apparently wanted to do it all. Better yet, wanted it all done to him.

“I’m headed up to bed man, I got planning to do. Have a good night, brother.” Bear patted my shoulder and turned to leave.

Bear leaving evidently gave Owen the green light to saunter on over to me. He stood on his tiptoes and lay his head on my shoulder. “Hey Mako. Want some company?”

“I was thinking about it.” I turned to him and gave him my best smirk.

“Yeah? How about you holler at Bear, you can tag team me. You two are the only ones here that haven’t gotten a piece of this.” Hope lit in his eyes. Everyone knew Owen wasn’t looking to be anyone’s ole lady or ole man. He was lonely and quite a few of the brothers had no problem easing that loneliness, even if it was just for a night. Owen was welcome to stay as long as he wanted to be here. He knew there were no strings attached. He could say no anytime and not one person here would think badly of him. If they did, I’d make sure they were out on their ass. I didn’t put up with that shit.

I turned on my stool and looked at him. He looked so different from the night he showed up. The boy was so thin he was emaciated. Bones and joints sticking out all over his sallow skin. Dark circles under his pale green eyes from fear and lack of sleep. We thought he was going to die on our front stoop. It took weeks of feeding and caring for him to even leave the guest room. Fuck, the same room I was about to stick Hogg’s boy in. That thought killed it for me. No head for me tonight. “Sweetheart, I would gag you to death and Bear would break you in half. You’ve heard the stories.” Hell, we’d all heard the stories and seen the way guys limped and waddled out of Bear’s room the next morning. If the hang arounds and Bear himself were to be trusted, the man was hung like a fuckin horse and knew how to use it. We even had one guy at a party run from the back room with Bear chasing after him. The boy was screaming about how there was no way in hell that it was going to fit. Bear was laughing so hard, he doubled over and let the guy run right out the door. Never saw him back again. “Why don’t you get some rest sweetheart, you look kinda tired. We can think about it another night. OK?” I tried to let him down easy.

“OK Prez, but if you change your mind, you know where to find me.” He leaned up and kissed my cheek and wandered off. It was difficult to explain, but I could look at Owen and go half hard, wanting to make the boy gag on my cock. Then he would speak. I would remember how he came to be here, and I’d go as soft as a baby blanket. I just couldn’t do that to him or to myself.

With my night officially over, I headed up to my apartment on the top floor of the clubhouse. It wasn’t much, but it was my home. 2 bedrooms, kitchenette, living room and a bath. My bathroom was the nicest room in the whole clubhouse. Jacuzzi tub and shower that would fit at least 3 people. I had it redone in black-and-white marble tiles with a drain in the center of the room in case things got wet and wild. Not that they ever did. I didn’t bring anyone here. Ever. Bear was the only other person who had ever been in my bathroom, and that was because he was like my blood brother, the one I trusted above anyone else.

After a quick shower and finishing up my nightly routine, I fell into my bed. I didn’t even bother to unwrap the towel from around my waist. Lights out for me.