Tyrant (Kings of Carnage MC: Alabama #1)

Chapter 18

Tyrant

T he chaos that I discovered leaving my room was the last thing I’d been expecting. The club sluts were screaming in fear as men surrounded the clubhouse with a ring of fire. “What the fuck?” I shout, staring out the window. The prospects are out there on this side of the literal fire, shooting the hoses towards the flames. Henley runs past me, a ten-pound bag of flour over each shoulder. “The fuck?” I repeat.

Darlene says, “Flour will help put the fire out.”

With a nod, I turn my focus on Kitty. “Kit, shut the fuck up with your screaming. Go grab the fire extinguisher. If the flames come inside, douse the fucking fire and get Blair the hell out of here.” She’s dumbstruck for a moment, so I shout, louder, “You hear me?” It snaps her out of it and she nods, running for the kitchen.

“You too, Darlene,” I order, and she takes off towards the laundry room without another word to do as she’s told.

“Twilah Jane, fill up the five-gallon buckets we have behind the bar with water and put them next to the door in case we need to grab them. Be ready to refill them.”

“Got it.” She dashes behind the bar, in such a hurry she drops the buckets and they clatter several times before the water kicks on.

“Are all the brothers outside?” If someone’s asleep, I need to wake them the fuck up.

“They’re out there,” she shouts and points back at the window.

“Give me the shotgun behind the bar.”

She rushes to do as she’s told and slides the gun across the bar. Shots echo outside, so I hurry for the front door. Storming through it, I slam the heavy door shut behind me and momentarily take in everything. The prospects work on putting the fire out while my brothers shoot at the men on the other side of the flames. As soon as a big enough gap is created between the flames, my brothers are darting through.

“Fuck!” I growl and cock the shotgun. These motherfuckers got me out of bed, spending time with my woman for some motherfucking ruckus? These fuckers are gonna die. With fury making my gut clench and heart beat faster, I jog for the nearest opening. The closest motherfucker on the other side is on a goddamn horse. A legit horse, like some old-time western movie he just rode in on. Without hesitation, I reach for him, dragging his ass down. He gets trapped in his long weird robes he’s got on and falls into the dirt at my feet.

“Betcha wasn’t expecting for us to be so motherfuckin’ tall, were you?” I ask, then slam my foot into his face. It’d be even better if I had my steel-toed boots on so I could crush his fucking skull. I shift, pulling my leg back to land a kick into his gut and then his chest. His breath leaves him on my contact and I continue to land kick after kick until he’s no longer moving or making a sound. I run for the next fuck face on a horse, lift the shotgun and aim for his chest. It blasts a hole clear through and he falls to the ground with a scream. Peering over him, I slam the butt of the gun into his nose repeatedly until he’s no longer moving either.

“Get Blair!” Rogue shouts. “You were supposed to be inside! I just saw one of their men head inside the club.”

“It’s the cult!” Creed yells, louder than I’ve ever heard him before. Havoc, raining shots into someone, shakes me out of my momentarily pause. Their words hit me like a ton of bricks, the implication clear.

Josef has come for my woman.

He’s going to try to kill her, and I swore to protect her. To save her and her daughter from him.

I’m instantly turning around, pushing myself, but even with my long strides, I swear my feet don’t move fast enough. I barge into the clubhouse, peering around, but only find the club whores doing as I’d ordered earlier. Zero dips in, grabs a bucket of water, runs outside, dumps, and comes back for another. Twilah Jane works in sync with him, refilling the buckets as quickly as she can.

Leaving them behind, I head for my room. Throwing the door open, what I find makes my blood run cold. My woman, trapped on the floor by some fuck wearing white robes. His hands are wrapped around her throat as he angrily says something close to her face. I’m raging far too hard to hear a word he says. Without missing a beat, I rush forward, pulling my leg back and sending a heavy kick to his face. The forceful impact instantly breaks his hold on Blair, making him fall back onto the floor. It’s game on with his hands off her.

Dropping the shotgun, I move over him. This is much more personal than giving him the easy way out with a bullet to his head. “You’ll never touch her again,” I promise and begin beating her ex-husband. My foot finds his face again, knocking it to the side as the impact from my second kick breaks his jaw, then I’m on top of him, pummeling him. Right, left, right, my fists rain pain. My forehead flies into his, then again, as it busts open with blood gushing everywhere.

I’m no longer a man, but a savage, out for blood. Before he can get a hit in, I’m holding his head, hands over his ears, as I begin to slam it into the stained concrete. Over and over, it hits the hard surface, blood coating my fingers as it stains my floor darker with the crimson liquid.

My anger boils over, and I pause my slamming to begin to squeeze. I don’t know what I’m expecting to accomplish by doing so, as I know damn well it takes over five hundred pounds of pressure to crush a human skull. I try regardless. I want to feel this fuck’s brain matter splatter between my palms before I stop my assault. He’ll never touch my woman again; I’m going to make sure of it if I have to take him apart, piece by piece, with my bare, bloody hands. He will never hurt her again. No one will. She’s mine.

His skull gives, as the sensation of bones fracturing carries through my palms. It’s enough to have the red haze of rage clouding my gaze begin to clear. Reality peppers in once more, and I find myself blinking several times, taking in the gruesome mess before me. What will Blair think of me now?

I told her I was a monster. Will she believe me now?

I stare down at Josef’s body, memorizing how his unmoving form looks. Blood surrounds him now; it’s poured from every orifice, it seems, his once white, billowy robes now stained to match the true nature inside him. The fact he found Blair, showed up here to hurt her, and tried to burn the club down, has me sitting in blank silence. I’ve never wanted to kill someone so ruthlessly as I did with this man. It has to mean something, right? I didn’t do this for me but for her.

“Tyrant,” is said in shock from my doorway, stirring me from the stupor I was momentarily caught up in as I cataloged everything I just did. Havoc comes to stand beside me. “Is she…?” he asks, and it hits me that Blair isn’t tugging on me to stop. She’s not screaming in disgust. She’s not beside me, kicking and slamming her tiny fists against this piece of shit in outrage. I glance up, meeting his stare, before my eyes move to the woman lying still in the middle of my floor. Her dark hair spanning out behind her seems darker than usual against the oversized round rug I have running around my bed. She lays there, a porcelain doll, perfection in a world full of darkness.

“Fuck, Blair!” I shout and move to her. My hands reach for her, but I stutter as blood drips from my fingertips and arms. I’m fucking covered. The knees of my jeans are damn near black from being in the pool of blood for so long.

Havoc yanks his shirt off his back, offering it to me. Grabbing it, I nod in gratitude and quickly wipe my hands and arms. They aren’t clean but at least they aren’t dripping. It’s hard to breathe as I stare at my woman. My chest is unusually tight and not in the same way as when I see her smile at me. No, this is all pain. A black hole the size of the universe begins eating away at me as it hits me—she’s still not moving.

“S-sugar?” I whisper. My stomach flips so hard, I may wretch. My fingers clench, hands turning to fists again as I contemplate beating the dead man behind me some more for making Blair this way. I should’ve checked on her the moment I kicked his ass away from her. “Blair?” I croak. My voice is fucked as emotion coats every syllable. She’s my wife. My woman. I’ve barely gotten her in my life, and now, being forced to stare at her tiny frame has me ready to spiral. “Havoc, I-I don’t know what to do, man. What the fuck do I do now?”

In the next beat, Zero is sliding to the ground. His hand flies to her neck, checking her pulse. He leans in at the same time, pressing his ear to her chest. It takes everything in me not to rip him away from her and beat him to death next.

“She’s mine,” I say on a powerful growl.

His gaze widens, taking me in. As he does so, he leans back, raising his hands up in surrender. “It’s okay, big guy, I’m just making sure she’s alright.”

“Want to die next?” I ask.

“She’s got a pulse. She’s breathing,” he says instead of responding to my threat. With his words, an intense feeling of hope washes over me.

Havoc immediately pokes his head out my door, barking orders. He yells at the prospects to get shit to clean up my room and remove the body. He tells a few of the others to head towards the creek to start digging. These bodies need to disappear immediately. If the cops catch wind of the fire or the shots being fired, we could be fucked. Knowing my brothers, the yard outside will be littered with bodies. Hell, I killed two out there myself.

“Get up, brother. Change your clothes and get her in bed so she can recoup in comfort.”

I meet Prez’s stare and nod, moving to do as he’s ordered. I’m glad one of us can think straight right now because it sure as fuck isn’t me. I stuff my jeans and socks in the trash in my bathroom, then take a wet washcloth to begin wiping my cut down. Most of my patches are now speckled with blood splatter, but I don’t mind. I’ll wear the trophies with even more pride, knowing I killed that motherfucker for Blair. I stroll through my room naked except for my cut and head for my closet. The closest black hoodie to me gets grabbed, same with my jeans. I tug them all on, putting my cut back on and grab another pair of socks from my basket of clean clothes I haven’t put away yet. Snatching my boots, Glock, and a few knives, I take them with me as I leave the closet.

Havoc’s still standing there, watching everything transpire as the prospects lay a tarp out to roll the body in. “Going somewhere?” he asks, brows furrowed.

“Promised her I’d get her kid back, figure now’s the time since half of that fucking cult is dead.”

His expression relaxes and he nods. “Agreed. We’ll leave the prospects to clean up with the club sluts and the brothers will ride out to get the kid.”

This is why he’s my best friend. Why they all are.

“Appreciate it, Prez,” I say and move to Blair’s side. She’s breathing. It’s all that matters right now. She can heal from her wounds, and the emotional trauma she’s sure to have with this shit going down at the club. It’ll take time, but I’ll be right here, beside her, if she’ll allow it.

“Looks like you have a lot on your mind,” Havoc mentions, and I agree.

“Thinking I need to be close to the MC, but the clubhouse is not someplace to raise a little girl.”

“Agreed. Maybe it’s time to build those cabins we’ve talked about for years. Our club is growing, we need to be ready for it.”

“Yes, the cabins. I’ll build our next place we call home.”

“You that sure she’s keeping your ornery ass.”

“I’m keeping him,” interrupts our discussion. Our attention flies to the bed where Blair shifts, moving to sit up.

“Sugar! Fuck! You worried me something fierce.” I move to the side of the bed, sitting and pulling her into my arms. She comes willingly, eager to wrap her arms around me as well. “I thought I lost you, babydoll.”

“I asked HIM to protect you.”

I pull back, brows furrowed. She asked her ex to protect me? “Blair, I have to tell you something. I-uh, I killed him. Josef is gone. He’ll never hurt you again, I made sure of it.” My gaze flies to her, expecting to see disgust and fear in hers.

She shocks me when her lips tilt up into a sad smile. She nods. “It had to be done, Tyrant. There was no other way, he never would’ve stopped searching for me. Now my daughter can’t be poisoned by him either.”

Leaning in, I press a tender kiss to her forehead before lightly resting mine against hers. “I thought I lost you,” I get choked up all over again. “Never been so fucked up in my life, baby. Can’t imagine breathing in a life if you’re not in.”

Her hand moves to cup my cheek. “I’m not going anywhere. We’re married, remember?” She winks and, in that moment, I know her and me? We’re going to be just fine.

“You guys ready?” Havoc checks with Rogue and Creed as they fill the doorway. They peer at Blair, worry filling their gazes until my woman offers them a smile and a small wave.

“Hey guys. This is the only time you’ll see me in bed, so don’t count on it again,” she teases and their expressions break. They chuckle in surprise, their shoulders instantly relaxing a beat.

“Good news, babe.” Creed replies.

“The grouchy bastard would’ve been intolerable, so thanks baby cakes,” Rogue smiles widely and I flip him the bird.

“We’re wasting time. Our brother has a little girl to rescue,” Havoc interrupts, and I jump to my feet.

“Prez is right. We need to go now while we have the surprise. Can’t believe those idiots showed up on horses.” I shake my head.

Havoc’s brow hikes in amusement, “Yep. Just picked up some farm animals for the compound. Looks like we have a tax write-off.” We chuckle, knowing the club sluts will be ecstatic. They’ve been asking for a baby cow for the past two years.

“Wait, you’re going to get Graceful Joy right now?”

“Yep, it’s time,” I respond and grab an extra clip, just in case. I replace my cut with my solid black leather jacket and place the clip in my interior pocket for later. Best case scenario, I won’t need to use it, but if I do, I’ll have it at the ready.

“I need to go with you.”

“Not happening, the four of us answer as one.”

She laughs at it, then grows serious. “You have no idea what my daughter looks like. They won’t give you her simply because you ask them to. She was the Profit’s daughter. She’s the most coveted child on the property.”

Havoc sighs, Creed’s gaze hits the floor, Rogue stares at me. I release a heavy breath and concede, “She’s right. They have no pictures.”

“Fuck,” Havoc grumbles before giving me a nod. The brothers follow up with the same and we’re in agreeance. It’s another layer of danger, involving Blair, but it looks like we have no choice in the matter. My woman is coming with us.