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The End
www.evernightpublishing.com/sofia-aves
RAGE’S CLAIM
Winter Sloane
Copyright © 2024
Chapter One
Cassie Quinn rested her head against the sticky table so her world would stop spinning. The table probably had germs but she didn’t care. Cassie’s head throbbed with pain. Lisa, her roommate, asked if she was all right.
Her words came out slurred. Dammit, Cassie, get ahold of yourself, she silently yelled in her mind. Cassie shouldn’t have drunk so much, but it was Friday night and she was with her friends.
It was time to let loose after a hellish week at work. Her boss had been unbearable as always, and her senior always pushed her work pile at Cassie. It didn’t matter. None of her personal problems did.
The moment those three bikers entered the club, Cassie knew they were bad news. She didn’t recognize the patches on their cuts. The three men sauntered like they owned the place. They weren’t weekend biker hobbyists, but the sort of hard-eyed men that would do anything for money.
Cassie’s heart raced. Were they here looking for her? Was Cassie paranoid for thinking that?
Once upon a time, Cassie had memorized every biker patch by heart. Her father would probably be disappointed with her right about now. Then again, her father, Nolan Quinn, Breaker to his men, and the President of the Death Seekers MC, was thousands of miles from here.
Cassie left her hometown the moment she turned eighteen and never looked back. It hadn’t been all roses and sunshine. Cassie clawed and struggled, refusing to cash in the checks her father sent her.
There had been dark times and good times, but by some miracle, the small-town girl everyone used to call the “biker princess” managed to make a brand-new life for herself. She was proud of it too, even if her achievements paled in comparison to some people. Tonight, Cassie had a feeling everything she had managed to build would finally come crashing down on her.
Her skin crawled. If she was completely honest with herself, Cassie felt like she was being watched by phantom eyes the moment she and her friends entered the club. She dismissed the sensation at first, but now it was clear she wasn’t imagining things.
Cassie lifted her head. Her vision wobbled and she felt her gorge rise. She forced herself to swallow it back down. Cassie raked her gaze across the crowded room, despite how hard it was to focus.
The three bikers had split up and one was heading toward the tables where Cassie and the girls set. She used her curtain of dark hair to hide her face. The biker glanced at his phone, then looked past her, like Cassie was invisible. Once he moved along, Cassie let out a sigh of relief.
“I’m calling it a night,” she told Lisa. She fumbled with her phone but her vision swum again as she tried calling for a ride-sharing service.
“I’ll do it for you,” Lisa said firmly.
“You’re a good friend, Lisa,” Cassie whispered, handing her phone over.
“You’ve been acting weird tonight, Cassie,” Lisa said.
She managed to input their address on the app before handing Cassie’s cellphone back to her. Her phone pinged. Relief filled Cassie as the app informed her they found a driver for her.
“See you later,” Lisa said.
Cassie didn’t have the heart to respond to that. If there was trouble back in Hanging Cove, Kansas, home sweet home, then Cassie ought to contact Breaker—even if the thought of calling her father lined her stomach with dread.
She hadn’t spoken to him in seven years. Icy despair filled her stomach as she recalled Breaker’s hurt expression when she got into her car and told him flatly not to contact her.
Cassie wanted a do-over, after all. She’d never asked to be born as Breaker’s daughter, and Cassie had never wanted any part of the lifestyle her father and his men had chosen.
She stumbled on her stilettos as she nudged her way past the sweating throng of bodies. Maybe she should’ve worn easy-to-move-in flats. Then again, she didn’t anticipate the arrival of those bikers.
Cassie passed by men and women whose faces were flushed and overhyped with whatever drug or poison of choice for the evening. Cassie envied them.
She had arrived at the club earlier that evening, in the same state as them. All Cassie wanted to do was let loose, forget her problems for a brief time. Maybe even hook up with a dashing and handsome man. That mystery stranger would look at Cassie like she was the best thing that ever happened to him, even if it was just for one night.
For some reason, her murky memory cleared, and she thought of a sweet and sensitive dark-eyed boy who looked at her with puppy eyes full of longing back in high school. Why was she thinking about that boy now of all times? Cassie shook her head. She finally pushed open the club doors, revealing the cool night air outside. Cassie took in lungfuls of fresh air.
