Page 4 of Hades

“Rogers,” he supplied and shook my hand.

I turned to Raven and helped her to her feet. “Come on, let’s get you back to the clubhouse.”

She looked up at me with those big brown eyes that appeared to be on the verge of tears and nodded. “Yeah. Okay. The clubhouse sounds good.”

Macy stood, her gaze bouncing between me and Raven. “Go with Hades.”

I hated that she trembled so fucking violently under my hand. “Yeah, you can finally get on the back of my bike like you always wanted.”

Some of her life returned when she glared up at me. “You wish, Hell Boy.”

I laughed. “Hold on as tight as you want. I won’t tell,” I whispered in her ear when we reached the bottom steps. I blocked the crime scene and walked her around the tape and the body covered by a small tent. “Cop all the feels you want.”

“Dick,” she grumbled before I covered her head with my helmet.

My smile faded as I started the engine and got on the road. She was hiding something and I had to find out sooner rather than later. Whatever it was, it was more than that young girl that had Raven on edge.

Chapter Three

Raven

I stood in the hot shower for far too long because every time I closed my eyes, I saw Katya. Her lifeless eyes and the ugly red slash that split her throat open. The way they left her exposed and naked to the world, cutting her down the middle for added insult. She’d been tortured, probably for the flash drive that was still plugged into my laptop. I called Macy after finding her, and she convinced me to call the cops. Not involving them might have been even worse. I still wasn’t happy about it though, because once I give a statement, my name was going to be on their computers. It might not be the name that Viktor knew, but if he had anything to do with Katya’s murder then I was sure he’d be checking out anyone she was associated with. The shower was hot and it warmed me physically but did nothing for the ice-cold chill inside.

Once I was dry and completely dressed, not to mention safe in my room at the clubhouse, my body still refused to calm the fuck down. I still trembled and my teeth chattered too, but it was shock. And fear. And most of all, it was reliving a time in my life I never wanted to live again.

A soft knock sounded before the door opened and Macy popped her head inside. “Can I come in? I brought food. And whiskey.”

“Yeah, sure.” I waved her inside, happy to see her even though I hadn’t asked her to come. “Thanks for getting there so quickly. I shouldn’t have called you to see that gruesome shit but I picked up my phone and just dialed.”

She flashed a soft smile that held not one fucking ounce of pity, which I was grateful for. “I’m glad. I never had a female friend before and I’m glad I could be there for you.” She set down the tray and wrapped her arms around me. “Are you okay?”

I shrugged. “I honestly don’t fucking know, Mace. I feel bad I couldn’t keep Katya safe and I promised her I would.”

“You did what you could,” she insisted even though she couldn’t know that. “Did you hear anything?”

“That’s the fucked up part,” I said, shaking my head. “I couldn’t sleep for shit last night, like literally at all, and I didn’t hear a damn thing.” That was the part that pissed me off, I didn’t hear her or her killers.

“Shit, Raven. I’m sorry I even encouraged you to work at the SCCC. I thought it would be good for you.”

“It has been,” I insisted because that was the truth. “Helping others has been surprisingly helpful just like you said it would be,” I paused. I’d told her part of the story on the phone, but not everything. “The thing is, Katya didn’t just go through what I went through. She was taken by the same people who took me.”

She pulled back and gasped, eyes wide and darkened by fear. “Shit, are you sure? How do you know?”

I inhaled deeply, letting it out slowly before I shared the next bit with her. “At the end of the meeting Katya asked to talk, and she gave me a flash drive. That’s part of why I couldn’t sleep, I looked at the drive, and it freaked me the fuck out.”

“You still have it?”

I nodded.

“We need to turn it over to the FBI. They’re best equipped to handle it. No offense to the Steel Demons but this is bigger than that.”

“Turn what over to the FBI?”

I jumped a foot off the bed, screaming like a terrified schoolgirl too. “Shit, Hades! You scared the fuck outta me.” With my hand on my chest, I glared at him while I got my breathing back to normal. “What are you doing eavesdropping?”

“Hardly,” he snorted. “I knocked and stood in the doorway for about two minutes before I spoke.” He crossed his arms over his chest, showing off thick biceps and forearms covered in tattoos. “Turn what over to the FBI?”

Danny, one of the prospects, popped his head in the room. “Is everything okay?”