Out Of The Shadows (HADES) (Whiskey Bend MC Series, Book #4)
Out Of The Shadows (HADES): Chapter 9

Everyone fell silent.

“I don’t think he’s done yet. He won’t stop until he wants to and he’s not ready to quit yet,” Cole interjected. “He’ll probably kill again tonight to prove he’s still a player.”

“I can order patrols to begin and have everyone on the force to pay attention to what’s going on,” Charlie added. “I don’t want to start a panic in the town because that won’t help the situation.”

Lucifer spoke, “For now, I think we should all get some rest while we still can. While I got my own patrols out. I don’t think he knows where we are right now but it isn’t take gonna him long to figure it out. We need to be alert and change patrols every few hours. Wherever this guy is he needs time to regroup. We can’t afford to give him that time. By hunting him down right off the bat that will give us the time we need to find him before he has time to plan anything in retaliation.” He glared at Charlie, Caden and Cole. “Just don’t get in our way. We didn’t ask for this fight but now we’re in it. He brought this to us we didn’t stick our noses into his business. Now he’s drawn blood, our blood and we can’t let that stand.” He got to his feet and looked down at Caden, “You’re more than welcome to stay here with the boy, but until this nutjob is out of commission the boy stays here under our protection. We found him and we’re keeping him until it’s safe for him to leave here.”

Caden nodded.

Charlie got to his feet. “Well, I’m heading home then. I’ll be back out tomorrow morning and check on things here. I’ll get the patrols going in town that I hope we won’t need. I have to protect the town’s people in case Drake decides to us them as a distraction.”

Demon stood up. “Uncle Charlie. You need to be careful too. He’s also after you.”

Charlie nodded. “I got my protection.” He then looked over at Hope. “You just keep her safe from that bastard. I’m entrusting her to your care, don’t let me down.”

Hades narrowed his eyes at the other man’s statement. “She’ll be ok.”

Hope turned and frowned at his words. “How can you say that?” she whispered.

Hades turned his dark eyes to her. “I say it because that freak will have to come through us… through me to get at you.”

Hope curled up into his lap and laid her head on his chest.

Hades gathered her in his arms and got to his feet. Marching down the hall, he pushed open one of the many doors and moved inside.

Chloe followed and made her way to the corner where she laid down watching them intently.

Hades slammed the door shut behind him with his foot and walked over to the bed carefully laying her down. He kicked off his shoes and socks then he took a moment to rid himself of his cut and t shirt before crawling over the top of her. He laid beside her and gathered her in his arms, wearing nothing more than his jeans. “I just need to hold you while we sleep.”

Hope looked up at his eyes and asked quietly, “Are you sure you want to be here with me?”

Hades smiled and asked, “Why wouldn’t I want to be here with you?”

Hope just stared at him for a moment before she said, “Because I’m a nobody and you’re you. You belong to an MC and you have all these friends. Me? I got nobody except for Chloe. She’s about the only friend I’ve had for longer than I want to admit. And she’s not even human.”

“Why do you say that like it’s a bad thing?”

Hope shrugged. “I was raised by a single mom, my dad left us both when she was pregnant with me, said he wasn’t ready to take on a baby yet. Hell, she wasn’t either. She liked to drink and party too much to worry about her child. She just left me behind one day. Said she had to go to the grocery store and I guess she forgot to come back. A neighbor called the cops after I’d been there alone for three days. I was put into the system and then I got lost somehow. Moved around a lot until I was fifteen then I decided I was better off on my own. I took off and lived in the streets until I could afford an apartment. I had to stay below the radar until I turned eighteen”

“How old are you now?” Hades frowned.

“Twenty-five.” She assured him. “Five years ago, I’d been living in the basement of that same building for two years already and I knew just about everyone who lived there. Most people wouldn’t have moved into the apartment next to Rhonda Billings because she was the most bitter old lady on the block but she didn’t bother me any. She didn’t like noise you see. The walls in that whole building were paper thin. She suffered from insomnia and she hated hearing noise at night when she was trying to sleep. The night I was attacked, I prayed she would call the police before he killed me. I never had anything in my life but suddenly I didn’t want to die.”

“Well, I’m glad you lived.” Hades nodded. “I’m going to make sure you stay alive and well.”

Hope snuggled closer to him as she sighed in seeming contentment.

Hades patted her back. “I’m thinking of keeping you Hope.”

Hope let out a low snore as she’d fallen to sleep.

This didn’t matter to Hades. Somehow, the minute they’d touched, he knew she belonged with him. He would just have to make sure she realized this. But first, he needed to get rid of this killer.

~* * * *~

Drake dragged his way through the woods as he climbed the hill behind the sleepy town of Whiskey Bend. Something had gone very wrong tonight and he was still trying to put things together. Who were the men that stopped him tonight? How did they know his plans? How had they just shown up out the blue to stop him from killing her?

He grunted as he paused in his flight to check his shoulder. His shirt was drenched in his own blood. The knife was still bloody and in his hands. He quickly put it away and leaning against the tree, he took a moment to check this new wound.

He hadn’t been aware of the bastard waiting for him at the top of the stairs at her house. He had blended into the shadows that usually kept him safe until the last minute and when they met, it was too late to retreat. Drake knew this man meant business and his style of fighting told him he knew what he was doing. Most people panicked when they met him in the dark, but not this man.

He felt the bite of the bullet when it ripped through his shoulder and for the first time, Drake ran away from the situation. That had never happened before. He’d been surprised and he didn’t handle surprise all that well. Then as he ran out the backdoor, there had been another man waiting for him. Drake had slashed him. Where had these men had come from and how did they knew he would be there?

Drake felt the rage inside him growing as his pain grew. The adrenalin he felt earlier was fading now and his body was beginning to feel everything that had gone wrong. He held his hand pressed against his shoulder as he made his way back to his hiding place.

He thought about going back to the caves and killing the kid but suddenly he knew he had to treat his wound before it was him that died from blood loss in that fucking cave.

He had to think about what had taken place tonight and make new plans for tomorrow. He was so close to tying up the loose end, he left behind five years ago and he needed to finish what he started here. Once this trip was over, he could move on and find a new place to live and his next victim.

Stumbling off, he made his way to yet another cave he’d found the other day.

Sᴇarch the FindNovel.net website on G𝘰𝘰gle to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.