Warlords MC – The Complete Series

King kept chuckling. “You are something else, Officer Giovanni.” He had to admit, this woman was unlike any female he’d ever met. A challenge. He paused. Was that it? She met him punch for punch. Stood up to him in a way that at first, he couldn’t seem to handle. Then seeing Ace and his girl… It had put it all into focus for him. Ace had been the same way. He continued to fuck things up with Charli. Then when he finally figured it out and his brothers helped to set him straight, he’d claimed her and never stepped aside after that.

Am I ready to do that? I’ve been without any entanglements for my whole life and I liked it that way. Do I know how to… he paused. How to keep a woman without fucking it up?

A pounding sounded somewhere in the house.

They both froze while noises ‒ and swearing could be heard ‒ as whoever it was came closer.

King grabbed his phone and tapped it. He waited with no answer coming. “Dammit, why don’t they pick up?”

Mags looked around and tossed a t-shirt over her head, shoved her arms through the sleeves, then grabbed her gun and switched the safety off.

King swiped his phone. Where the fuck were his brothers? He buttoned his jeans while moving swiftly to the side of the doorjamb, getting ready.

Abruptly, the door slammed open.

Mags’ body tensed as she held her gun aimed at the intruder.

King knew he would never allow anyone to get the drop on her, so he allowed her to just stand there, so he could take down whatever asshole came through that door.

Max stood there, staring at her while his jaw dropped open.

Yes, an asshole. King rolled his eyes. Just not the dangerous kind.

“Hello, Stokes,” Mags greeted him in almost a shy way while holding a loaded weapon in her hands.

He paled by two shades and shook his head as if he couldn’t believe his own eyes. “What in the hell?”

King stepped out into the doorway.

“What is going on here…?” Max spluttered as he stared at Mags, then shot his stunned gaze over at King. “She’s wearing your t-shirt man!” he exclaimed.

King calmly swung his gaze over and studied her with heated eyes, then dropped his stare to her long shapely legs peeking out from beneath. “Why…She is, isn’t she?”

Max looked stunned beyond measure.

Mags looked down. She had grabbed his shirt in her haste to get dressed.

King laughed as he turned and glanced at him. “Fits her nice, I think.” He went over to the dresser. “You got any large shirts, Magdalena?”

“Umm…” she faltered. “I got an old academy shirt? It’s blue and double x?”

He stopped and looked at her.

Shrugging, she said, “I ordered that size on purpose. I could give yours back?”

He stared at her wearing his shirt. She should be wearing my shirt. Wearing pink marks on that skin that I made. “No…” He turned back and rummaged through the dresser as he tossed out clothes. He found the blue t-shirt and tugged it on then grabbed his cut. He could feel Max’s gaze trained on him as he sat on a chair and tugged his boots on.

Max just stared wide-eyed and he would look at King, then back again at Mags.

His actions were so animated that King wanted to laugh, but he just did not have time to appease Stokes right now.

Mags sat down quietly on the bed and laid the gun down.

King knew he would need to talk to his friend, but later. He needed to get her the hell out of here. Then he needed to finally tell her what all Joker had found. When she got hurt, she was in no shape to hear what they’d found in those chicken scratchings as she called it. Her dad was no dummy. It was code. The man had been clever, but Chapman had gotten him in the end. King felt his gut tighten, but he wasn’t getting the man’s daughter. King would fucking die first. Remaining oblivious to the tension or the shock waves reverberating in the room, he grabbed her Nikes and knelt down, placing them onto her feet.

Mags stared down at him, looking amazed at his actions. “Umm, King?’

He grunted. “Yeah?”

“Y-you are on your knees.”

He paused and peered up at her. Then he laughed. He recalled their conversation before about this. “Yes, I am.” He gave her a wink. “But don’t get used to it.”

Max must have noted the obvious flaming of her cheeks because he looked as though you could have knocked him over with a feather. “Well, fuck me already!”

“I told you before Maxxie, I’m not into guys,” King joked and tugged Mags up from the bed.

Max just kept shaking his head emphatically as if he did not believe what he was looking at. “So you two actually did what I said? That’s shocker. You went for it!”

Mags stared at him. “Max. He—I mean I was jogging and—”

“How the hell did you get in here?” King wanted to know as he stared at Max. Then his phone buzzed. He swiped it. “What the fuck Storm?”

“Dammit, King. It took two of us to load those gorillas. Then we saw a squad car and had to wait till it passed.”

“Yeah well, Maxxie boy just got in here.”

“It was like two fucking minutes, King then Deuce was in place man. He slipped through in those 2 minutes, I guess?”

“You guess? Fuck…” King calmed himself. “Ok, I get it. We are heading over.” He swiped the phone.

Mags watched him. “What happened? Your brothers didn’t get hurt, did they?”

King shook his head. “No, they were handling the thugs, and before Deuce could arrive, our boy slipped in.” He gazed over at Max.

Max looked lost. “Who got in here? What thugs?”

“I don’t have the fucking time for a debrief…” King grabbed Mag’s hand then tugged her forward. “We gotta go, Stokes. Gauntlet has put a hit out on her.”

Max looked completely lost as they both sped past him. “What?” He followed them through the house to the front door.

King halted as he dropped Mags’ hand and peeked out through the curtain at the front window. “Okay, looks clear.”

“Dude, nothing is clear right now. I mean what is going—?”

“Later Max, we need to clear out. We’ll be across town.”

Max put his hands up. “Wait!” His expression turned somber. “You can’t take Mags—Um, Giovanni to a hotel!”

The couple turned and stared at him.

“I mean–that’s just not…” His voiced faded away. “She’s not just a fling…”

King showed the hint of a smile. “Max…. It’s the safe house, okay?” He opened the door and peered out both ways. Then he closed his eyes and waited. He allowed his senses to set in. He didn’t detect anything, but the window of safety would be closing fast.

After another full minute, King opened his eyes and tugged her forward.

“So, you’re claiming her, right King?” Max continued as if the odd meditation moment never occurred. “I mean like for real. Cause if you’re not serious.” He followed them down the steps.

King didn’t answer and continued tugging her down the front steps. Oh, he was serious. But he had to save her life first.

Mags halted King’s progress as she stopped. Turning to Max, she smiled. “Listen, I really appreciate how concerned you are for me and I’m sorry you had to find out like this. But you’re worried about the wrong person here, Stokes. You should be more worried about me taking advantage of him!”

Again, Max looked like he just heard that he owned a 10 million dollar lottery ticket or something and he remained utterly speechless. He then turned and walked away toward the squad car.

“God dammed woman…” King chuckled and grabbed her hand. “Poor Max.” He led her to her cherry red Mustang parked at the curb. “Wait just a second okay?” He turned and swiped his phone. Then he tapped the words in, Being trailed. Laying a trap. Stay ghosts. Scatter and stand by. He then sent the text. Yeah, he saw them one to the east one west. Two at least. They were close but not close enough to jump him and Mags. He knew what they were. They were taggers, sent to trail them. They would not engage and he was relieved for that much. He put his phone into his vest inner pocket. Then grabbed the keys from his jean pocket.

Mags looked over. “You stole my keys?”

He shrugged. “I am a criminal remember?”

She shook her head. “No, you aren’t, you just pretend to be.”

“I’m glad you figured that out before you got another hair up your ass and arrest me again.”

She stared at him then laughed. “You gotta admit, you and Max fully deserved that.”

“I won’t admit to anything,” he teased. Then he looked at the car. “A Boss Mustang?” Shit, now, this is a car.

They both got in and he headed down the street.

He looked at the all leather mint condition interior, it almost seemed too perfect. How in the fuck had she gotten a car like this? “Where did you find it?” He tapped the dash.

“Craig’s List,” she answered.

His sped up and glanced over at her. “No way, Officer. Tell the truth.”

She chuckled. “Ok, I restored it from scratch. I worked on it while I waited to get into the force.”

His brows rose. He couldn’t help it. A woman who worked on cars? Lots of things had surprised him about this Hot Babe Cop as his brothers called her, but this was a stretch. He’d never known a woman who could have done this. He kept his eyes on the road. “Therapy.” It finally came to him.

“Maybe…” She shrugged. “I had time on my hands. A-after my dad. Well, I had college then the academy. Then when it was all done? I had to do something. It helped me through.”

“I get it. There’s a lot I had to work through after every tour. Then this mission…” He glanced over at her. “A lot of it isn’t pretty.” He reached over and grabbed her hand. He just had to touch her in some way and when all this cleared, he was going to really touch her. No holding back.

“I know…” Her voice faded away. The touch of his hand clasping hers caused her to gaze over at him. “You are just so…”

He glanced over as he changed lanes. “So…? What?”

“Contrary.”

He chuckled. “As opposed to…?”

“Puzzling…A conundrum.”

“Hey! Watch it, those are some dirty names you’re calling me,” he teased.

Mags laughed. “I guess I’ve always been able to figure people out. It’s partly why I became a cop. But you?” She shook her head.

“What’s the big mystery? Enlisted in the service, put in my tours of duty. You should know by now, what you see is what you get.”

Mags leaned her head back and laughed really loud.

He actually felt stunned at this reaction. “You don’t agree?”

Mags kept chuckling. “You’re a trained sniper who did tour after tour. Then when you stopped, you work for the government, dressed as a biker of all things. Acting like one too. Having to put up with cops who hate you. Getting a record just for fucking cover. Then this mission you refer to. I know it’s personal, so don’t try to deny that shit again. Then me thinking you were all swagger and ego. When you… Well, that all seems like a cover too.”

“Swagger huh? Nah, that is me. The ego part though…Untrue.”

Again, she laughed. Then Mags stopped laughing and looked over at him. “You’re full of honor and decency. You saved my life and from what I hear—hundreds of others.”

His emotionless mask slipped entirely away. “I have killed. I’ve fought in 3 wars and did things—I’m not as decent as you think.”

She tightened her grip on his hand. “No, I think you’re the only one who believes that.”

“I just got tired of being sent out to fight in parts of the world nobody ever heard of before. Then, come home and each time, here in good old America? Things were sliding into hell. Why fight so hard overseas when my own country was disintegrating?”

“I guess I can see why you do it. Hell, I wouldn’t be sane and whole right this minute, if it wasn’t for you being out there just at the right moment.”

He pulled over into the lot at the warehouse and turned the engine off. “I wasn’t just there.” He gazed over at her.

“Yeah, I know that. You have been following me.”

King looked away. “And my brothers. Since day one. First, it was to see what you were doing. I knew you were pissed when you got pulled from the case. But after that, it was to protect you.”

Mags sucked her breath in and felt elated instead of angry. It was because he cares about me. Enough to stalk me!”

King gripped her hand. “Magdalena?”

The hell with it! She turned in the seat and grabbed his face, then smothered his mouth with her own. She kissed him deeply and rubbed herself against him like some cheap floozy. Yes. He tastes even better than before if that was possible! Breaking away breathlessly, she gingerly moved back over and primly pulled the oversized t-shirt down.

“So, I take it you’re not mad at me?” King watched her intensely as a slow smile covered his lips. “For that anyway,” he joked.

Mags bit at her lip to keep from breaking out into the widest grin ever. “No King, I am not mad,” she answered in the calmest voice she could muster.

He grinned at her and got out of the car. Then came around and took her hand as she got out of the Boss.

While they headed to the entrance, he kept looking around, just like he had on their way here.

The doors opened. Suddenly, it struck her. No bikes out front, no vehicles at all. Where were they?

He pulled her in and the doors shut.

The place seemed quiet. She’d expected his boisterous brothers and a flurry of activity. Not this silence and emptiness. She gazed up at him. “Where is everyone, King?”

He said nothing as he pulled her through to a part of the warehouse she never saw before. He led her over to an old fashioned type lift and after she stepped on, he tapped the large red button. They went up two floors and the lift lurched.

She staggered a bit and King caught her.

All the while, he hadn’t said a word. Mags was feeling nervous. Something was happening here. But what? He acted guarded like there was danger in every corner. It was spooky to say the fucking least.

King stepped off and lifted her down then grabbed her hand again, leading her to a set of double metal doors.

“This is your room?” she asked.

He nodded and punched in a code on the panel next to the doors. “It’s also a lockdown room.”

Mags felt puzzled by all of this. His brothers absent. Lockdown room?

He nearly pushed her through the door, then he tapped a code in.

The locking mechanism initiated and it locked with a metallic clicking.

Mags looked around. It was a nice room and it did have a personal look. A picture on the dresser. A jacket lying over the back of a chair.

King went to the only window peered down at the lot.

Okay—I’m in his room with him now. The drug cartel is after me and Max knows about—Her thoughts halted as King plucked a long black case out of a duffel bag he’d retrieved from under the bed.

He set it on the table next to the window.

Mags knew firearms and it was a rifle case for sure. She stood in silence and watched him.

He snapped it open lifted the butt end, and put the rifle together in about thirty seconds flat. He stepped to the window and aimed the sight.

“King?” she finally spoke.

“Yes, Magdalena?” He turned to face her.

She crossed her arms over her chest.

He grinned boyishly and peered down to where her gaze was focused…the rifle. “I allowed them to follow us.” He turned back to the window.

Her arms fell from her chest. “What?”

“They will wait till it’s dark. Then, they will have to cross the lot to get into the building.” He set the rifle down and fished his phone from his pocket. He tapped a number and waited.

Mags was getting flustered. What in the hell did he think he was—?

“Yeah, Ace?” he spoke into the cell. “We are back, BOLO.” He listened, then responded, “Two maybe 3, Buff. Heavy firepower.” He listened again. “Yeah. No. We need them alive, just take em down with a hobble. We’re lockdown. Ok, brother. I got this side.” He swiped his phone screen.

“What was all that?” she wanted to know.

King gazed up at her. “I don’t have a lot of time to explain this Magdalena. And you were hurt before, so I couldn’t tell you.”

“Tell me what?” Her heart pounded faster with each word he uttered. She knew something was up besides the trap he had so obviously laid while she was oblivious to it all. But now she didn’t know if she wanted to hear what he had to say. Not with the way he was acting and the way he looked at her.

“The files and notes,” he told her.

She bit at her lip. “Yeah, I told you there wasn’t much in there.”

“Oh, there was plenty.”

Her eyes rounded. “I looked at those over fifty times, King!”

“The chicken scratching.”

She frowned more puzzled than ever.”

“It was code. I didn’t know your dad had been military.”

Shrugging she said, “What does that have to do with anything, King?”

He sighed. As he checked the lot again, through the window then went to set up a tripod. “Apparently, they had something on your old man.”

Gasping, she took a full step back. “No fucking way! He was a clean cop, and honorable—”

“Not black mail,” King interrupted her panic and angry defense as he turned to look at her. “He was a good man. That’s not what I’m saying.”

She put her hands on her hips as her breathing picked up. “Then what are you saying?”

“They had someone. Someone he cared about.”

Blinking at him her hands dropped to her sides. “Who? He had no relatives he…” Her voice fell away as the only possibility hit her. “My mother?”

He nodded slowly. “Someone in that family took her. One of the Chapmans we think. Your dad didn’t know who exactly took her years ago. He did believe she was dead all that time.”

“B -but why?”

“We aren’t sure. Chapman has an older brother and a younger brother. We don’t know if it was related to whatever your dad was working on all the way back then. He never told that in his notes.”

Shock gripped her. “I-is she still alive?”

King shrugged. “We don’t know that. We only found bits and pieces. At the time your father was killed, she was alive we feel.”

Mags turned around and her body shook. “Y-you knew this last night?”

Silence from behind her.

His arms came up and wrapped around her. “Yes.”

She struggled then attempted to break his hold with a defense tactic.

He countered it and wrapped her up so she couldn’t move. “I told you I have every move.”

She had tears rolling down her face. “Y-you kept this from me?”

King sighed in her ear as he pressed up against her. “Not for long. I was planning on telling you. Then you were attacked.”

Mags tried to regain her composure.

“I never lied. I just waited until…You were clear headed and not in shock.”

She laughed cruelly. “Well, I’m in shock now!”

He kissed her neck. “Dammit, I wish I could have kept you from this blow but you had to know.”

Mags paused. This she hadn’t expected. He hurt for her? He was still protecting her. Her breath came out in a rush. “You can let me go now.”

He paused. “And you aren’t going to take me down,” his deep voice whispered in her ear.

She almost laughed at this. “As if I could.”

He did let go and stepped back.

Turning around, she saw he was all the way over at the window again.

Mags didn’t know what to think. “So these men. They are out there now.”

He nodded and set his rifle on the stand. “When it gets dark. They will come.”

“So that’s why no one is here? You laid a trap?”

He nodded. “I didn’t want you as bait, so that is why you are here in this room. The walls are bullet proof. The lock is IT and unbreakable.”

Mags went and sat on the bed. She suddenly felt wiped out. All her headiness of being with King was gone. Her mother alive all these years? Her father knowing at least 10 years ago that she was alive. That explained it all now. The way he’d acted, talking about her as if she were alive…Because she was! More tears rolled. Her poor father. Keeping that secret. Being told is wife would die if he did not quit the case. But he didn’t quit. Of course not, he had to find them to get her back. If he had, she would have had a mother all this time. So they killed him. She only wondered if they’d killed her mom too.

“Magdalena?” King called to her.

She raised her head and wiped her tears away. “Tell me you will get him King.” She stood up. “Tell me you will.”

He stared at her. “That has been all my life has been for four years now. To get him. And I won’t stop.”

That had to be good enough. Mags nodded.