“What about him?”

“Penni is under King’s protection.” She would be if Ice called him.

“Then why didn’t he call me?” Hennessy was no fool.

“I knew, if I called King to ask you to release Penni, you would be a dead man.”

Hennessy stared at him doubtfully. King didn’t bother himself in other people’s business unless there was a profit to be made. Jackal would have to give him the partial truth while protecting King’s secret.

“King is friends with Penni’s brother.”

“Does this bitch know everybody?” Finally, Hennessy’s frustration was beginning to show. Penni did have that effect on men, which was why Jackal had taken his time to try to charm Penni into his bed.

Jackal had used his contacts to find out any information on her. With the exception of her parents, she only had one brother. Her parents were an open book, working nine-to-five jobs, while her brother was a different story.

Shade was shrouded in mystery with little or no information available. Fortunately for King, who had wanted to know everything about his son-in-law, Jackal knew how to pay for the information he needed. Shade had entered the Navy at eighteen and stayed there until he had finished his tour. That was his official record. His unofficial record was buried and attainable only to those who had the clearance to see the carnage he was capable off.

Shade was an assassin who took out his targets without leaving a trace. He demanded a high fee for his expertise, but Jackal didn’t think many of the recent deaths were contracted. Those had been done for free, enemies of The Last Riders.

The part that had made the hair on the back of his neck stand up was his psychological report, performed when he had applied to the Navy SEALs. Jackal considered himself fucked up, but Shade was seriously fucked. At least he knew he had issues. Shade, on the other hand, didn’t care. Shade was an unemotional bastard with only one weakness—Lily.

The first time he had met Shade, Jackal had looked into his eyes and seen death. The man was a natural born killer. Even knowing what he had found out hadn’t prepared him for the soulless eyes staring back at him, though. They had stared at each other, recognizing each other’s capacity to deal death without remorse. Kind recognized kind. One predator recognized another.

The difference between the two men was that Jackal was willing to bet most of Shade’s kills had been sanctioned, while his own had been a matter of survival.

The corner of Jackal’s mouth curled into the only semblance of a smile his scarred flesh allowed. “She tell you about her brother?”

“Jesus, now I’m supposed to be afraid of her brother?” Hennessy kicked out at a chair, forcing the laughing, gathered men to step back. “Shut up! You pussies are afraid of King, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to be afraid of someone before—”

“You ever hear about The Last Riders?”

“No.” Hennessey picked up the chair. Sitting down, he leaned forward, placing his hand on his thigh. “I don’t give a fuck who her brother is. I don’t care who The Last Riders are. Tell King I’ll give my word to give her back, but she has a job to do for me first.”

Jackal stiffened. “Doing your men?”

“My men haven’t touched her.”

“Then why keep her prisoner?”

“I need to ride with her to the Spring Rally.”

Hennessy wasn’t stupid. He wouldn’t jeopardize his men’s lives unless he had no choice.

“Talk.”

Jackal could see Hennessy was weighing his options.

“Core?”

A man walked from behind his back when Hennessy called his name. “I’ve heard of The Last Riders. The Road Kingz won’t win against them.”

“I’d take your enforcer’s advice. I wouldn’t have warned you had it been anyone else. When you saved my life and took me to Gert to patch me up, I told you then I pay my debts. But, brother, you’re making it hard for me.

“I found out about The Last Riders because of King. Before then, I thought he was the meanest son of a bitch I had ever met. He wasn’t. The Last Riders are filled with them. They’ll kill for each other, and what makes them even more dangerous is they’ll fucking die for each other.

“Shade is their enforcer. He is the one you will not escape from. He is the reason the Road Kingz or even the Predators can’t defeat them. I thought of taking on Shade, and King laughed at me. Fucking laughed at me!”

“And King would drag The Last Riders into a war with us?”

Jackal shook his head. “King wouldn’t, but Shade would. Shade is Penni’s brother.”

6

Penni walked back and forth across the small room. When she heard the door open, it took everything she had not to attack.

She stumbled over her own feet when she recognized Jackal.

When he closed the door behind him, fury and fear had her throwing her body against his.

“You bastard!” She tore a chunk of his hair out as she used his hair to slam his head against the wall.

“Are you fucking nuts!” Jackal twisted her hands behind her back.

Undeterred, Penni kicked then bit him on the shoulder. Struggling against him, she found herself thrown backward onto the bed. Then she found herself pinned underneath Jackal’s weight as she tried to rise from the bed.

“I hate you! When I get away, I’m going to kill you!” Penni glared up into his imperturbable expression.

“I’m here to try to save your ass.” He turned his face to the side when she attempted to rake her nails down his cheek.

“I don’t believe in turning the other cheek.”

Penni found herself lifted up like a rag doll, tossed head first over Jackal’s lap. Then a series of harsh spanks pounded down on her unprotected bottom.

“You big ape!” Penni bit down on Jackal’s thigh as she tried to throw herself down to the floor.

“I wouldn’t put up with that spoiled bitch behavior from any other woman. Quit biting me, or I’ll pull your jeans down and carry you down to the front room and let them take turns turning that ass you’re so proud of red.”

Penni stopped biting. The thought of the bikers witnessing the aftereffects of the spanking was incentive enough, but she still struggled. And the more she struggled, the harder his hand struck her bottom.

“Did you think it was funny leaving me waiting? I was nearly stung to death. I had to jump over your wall into your neighbor’s yard, and they had fucking German Shepherds. You think this hurts? One of those sons of a bitches nearly bit off my balls.”

Penni raised her head as Jackal furiously ranted and spanked her again. What was he talking about …?

She pressed her hand to her mouth as he described having to jump into her neighbor’s pool then maneuvering through piles of dog shit as he ran from the dogs.

“I bet you laughed your ass off!”

“I forgot, Jackal! I swear!” Penni wiped away the tears that fell from her eyes. It took all her will not to laugh out loud at Jackal’s injured pride.

She looked up at him to see him frowning down at her. Jackal jerked her up to sit on his lap. Wincing, Penni shifted so the globes of her butt bore her weight. The bastard knew how to give a spanking, placing most of his smacks on the tender flesh between the top of her thighs and the bottom curve of her ass.