Winter bit down on her hand, trying to keep herself from crying out again when she saw the blood covering the lower part of her sundress.

“Lay down.” Sex Piston reached her, helping her lower herself to the floor.

“Get out of here,” Winter gasped in agony, squeezing her hand, contradicting her plea.

Killyama was still in a struggle for their lives.

“I’m not fucking going anywhere.” Sex Piston blocked her in case Raul managed to get one of the guns.

Killyama and Raul were rolling on the floor. He managed to stretch out and touch one of the weapons, taking his eyes off Killyama for a second. It cost him his life.

She used her foot to kick the weapon she couldn’t reach in time, kicking it toward Jackal as he tried to sit up. The dazed biker managed to snatch the gun, firing it. Raul’s cold face became one of horror when death came to meet him.

Sirens and yells came from the door where Killyama and Raul sat in a bloody pool. Killyama grabbed one of Raul’s feet to pull him away from the door. Covered in blood from her hair to her bare feet, she managed to open the door with a slippery hand.

“Winter!”

Viper and Knox came running in, sliding in Raul’s blood. Viper managed to catch his balance, falling down to his knees beside her.

“God, no.” Her husband’s face contorted in grief.

Winter started to touch his cheek, but when she saw the blood on her hand, she put it back down. He grabbed it, putting it on his cheek.

“The baby’s coming,” she gasped.

“The ambulance is on its way, and Dr. Price is a minute from here.”

“I love… I love you so very much.”

“Scoot over, Viper. Let me help her! Give me your knife so I can cut her dress!” Beth demanded, as she knelt by her feet.

Beth began shouting orders, telling Knox to move everybody from the doorway so the EMTs could get inside.

“Were you shot, Winter?”

Winter held Viper’s hand as Beth cut away her dress. “No. Killyama was, twice.”

“I shouldn’t have left you.” Viper’s eyes welled up with tears.

“Don’t you dare blame yourself. I told you to go.”

“The ambulance is here, Viper. You’re going to have to move so they can get her loaded onto the gurney,” Beth said before she moved away, trying to take Viper’s arm.

He stood up, moving to the side.

When the paramedics moved her, she screamed, praying that she blacked out to escape the spasms racking her body.

“Give her something for the pain!”

Knox held Viper back as they wheeled her from the house.

Winter was in so much agony that all she wanted to do was twist and turn, trying to find some relief from the pain in her back and abdomen.

“Please, God, help me,” she prayed over and over again.

“Hold on, Winter. They’re putting you in the ambulance. As soon I can, I’ll give you something for the pain.” She recognized Dr. Price’s voice as she felt the gurney being lifted and then heard the sound of the doors being slammed.

“Where’s Viper?” she pleaded.

“I’m here.” She felt his hand on her arm. “I’m not leaving your side.”

“Dr. Price?” she cried out, feeling the welcoming blackness she had been praying for slipping over her.

“Yes, Winter? We’re almost at the hospital,” his steady tone reassured her.

She knew she was losing consciousness, her mind no longer able to handle the misery.

“Is it a boy or girl?” she asked.

She and Viper had wanted the sex of their baby to remain a surprise until the birth. However, she didn’t want to die not knowing if it were a boy or a girl.

“You’re having a girl, Winter… a beautiful baby girl.”

19

“Your wife is in labor, too?”

Viper didn’t take his eyes off the emergency room door. “Yes.”

“Mine, too. Megan can’t do anything right. I had to miss the end of the baseball game. Treepoint was ahead when I left. You don’t happen to know the score, do you?” Curt Dawkins asked, as he switched through the channels of the television on the wall.

Another ambulance had come in at the same time as her, and Viper had seen Megan as the EMTs rushed her inside the same room Winter was in.

“No.” Viper kept his replies monosyllabic, hoping the man sitting by the back wall would shut up so he could concentrate.

“You need anything?” Shade asked from his side, also waiting for the doctor to come out to disclose the fate of Viper’s wife and child.

“Yes. Shut him the fuck up before I kill him.”

Shade moved away, bringing the silence he needed to concentrate on calming the killing rage inside of him. The one he wanted to kill was beyond his touch, his blood drying on Viper’s boots. He prayed for the strength to keep him from knocking down the door that blocked him from seeing his wife.

Shade returned to his position by Viper’s side without saying a word. Just as all the Last Riders and friends, who were filling the waiting room, spilling outside to the parking lot.

Shade didn’t try to tell him everything was going to be all right. The doctor’s face had said it all as the EMTs wheeled the gurney into the delivery room.

The wait was endless. Each minute slowly ticked by as he prayed for his wife and baby girl.

Shade moved some chairs over to where they could see the door when a nurse told them they needed to keep the hallway clear, and Viper finally sat down.

“Have you heard how Killyama and Jackal are doing?”

Viper had known it was bad when Killyama and Jackal’s ambulances had taken them to Jamestown, which was twenty minutes away.

“Jackal is being stitched up, and Killyama just came out of surgery. The doctors say they’ll both be fine.”

Jackal, Fade, and Hennessy had been in Treepoint for three days. The men had been exhausted from their continuous search for Raul since the bombing of their clubhouses and had needed the break, using the opportunity to rest as Shade and Lucky searched for more information.

Raul had slipped so far beneath their net that they hadn’t been able to find him. Now they knew why. He had been hiding in plain sight, planning to kill Winter and Viper before going to Jamestown and getting revenge on Fat Louise and Cade.

The murderous bastard was dead now. That was the only bright spot.

Fat Louise, Cade, Winter, and he were alive thanks to Fade. He had spotted the car Raul had parked at the end of the street and gone to investigate. Raul had shot him in the face. Then, when Jackal had tried to take him down and save Fade, he had almost lost his own life.

Raul had been afraid that Jackal had alerted Viper and gone on the offensive, going inside Aunt Shay’s house and planning to force Viper and Cade to come to him. Thank God Viper hadn’t been forced into a decision he wouldn’t have wanted to make. He would have made a bargain with the devil to save his wife and child. Still, the sight of Winter covered in blood had made him feel like a failure.

The door to the ER opened, sending Viper to his feet. He locked his knees, not wanting to breakdown in front of his men. He felt Shade moving nearer to him as the nurse called two names.