Spyder

Chapter 1 The bleep of an incoming message jerked Jessie from stillness. She’d been staring at nothing in particular, doing nothing on a day where nothing was required of her. Because nothing ever was. Trying not to let the exasperation take over, an irritation that made her feel murderous some days, she reached for her cell phone. Seeing it was one of her twin brothers, Jayden, she grimaced and called him. Anyone else she’d have ignored, but Jayden was pretty hard to ignore. Which was kind of a miracle, considering he was asking her to call him. But if anyone could achieve it, it was Jay. The pain in the ass. “What do you want?” “Such a greeting for your bro,” came the chiding retort. “I’m wounded, Sis. Wounded to my f*****g core.” She snorted. “And they say I’m the dramatic one. Anyway, traitor, you can’t expect me to be happy about calling you?” “It’s not my fault, Jessie,” he said on a sigh. “I’m just a prospect. You know that. I have zero idea about what the hell’s going on with the Council. If I did know, I’d tell you something. But they’re keeping it under wraps. Which makes sense, considering who’s involved.” She huffed out a breath. “That’s still no excuse. You remember the time when I took the blame for knocking Dad’s bike over even though it was you and Kon being utter d***s who were behind it?” His sigh told her he did. How couldn’t he remember? Her father was slow to anger, but Goddess when it hit, he exploded. “You remember how mad he was? How long I was grounded for?” “You were twelve and we were fourteen, Jessie. Come on, things have changed. Punishments don’t include being grounded anymore. Do you have any idea what Mars does to prospects who don’t toe the line?” She scoffed at that. “Like he’s going to do anything to either of you. You’re his blue eyed boys.” “All the more reason to come down harder on our asses if we don’t do as we’re told. We’re adults now, Jessie.” “Yeah? Well, it really doesn’t feel like it, does it? You’re an adult because you’re a prospect, but Ava and I are cubs still... That’s really fair, isn’t it?” “Who said that life was fair? And who said being the daughter of a Bear Shifter was ever just?” “You do realize if you want me to do you a favor, you’re only going the right way about getting me to tell you to f**k off?” Jayden sighed. “I know. But that wasn’t my intention.” “It never is.” She knew it wasn’t fair to blame him or Kon for knowing jackshit, but hurt didn’t have to be rational. And if there was something Jessie wasn’t at the moment, it was rational. “Look, I need you to tell Mom that we won’t be home for a couple of days.” She narrowed her eyes at that. “Why? Why don’t you tell her yourself?” He snorted. “Do I want the Spanish Inquisition when I’m on the job? You know what she’s like. Ever since we turned prospect, she’s s**t scared we’re going to get into major trouble.” He cleared his throat. “Or, ya know, die.” “The fact you don’t want her to know what you’re doing isn’t exactly filling me with confidence,” Jessie retorted. “What are you doing?” “It’s a job. For Mars.” “Which means you can’t say,” she said snidely, saying the last few words in a singsong voice that she knew would piss him off. When he sucked in a sharp breath, she knew her goal had been attained. “I swear, you go out of your way to piss me off.” “You and I both know it,” she said sweetly. “Anyway, I’ll tell her. This once.” Then, before he could thank her, carried on, “Because I’m a good sister. A great sister. One who cares about her brothers.” She could almost see him rolling his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I get the picture. If I knew anything, I’d tell you, Sis. I swear.” “I call bullshit. Now f**k off and leave me in peace.” “You will tell Mom, though, won’t you?” he asked, sounding worried enough for her to narrow her eyes. “I promise whatever’s going on with your mate... We’re being kept well out of the loop.” Though she was still a little irritated, she softened at that because he sounded sincere. Mind, he could still be lying, but he sounded the part. “I’ll tell her. Love you, shithead.” “Love you too, bat breath.” They both cut the call, and for a second, she grinned at the endearment. Getting up off her bed, she started to head for her momma’s room on the floor beneath her, but a glint in the distance caught her attention in the window. Considering there was nothing out there but a dustbowl, it pricked her curiosity. She leaned against the windowsill, sought out that glint, but failed to see the source of the light and instead, took a look around the lay of the land. The clubhouse wasn’t exactly sitting on prime spot material. They were in the middle of nowhere, with dust, dust, and more dust for a view, but though no one would kill for it, they weren’t on a flood plain and come hurricane season, were slightly sheltered thanks to the curvature of a couple of hills surrounding them. Both traits made the land infinitely more valuable than appearances dictated. But as she looked around, she realized she was looking at the same stuff she’d been looking at all her life. The sights and sounds of the clubhouse rarely changed. Heck, rarely was too often. It never changed. Such continuity might have been comforting to some, but for her, it was mind blowing in its tedium. A noise jerked her from the melancholy that was always close at hand. Below her bedroom and in a separate outbuilding, there was the workshop. Hundreds of bikes were repaired and restored there, and dozens were parked up for the night. The scent of oil and gas, and all the other myriad ‘purifying’ essences wafted up to her bedroom throughout the day. The rumble of an engine was what had pricked her attention, and she watched as a lone rider approached the gate, which a prospect dragged open and then closed as the biker rode off. Ah, the gate. The aperture that heralded freedom. Freedom didn’t look so pretty though. The gate opened out onto a rough and sun stained road. It was so long that it took a good ten minutes to get off clubhouse territory and to get onto a state road. When it opened up onto a regular highway, Channelview, Houston was the closest area. Technically, the clubhouse was in Channelview. Their address had the zip code, after all. But this was a Clan territory. It was so much more than simply a motorcycle club’s base. This was land that had been handed over to the Clan many, many years ago. This plot was almost a sovereign state. After the Second World War, when the existence of Shifters had been revealed to the common folk, the government had been left wondering what they could do with the freaks of nature that had helped the war effort—in some cases, singlehandedly turning a battle’s outcome. Nasty pieces of land they figured no one else would want were split into parcels and handed off to the largest gatherings. In Houston, the land was for Bear Shifters. Over in Dallas, that was Wolf territory. She had to admit to finding it amusing that land the government figured was too ugly for humans back in the day was now quite precious because it was a safe haven come the many storms and hurricanes that battered this part of the country. Still, the government had tried in their own way to show their gratitude for the war effort to the many Shifters’ parts. They’d introduced them into society. Given them laws and rulings to protect them. But they’d never been accepted by the normal human population. It was why, nearly a hundred years on, no one knew the local MC was also a Bear Shifter Clan. It was a well-kept secret. That is, until the Prez’s daughter had shifted in front of a rival MC, the deadly She Bear being revealed to all. Now the cat was more than just out of the bag, it was doing a jig live on the local news bulletin. Jessie shuddered a little at the thought of Ava shifting. Shifters were rare for a reason. More male children were born, and any girl children were revered and protected for far longer than they needed because a She Bear only made an appearance in the direst of situations, and once riled, they were deadly. Clans went above and beyond to keep the Sows under wraps, but sometimes, no matter how protected a body was, it was impossible to stop the inevitable. She and Ava were the only daughters in the Clan, and they’d been sheltered during every single one of their years. The She Bears had been a corralled until Ava had found her mate, a Council member called Chris. Unfortunately, a rival MC, Spider’s Venom, had caught up with them with the intention of kidnapping Ava, the Prez’s daughter. She’d shifted to protect herself and had killed some of the riders in the process. When the Prez, her daddy’s best friend, Mars, had called a meeting between the two MCs—either that or declare war—Jessie had discovered that her own mate was the other MC’s leader. A man called Spyder. He was handsome, sure. He had dirty blond hair streaked with white, and skin so burnished and golden his blue eyes popped like pools of Cerulean. He was so tanned she had to wonder if he sat out in the sun. And if he did, the most important question wasn’t whether he used enough sun block, but did he bare his butt too? Was all of him that beautiful shade of gold? He was tall, a good foot taller than her, and he was strong—his form bulked and padded out with muscle. He had tattoos. Many of them. She’d never liked tattoos. But on him, they were different. She wished they weren’t webs and spiders, and references to the MC his granddaddy had founded, but hell, beggars couldn’t be choosers, could they? Not when the Goddesses were concerned. And she had no idea if her daddy would even allow her to have her mate. Hence the melancholy that was always close at hand. It had been three weeks since the s**t had gone down, and she hadn’t seen Spyder since. Goddess, how that hurt. The physical separation was almost painful. Like a constant stomachache that wouldn’t go away no matter what she tried to do. A knock sounded at the door and she pressed a hand to her stomach to quell the ever present pain that came from being apart from her mate. She turned her head away from the sight of freedom, even if freedom did come with a hell of a lot of dust, and said, “Come in.” When the door opened and Mars’ mate, the First Lady, Annette, popped her head around the door, Jessie’s lips twitched into a smile. Though she would need to go soon and pass on Jayden’s news, she was relieved to see it wasn’t her momma who kept banging on about mates and bonds and all kinds of crap no daughter wanted to know about when it came to her own parents’ relationship. “You okay, sugar?” Annette had started smoking a few weeks ago, and her voice was raspy and croaky like she’d taken to chewing the damn things whole rather than smoke them. “I’m fine,” she replied, folding her arms across her chest in discomfort. “Thanks for asking.” Annette stepped into the room, bringing the scent of cigarettes with her. Jessie wrinkled her nose—as a Shifter, her senses were always on hyper alert in comparison to a normal human’s. Even though she wasn’t as strong as a male Shifter, she had her own unique talents and capabilities that made her ‘super’ natural. One of them was an enhanced smell. Still, it was nothing in comparison to her mom whose supernose was renowned in the Clan. “Why did you start smoking, Aunty Annette?” The older woman blinked at her, obviously surprised at the out of the blue question. “Does it matter?” “Nah, not really. I was just curious. I thought you’d be happy, what with Ava having found her mate. Starting smoking always seems to be something people do when they’re under stress.”