Shadow

  Shadow (Bones MC 10)

  Marteeka Karland

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright ©2022 Marteeka Karland

  BIN: 010282-03339

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  Publisher:

  Changeling Press LLC

  315 N. Centre St.

  Martinsburg, WV 25404

  www.ChangelingPress.com

  Editor: Katriena Knights

  Cover Artist: Marteeka Karland

  Adult Sexual Content

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  Table of Contents

  Shadow (Bones MC 10)

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Marteeka Karland

  Shadow (Bones MC 10)

  Marteeka Karland

  Millie: Venus and I have always clashed. Now she’s hell bent on rescuing our little sister, Katya. Which I agree with. Except I tried to get the bitch to go after Katya when we escaped, four years ago. Before I can kill Venus I get a look at the man standing behind her. Shadow. Talk, dark, and dangerous doesn’t begin to cover him. He’s hella big, with a wicked sense of humor that never seems to waver, no matter how much I insult him. He’s all that keeps Venus and me from tearing each other apart. And I want him. Oh, I pretend it’s just a fling, but Shadow has other plans. He’s also got some anger management issues we need to deal with. That’s OK, though. I have some issues of my own.

  Shadow: I’m the rock of my club. The mild mannered one with a quick wit. But there’s a reason they call me Shadow, and it’s not the color of my skin or the way I blend into the night, so no one can see death coming. There’s a darkness in my soul. A rage that sometimes burns out of control. But then I meet my little Millie. She’s fierce in a tiny package. Can probably even take me in a fight. And I want her desperately.

  Chapter One

  “They call her The Russian,” Venus said as they walked into the underground garage where fights had been set up for the night. “Is different from fight Samson fought with Fury couple years back. This one’s fight-until-you-lose kind of thing.”

  Word was there was a fighter who hadn’t been beaten since she’d started. Venus was convinced this woman was her sister. “Have you seen her fight?” Shadow asked.

  “Nyet. But Data said his wife, Zora, made positive ID through Russian hacker friend.” Venus shrugged. “I’ll know soon.”

  Shadow just grinned and shook his head, following Venus into the fray. It wasn’t like the woman was inconspicuous or anything. She dressed from head to toe in hot pink. Her hair and nails and lips were pink, as well as her bike. Her fucking eyes were pink. That and her accent, and she stood out something fierce. Shadow didn’t mind, though. Made it easier for him to blend in. He was fucking big but disappearing in a crowd or in the shadows was his specialty. It was how he’d gotten his road name. Not because he was a very dark-skinned African American. Because he could just vanish when he wanted to. Right in plain sight. Having such a flamboyant traveling companion made it that much easier.

  The crowd let up a roar in celebration as the announcer called the end of the match. There were angry shouts but not the killing rage like he’d experienced when Fury’s ol’ lady had kicked Shadow’s ass. He smiled remembering that night. Yeah, they’d almost died, but Shadow could just imagine the shocked silence that followed him hitting the mat like a big fucking tree being felled.

  As they approached the ring, Shadow scanned the place, looking for the girl in question. He had no idea who he was looking for, but he figured he’d know her when he saw her. The Russian. Right.

  “Look,” Venus said, her voice barely above a whisper. Had he not been so close to her, Shadow wasn’t sure he’d have heard her. “There she is.” The woman looked proud as a motherfucker. Her smile was carnivorously, viciously gleeful. Shadow couldn’t blame her. “My little sister, Lyudmila.”

  “Handful of a name,” Shadow commented as he sized the girl up.

  “Handful of a girl.” Venus grinned. “Always was. I called her Millie just to piss her off, but it stuck.”

  The man they carried out of the ring wasn’t as big as Shadow, but he was just as muscular. That wasn’t the issue, though. The woman who’d fought him stood in the corner of the ring, braced on one hand against the turnbuckle, her hip cocked. She had short-cropped hair dyed in several shades of blue from a pale turquoise to nearly black. In her other hand, she had a joint she pulled from occasionally while they cleaned up the mess behind her. And she might have been five feet tall. Maybe. If she were in heels.

  Shadow felt his face split into a big grin. “Wee little thing.”

  “Don’t let size fool you. She packs punch.” Venus couldn’t have sounded more proud.

  The little thing wore a black vest and black pants. Both looked to be leather. Both were studded with silver spikes at the seams and around her waist. Matching black wristbands accompanied the vest and pants, as well as a studded dog collar. She wore dark makeup over her pale skin so that around her eyes was blackened, and her cheeks were highlighted in a very dark blue that matched her lipstick. Rounding up the outfit were thick black boots. All in all, very Goth.

  With that outfit, Shadow expected loads of piercings and tats but saw none. Not even a piercing in her delicate earlobes. The closer he got, the more she appealed to him. He couldn’t help but grin. “I think I’m in love with your sister, Venus. Just throwing that out there.”

  Venus chuckled, but there was no humor in the sound. “Good luck with that.”

  The announcer laid out the next round, though Shadow wasn’t paying much attention. He was sizing up the young woman in front of him. She was younger than Venus but seemed harder. Like she’d love nothing more than to take a motherfucker out just because she’d had a bad morning.

  Her opponent ducked into the ring, and they closed the cage door, locking them both in. The man she was supposed to fight this time was smaller. Leaner and shorter, but he held himself like he knew what he was doing. He didn’t waste time showboating or playing up the crowd. He just assumed a boxer’s stance and danced from foot to foot waiting on the call to battle. Millie just stood there, her back to him, calmly taking another hit from her joint.

  The instant the bell rang, the man charged. Millie whirled around just as he bore down on her, shoving the lit end of her joint in his eye. The man screamed in agony, covering his eye with both hands and shuffling backward so abruptly that he fell on his ass. Millie pounced, straddling his chest, pinni
ng his arms with her knees as she proceeded to pound the now defenseless man into the mat. Blood sprayed where her fists connected with his nose. The man didn’t offer any defense after the first three or four blows, and the ref finally pulled Millie off him. She calmly walked back to her corner to stand, again facing away from the center.

  The crowd roared its approval. Shadow just grinned. “Yeah, I’m totally in love.”

  “You realize she’s not like Fury’s woman, da? She could kick your ass anytime she wants.”

  “Yeah,” Shadow said, only half paying attention. His focus was entirely on the small woman in the corner. As men helped the other fighter to his feet, he finally got his bearings and shrugged the men off him. With a rage-filled battle cry, he charged Millie once again.

  At first, she didn’t move. Then, at the very last instant, she turned, driving the heel of her hand with the force of her body weight straight into the guy’s throat. The force of her strike, combined with the guy’s forward momentum, was too much for his fragile neck. He dropped to the ground writhing and clutching at his throat, gasping for breath. This time, since he’d refused to leave the ring the first time, everyone just waited to see what would happen. The crowd grew quiet while the fighter’s last death rattles finished. He finally stilled, his hands at his neck, eyes wide in disbelief as his face went slack in death. Then the crowd roared its approval. Yeah. Millie had just crushed her opponent’s windpipe, killing him.

  She’d just killed a man. Granted, the guy was coming for her back like a coward. But it really shouldn’t have turned Shadow on. It did. Shadow grinned, crossing his arms over his chest. “Girl has some fight in her.”

  “That she does,” Venus agreed.

  They made their way to Millie’s corner where she’d calmly turned back, facing the outside of the cage. Instead of smoking a joint, she took a long pull of vodka straight from the bottle. Shadow raised an eyebrow at Venus, who just shrugged. Finally, Millie’s gaze fell to her sister. Instead of a warm greeting, Millie just scowled, spitting on the mat as she eyed her sister. Then she turned her back on them. Shadow was certain she hadn’t even registered his presence. If she did, she didn’t expect him to be with Venus. Which was fine with him. The longer she remained oblivious to him, the more time he had to study her.

  When the announcer told them all bets were final, signaling the end of the competition, Millie headed for the cage door. Shadow expected Venus would hurry to meet her sister, but the woman just stood there, running her sharpened nails back and forth across one of the cage bars.

  “Shouldn’t we go to her?”

  Venus shrugged. “Nyet. She will come to me.”

  Sure enough, a few minutes later, the little pixie came stomping over to her older sister. “This better be good.”

  “Mama is dead.”

  “Jesus, Venus,” Shadow muttered. “Way to soften the blow.”

  Venus just shrugged. “Life isn’t soft, you big pussy. She learned that long ago. Same as me.”

  Sure enough, Millie just looked from Venus to Shadow and back. Shadow got the sense she’d dismissed him the second she saw him. Which kind of made him want to grunt and flex his muscles at her. Show her he was not, indeed, a pussy.

  “Who’s the big pussy?” Millie asked, quirking an eyebrow. Shadow had to fight a grin and do his best to scowl. He really liked this girl. She might not grin at him now, but he’d just bet she was having a ball at his expense.

  “Just some guy who thinks women need protection.” Venus rolled her eyes at him. “We need to talk.”

  Millie just glared at Venus. In all the time he’d been around Venus since he came to Salvation’s Bane, he’d never seen anyone -- man or woman -- look at the woman the way her sister did. No one would dare. Even the men gave her a wide berth sometimes.

  “Meet me at docks in an hour.”

  “Nyet,” Venus said immediately. “We go now.”

  “Ty khochesh’ vstretit’sya? Ty delayesh’ eto v moye vremya. Ne vash,” Millie said, glancing at Shadow and smirking. As if he didn’t know exactly what she’d said.

  “Darlin’,” he drawled. “There’s a nine-year-old little girl out there who says we can’t do this on your time. You can be part of the solution or not, but we leave for Belarus in an hour. So yeah. We doin’ this on our time.”

  Millie gave him another look, this one a little more involved. She didn’t dismiss him out of hand like before. Without taking her clear blue gaze from his, she asked Venus, “Who did you say pussy is?”

  “Name’s Shadow,” he said before Venus could answer. “I work with your sister.”

  “He also is adept at eavesdropping. Heard conversation I had with friend in FSB. My friend said our mother is dead and her husband is looking to get rid of Katya. He didn’t know why, only that time was of the essence.”

  “Blyad!” Millie looked like she wanted to punch something, but settled for staring at Venus with a hard glare. “You’re sure? You’re absolutely sure? Did he go back to Russia?”

  “Nyet. He stayed in Belarus where he’s most comfortable.” Venus was obviously confident her information was correct. She spoke immediately and concisely. “I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t sure.”

  Millie looked at Shadow again. “You speak Russian.” It wasn’t a question. When he nodded, she shrugged. “Perhaps you will be more useful than you look.”

  “Yeah,” Shadow said with a grin. “The big dumb brute has more than two brain cells to rub together.”

  Millie tsked. “So touchy. Don’t you have friends who aren’t pussies, Venus?”

  Venus just shrugged. “He has his uses. Brawn is a wonderful thing to have sometimes.”

  “If we leave in an hour, I assume you already have travel planned?”

  “We do. Jet’s waitin’ on the tarmac,” Shadow said. “Venus said we’d need you, but if you ain’t goin’…”

  Millie gave him an impatient look before turning to speak to Venus. “If we’re going to Belarus, I have something I need to retrieve. Give me location, and I meet you in thirty minutes.”

  Venus shook her head. “Nyet, little sister. You come with us now, or not at all.” Venus’s face was hard. When she spoke of her younger sister, it had always been with a soft smile that Shadow had a hard time reconciling with the hard woman he knew Venus to be. “This comes directly from my boss. No one must know we left country, and I will not take chance on you contacting your lover in palace. Tipping him off. We need you to get Katya, but I don’t trust you.”

  “Ouch,” Millie said with a mock wince. “You sure know how to hit girl where it hurts.”

  “Considering you nearly got us killed last time, you’ll understand why I won’t take chances.”

  “Fuck you, Ulyana! You have no idea what really happened! You don’t want my help? Fine! See how far you get without me. Blyad! I don’t even know why you came for me in first place! But I promise, you’ll get little Katya killed without me.”

  Venus raised an eyebrow. “What do you know that I don’t?”

  “What?” Millie gave her a wide-eyed look of complete innocence. “Did you think Victor wouldn’t keep tabs on little Katya? You leave with her, she dies.”

  “You’re gonna have to explain this one,” Shadow said, losing patience with the whole affair. “But we ain’t got time to wait.” Instead of arguing with the two women, he grabbed both of them by the arm and urged them in the direction of the exit. They needed to get out of here and on the road. They had a small window to slip out of U.S. air space without being noticed. And he had the feeling they needed not to be noticed.

  “What the fuck?” Millie spat at him, struggling. Shadow knew if she wanted to get free, it would be an easy thing for her, but he was betting she’d rather go with them than risk being left behind.

  “We’re on a bit of a tight schedule, ma’am,” he said as he kept moving them until they reached his and Venus’s bikes.

  “Pink, Ulyana? Really? You must have a pussy for a
president if he lets you keep that at his clubhouse.”

  Without warning, Venus struck out, slapping Millie full on the face. Instead of retaliating, Millie just looked at Venus like a naughty child who’d overplayed her hand, in complete and utter shock.

  “We don’t have time for this, rebenok. We need to get to plane and get airborne. Now.”

  Shadow raised an eyebrow but said nothing. He didn’t have a helmet on his bike, but he figured Millie wouldn’t wear one anyway. On the way here, he’d thought Millie would ride with Venus. Appeared that wouldn’t be the case.

  “Come on, wildcat,” he murmured to her. “Climb on behind me.”

  * * *

  Lyudmila climbed on the back of the big Harley behind Shadow. If she’d ever met a larger man she couldn’t remember when. He wore dark jeans and a dark T-shirt, his muscles stretching the material almost to bursting. Kinda reminded her of the Hulk. And, God, a man with that much muscle turned her the fuck on!

  The name Shadow suited him in more ways than one. His skin was black as night, his eyes just as dark. Even with his size, Millie had nearly missed him at first. Her sister was flamboyant, sticking out like a target in that ridiculous pink getup she had going on, but it effectively kept the attention on her, rather than her companion. Shadow took advantage of that diversion. She admired and respected his abilities. The fact that he understood Russian was a surprise as well. Apparently he had brains as well as brawn.

  Then there was her sister. Ulyana. Venus she went by now. Her club name. As if she could outrun the past by drowning herself in pink and changing her name to the goddess of fucking love. They were killers. Both of them. She wasn’t certain Ulyana actually tried to hide what she was, but she certainly downplayed it. Millie, on the other hand, embraced it. She’d been trained to kill from the time she started school. What she never expected was to be on the back of a man’s bike flying down the road to a plane headed back to Belarus. The only thing there besides her niece was death. Death and sorrow.