The Outlaw Stakes His Claim (6 page)

He didn’t say anything again for several seconds,
and she wondered if he was contemplating whether or not he wanted to even
divulge that much information. Was it against MC rules to tell her his legal
name? Before she could tell him never mind he started speaking.

“Michael Stoker. I’m called Dallas because that’s
where I am originally from.”

To say she wasn’t a little surprised he had offered
her up that much information would have been a lie. She smiled. “It’s nice to
officially meet you, Michael ‘Dallas’ Stoker. I’ll call you about that dinner.”
There was arousal amidst all of that, but there was also this connection she
felt, and she did want to explore that because she had never experienced
something like this before. Could it be because she looked at him like some
kind of savior? Maybe, but deep down she knew that wasn’t the case. When she
had seen him on the side of the road she had felt it, and now was the perfect
time to get to know him.

Chapter Five

Dallas watched as Hope made her way across the
street and didn’t turn away until he saw her get into her Jeep. “What in the
fuck are you doing?” Shit, now he was talking to himself.

“I was just going to ask you the same thing.”

Dallas gritted his teeth when he heard Stinger
behind him. He turned and stared at the other MC member. He watched as the
other male grabbed a cigarette out of his pack and put it back in his cut. He
brought it to his mouth, lifted the end, and lit it.

“What do you fucking want?” Dallas loved all of the
members of the MC, but that didn’t mean they didn’t annoy the shit out of him,
and Stinger did more than others.

Stinger grinned and took another inhale from his
cigarette. He looked over Dallas’s shoulder, and he knew he was looking at
Hope. He supposed to all the members of the MC Dallas had been a real asshole.
He had only told Diesel about the death of Meghan and his son, and although he
should have told every Grizzly member at the table, he was hoping that keeping
it buried inside of him would somehow make the pain go away. But Dallas had
found the hard way that keeping that toxic shit inside had only caused him to
be this hateful, mean bastard. He helped his fellow brothers out, because they
were his family, but outside of that he just lived, and it had become a sorry
life at that.

Stinger’s smile faded, and he took one more puff
from his cigarette before letting it drop to the ground and stubbing it out
under his boot. “I’m not sure what has been eating you up these last few
months, and it’s clear you don’t want anyone to help you through it.” Over
these last few months Stinger had let his beard grow out, and he had gotten deeper
into fucking club whores and smoking pot. Dallas could have easily made it
known that Stinger had been in his own world, too, and that he wasn’t hiding
all the toxic shit that he felt as well as he thought. But he kept his mouth
shut, because calling him out just because that was what Stinger had done to
him wouldn’t make this situation any easier. He was a good member, loyal and
true all the way, but he was also a smart motherfucker and could tell shit was
going down with someone even when his bear hadn’t picked up on it.

“And I’m not trying to pry into shit you don’t want
to reveal, but you have to get rid of some of that mad energy inside of you,
brother. It’s toxic and eating not only you alive, but everyone else, too. We
can feel it coming from you every time you sit your ass at the table.” Stinger
stood there for a second, just staring at him, and probably hoping his words
would get through, but Dallas didn’t see himself changing anytime soon.

“I’m fine,” Dallas gritted out and glanced over his
shoulder. Hope’s Jeep was gone, and there was this tightening in his chest, one
he didn’t know if he liked all that much.

“Listen,
it’s
obvious the
club whores aren’t getting you started, so maybe you should go get into a
fight, let a motherfucker land a few punches to help wear you out?”

Dallas didn’t respond, just stared at Stinger. He
had wanted to go fight last night, to try to rid himself of these crazy and
illogical needs inside of him, but instead he had found himself at his place,
lying in bed in the dark and staring at the ceiling. How could one woman
control his thoughts like this? He had been rough and coarse with her when she
approached him just a few moments ago, and although he knew that he wasn’t any
good for anyone, he still had agreed to go out to dinner with her.

“If you don’t want the club pussy, then fuck that
female that just left. It’s clear you want her—”

Dallas was right in front of Stinger a second later.
This power surged through him, and his bear rose up. “You don’t fucking talk
about her.”

Stinger didn’t move, didn’t even look threatened, no
matter how angry Dallas was. But this wasn’t some asshole human at the bar,
this was another MC bear shifter, and he was just as strong as Dallas was. But
what Dallas had that Stinger didn’t was this sudden and almost all-consuming
need to protect Hope, and he didn’t know if it was a passing emotion because of
what had happened last night, or if he was digging himself into a deeper hole.

“You better chill the fuck out, man. I can sense
your bear right at the damn surface and there isn’t any way I am going to go
head-to-head with another member over some pussy that just made an appearance.”

Dallas let out a low, menacing growl and curled his
fingers into his fists. “You better watch it, Stinger.”

The other man lifted a dark eyebrow and whistled out
low. “Shit, Dallas, you got it hard for this female or something? Your damn
bear is all snapping at me and shit.”

“I’m not hard for anything. I just don’t think you
should be talking about her when you know nothing of her.”

Stinger took a step back and lifted his hands. “Fair
enough, but get yourself under control.” Stinger glared at him once more and
turned to head back toward the auto shop.

For a moment all Dallas did was stand there, trying
to get his thoughts in control and bring his bear down to a level that wasn’t
murderous. He was already living on the edge of his emotions, and having Hope
walk into his life complicated things. But for as much as he knew he shouldn’t
engage with her, because all it would do was bring her down to the dark level
he had created for himself, he also knew he couldn’t stay away. He sensed she
was a good person and innocent in many ways. Here he
was,
a bear shifter in a dangerous MC, one that was involved in illegal and immoral
things, and who had been a shitty father to his kid. What right did he have to
get to spend any kind of time with her? Yes, she was gorgeous in every way
imaginable. Curvy, with long blonde hair that he pictured wrapped around his
fist, tits and an ass that weren’t small by any means and had him so fucking
hard last night that he had jerked off just to relieve some of the pressure in
his balls.

He was a sick bastard, but that didn’t mean he
didn’t want Hope Richards in the worst possible way. He scrubbed a hand over
his face and exhaled. He needed to go and either kick the shit out of someone
or get
his
ass kicked to relieve some
of this pent-up aggression and darkness inside of him. He was losing it, and if
he didn’t get himself under control he was going to end up hurting Hope, and
that was the last thing he wanted to do.

****

Dallas stood in the center of the barn as naked as
the day he was born. There were humans and shifters alike all around, ready to
watch blood getting spilled and bones being broken. The Grizzly MC was in
attendance. Diesel and Stinger were here as muscle in case things got out of
hand, and Jagger, Brick, and Drevin were here to watch someone get fucked up.
It would either be him or the polar bear shifter in front of him. The male had
hair as white as his animal side’s fur, and eyes so light blue they almost
seemed transparent. It was creepy as fuck.

“Tear him up,” Drevin yelled out from the back of
the crowd.

Dallas kept his focus on the man in front of him,
and then he let his grizzly come out. Shifting into his animal always made him
feel a little freer, but it also had the effect of making him crave this primal
need for blood. It was his bear that wanted to tear a man apart and use their
bones to pick his teeth. And because he already had all this darkness inside of
him it made him even hungrier for destruction.

The other man shifted into his polar bear, and they
moved forward into the center of the circle. Their big bodies crashed together,
claws tore into flesh, and they both latched their big jaws onto each other’s
bodies. The metallic flavor of the polar bear’s blood filled Dallas’s mouth. He
broke away and roared out from the power that the violence brought him, and
also the pain that followed on that high when the polar bear sank his claws sank
into his side. His flesh opened up, and the scent of Dallas’s blood filed the
air. Something in him snapped, and he moved back only long enough to charge
forward once more and
slam
his shoulder into the other
male. Dallas brought his claws down across the other male’s face and growled
low in his throat when he saw flesh part and his off-white fur turn
a crimson
red.

They didn’t stop until blood pooled on the floor,
staining the already rust colored ground. Brown and white fur was in chunks and
mixed with that river of red beneath their feet. Pain blurred his vision, but
it also had his adrenaline moving like lava through his body, making his
muscles grow thicker, and having testosterone and aggression form another
entity inside of him. Dallas tuned out the cheers and grunts, curses and roars
for more violence from the spectators. All he could think about was this
passion he had for Hope, how wrong it was, but how it made him feel good and
alive, and not like this worthless piece of shit. And all of that came to him
by spending that miniscule amount of time with her. But on the heels of that
euphoria there was his own self-hatred, his own reasons for hating himself, for
losing his kid and the mother of his son, and for wanting something he had no
business going after.

In one final move he opened his massive jaw and
clamped it around the throat of the polar bear. He saw red, only thrived on that
sensation, and ended the polar bear’s life with a firm clamp of his jaw. The other
animal clashed against him, struggled for his life, but he couldn’t defeat
Dallas in this volatile state. The bear fell to the floor lifeless, and Dallas
looked at him, trying to rein in his beast and not tear about a corpse for the
sheer satisfaction of destroying anything that still resembled the other animal.
There was no human in him at the moment, and his grizzly felt the surge of
power and dominance that he had defeated his opponent. He took a step back, and
his flesh moved over his bones with unrestrained power. Standing on his hind
legs he was a staggering ten feet tall. He swung his head back and forth,
looked at all the men standing around him, and would have grinned—if he could
have—at the fact they all took a step back, all except The Grizzly MC. The
wariness and uncertainty of all the other men filled his nose. The Grizzly MC bastards
were grinning at him from ear-to-ear, because they, too, knew the feeling of
taking out someone and letting that intense energy burst forth. He had no
remorse for the life he had just taken, because once a male accepted the fight
they knew the risks involved.

When he started to calm, somewhat, he felt the shift
move through him. Once back in his human form he still had that self-hatred
inside of him, but physically he was exhausted, and his bear had been appeased
for the time being. Wounds littered his side, abdomen, and arms. Most would
heal on their own in due time, but the claw and teeth marks that marred his
back would most likely need stitches. He didn’t even have to look at them to
know that. The feel of his blood moving slowly but steadily down his shoulder
blades and over his waist was a constant reminder of the violence that had just
transpired. That burning pain fueled him, made him feel alive, but it seemed it
had the opposite effect of trying to rid his intense thoughts of Hope. She was
still on his
mind,
had never left, in fact, and he
knew that no amount of fighting would make his need to be around her any less. Dallas
needed to find out why he was so drawn to her, and then maybe he could force
himself to walk away, because he wasn’t good for anyone, especially someone as
gentle and delicate as she was.

“Fuckin’ beast that one is.”
The rough murmurs of the men that had watched the fight came from all directions.

Dallas turned and looked once more at the massive
and lifeless body. Several shifter males were moving around him and lifting the
polar bear off the ground. They carried him out, and although Dallas had just
taken a life, this whole fighting gig was a game of kill or be killed. If he
hadn’t taken out the polar bear then it would be his carcass they would be
carting off. Sticks, the resident fight organizer, threw a dark towel his way.
He started talking to Jagger and the crew as Dallas wiped off the sweat and
blood.

“Damn, dude, you’re
gonna
need some stitches for that shit on your back.” Stinger walked up to him and
leaned to the side to check out the wounds in question
..
He faced Dallas again and stayed silent for a few seconds.
“You
all good now?
I don’t really sense that nervous and itchy energy coming
from you anymore.”