Series: Black Reign MC #1
Publication date: June 11th, 2021
Synopsis:
Lyric: I'm in so much trouble. My orders are to find the highest ranking member of Salvation's Bane or Black Reign MCs and sleep with them. Worm my way into their bed for longer than one night so I can take back information to Kiss of Death. Little did I know I'd find the one man I could never forget. The man who broke my heart six years ago and left me to fend for myself against a ruthless club who would break me the first chance they got.
Rycks: The second I saw her I wanted to punish her. Lyric ran out on me six years ago. Not that I'd given her any reason to stay. Now, she waltzes back into my life with an agenda I can't figure out. When I do, I can't decide what to do. The truth is as scary as it is infuriating. Lyric is my torment. She's sent to me as bait in a bigger plan I can't fathom. Mainly because I'm too distracted by what she reveals. Now I'm questioning my loyalties to both her and my mentor, El Diablo. She pulls at my need to protect at the same time she might just prove herself to be a traitor.
WARNING: Contains scenes of violence, explicit language, and adult situations. Rycks is the first book in the Black Reign series. While you can read it as a stand alone book, you may better understand the characters and situations if you read books in the Bones MC and Salvation's Bane MC series.
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Excerpt
"Look. I can't stay here past tonight. But if I go back with something that looks important, you could control the information I'm giving them." Was it my imagination or did he look disappointed?
"I don't like it. I'd have to discuss it with Thorn, and he'd have to decide what you tell them, but it's not something I want to risk."
"It's the only option I have."
"Why?"
"I'm sorry?"
"Why do you have to go back, Lyric? You're here with me now. You're safe."
"All you need to know is that I have to go back. I want to go back." If the look on his face was any indication, I'd just thoroughly pissed Rycks off.
"You're staying. End of discussion. You want to go back, you tell me why."
"It's personal. That's all I'm saying so don't ask again."
Rycks sighed and reached for me to pull me onto his lap, straddling his hips. He stood up and turned to sit in the same chair he'd plucked me out of. Those strong hands held me still. Like I'd dare move.
"Are you telling me you want to go back to that lot? They'll use you until there's nothing left. I'm surprised they haven't already. You'll die in that place if you go back. you have to know that."
"No. I don't know that. Dangling information from someone high in rank at Black Reign would keep them off of me. Plus, they need me working at my job in the city. It's the only way they're able to get their information."
I tried to ignore how good it felt to be in his arms again. Rycks was my first lover. He'd made me feel special despite his refusal to keep me. Even that had been because he'd thought any danger I faced wasn't anything like what I'd face with him. I had no idea if he'd been right, but I knew where I was now was as deadly dangerous.
"You're a damned fool," he snapped. Then he did something unexpected. He slid his hand into the hair at the back of my head and pulled me to him. "Girl, I'm surprised they let you leave at all. Surprised they haven't already made you a whore in the most violent way possible. It would be Rat Man who'd start with you. You know that, right?"
I shivered. Rat Man. Even saying his name gave me the creeps. The man knew no depravity he didn't indulge in. If there was a repugnant sex act out there, chances are he'd done it.
"Yes. I can see you do know. I can also see you're afraid." He sighed, loosening his grip on my hair, but not letting me pull away from him. "I suppose that's something." With a sigh, he pulled me to him until my head rested on his shoulder. "You're going to be a problem, I can see. Not sure the word brat even covers you."
"Why would you call me a brat?" Maybe I was, but it was only because, for some reason, I felt safe to let that side of myself out when I was with him. Sure, he tried to come across gruff and dangerous -- and I was sure he was under the right circumstances -- but I knew in my heart he wasn't like anyone at Kiss of Death. He was a protector first. A killer only when someone he was responsible for was threatened.
"Because you're testing me when you should be following orders."
"Never been much good at following orders."
"I can see that. Also," he said, taking a deep breath, "you've got to tell me why your family went missing from Ismay. And why you're the only one of them even to turn back up."
Romance author by night, emergency room tech/clerk by day, Marteeka Karland works really hard to drive everyone in her life completely and totally nuts. She has been creating stories from her warped imagination since she was in the third grade. Her love of writing blossomed throughout her teenage years until it developed into the totally unorthodox and irreverent style her English teachers tried so hard to rid her of. Now, she breathes life into faeries, space hunters, werewolves, vampires, shapeshifters, and a few just plane ole ordinary people. She loves to see the awkward, self-conscious band geek get the captain of the football team and make him beg for it.
