Page 56 of Coyote
“Get your fucking hands of her!” I shouted.
Cyclops just gave me a shit eating grin in return. I was straining against Breaker’s hold and once again glared at Storm who seemed to be letting all this shit play out.
Steel called out, “Bring your new woman to the meeting room. You have a challenge to your claim.”
Cyclops jerked his chin up, grabbed Bethany by the arm and propelled her forward. Bethany looked petrified, her eyes pleading in my direction.
“Have a seat and let’s try to resolve this with a modicum of honor.” Steel sounded so reasonable and detached, like we were squabbling over an inanimate object instead of a woman with her own thoughts and feelings about who she wanted to be with.
“There’s nothing honorable about raping a woman and then abducing her when she rejects you,” I stated firmly.
Steel ignored me and focused on his club brother. “It’s time to justify your claim, Cyclops. You had best be honest because you know I don’t like liars.”
Cyclops cleared his throat and explained, “What he said ain’t true. Bethany and I met at a bar and hooked up. I don’t know what happened, but she left town before we could talk about getting together again. I looked for her but didn’t find a trace. The next thing I know, she shows up years later with my kid. I only want what’s mine.”
Steel turned to me. “Coyote, it’s your turn to justify your challenge.”
“Cyclops has no right to stake a claim on a woman who wants no part of him, the bastard raped her. Bethany is officially my old lady, she’s agreed to be with me, no fighting involved.”
“As for the child?” Steel asked.
“She’s my daughter, DNA tests don’t lie.”
Bethany gasped and looked at me, her eyes wide. This wasn’t how I wanted to broach such a delicate matter with her.
Breaker backed me up, “It’s true, we got the results yesterday.”
Steel just looked thoughtful, “Even so, Cyclops has made an official claim on the woman, that’s not something that can be overlooked in our world.”
Storm interjected, “I want to know if the rape allegation is true.”
All eyes were on Bethany. She stammered, “Yes. I told him to stop but he wouldn’t. I tried to push him off, but I wasn’t strong enough.”
Cyclops snorted a laugh. “She ain’t the first woman to play hard to get. It was a game. Trust me, she didn’t fight very hard, and in the end, she loved it.”
It was all I could to remain in my seat. I wanted nothing more than to rip his throat out for what he did to her, and the fact the bastard didn’t seem to realize what he did was rape.
Steel came to his feet. “We can sit and argue about the minutiae of this situation all damn day long. Cyclops, you know how we resolve challenges in this club. You knew it when you brought her here.”
“That’s not necessary. Possession is nine tenths of law.” Cyclops sounded like he knew what he was talking about, but it was all rubbish.
Steel gave him a disgusted look. “Not when it comes of women.”
Storm asked, “Is this going in the direction I think it is?”
Breaker cursed under his breath.
Steel looked at me. “Do you know how I came to power, Coyote?”
Glancing around, I repeated what others have told me. “They say you killed the former club president and his VP. Then you stepped into the president’s role unchallenged.”
“Come with me,” he stated quietly.
We followed him out the back door of the clubhouse and in the distance, I saw an area that had been sectioned off with a chain-link fence. As we got closer, I saw that the top was covered in the same material. They had created a cage the size of a large room.
“What the fuck is this,” I asked.
“It had been a long-standing tradition in this club that challenges of all kinds are resolved by rite of combat.”