Corbin's Conflict (Spiked Raiders MC

Book 1) E.C. Land

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Corbin’s Con lict
Spiked Raiders MC
Book One

E.C. Land
 Contents

Acknowledgments
Trigger Warning
Playlist
Spiked Raiders MC Members
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Epilogue
Bonus Scene
Also by E.C. Land
Social Media
Shiner’s Light
Bruiser’s Reckoning
Lynch’s Match
C ORBIN’ S C ONFLICT
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are all products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any
resemblances to persons, organizations, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.

Corbin’s Conflict. Copyright © 2024 by E.C. Land. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written
permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations used in articles or reviews. For information, contact E.C. Land.
 Acknowledgments
Cover Design by Clarise Tan, CT Cover Creations
Photography by Golden Czermak
Model Joe Adams
Editing by Jackie Ziegler
Formatting by E.C. Land
Proofreading by Rebecca Vazquez
Any and all IHMC characters are copyrighted and written by Darlene Tallman and used with her permission for the purpose of
this particular story. Within both series, we share a world divided.

**AI RESTRICTION: The author expressly prohibits any entity from using this publication for purposes of training artificial
intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text, including without limitation technologies that are capable of generating works in
the same style or genre as this publication. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training
and development of machine learning language models.
 Trigger Warning

This content is intended for mature audiences only. It contains material that may be viewed as offensive to some readers,
including graphic language, dangerous and sexual situations, murder, rape, and extreme violence.
Proceed with caution. This book does entail several scenes that may very well be a trigger to some.
Also, tissues are a must with other scenes.
Not for the faint at heart.
If you don’t like violence and cannot handle certain subjects, then this is not a book you’ll want to read.
 Check out the music playlist for
Corbin’s Conflict!

Kiss The Mountain – Auri, Johanna Kurkela

I Hope Your World Is Kind – Auri, Johanna Kurkela
City of the Dead – Eurielle
All the King’s Horses – Karmina
I’ll Be Waiting – Eurielle
You Said – Eurielle
Trouble – Josh Ross
Beauty in the Struggle – Bryan Martin, feat. Craig Campbell
Almost There – Kaylee Rose
Raindrops – Eurielle
Become the Beast – Karliene
Meet Me on the Battlefield – SVRCINA
The Wolven Storm (Priscilla’s Song) – The Hound + The Fox
Fireside Bard – Auri, Johanna Kurkela
Spiked Raiders MC Members

Spiked Raiders MC Members

Corbin – President
Justice – VP
Abel – SAA
Dane – Road Captain
Tucker – Enforcer
Zavier – Medic
Coby – Hacker
Jett – Treasurer
Tobias – Member
Quincy – Member
Salem – Member
Big Daddy – Former President
 Chapter One

Karsyn
Running through the woods barefoot, the ground cuts into my feet, and tears spill down my cheeks as fear threatens to consume
me. Dodging past the trees, the limbs snag my hair, and each branch I pass scratches my bare arms and legs. The chill of the
night air whipping around me like icicles. It’s painful, and there’s no avoiding the limbs unless I slow down. That can’t happen.
It’s why I ignore the pain and keep moving.
I can’t take the chance of looking back. Not with what’s at stake. What’s to come if they catch up with me? If the blood
witches get me, it’s all over, not just for me but for others. I heard them talking. I know what they intend to use me for.
Breathing heavily, my heart racing, blood pumping loud enough it roars in my ears, making it harder to hear how close they
are.
By now they know I’m gone. They’ll be on my heels soon enough. It doesn’t matter to me, though, as long as I stay one step
ahead of them. One step ahead of death.
Death is coming and with it more blood will spill. I can’t have it, not again. It’s why I took my chance when I had it and
escaped them all. I won’t allow any more death to stain my hands.
For years, I’ve been held captive. Used for wrong things. Very wrong things. I hate myself for the things they did to me and
what they forced me to do. What I had to do to survive. To finally be able to escape.
Being a hybrid earth witch, I’m all about nature. Taking care of nurturing the ground, seeing Mother Nature’s work, and
helping it thrive. But for the last two years, I’ve been in a horrible place. I’ll never forget the nightmare I finally escaped.
I prayed and prayed to the moon. I prayed and prayed, pleading with the Mother Goddess to help me. To save me from the
blood magic holding me. Keeping me bound.
Never before did I want to do something so hideous, and now, I’m free. I escaped. I intend to run far from this place. Hide
where no one will find me. I hope at least.
All I have to do is get to Redwich.
Growing up, my mother always talked to me about the town. It’s the place where I’m from. She never hid who I was from
me. What I am. I’m not just a witch. I’m also a wolf. However, I’ve never done a shift. I didn’t think it’s possible. I always
thought there was a connection that should be between the two halves of a shifter. For me it’s not the case. Or maybe it’s that I
don’t know how to.
I have the senses of a wolf. My hearing is sharper. So is my sense of smell. I’m not sure about speed or strength. But when I
get angry, my nails grow longer. Still, I’ve not felt a connection to the other half of me. I wish I knew if I could. From what my
mother said, I might only have some of the aspects of my wolf side and never be a true wolf because of being a hybrid.
I didn’t know if it was possible, and I wished I could ask my father the truth, but I couldn’t. Mother explained to me that it
was forbidden for her to be with my father. He didn’t know about me. She left before he could find out, but she said he was her
mate. This confused me until she told me that wolves mated, and when they did, it was for life. From what she said, she never
sealed the bond between them, so he couldn’t find her. If he did, they’d both be in danger.
It was bad enough for her. And for me? I’ve lived my life growing up running from those who want to use me. Only when
my mother was captured and killed were they able to catch me.
 For five years they held me. They kept me locked away, unable to connect with the earth. Unable to do anything but what
they wanted.
If I can just get to Redwich, I can be safe. I know my father’s name. My mother showed me what he looked like. His image
is the locket I’ve worn around my neck since I was sixteen. It’s the one thing they couldn’t take from me.
The locket is protected by a spell my mother put on it right before she was taken from me.
I squeeze my eyes closed and try to get my breathing under control. Behind me I can hear the sounds of someone coming for
me.
They wouldn’t want to let me get away so easily. Not with the powers I have. Something my mother taught me long ago to
control. She used to constantly tell me how imperative it is never to lose that control.
“You must keep them at bay, my sweets. If they find out you are more, they’ll use everything they have to get to you. To
make sure you become a weapon for them. Control and lock them away. Only use the earth’s magic that the Mother Goddess
allows. Listen to the moon when it speaks to you, know that they will see you through. Give to you what you need. Show you
to your fate.”
She said that to me two days before they took her away from me.
I never fully understood what she meant, but I get it now. They proved what she meant. I never let them know all that I hold
within me. That didn’t stop them from forcing me to do their bidding.
How I got away only hours ago is a miracle. Now, I just need to find my way to Redwich. To the one person I hope can
help me. To keep me safe when there’s no one else who can.
Then again, knowing what those witches want, maybe I shouldn’t just go straight to him. I don’t know him, and he doesn’t
even know about me. It’s not unheard of for shifters to have mates not the same as them. What is unheard of, though, is for a
shifter to mate with a witch, vampire, fairy, etcetera.
For all I know, he could hate me at first sight and want me dead.
What I’ll do is get to Redwich and find a place safe for me. Somewhere hidden from the world, then I’ll search him out. Let
him know who I am and see if he’s willing to help me.
But first, I have to get there without getting caught. I won’t allow them to take me back there. I’ll die before doing what they
have planned.
 Chapter Two

Corbin
“Where are we with the run we’ve got coming up?” I demand, looking around the table at each of my brothers.
Most would say we’re an odd combination. I would agree, but no matter what blood we all share, we’re brothers. We’re
all different breeds of shifters. However, we all share one thing in common. We’re predators, one with our other halves sharing
one body.
Some of my brothers are wolves like me. Others are coyotes, lions, tigers, leopards, and panthers. Even a couple of them
are crossbreeds.
For me, I’m a wolf, one of the deadliest around. It’s thanks to the Alpha blood running through my veins. It courses through
me as if it were first nature rather than second. I don’t take shit from anyone. Not human, shifter, or any other creature out there.
“We’ve got everything under control, Prez,” Abel, my Sergeant at Arms and third in command, states, nodding and lifting
his chin to Dane, my Road Captain. “Dane and I have worked out all the details for this run. Nothing should go wrong.”
“That is, long as we don’t have any more spottings of those blood witches we’ve seen in the area.” Dane grunts, eyes
flaring and lip curling in anger.
He’s not one for the witches. His mother was killed by a blood witch, leaving him down to one parent, Daniel. He’d been
my dad’s Road Captain until he stepped down. When my dad handed over the gavel a few years ago, all those who held an
officer patch stepped down with him, leaving it in the hands of those now sitting around this table.
That doesn’t mean those men aren’t around all the time. They’re not that old, not at five hundred. We’re not immortal, but
we don’t live short lives. A thousand years is a pretty damn long life as long as a shifter doesn’t get themselves killed before
then.
“Speaking of witches, last night, while out running, I smelled one,” Tucker announces. “Don’t think it was a blood witch,
didn’t have the same foul scent. It was different, almost blended in with the earth itself.”
“Did you find where it came from?” I ask, rolling my head side to side, my neck popping.
“No, went searching for it, but didn’t find it. Even went into Cyrus’s part of town looking for it. Nothing.”
At the mention of Cyrus’s name, my nostrils flare. He’s my brother. We’re a year apart in age and also rivals. He grew up in
this club and turned his back on us all to go start a club of his own. The Iron Howlers MC. They’re not like us. They have
different beliefs and views on how to do things. I wouldn’t have a problem with it if Cyrus didn’t think his shit didn’t stink or
that this club wasn’t beneath him.
For fuck’s sake, it’s our heritage. One that Big Daddy started for us. He intended for us to run this club together, but we deal
in things he doesn’t want anything to do with. That’s fine with me. I don’t need his ass around here. In fact, the only time I have
to tolerate his ass is when we’re all at our dad’s for cookouts and family dinners. Big Daddy may have stepped down as
President of the Spiked Raiders MC, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t put his foot down in demanding his family’s attendance. I
get why he does this. He’s not choosing sides, which is fine, I wouldn’t ask him to.
He does this shit not to try and keep Cyrus and me somewhat tolerant of each other, but rather for our daughters, Sage and
Jazmine. They are just little girls who don’t need to be affected by the rivalry between my brother and myself. Sage is seven
and Jazmine is six. The two girls are the light of Big Daddy’s life now. During the week, they both end up getting off the bus at
his house after school. With the town being as small as it is, it only has three schools. All on the same grounds. Those who live
in the city district and county district all go to the same school. This works out great for me since Sage can go to her granddad’s
after school, and I get her from there.
Granted, sometimes she’ll get off the bus here at the clubhouse and hang with me when she wants to while I’m doing shit,
though most of the time, she goes to Big Daddy’s.
When it comes to Sage, she’s the best part of me. I fucked up seven years and nine months ago by fucking her biological
mother. She was one of the doxies that we keep around the clubhouse. Doxies are what we call the club girls around here.
Sage’s mom, Hummer, fuck, I didn’t even know the bitch’s real name until it came time to put a name on the birth certificate.
She wanted to trap me, and when that didn’t work, she signed over all rights to my little girl before disappearing. Since the day
she pushed Sage out, I haven’t seen her since, and she best not ever come back around here. I’d probably try and kill her if she
attempted it.
However, my Sage, she looks nothing like Hummer, nor does she act like the bitch. No, she’s pure innocence and light. The
guys around here look at her as the little princess she is.
“Did any of Cyrus’s men see you?” I find myself asking.
“No, I didn’t sense any of them around,” Tucker remarks.
Weird.
“Let’s see if we can’t find where that scent was coming from. If there’s a witch in these parts, I want them gone,” I declare,
banging my fist on the table before flexing my fingers.
With all the problems we’ve had in the past, I don’t need to deal with blood witches or any other that could be out there.
Lately, blood witches have been popping up in our area, and we’ve either killed them or sent them running. I know there are
different types of witches out there, but in my opinion, they’re all the same. I don’t give a fuck what they deal in. A witch is a
fucking witch and needs to be put down if they dare fuck with me and mine.
“Did you check by the river?” Justice, my VP, asks, looking toward Tucker. He’s a coyote and is one cunning bastard. He’s
got no problem killing in a blink of an eye, but he’s also a man who takes no shit, which makes him the perfect second in
command. In this club, it doesn’t matter what type of shifter you are, we’re all family.
“Yeah, VP, checked all up and down the river.” Tucker nods, his jaw ticking. “I checked every damn place I could think.”
“I’m willing to bet the witch has a shield hiding her.” Dane grunts. “Dad told me about one that could hide herself, other
witches, and creatures. Something about earth witches, I think he said.”
“Then we need to find a way to get this bitch out of here sooner rather than later, I don’t like that shit, and I’m not putting up
with it. Fuck that,” I growl. I keep the trouble out of this county . . . out of the town. The bullshit doesn’t come near those I
protect, and everyone knows it. I might be a cold-hearted bastard most of the time, but that’s because I don’t take shit and have
no problem getting bloody. I thrive for the taste of blood in my mouth. Enemy blood is on my hands, on my wolf’s snout . . .
yeah, I thirst for it.
The very thought of enemy blood has my wolf ready to be let out. He’s a beast and bigger than even my dad’s wolf. Solid
black with a small patch of white on the chest, according to Big Daddy. My coloring works in keeping me blended with the
night.
“Dane, why don’t you talk to Daniel and see if there’s a way around this possible shield,” Justice states.
“And while you do that, I think I might go and check out the areas for myself,” I add in.
“Don’t you and Justice have to go meet with Orpheus in a bit?” Abel reminds me.
“Fuck.” I growl, hating that he’s right. “Yeah, we’ve got to go over to Dyrk and meet with the vampire.”
I don’t mind the vampires that much, they stick to themselves and have rules they follow. Ones that, to them, are laws they
all abide by or end up at the hands of one of Orpheus’s men. Orpheus is the king of the vampires and rules with a firm hand.
What I don’t like doing is going to Dyrk, a nightclub where humans go act like they’re some child of the night or some shit like
that. All those B-rated horror movies out there have people thinking they can just be what they can’t.
Everyone in the supernatural world keeps the truth to themselves. We don’t need more shit than what we have. To the
outside world, the Spiked Raiders is just a one percenter club that runs drugs and shit. We do that, but we also do other shit
too. Hence the reason for the meeting with Orpheus tonight. Guess you can say he’s the kingpin similar to a cartel. What we
have to do for him is broker a deal for blood bags. It’s part of the shipment coming in. These bags are important because,
supposedly, they’re not just your regular blood bags. The blood contains something in it that makes it so the vamps can get high
or some shit like that.
It’s interesting and all, but it’s not my thing.
“We’ll go patrol the areas, Prez,” Coby says.
“Yeah, Salem, Quincy, and I will join in. See if we can’t find the witch,” Tobias states.
“If I didn’t have to be at Club Heat, I’d join in. It’s been weeks since I’ve been out,” Jett remarks.
“I can join in after I finish up at Raider’s Hook,” Jackson grumbles.
The two of them handle two of the four establishments the club owns and have yet to hire a manager since they’re both new
businesses. Club Heat is a strip club we finally decided to open. Raider’s Hook is a surf and turf restaurant that’s become a hit
in town. We also have Spiked Customs Rides, the custom-build garage where a few of us work. Then there’s Moonlight Ink,
our tattoo parlor. Both places already have an excellent reputation and bring in a shit load of business. We brought in some of
the best artists for the parlor and a design artist for the garage.
My brothers all help in handling the businesses while Justice and I focus on the other shit. That doesn’t mean we don’t do
our part with each establishment. I get out there a few times a week in the garage and get my hands dirty.
“Good, then while you all are out there, Justice and I can deal with Orpheus, then join in.” I grunt and rotate my neck,
inwardly groaning at how good it feels when my neck pops.
I’m gonna need to shift soon, I can feel it. My wolf isn’t going to wait much longer. So, hopefully, the meeting with Orpheus
won’t go on for long. I want to get out there and look as well, but I also know I have to make sure Sage gets her nighttime story.
It’s one thing that I do with her every night, and she doesn’t want anyone else to.
No matter how much she loves her granddaddy, she’s a daddy’s girl through and through. Just the thought of my little girl
settles the wolf inside me. He loves my girl just as much as I do. I can’t count the times I’ve shifted just to let her ride on my
back. Sage loves to climb up and hold tight while I run through the woods. If it were summer, I’d take her for a run, but it’s still
winter, too cold for her to be outside for long periods of time.
Once the time comes for her to have her first shift, then she can go with me. Until then, her body isn’t ready for it. Shifter
pups don’t start getting their strength until they’re ten. So, for now, Sage is all but a normal human. At ten, she’ll get her sense
of smell and strength, along with becoming faster. Then, at thirteen, she’ll have her first shift. At sixteen, she’ll be able to do a
half shift. It’s always been a question in the back of my mind as to why this is how it is, but Big Daddy explained when I was
growing up that it was a way for shifters to grow accustomed and get used to their new abilities without becoming
overwhelmed.
So, until the time comes, I treat Sage as if she’s a normal human girl, though I know she’s a full-blooded wolf, which is also
a rarity these days. There are a lot of half-breeds and hybrids out there. A lot of times, a shifter will end up mating with a
human. But that’s only if said shifter finds its fated mate.
And here I am, two hundred years old. In all this time, I’ve gone without knocking up a bitch, until Hummer that is, or
finding my mate. I’m also not fucking looking for her either.
 Chapter Three

Karsyn
Walking through the meadow, my feet wet from the dew coating the ground, I sigh in relief. It’s taken me a month to finally
come out of the little cabin I found and turned into a home for myself. It’s nothing special.
The cabin is simple, with a fireplace, a few old rugs, and a small cooking stove and sink in the corner. It’s all I need for
myself and all I could ask for. In fact, it’s more than I’ve had in years. Before I escaped the blood witches, I lived in a small
cell. The bars were charmed, and if I touched them, they burned. As it were, I grew weaker with each day I was in there.
It’s why it’s taken so long for me to heal as much as I have. I was lucky to have enough strength by the time I made it to
Redwich to be able to use my gifts in order to shield myself from the rest of the world. I needed the time to heal, and I feared
someone being able to come across where I’ve decided to hide.
In the time since getting to Redwich, this is all I’ve done . . . hide and heal. I didn’t even go to town for supplies. I stuck to
the cabin, only venturing out for water and food. I didn’t connect with the earth any other way.
Today is the first time I’ve ventured this far. I’m scared and feel as if, at any minute, someone will find me, but I need to get
out. Soon, I’ll need to finally make my way into the town to find my father. I don’t know how I’ll do that, but I’ll find a way.
The other night, I heard the sound of wolves in the area. Fear had threatened to choke me as I prayed my shields stayed
intact. I wasn’t ready to come face-to-face with a wolf.
Sighing heavily, I spread my arms, lift my face to the sky, and twirl around. Now isn’t the time to think about the fear. I need
to finally and officially reconnect with the earth. With Mother Goddess. Tonight, I hope to dance under the full moon as I used
to do long ago.
I smile upward at the sun shining brightly and feel lighter than I have in years. Energy sings and curls around me. My body
lifts off the ground, and I start humming, singing, and chanting the words that will fully connect me once again to nature.
The chirping of birds singing their song mixes with mine, becoming one. The wind swirls around me, and the ground soon
meets my feet again as I lower myself back down. I lie on the cold ground, feeling the earth underneath me warm. The grass
whispers against my skin, wanting to be reborn from the cold winter. Soon, the spring equinox will come, and flowers will
bloom. This meadow will be filled beautifully with wildflowers. So many different kinds, it’ll take my breath away.
I stay where I am, watching the sky, listening to the birds, seeing deer walk by, and a bobcat race through the trees. Only
when it starts to get dark again do I finally move. I still need to go to town, but it won’t be tonight. Maybe tomorrow.
Making my way back to the little cabin, I feel stronger, but I’m not strong enough yet. I keep my ears open, listening for any
sounds that shouldn’t be there. As I close in on the cabin, something feels off. It’s not malevolent, but it’s . . . I don’t know how
to describe it.
I stop on the edge of the tree line just to the side of the cabin. Only then do I smell them. Wolves.
“Come on out. I can smell you,” one of them states, looking in my direction. He’s older but still looks like the man in the
picture of my locket.
“Get out here, witch,” the other man says, sounding infuriated, but he bears a resemblance to the older man.
Ever so slowly, I take a breath and step from around the tree. Meeting the older man’s gaze.
“Karoline?” my father whispers.
 “The hell you talking about? Who’s Karoline?” the other man snaps, nostrils flaring.
“Karoline was my mother’s name,” I utter softly, my voice wavering as I drop my gaze to the ground. If they hadn’t been
shifters, I know they wouldn’t have heard me.
“What’s your name then?” my father demands.
I bite my lower lip and take a step back into the trees.
“Don’t even think about running,” the other man says.
“Dane, stop scaring her,” my father snaps. “She’s your sister.”
“My what?” Dane snarls. “You’re fuckin’ kidding me.”
“Take a moment, push back your anger, and smell the air.”
Dane does as he is told, and his eyes widen before he growls.
My father ignores him and steps forward. “What’s your name?”
“Karsyn,” I whisper tentatively.
“Karsyn,” he repeats, also whispering. “Karoline named you Karsyn.” He says this as if he were talking to himself.
“Motherfucker,” Dane mutters.
My father shakes his head and jerks his chin up. “Come over here, Karsyn. Neither of us will hurt you. I need you to tell me
where your mother is.”
I take a step closer and start fidgeting with my hands. I take a breath to keep the energy that wants to reach out of me trying
to surface. “My mother was killed several years ago by blood witches while trying to protect me.”
My father’s nostrils flare and his eyes change right before he shifts. I scream and back up against a tree, fear overwhelming
me. My magic envelops me.
“What the fuck is that?” I hear Dane snarl.
“Your mother was my mate. My fated mate,” my father says, shifting back, thankfully still with his clothes intact. I thought
that was interesting. I didn’t know shifters could keep their clothes when they shift, but it seems so.
“Your what?” Dane demands.
“My mate,” he confirms and looks at me. “My name’s Daniel Syndey.”
My mouth drops open, and I’m surprised to know this. I never knew his name. Swallowing, I lick my bottom lip. “My full
name is Karsyn Danielle Syndey.”
“She gave you my name,” Daniel murmurs and looks at Dane. “She gave her our name.”
“Still don’t know what the hell is going on here. How the hell did I not know this shit?”
I switch my focus to Dane and watch as he roughly yanks his hands through his hair. Eyes narrowed. Nostrils flaring. He
looks to be trying his best to keep from losing it.
“Because Karoline left before we could complete the bond between us. Evidently, she didn’t want me or anyone else to
know about Karsyn.” Daniel grunts. The gruffness of his tone takes on a whole new sound.
“Um, how did you find me out here? How did you know?” I find myself asking, panic starting to sink in as I think about the
fact that if they were able to find me, then the blood witches or someone else could.
“Your mother and I used to meet here at this cabin,” Daniel announces. “I hid her here after she’d been attacked. I knew
immediately she was my mate. I wasn’t thrilled about her being a witch, but she explained to me she wasn’t like the others.
When she left, she left behind a charm and a letter.” He holds up a glowing charm. “She wrote in the letter that if the charm
glows, she’s returned. Evidently, she didn’t, but her daughter has . . . our daughter.”
“I didn’t know she’d done that. When I saw the cabin, I didn’t think anything of it. It looked abandoned, and I needed a
place to heal.”
“This area is charmed,” Daniel states. “She made it so the only ones who can see this cabin share my blood.”
“Oh, okay.” That’s good.
“So, you’re the one my brother sensed while out running the other night,” Dane mutters. Evidently, he’s still upset, and I’m
sure it’s rightfully so.
“Yes,” I whisper. “I . . . I needed to heal.”
“Why?” Daniel demands.
“It doesn’t matter.” I don’t want to talk about it. I reach up, clutch the locket at my throat, close my eyes, taking a deep
breath. I just met these two men, my family. An overwhelming feeling wants to boil over inside me, for me to let it release
itself. To let it consume me, but I can’t. Not here. Not now. Not ever.
I won’t let the darkness win me over.
“It does matter. It fuckin’ matters a lot,” Dane growls. “Why the fuck did you need to heal? For that matter, what are you
doing here? Hiding?”
“You curse a lot,” I blurt, only to cover my mouth with both hands. “I’m sorry.” The apology comes out muffled, and I stare
at my brother with wide, fearful eyes.
Dane blinks at me, looks at Daniel, looks back at me, and shakes his head. “Fuckin’ A.”
 “Karsyn, you need to talk to us. We can’t help you if you don’t . . .”
“You’d help me?” Again, I find myself blurting. “You don’t know me. I . . . I mean, I intended to eventually come find you,
and I, um, well, I hoped when I did that you’d be willing to help me, but I didn’t think you actually would.”
“Blood helps blood, no matter what.”
I’m surprised when it’s Dane who speaks up.
I hold his gaze for a brief moment and nod before finally answering them. “When my mother was killed, they captured me. I
finally escaped and found my way to Redwich. I’ve been here a month, healing and hiding. Trying to get my strength back.”
“So, blood witches had you?” Daniel growls.
“Yes.” I nod.
“You’re the reason they’re here,” Dane accuses.
In the blink of an eye, he shifts, causing me to scream in utter terror. Swallowing my fear, I turn and run. I think I run, but I
don’t get far. Not because they catch me but because I find myself growing dizzy, and the next thing, everything goes dark.
 Chapter Four

Corbin
“Move out the fuckin’ way,” Dane yells, entering the clubhouse and getting all of our attention. Behind him, Daniel comes in.
Both men have grim looks mixed with rage. I can smell the anger on them both. But there’s another scent that catches my
attention. It’s sweet like honey-suckle mixed with the earth itself. The smell draws my attention, and I wonder what the hell is
the cause of it.
“What’s going on?” Justice asks as several people who’d come to party with us tonight move, and I get the first view of the
woman lying limp in Dane’s arms. Luckily, all that are in attendance tonight are shifters or already know about us.
“We need Zavier here,” Daniel states.
I sniff the arm again and move toward Dane and Daniel, my spine stiffening. “You brought a witch to my clubhouse?” I
snarl, ignoring the sweet scent.
“She’s not just a witch,” Daniel remarks.
“Don’t give a shit, she’s a fuckin’ witch.”
“She’s my fuckin’ sister,” Dane growls, shocking the hell out of me with his announcement.
“What?” Justice beats me to asking. “How the fuck is that possible?”
“Because her mother was my mate,” Daniel explains. “I’ll explain everything later. Please, let’s just get Zavier here to look
her over.” From the pained expression on his face, I know he’s pleading with me to help the witch.
“You better have a damn good reason for not telling me this shit,” I snarl, curling my lip in disgust as I glance back at the
woman, getting a better look at her features. That curly mass of raven-colored hair is just itching for a man to sink his fingers
in.
My wolf stirs, and I feel him moving inside me, peering through my eyes. He growls in my head, demanding I move to her,
that I take her from Dane.
“We’ll explain,” Dane sneers. “Now, where the fuck is Zavier?”
“I’m right here.” Zavier grunts, making his way toward us, doing up his jeans. “Fuck. I was in the middle of something,
well, someones I should say.” He smirks. From the smell rolling off him, we all know what the fuck he was doing. “What’s
going on here?” he asks, stiffening and narrowing his eyes. “Why the fuck are you holding a witch, Dane? What the fuck?”
“Just make sure she’s okay,” I command, gritting my teeth. Something about the sight of this woman is rubbing me the wrong
way. I don’t like it, and it’s pissing me right the fuck off. I want to know what Dane and Daniel were thinking keeping this shit
from me. The two of them have more reason than even I do for hating witches.
Zavier glances back at me and nods. “Right, let’s take her to the clinic.” Spinning on his heel, he heads back the way he
came, Dane and Daniel on his heels.
My wolf demands I also follow, but I can’t, I won’t. There’s something about this whole thing that doesn’t sit well with me.
Pulling my phone out, I find Big Daddy’s number and hit call.
“Sage and I were just about to head that way,” he answers in greeting.
“Sorry, old man, something’s come up, and I want Sage far the fuck away from here for the time being. Can she stay with
you tonight? I’ll get her tomorrow evening from you.” There’s no way in hell I want Sage here or in the nearest vicinity.
 “That bad, huh?”
“Don’t know just yet, but I’m about to find out.” I grunt.
“I’ll keep her here. Cyrus is bringing Jazmine over, so I’ll have both girls,” Big Daddy informs me.
“Means Sage won’t be pissed about not coming home tonight.”
As much as Cyrus and I don’t see eye to eye, both girls love each other and are close. The feud between the brothers
doesn’t affect the relationship, which is good, but the only common place those two get to spend time together is at school and
Big Daddy’s. Sage isn’t allowed over to Cyrus’s, and my brother keeps Jazmine away from here.
I finish the call with my dad and finally give in to my wolf’s needs. He’s itching for me to get closer to the witch.
Making my way down the hall, I step around Big Red and Saddle, two of the doxies. I’m sure they’re the ones Zavier had
been with. I also ignore the inviting looks they both give me.
No matter how many times I’ve been with them, how good I know they are with their mouths, and have no problem getting
fucked however I want to give it to them, their bodies don’t appeal to me.
“She’ll be fine. Probably just fainted.” I make it to the room just in time to hear Zavier say.
“I don’t think it was just her fainting,” Daniel murmurs.
“Why do you say that?” I demand, crossing my arms and leaning against the door’s threshold.
“Because she was glowing when she ran. Then she just fell, passing out,” Dane explains.
“Glowing?” I furrow my brow. I never heard of that happening with a witch before. “What did you mean she’s your sister?”
I demand.
“It’s better if I explain it all myself,” Daniel mutters, sighs, and looks down at the woman. “Can we do this with the door
closed?”
I nod and step deeper into the room. Sealing myself and the other men in the room with that sweet smell coming from the
woman. “Now explain.”
“First off, let me start by saying there is only one other person before today that knew the truth. Big Daddy,” Daniel states,
eyeing each of us.
Already, I don’t have a good feeling about this. Not when this woman is stirring my wolf the way she is with just her
presence.
“Years ago, we’d been hunting the blood witches who were up to no good as only those evil bitches can be. A few of us
were out in the woods, and Big Daddy and I went in a different direction from the others. We came up on a handful of them.
They were attempting some type of spell on another witch. An earth witch. We intervened, and when I got a good look at the
earth witch, our eyes connected, and I knew she was my mate.”
“I didn’t think that was possible,” Zavier utters, eyes sharp.
“None of us knew it was a possibility. But she was. She was my mate. I hid her in a cabin in the woods so she could heal.
We got to know each other. I learned about the differences between the different types of witches. She told me what those
witches were attempting to do. See if they control an earth witch, they have access to the earth itself. Meaning they can control
those of us who wouldn’t be without nature.”
“Fucking hell.” I blow out a harsh breath.
“Anyway, Karoline, she was lucky that day. We were together, and I wanted to bond with her. We agreed, but then she
disappeared on me. Left me alone in that cabin. Though she left behind a letter and a charm. When Dane came to me earlier
today about some witch you all have sensed but couldn’t find . . . I knew. I went to my closet and pulled the charm out of the
box I sealed it in. It was glowing, and I took off without explaining to Dane.”
I watch the way Daniel’s features drop and feel for the other man. For the beast within him.
“I ran after Dad, and we found the cabin. It’s about two miles north of here.”
“We checked the area,” Justice remarks, speaking up for the first time since I closed the door.
“Yeah, I know.” Dane grunts.
“The area holds an enchantment. No one could find the cabin unless they shared my blood. Karsyn was in that cabin. She
told us that Karoline was killed by blood witches when they captured her.”
I stiffen, not liking this one bit. “If she was captured, how did she get away? How do you know it wasn’t a trap?”
“Because the blood witches are looking for her. That’s what they’re doing back in the area,” Dane answers.
“Did she explain about her glow?” Justice growls.
“She passed the fuck out ‘cause I shifted and scared the fuck out of her,” Dane sneers. “Dad shifted, and she freaked. The
glow started, but it was fainter. But utter fear could be smelled off as she ran from me. Like her life depended on it.”
A feminine moan fills the room, and I look in the direction just as Karsyn’s eyes open. She blinks, shoots upright, and stares
around the room. Horror filling her eyes.
But when she looks in my direction, our eyes lock. Fuck me, I realize what the fuck was going on with my wolf, and I don’t
like it one bit. Still, the one word I hate most leaves my lips on a snarl. “Mate.”
 Chapter Five

Karsyn
“Mate.”
Those words vibrate around me. Confusion overwhelms me. Fear threatens to choke me as I hold the gaze of the shifter
who spoke. He’s a man, all man, but his eyes give away to the shifter part of him. The way they lock on me with such intensity,
the sclera of his eyes vanishes, no longer is there any white left in his extremely dark eyes, and the aura surrounding him . . . the
intensity of it is nearly too much. Being in his presence scares me. Just as that one word does.
I don’t know why it does, yet at the same time, a part of me is excited at the thought of this very man being my mate. I don’t
understand it. Not one bit.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” another man sneers. “You’re mated to a witch.”
“VP,” Dane growls.
“Remember, she’s still half-wolf,” Daniel remarks.
“Wh-what happened?” I whisper, swallowing down my fear.
“You don’t remember?” Daniel asks, eyes full of concern.
I shake my head, furrowing my brow as I try to remember what happened.
Closing my eyes, I recall the last thing to come to mind. Daniel telling me about a charm. Me telling them that I escaped the
blood witches. Dane . . .
I suck in harsh breath, open my eyes, and whip my gaze to Dane. “You’re scary. You looked ready to kill me,” I whisper.
“Wasn’t going to kill you, Karsyn,” Dane mutters. “Pissed me off learning what you said.”
“And that would be?”
The deep, rumbling voice of the man who claimed me as his mate sends tremors down my spine when I hear his voice
again, gaining my attention. Though I might admit, the aura surrounding him held my attention from the moment he first said that
one word. It’s terrifying and intriguing all in one.
“Dane already said it, but I’ll say it again,” Daniel growls deeply, his anger apparent. I don’t have to read his energy to
know this. “Karsyn escaped those sick and twisted blood witches and is the reason they’re in the area once again. They’re
looking for her and we can’t let them get her.”
“Of fuckin’ course she is,” the one Dane called VP mutters. His lip curls in disgust. “But what I want to know is why the
hell she came here? Who’s to say she didn’t bring them here and is in on whatever they’re up to?”
“Karsyn, why were you glowing?” Dane asks, evidently ignoring his VP’s comment.
“Glowing?” I swallow past the lump lodging itself in my throat. “That can’t be possible,” I whisper.
“We saw it for ourselves.” Dane grunts, crosses his arms over that massive chest of his, and leans against the wall. “You
said you were going to come looking for Daniel when you were healed enough, but you looked healthy in the woods. You
started glowing and then passed the fuck out.”
“And you brought me here,” I finish for him weakly.
“We weren’t going to leave you out there alone,” Daniel grumbles.
“I’m used to it. I’m always alone.” I find myself whispering.
 “Enough of this shit. If she’s half-wolf, why don’t I sense the wolf inside her?”
“Prez?” Dane grunts.
“She’s got no wolf.”
Evidently, the one who called me his mate is the Prez, whatever that means.
“Is that even possible?” another man says, folding his arms across his beefy chest.
What is it about these men? They’re all massive with muscle.
“I don’t know.” The Prez grunts.
“She shares our scent, though,” Dane mutters.
“True, but there’s no wolf inside her.”
“I know,” I speak up. “I’ve never shifted. I only have ever been able to elongate my fingers, and I can hear very well.
That’s it.”
“Way I see it, she might share blood with Dane and Daniel, but she’s still a witch.”
“Justice.” The name comes out on a growl, but it shocks me since it’s the Prez who it comes from.
“Corbin, Prez, man, you got to agree with me on this. This whole thing feels like a setup,” Justice remarks.
So, his name’s Corbin.
Interesting.
I bite my lower lip, draw my knees up to my chest, and wrap my arms around them, holding them tightly. Wishing I could
disappear from under the scrutiny of these men’s gazes.
So much keeps happening, and it’s overwhelming. Squeezing my eyes shut, everything goes silent in the next moment. I open
them to find I’m no longer in the room full of men. I’m somewhere else altogether. Scrambling to my feet, I twirl around,
looking, fearing that the blood witches have found a way to summon me, only to find myself back in the cabin.
“How did I do this? Bring myself back here?” I’ve never been able to do something so powerful. I’ve heard of it. My
mother was able to vanish and reappear, but she never taught me. She didn’t tell me that something like that was even possible
for me to do.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something shimmering that I hadn’t seen before. Frowning, I move toward it to find
out what it could possibly be. I squat down and reach into the gaping wall, wrapping my hand around a handle and pulling
whatever it is out. I gasp as I realize it’s a mirror. A beautiful one at that. Why on earth would someone hide a mirror?
I run my fingers along the pristine design and sigh. Never have I seen such remarkable work. The mirror glows, and I
release it as if it burned my hand, only to find the mirror floating in the air.
An image of my mother appears in the reflection, causing me to gasp.
“Mom,” I whisper.
“My sweet, sweet baby girl.” My mom’s voice fills the cabin. “I know you’re not born yet as I cast this spell, but I feel you
inside me. Growing. Getting stronger. But what you must know is this world is a dangerous one. By you finding this mirror, you
will have returned home. Home to where you should have always grown up. I wish that were what your life was like.”
I watch the tears on my mother’s face and the way she hitches her breath.
“Our lives won’t be easy, and I’ve no choice but to run and hide. To keep you safe. There’s so much that even I don’t
understand. What I do know is Death wants my child, and I cannot allow that to happen. I won’t let you be used. Our family
holds a grave secret, one that I couldn’t tell your father out of fear that he would convince me he could protect me from. I
couldn’t allow this. I couldn’t let him leave his son behind. See, you are special and need to be protected at all costs. You are
not just an earth witch, as you will be raised to believe. You’re a half-shifter, I’ll never hide this from you, but you will not
have a wolf. Not really. The Mother Goddess and the moon blessed me with you, and you are to be born the night of an eclipse.
I pray they will shield your birth so that no one will be able to know you were born. Not yet, at least. I want you to grow. Learn
and become the beautiful woman I want you to be.
“However, you must know this. Death wants you because of the abilities you’ll have. The ones I intend to teach you to
control . . . to hide. You are more than just earth witch and shifter. You are magic itself. Blessed by Mother Goddess. Our
family comes from the bloodline of the Mother Goddess herself. She can’t protect us as we would like. That would mean
turning her back on all those who worship her. But we cannot ever allow the dark to consume us.”
More tears stream down her face, and she looks away from the mirror.
“I can only hope that when you find this, you won’t be alone any longer. That you’ll have found a mate and that he’ll protect
you. That together, you two can keep Death away. Keep those who are in danger safe. If Death gets his hands on you, my sweet
girl, nothing will stop him from controlling the rest. He has blood witches amass and will stop at nothing. He needs purity.
Innocence. You. If he gets his hands on all three, we’re all doomed.”
The mirror loses its glow as my mother’s image fades. Her words resonate with fear inside me. I already know what Death
is capable of. He’s a monster. Completely terrifying. I know what he wants from me. What he wants me to do. It’s not just about
what my mother said. It’s so much more. Worse.
So, so, so much worse.
 Wrapping my arms around myself, I think about what my mother said about me being from the Mother Goddess herself’s
bloodline. It couldn’t be possible. Could it?
All of this is confusing, and now I have a mate.
Corbin.
How do I handle this?
I know absolutely nothing about shifters other than what my mother taught me.
It’s all strange. What I do know is with the blood witches out there, it’s not safe for me to be here alone. Not anymore, not
when they were able to find me. And on top of that, with this glowing thing, and now I just learned I can vanish, my powers are
unpredictable. It scares me, and I don’t know how to control it.
But if I ask them for help. For them to protect me, I could be putting them in danger.
Moving toward the cabin door, I throw it open and step out into the night air. I barely get one foot out the door before I hear
the growling. Whipping my head around in the direction of the sound, my eyes widen as I come face-to-face with the largest
black wolf I’ve ever seen. One look in his eyes, and I know right away it’s Corbin, and he’s not happy.
The massive wolf approaches me, teeth showing, large sharp teeth that make him look scarier than even the wolf in the
Little Red Riding Hood stories.
Once he’s right in front of me, he shifts, no longer is he the beast, but a very furious man.
“You have got to be the stupidest woman I know for doing something so idiotic,” he snarls.
“What’s that?” I whisper, unable to keep myself from asking or continuing. “And for the record, I’m not stupid or idiotic.”
“You vanishing the way you did, right in front of all of us, fuckin’ stupid, mate,” he sneers that last word like it gives him a
bad taste in his mouth.
“I’m not your mate.” I straighten and narrow my gaze, feeling myself grow bold in his presence. “Also, for the record,” I
breathe, “I didn’t mean to vanish. I didn’t even know I could do that.”
“Bullshit,” he spits.
“Not bullshit,” I mumble. “I’m not a liar. I don’t know how, and I know you can probably smell if I were being deceitful.”
“There’s plenty of ways for a witch to hide her lies,” he sneers, wrapping a beefy hand around my bicep. “Now, let’s get
back to the fuckin’ clubhouse. You’re going to the cells until further notice. Dane and Daniel don’t like it, but too fuckin’ bad.
With you there, I know you can’t pull no shit.”
“The cells?” I whisper, not liking the sound of it. Not in the least. “Please, don’t put me in a cell.”
“You’re going in a cell.” He growls.
“Please,” I whisper, turning into a whimper when he squeezes my arm. “Please, I’ve lived in a cell for the past five years
of my life. I don’t want to go in another one.” Small spaces scare me. They make me feel as if I were an animal.
Corbin stops and twists me so that I’m facing him. “What do you mean you were in a cell for five years?”
“The blood witches.” I sigh, squeezing my eyes shut. “That’s what they kept me in until the day I escaped. The only time I
was let out was when they wanted me to do something for them. Or unless . . .” I shake my head, not wanting to think about it.
“Unless what?” he demands.
Slowly, I lift my head, tears swarming in my eyes, and the energy around me swirls. “Unless Death came for me.”
“The fuck does that mean?” Corbin snarls, tightening his grip.
“Death became my master, did what he pleased with my magic.” I drop my gaze and utter the rest. “With my body. I was his
to toy with.”
“I won’t put you in the cell, but you will not be allowed alone either,” Corbin grinds. “Now, get walking. It’s getting late,
and I’ve got shit to do tomorrow. We’ll deal with you more after that.”
I let out a breath at his words, though I didn’t know what he meant by dealing with me. He at least isn’t going to put me in a
cell. For that, I’m grateful.
 Chapter Six

Corbin
Fuck me. Dragging Karsyn back to the clubhouse has my wolf and me on the outs. All he wants to do is mark her, keep her, and
make her ours. Fuck that. I’m not about to make this witch my mate. I don’t give a damn if fate says she’s mine or not. I refuse,
yet a part of me hates the shit she’s been through. What she told me she endured for five years.
More than that, I hate those last words she said. She was Death’s toy. Whoever the fuck Death is.
Without another word, I keep my hand around her arm, ensuring she can’t vanish once more as we make our way back. I
still can’t believe she could do something like that as it is. None of us could believe it. Dane and Daniel wanted to go after her,
but I ordered them back while I went after her alone. She is, after all, my mate, even if I don’t want to accept the fact. The truth
is still there. She’s mine whether I like it or not. That is unless I reject the mating. Or she does.
I’m not about to let her do it, though. It will make me look weak, and I won’t have that.
The clubhouse comes into view, and I notice the way she shivers. I feel like an ass for making her walk the entire way
barefoot. I saw it earlier in the room as we questioned her. The way she’s dressed, no shoes, the dress . . . sheer, barely enough
fabric to cover her body. Hell, even now, against the cold, I can see her hardened nipples pressing against the material.
Gritting my teeth, I stop, twirl her to me, and scoop her in my arms. With her being only a half-shifter, I can only assume she
doesn’t have the warm blood flowing through her veins like we do. Normal half-shifters have a wolf still, but she doesn’t,
which makes her susceptible to the cold.
Fuck, I don’t think I’ve ever met another half-shifter that doesn’t have a wolf. It’s fucking weird.
“What are you doing?” Karsyn gasps, clinging to me.
“Getting us to the clubhouse faster.” I grunt, trying not to let the scent of her get to me.
“I can walk. I walked this far,” she mutters.
“Yeah, but you look like you’re about to freeze to death.”
“Bet you would just love that.” She doesn’t hide the suspicion from her voice, and I don’t give her an answer.
Right now, all I want to do is get her inside, get her to a room, and plant a guard on her. One that will keep an eye on her for
the remainder of the night. After that, I intend to get the fuck out of here. I need to run. To relieve the tension building inside me.
I already had my hands full with the shit going on in the club. I didn’t need this on top of that.
At the meeting with Orpheus the other night, he requested we up the number of runs we do for him. That’s not something I
was able to agree to. He wants his product to double. I’ve got no problem with vamp, but he’s going to have to look elsewhere
if he wants to do that. I don’t have the time to give him. Not when my club’s also running shit for the humans.
Inside the clubhouse, I shove the thoughts away as I take Karsyn to my room. Why did I take her there? I’ve no fucking clue.
I just do. Once in the room, I set her on her feet. “Here, you’ll stay in here tonight.”
“This is your room,” she utters.
“Yeah, it is.” I grunt. “Take a shower.” I step over to my dresser and pull out a pair of sweatpants and a long-sleeve tee for
her. I know it’ll engulf her, but it’ll do. Turning back to her, I toss them to her. “Here, you can change into these,” I say as she
catches them, and I point to the bathroom. “The shower’s through there. Feel free to use my soap and shit. Don’t try to leave the
room. I’ll have someone stationed right outside, and they’ll sense if you up and vanish.”
 “Okay.” She nods and draws her bottom lip between her teeth. Eyes meeting mine. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me.” Spinning on my heel, I stalk out of the room quickly, not wanting to be anywhere near her right now.
Being too close to her calls to my wolf, and we don’t need that shit. Without looking back or stopping to talk to anyone, other
than to give Tucker orders to watch over my room, I prowl toward the exit, shift, and take off into the night. No way am I
sticking close to this place. Not with my mate in my room, in my bed.

Running through the night did me good. I ran, hunted, fed, and expended much-needed energy. Once I finished, I went to my
house and crashed, only to sleep longer than I meant to.
Now, heading back to the clubhouse with a clear head, I’m ready to deal with business.
And Karsyn.
My wolf growls in my head, more than ready to set eyes on the witch. Figure out what I’m going to do about her.
In the clubhouse, I don’t bother going to my room. I move straight for the bar where Hips, one of the doxies, is working. To
earn their keep, the bitches who serve as doxies also help around the clubhouse. Rotating behind the bar, to cooking and
cleaning. It’s part of the deal in order to stay here at the clubhouse.
“Get me a beer,” I order, not even bothering to check the other woman out.
“You got it, Corbin,” Hips all but purrs. She’s a human but was raised by shifters. How that happened, I don’t know and
don’t give a fuck. She came to the club after her parents were killed and hasn’t left. She’s one of the good ones here, she
doesn’t try to cause bullshit, but we all know she wants to be an ol’ lady. Still, that won’t happen unless she’s either a mate or
one of my brothers decides to say fuck it and make her so.
Hips turns to the cooler lined up along the back wall, pulls out a cold one, pops the cap, and sets it in front of me.
I barely get a sip when Justice joins me. “What are we going to do about the witch?”
“Haven’t made up my mind yet.” I shrug.
“She’s your mate.” He grunts.
“Yeah, she’s also Dane’s sister.”
The whole thing is complicated.
Justice opens his mouth to say something but is interrupted by my daughter.
“Daddy,” Sage screams, coming through the doors. Big Daddy’s right behind her, along with none other than my brother,
Cyrus.
“The fuck is going on here,” I demand, coming off the stool and moving toward my crying daughter as she rushes to me.
“Daddy, she’s gone.” My little girl sobs.
“Who’s gone?”
“Corbin,” Cyrus calls, voice thick, features contorted.
“Who the fuck is gone? And what the fuck are you doing here?” I snarl.
“Jazmine. She’s gone. Someone took her, and I need your help getting her back,” Cyrus says, shocking the hell out of me.
“You want my help getting your daughter back?” I grind out.
“Wouldn’t be here otherwise. My daughter means everything to me.” Cyrus growls. “What if it was Sage who was taken?”
“Cyrus, Corbin. Put the rivalry on the back burner. Our focus between both clubs is getting my granddaughter back,” Big
Daddy snarls.
“Daddy, please, please help Uncle Cyrus,” Sage pleads.
“Do you have any idea as to who took her?” My gut tightens, and I wrap my arm tighter around my little girl.
“At the school, the stench of those blood witches was everywhere. Outside and inside.”
“Why would the witches be at the school? For that matter, take Jazmine?” I demand.
“I know why.”
At the whisper of those words, I release my daughter, putting her behind me as I spin to face Karsyn. “What the fuck are you
doing out here?”
Behind her, I notice both Dane and Daniel. Tucker’s not far from her either.
“What the fuck do you have a witch in your clubhouse for?” Cyrus snarls.
“Quiet,” I command without looking at my brother.
“Daddy,” Sage whimpers, balling her hands into fists and gripping my shirt.
“Why would they take my niece?” I demand, holding Karsyn’s gaze.
“Because they’re pure. Rare. Innocent. They want their blood,” Karsyn says, swallows, and takes a deep breath. As she
steps forward and whispers with tears in her eyes, “Death is coming, and with him, blood will spill. Blood will bring wrath.
He intends to wage a war. Control those who he can.”
“The hell is this shit? Who is Death?” My brother growls. “Who the fuck is this witch?”
 “She’s my mate,” I snarl, not looking away from Karsyn. “Why would he take my niece? There’re other pure-blooded
wolves out there.”
“Maybe so, but Redwich means something to Death. He wants from this county. This town. He’s coming for you all. For all
of us. But I know his secret. I know how to beat him.”
“And how’s that?” Big Daddy’s deep voice booms.
“By using me. I’m the key to destroying him,” Karsyn says, shocking us all. Holding her hand out in front of me, she silently
asks me to take it. I do and go still as she shows me something I never expected. Visions of the past and present. It’s like
looking through her eyes.
This woman, she’s not just an earth witch. She’s much more than that. She’s also my mate, and I’m going to keep her.
She’s the key to the answers we need.
“How are you the key?” Cyrus demands harshly.
“I’m more like half the key. The other half of the key is your mate, Harmony,” she utters before her knees give out under her,
and she collapses.
I catch her in my arms. Her words fill my head. There’s more to this than what she said. I feel it. I saw what she showed
me. I know without a doubt it wasn’t a lie. Karsyn isn’t one to deceive. I don’t think she’d know how. The woman is pure.
Innocence. A complete conflict with all those around her. It’s why I’ll keep her. Make her mine. Mate with her and not let her
go.
With her help, we’ll also find my niece and then go from there to see if my brother and I go back to being rivals or not.
 Chapter Seven

Corbin
Holding Karsyn’s delicate body in my arms, I adjust her there as Dane steps forward.
“Here, give her to me. I’ll put⁠—”
“No,” I snarl, stopping him before he can say another word, “I’ve got her.”
“She’s my sister.” Dane cocks a brow.
“And she’s my fuckin’ mate, I’ve got her,” I growl, the words more animalistic than I expect them to be.
“How about I take her,” Daniel states, his eyes on his daughter. “I’ll take her and put her back in your room while you take
care of this.”
“I said I’ve got her.” My wolf is more than ready to come out if anyone tries to take her from me.
“I’m not trying to take her from you, Corbin.” Daniel keeps his voice calm and lifts his gaze from Karsyn’s slight form.
“But right now, there’s more to deal with than just my daughter.”
He’s right and I know it, but this is my mate. My responsibility.
“Your daughter?” Big Daddy speaks up. That booming voice of his, for once, sounds surprised. “Since when the fuck do
you have a daughter?”
“Just found her,” Daniel answers, not looking away. “You know you can trust me with her. I’m not going to let anything
happen to her.”
I believe him. I know I can, but after what she showed me, I don’t want to risk her being away from me. Hell, I’m still
reeling from what she showed me.
“Can someone fuckin’ do something with her so we can find my goddamn daughter?” Cyrus snarls, and I shoot him a glare.
“We’ll find her. Give me a minute to go lay Karsyn back down,” I snap, not taking kindly to my brother’s demanding tone.
He’s not the Alpha here, and he sure as hell isn’t a part of this club.
“Daddy.” The trembling in my daughter’s voice is the only thing that cuts through the haze starting to overtake me where my
brother is concerned.
“It’s okay, Sage,” I tell her, calming my voice as I glance at her. “I promise. I’ll help find your cousin. Just let me put
Karsyn in my room, okay?”
“Okay.” Sage nods, her expression one of confusion and fear. She doesn’t understand what’s going on, and she’s scared out
of her mind because she and Jazmine have all but been raised together despite the rivalry between my club and Cyrus’s. Mostly
because of my brother and me, not just the clubs.
Turning away from those in the room, I ignore the scent of question, confusion, anger, and fear, and carry Karsyn back to my
room. My head was still spinning from the vision she shared with me. I didn’t even know that witches could do that. Then
again, as I’ve learned, she’s more than just an earth witch, and I got to admit it’s damn freaky because if what conclusion comes
to mind, it’s more than imperative that Karsyn is protected. Her and my daughter both. And I can only assume this other woman
she mentioned is just as important as my niece.
Karsyn said the other woman was Cyrus’s mate. Ironic as it is it’s still enough to fuck with anyone’s head. Cyrus is a single
dad just as I am. Maybe fate has a funny way of going about things.
 Yeah, right.
What I still don’t understand is what she meant about Death coming. Who the hell are we looking for? I understand from her
vision that whoever he is, he’s powerful.
In my room, I lay Karsyn’s small form in the middle of the unmade bed and pull the covers over her to keep her warm. Last
night, carrying her back here her body is definitely not like a shifter’s. The blood that runs through her veins isn’t warming as
others who are half-shifters. Then again, I didn’t know witches and shifters could mate until yesterday.
Fuck. It’s completely unheard of.
Leaning down, I brace an arm on either side of Karsyn and dip my face down into her neck, smelling the sweet floral scent
that seems to be all her. It’s unique, and already there’s a hint of mine mixing with hers. I haven’t even marked her, yet that
scent is there as if I had begun the process.
Pushing away from her, I shove thoughts of her and this being a mating to the back of my mind. Right now, it needs to be
about finding my niece.
I need to get to the school, making my way back to where everyone is waiting. First thing, I meet Cyrus’s gaze.
“I do this my way. You don’t like it, get fucked, you got me?” I don’t bother waiting for him to answer as I turn toward my
brothers. “Dane, Tucker, Tobias, get to the school, see if you can’t pick up the scent trail.”
“Got it, Prez,” Tobia grumbles.
“We’ll find her,” Tucker growls, his voice taking on the sound of the leopard inside him. He’s not a shifter to fuck with.
He’s one of my best trackers and damn protective when it comes to kids. Secretly, I think he’s Sage’s favorite brother in the
club.
Dane steps forward so that no others could hear him. “Don’t leave my sister unprotected.”
“Not leaving her without someone watching over her.” My wolf wouldn’t let me even if I wanted to. He and I are both in
agreement when it comes to our little Syn.
Syn.
Yeah, it suits her. She’s definitely got a body meant for sinning, that’s for sure.
“I’ll sit with her,” Daniel announces, and without waiting for my agreement, he turns and heads in the direction I’d just left.
I let out a heavy breath and look at my little girl once more. Holding my arms out, I motion for her to come to me. Sage
doesn’t disappoint and rushes to me, throwing herself in my arms. Lifting her into my arms, I inhale the scent that is solely hers.
But it’s not just her scent that I catch. It’s the faint hint of a blood witch, meaning one had been close to her.
“You’re going to save Jazmine, aren’t you, Daddy?” she utters, wrapping those little arms of hers around my neck, her head
laying against my shoulder.
“Yeah, sweetheart, you’re gonna stick close to Big Daddy while I help your uncle find your cousin,” I answer, give her a
squeeze, and set her back on her feet. “Until I get back, you don’t go anywhere, even around here, without Big Daddy right by
your side.”
“I’ll take her back to the house,” Big Daddy states, wrapping an arm around her and tucking her into his side.
“No, keep her here,” I command, not liking the idea of her being away from where I know she’s safe.
“Not with that witch . . .”
The growl that rumbles in my chest, loud enough to halt Big Daddy from speaking further. He might be an Alpha, but he
knows I top him. My strength is unlike any other. It’s another reason Cyrus and I never got along. He and I both are from the
same cloth and would end up killing each other because of it. “Karsyn is more than a fuckin’ witch,” I snarl, leveling my dad
and brother with a glare. “Not only is she my mate, she’s an earth witch blessed by the moon and gifted in ways I can’t even
begin to explain to you all.”
“How the fuck do you know she’s not tricking you?” Cyrus demands. “That she’s not a part of why my daughter is now
being taken?”
“Because I fuckin’ well know. Mates can’t trick the other without it hurting them.”
“It looked like she was hurt when you took her away,” Big Daddy pointed out.
“We don’t have time for this.” I growl, my nostrils flaring, my wolf ready to jump forward and put them both in their place
in order to protect our little Syn. “Karsyn has been through hell and is still recovering from everything she’s damn well
endured over the years. Her passing out the way she did is because her body is too damn exhausted for what she did to prove to
me she wasn’t fuckin’ playing games and knew what she was talking about.”
“I believe you, Daddy,” Sage whispers, her legs crossing, and she leans into her granddad, arms wrapping around his
waist. “I could see.”
Furrowing down at her, I move in close and squat in front of her. “What do you mean you could see?”
“I saw what you saw,” she whispers nervously, glances around, and licks her lips. “I can sometimes see things I shouldn’t.
When you took her hand, I saw what you saw. It was like I was seeing through your eyes. It’s always like that.”
“Can you explain that to me, Sage? You see through my eyes?”
“Yeah.” She nods, almost desperately like she doesn’t believe I’ll believe her. “Last night, you went running. You were
running through the trees, you didn’t seem happy, and you ran faster, harder than you normally do.”
Blinking at her, shock seeping through my veins. “What else have you seen through my eyes?” I ask her, doing my best not to
scare her.
“It’s always been when you’re running. Except when you touched the lady’s hand. Then I saw what you saw.”
“Have you seen through anyone else’s eyes?” I’m not sure what to think of this, but for my daughter to have such a gift is
rare. I’ve only heard of stories around this. It’s a wonder why the blood witches would want her. Her sight could be useful to
them. More than that, it could be a danger to us all if they got a hold of her.
“I haven’t tried.” The honesty in the words is a sweet relief, that is, until she speaks again. “But I don’t know how to do
that. It just usually happens when it wants to.”
“Okay, sweetheart,” I murmur and lean in to kiss her cheek. Rising to my full height, I look to both Cyrus and Big Daddy,
giving them the warning without words that this is to go no further. My brothers here at the club already know that what they
heard stays within these walls.
Big Daddy nods sharply and lifts Sage into his arms. “We’ll stay here.”
“Good,” I grunt and start for the exit. Time is of the essence more now than ever. With the knowledge I now have, knowing
my daughter has a gift of sight, we need to get my niece before it’s too late.
Karsyn and Cyrus’s mate might be the key together, but the two little girls could be used to destroy them all. It’s something I
can’t allow to happen not just because it’s my daughter at stake here. Or because Karsyn is my mate. This Death person wants
to kill us all, or, at the very least, control shifters in general. If that’s even possible.
“Corbin, wait the fuck up,” Cyrus snarls, fury all but rolling off him in waves matching the scent of rage surrounding him.
“What, Cyrus?” Getting to my bike, I throw a leg over and straddle the beast, ready to feel her rumbling beneath me. When
I’m not in my wolf form, this is my other escape, but right now, it’s my way of getting where I need to be.
“What’s the damn plan here?” he demands furiously.
“First, I’m going to the school, catch the fuckin’ scent if Tucker hasn’t already, and go from there. We’re going to find my
niece. That’s the damn plan, and if we get to kill any damn blood witches in the process, then that’s a bonus,” I answer him,
start my bike, lift the kickstand, and hit the throttle, taking off and leaving him in a swirl of dust to follow behind knowing he’ll
catch up.
I’m done talking about it. The time for that is over.
Finding my niece is imperative, just as getting back to my own daughter and Karsyn so I can find out how the hell I’m going
to make sure nothing happens to either of them.
 Chapter Eight

Karsyn
“Where are you, my beauty?”
The voice filters through my dream as I struggle to push it out as I scream. “Go away. Leave me alone.” Using all my
mental strength, I do everything in my power to keep my location from being found. He can’t know where to find me. It’ll put
too many lives in danger. I won’t let anyone be hurt because of me, especially the little girl I saw with the tears in her eyes.
Goddesses of earth and moon, those eyes. Their remarkable coloring shows such vibrance and giftedness. Just as her
cousin, the one now missing, is.
“You belong to me, Karsyn. I own you, and you know I’ll find you. One way or another. I’ll bring you back where you
belong. I will have what I want. The time is almost here. You have until the blood moon peaking to show yourself, my
precious.” Death’s misty form sneers before I can finally get him out of my head. But not before he touches me, hands going to
my throat, squeezing as he disappears.
My eyes pop open, and I jerk upright, gasping for breath. I lift a hand to my throat, feeling completely disoriented.
“You okay?”
Snapping my gaze in the direction of the voice, I find Daniel standing there, staring at me through sorrowful eyes.
“I’m okay,” I answer, not really sure that I am or not. Death coming to me as he did has me more than a little shaken up.
More so, considering he’s giving me a timeline to come back to him.
The blood moon.
If I’m not mistaken, it’s within two weeks. This isn’t good.
Blood moons to those like Death, as well as those who follow him, is when they’re not at their strongest. Supposedly, they
can harness the moon itself with the right ritual. That’s why he needs pure, innocent shifters. It’s why Death took Corbin’s
niece. It’s why he’s done everything else he’s done. He’ll also come for the little girl I saw earlier. If the other girl is anything
like the girl who called Corbin daddy, she needs to be saved and kept safe in every way possible.
Neither of those children would be able to go without protection. Not until they learned to protect themselves and shield
their gifts from others. How they haven’t been found before now is anyone’s guess.
It’s truly remarkable.
“Why don’t we get some food in you,” Daniel suggests, coming closer. “You need to eat. Get your strength back.”
My stomach growls loudly at the mention of food. What I wouldn’t do for a thing of bread and broth. Even better, herbal
tea. I’ve never been much for eating anything else.
How pathetic am I that I would be half-wolf yet I’m not. I don’t eat meat. Not because I don’t like it, but rather due to my
surroundings and never having been given the chance. Growing up, my mother and I were always on the run. It was easier to
have salads . . . to eat from the earth. Sometimes, when we had the breathing room, that’s when she would make bread and
broth.
“That would be nice,” I answer, nodding. Scooting to the edge of the bed, I get to my feet, thankful for the warm socks I’d
taken out of Corbin’s dresser last night. The floors don’t feel as cold to me as they normally do.
Daniel wraps an arm around my shoulders and guides me out of the room. I lean deeper into his side and use his body for
the support I need, causing him to chuckle. “It’s a good thing I’m your pops, otherwise, your mate would not take too kindly to
having another’s scent on you when he gets back.”
“I don’t understand any of this.” Admitting this isn’t easy for me, but it’s the truth. This whole situation I find myself in is
completely strange and not what I’m used to. Then again, what I’m used to is fear and running. Never knowing what to expect
—hiding to keep myself alive.
Here, with Daniel’s arm around me, a sense of warmth and safety surrounds me. This is something I never thought I’d ever
feel. My mother did the best she could do. As amazing as she’d been, it was never like this. The way Daniel keeps me at his
side, his touch is completely different from what I experienced with Corbin. Where Daniel’s is about safety and warmth,
Corbin’s is more so, even with the furious rage surrounding him.
Daniel guides me out to what has to be the main room of the clubhouse. It’s where I’ve noticed they all congregate when not
in the bedrooms. Moving me to one of the tables where the little girl and a man, who not only shares looks with Corbin but also
an aura of fury, sit. I can smell the power that radiates from this man and know he’s not someone to be trifled with. This must
be his father, meaning he’s an Alpha and could easily kill me.
“Big Daddy,” Daniel greets.
“Daniel.” The other man nods, taking his eyes off me long enough to meet Daniel’s. “What are you doing with her out
here?” There’s no missing the contempt in his voice.
“Want you to meet mine and Karoline’s daughter, Karsyn,” Daniel says, sadness filtering in his voice at the mention of my
mother.
“Karoline?” Big Daddy blinks. “The mate who disappeared on you all those years ago?”
“Yes.” Daniel pulls out a chair for me to sit in and looks over to where a couple other men are standing. “Salem, go grab
Karsyn something to eat from the kitchen. A sandwich and chips.”
Baffled by his command, I tilt my head back to look up at him and whisper, “I’ve never had a sandwich or chips. Could I
just have . . .”
Daniel’s eyes flash, and he looks back at Salem. “Change that. Go grab her something from Raider’s Hook. Entire meal.”
“Me too,” the little girl pipes up, eyes shining in excitement. I’m taken aback by the brightness in her eyes as she looks at
me.
Daniel finishes the order and sits down next to me. “I’m guessing you haven’t eaten much of anything. Especially with you
saying you’ve never had a sandwich and chips. We’ll get you situated with something better than that.”
“Raider’s Hook is one of the best damn restaurants in Redwich,” Big Daddy announces, voice filled with pride. “It’s one
of the first businesses the club established when I created it.”
I nod, unsure of what to say.
“Big Daddy used to be President before Daddy took over,” the little girl says beamingly. “He started this club with Daniel.
Uncle Cyrus, though, started his own club too.”
“That he did,” Big Daddy agrees, pulling his granddaughter into his side, sensing what even I sense. The turmoil took hold
of her again. It hurts me that she’s so upset. “Your daddy is going to help Uncle Cyrus, and they’re both going to get your cousin
back, Sage.”
“But what if they can’t?” Sage whispers.
“They’ll get her back,” Daniel remarks. “When have you known them never to get what they want? Both those two are
stubborn as hell.”
Sage looks at me, eyes shimmering. “Do you think they’ll get her back?”
Wanting to appease the little girl’s soul, I close my eyes and connect with the earth itself, searching for the answers she
needs. Darkness surrounds the other little girl, but there’s a light close . . . so close, it is bright enough to keep her from fearing
those taunting her. I can’t see much, but I can feel the energy. Something’s coming. The witches are confident in their strength,
but they don’t have enough power to take on what’s upcoming.
Two Alphas.
Two that share the same blood.
What makes them rivals also strengthens them in ways they couldn’t comprehend.
Exhausted, I slump back in the chair and open my eyes. Daniel wraps an arm around my shoulders, saying something. But I
don’t hear it. My focus is on the little girl across from me.
“They’ll get her back,” I whisper, knowing they’ll get more than just her. They’ll get everything that will mean anything to
Cyrus. To him and maybe even Big Daddy himself. It all depends on which path Corbin takes. He and his brother must put
aside the anger between each other for the right reasons and let go of the past.
For not just the sake of the girls.
But for everyone else who matters to them all.
For two Alphas, brothers who share blood and strength, together will fight and share the key to defeat the evil surrounding
them.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 Onbekwaam scheent ge ook als helden. 2
Helden echter blijft uw naam.

Wierd gij nooit weêr opgeroepen,

Opgeroepen tot den strijd!
Strijd, waarbij geheel ons Neêrland,
Neêrland en zijn burgers lijdt,

Vrede is tog der ziele hoofdstof,

Hoofdstof van civilis kroost;
Kroost, dat om den lieven vrede,
Vrede en rust zig moeite troost.

God blijv’ met u, dappre helden!

Helden! eer van Nederland!
Nederland! God houde u lange.
Lange nog in vasten stand.

[15]

„Hoewel de Pruissen daarna geheel Holland overstroomden, en voor

Amsteldam, zo wel als in andere plaatsen, in bezetting gelegd werden,
zal het echter onwaardeerbaar zijn voor de Patriotten, dat zij ten allen
tijde zullen kunnen aantoonen, hoedanig zij voor Ouderkerk de magt
van Fredrik Wilhelm, het hoofd geboden, en in den krijgsdienst
volleerde benden, genoodzaakt hebben, met verlies van een aantal
dooden en gekwetsten, welk eerst getal de vijand zorgvuldiglijk heeft
getracht te verbergen, terug te wijken: de braave Vaderlanders, wier
stelzel het hier de plaats niet is te onderzoeken, maar die echter in
deeze en nog andere aanvallen, zelfs door hunne vijanden geroemd
zijn, toonden hier allerduidelijkst, dat zij onder een wèlbestuurd beleid,
nog niet ontaart waren, van den roem hunner voorvaderen, welke
schandvlek hunne tegenpartij hun heeft zoeken aantewrijven.”
Dat het Ouderkerk verder altijd zal geheugen in de handen der Pruissen
gevallen te weezen, is eene waarheid die zonder getuigenissen geloofd
kan worden; de triumpheerende soldaat is tog niet te rangschikken
onder de bedaarden en barmhartigen onder de kinderen der menschen
—voeg hier bij, gelijk wij ook wegens Amstelveen gezegd hebben, het
haatelijke denkbeeld dat den Pruissen van den Nederlandsche
Patriotten ingeboezemd was geworden; 3 ook hadden zij te veel van de
moedige verdediging van deezen moeten ondergaan, om geheel vrij te
blijven van den trek tot bijzondere wraakneeming.

BIJZONDERHEDEN.

De Kerk zal men zekerlijk niet vergeeten te gaan bezichtigen, en ook

niet de Pruissche kogels, welken in den muur daarvan zitten, zo wel als
die in den muur van het rechthuis: (zie Bladz. 5.) in de oude pastorij is
mede zulk een kogel te zien.

Aan de eene zijde van het dorp, ligt een laantjen, waarin de wandeling
verrukkelijk is, en dat het Ouderkerker hemeltjen genoemd wordt.

De Droogmaakerij, waarvan wij boven (Bladz. 10.) en ook in ons blad

over Amstelveen spraken, kan men uit dit dorp ook gaan bezichtigen.

De reiziger neeme dit ons blaadjen in de hand, zoeke de plaatsen op,

alwaar wij hem verhaalden dat de Patriotsche batterijen [16]gelegen
hebben, en zo hij de bekwaamheid van geregeld te kunnen denken
heeft, zal hij, dat doende, een aangenaam uurtjen in den omtrek van
Ouderkerk kunnen doorbrengen.

Hij vergeete ook niet het Portugeesche Jooden Kerkhof, hier voor Bladz.
5 aangehaald, te bezoeken: het ligt ten zuiden van het dorp, en strekt
met drie morgen lands, langs het water de Bullewijk; onder de zarken
vindt men die van overheerlijk marmer, zeer prachtig gehouwen, en met
Hebreeuwsche opschriften versierd zijn: de sijnagoge houd hier een’
doodgraaver, of oppasser die er een vrije woning heeft.
Hier meent men stond weleer het Lusthuis der Heeren van Amstel,
Reigersbroek, of Reigersbosch geheeten: in den zoen deezer Heeren
met Graaf Floris, hebben zij dit huis aan hem opgedragen: de Graaven
waren gewoon hier eenen Amptenaar aantestellen, met den tijtel van
Meester en Bewaarder van den Reigerbossche: sommigen meenen dat
deeze plaats door den grouwzaamen Elisabeths vloed van den jaare
1421, mede is vernield geworden.

In het dichtstukjen De Amstelstroom, leest men desaangaande het

volgende couplet; Ouderkerk toegezongen.

Toen pronkte nog uw Reigershof,

Voorheen om uwen luister te achten,
Daar Hollands Graaven, met veel lof
En roem, zig te verlusten plagten,
In veel doorluchtig tijdverdrijf,
Van snelle jagten, schutterijen,
Om strijd, of daar ’t vermoeide lijf,
Behaalde een reeks van lekkernijen;
Daar elk om prijs den reiger schoot,
En ridderlijk de lansie boodt.

Eene wandeling naar Amstelveen, is mede niet onvermaaklijk.

REISGELEGENHEDEN.

Met de Schuiten op Bladz. 6 genoemd, vindt men telkens gelegenheid

om na en van dit dorp te komen.

LOGEMENTEN.

Brugzicht, dit was weleer De oude Prins; maar het volk van Van
Salm, (dat getrouwe volk!) heeft dat uithangbord niet kunnen
dulden, en het derhalven doen wegneemen.
Paardenburg.
 De jonge Prins.

Voords eenige weinigen van minderen rang.

De drie eerstgemelde zijn mede Uitspanningen. [1]

1 Hoe het omtrent dat dorp gegaan is, hebben wij in ons blad dat over hetzelve
handelt, breedvoerig genoeg aangetekend, om er verder hier van te kunnen
zwijgen. ↑
2 Wij bedoelden met dit zeggen, dat de verwachting van den moed, maar vooral van
het beleid der verdedigers niet groot heeft kunnen weezen, uit aanmerking van den
aart hunner omstandigheden; ’t waren tog slechts burgers, wel geoefend in het
handelen der wapenen, maar niet geoefend in den krijg: de handwerktuigen werden
verwisseld met de wapenen; de vredige plaats der broodwinning met het oorlogsveld;
de koopman lag de pen neder, en vattede den staf van commando op, als bevelhebber
in eenen bloedigen krijg: en tegen een geoefend volk, een volk dat zig onder de
oorlogende Europeêrs eenen naam verworven heeft: en deeze stille burgers deeden
wonderen; toonden Batavieren te zijn; toonden onverschrokken te durven staan, als ’t
aankwam op de verdediging van Land en Volk!—zeker hunne omstandigheid behoort
vooral in aanmerking genomen te worden, wil men geen gevaar loopen van hunnen
behaalden roem te kort te doen. ↑
3 Men heeft zelfs verteld, ja wat verteld men niet al! en hoe dom denkt men wel dat
de Duitsche soldaat zou weezen! sommige van hun hadden zig van de
Nederlandsche Patriotten een denkbeeld gemaakt, als waren het zekere wonder-
verschijnselen in de Natuur; zekere menschen, of gedaante van menschen, met
vleugelen; die overal, door het geheele land heen rondgierden: verscheidene maalen,
zegt men, is in den beginne door hen gevraagd of zij nu niet haast die Patriotten
zouden zijn? ofschoon zij er reeds door onthaald waren geworden. ↑
[Inhoud]
 BUURTEN
ONDER DE BANNE VAN
OUDERKERK
BEHOORENDE.

DE BUURT AAN DEN OMVAL.

Van deeze buurt, die niet zeer groot is, kan niets
aantekeningswaardig gezegd worden: Zij bestaat intusschen uit
verscheidene huizen, eenige molens en buitenplaatsjens: de
ringsloot, wordt mede in dezelve gevonden.

D U I V E N D R E C H T.

Deeze buurt spant de kroon boven alle de anderen in de banne van

Ouderkerk gelegen, naamlijk wegens haare grootte, en
aanzienlijkheid, niettegenstaande er geen breed getal van huizen in
gevonden worde.

Haare LIGGING is in de polder van den zelfden naam, en [2]die

onderscheiden wordt in Groot- en Klein-Duivendrecht, hebbende ten
noorden de Diemermeir, ten oosten de Bijlemermeir, ten zuiden
Ouderkerk, en ten westen den Amstel: de buurt ligt voords zeer
vermaaklijk: door dezelve stroomt nog een watertjen, ’t Gat
genoemd, waarin een kleine Overtoom ligt.

Wegens den
 NAAMSOORSPRONG,

Is het volgende bericht bij ons ingekomen:

„De Duivendrechtsche brug, in de buurt over de Ringsloot liggende,

en die ook den naam van Kuipertjes brug draagt, ter oorzaake dat
nabij dezelve een groote kuipers werkplaats was,” (waarvan straks
nader,) „werd in vroegere dagen aldaar niet gevonden; maar er was
ter dier plaatse, eene schouw, of overvaart over gezegde rivier:
iemand daar nabij woonende, (men zegt een knecht van den kuiper
voornoemd,) was voords een ongemeen groot liefhebber van duiven,
die hij dan ook in eene verbazende menigte nahield, het geen
gelegenheid gaf dat men de gezegde overvaart, of kleine veer, in
vroegere dagen Tricht of Trecht genoemd,” (gelijk wij in onze
beschrijving van Dordrecht reeds aantekenden,) „Duiventrecht, of
veer, overvaart naar de duiven, of het Duivenveer genoemd heeft; de
veel vermogende klankverbastering heeft voords van trecht, drecht
gemaakt,” (gelijk zulks met den naam Dordrecht ook plaats heeft,)
„en alzo heeft deze buurt den naam van Duivendrecht bekomen.”

Wat de

GROOTTE

Betreft: Duivendrecht in ’t algemeen beslaat eene zeer ruime

uitgestrektheid gronds, begroot op 1327 morgen, 300 roeden
[3]lands, gelijk de polders, waarin de buurt gelegen zij,
onderscheiden worden in Groot- en Klein-Duivendrecht, alzo
onderscheidt men ook de buurten van dien naam; zijnde de buurt,
eigenlijk Klein-Duivendrecht, landwaards in gelegen: een gedeelte
van Groot-Duivendrecht, tegen over den Weesperweg aan den
Amstel gelegen, noemt men het eiland; eigenlijk zoude men het drie
eilanden kunnen noemen, om dat het door twee slooten in drie
afzonderlijke deelen, rondsom van water omgeven, verdeeld is—Op
den gezegden uitgebreiden grond, bevat Duivendrecht, het eiland
niet mede gerekend, niet meer dan 32 of 33 huizen, want dezelven
staan zeer wijd van elkander gebouwd, voornaamlijk ter wederzijde
van eenen zuidelijken straatweg; ieder huis staat op eene werf
waarbij veel weiland gelegen is: er zijn ook twee buitenplaatsen of
tuinen; de eene, Welmeer genoemd, is nog in stand; doch de andere
in 1787 zodanig door de Pruissen gehavend, dat dezelve thans niet
meer dan een optrek is; meer anderen worden op het eiland
bovengemeld gevonden, op hetzelve staan, behalven dat, nog vier
molens, naamlijk twee die witloot, één die snuif, en één die steen
maalt: de beide polders worden voords door twee molens van het
overtollig water ontlast.

In het buurtjen eigenlijk Klein-Duivendrecht genoemd, staan nog

eenige weinige huizen, en één snuif-molen; voords is aldaar ook
geplaatst de porcelein-fabriek, die weleer in Loosdrecht geweest is,
gelijk wij in onze beschrijving van dat Dorp aantekenden: deeze
fabriek, zegt men, dat alhier veel beter opneemt dan zij weleer in de
Loosdrecht gedaan heeft; er worden vorstelijke servisen gemaakt,
die ten duursten prijze worden verkocht; ook wordt wel, als de
fabrikeurs eene genoegzaame hoeveelheid van porceleinen in
voorraad hebben, een loterij van dezelven aangelegd, gemeenlijk in
het rechthuis van de Diemer- of Watergrafts-meir.

Onder het gezegde tal van huizen, behoort ook de woning [4]van den
brugman; zijnde een tamelijk goed huis, waarin hij niets verwoont,
gelijk hij ook geene pacht voor de brug behoeft optebrengen, en
beiden, wooning en brug, worden door Amsteldam onderhouden:
met dit postjen wordt thans deezen of geenen gunsteling begiftigd,
ofschoon het indedaad een wettig eigendom zij van het manlijke oir
des kuipers bovengemeld, en door het welk zijn huis aan die brug
gelegen, en thans een herberg, (’T huis de hoop,) zijnde, nog wordt
bewoond: de historie van dit ontvreemde eigendom is deeze: de
kuiper voornoemd, of wel deszelfs gezegde woning, had het recht
van de pont of het veer van overvaart, waarvan wij mede reeds
gesproken hebben: nu stond hij aan Amsteldam een gedeelte
gronds van zijn erf af, ten einde den algemeenen weg voorbij zijn
huis heen te kunnen leggen; maar die afstand geschiedde op
voorwaarde, dat de stad, voor haare rekening, in de plaats van zijne
pont, eene brug zoude leggen en onderhouden, de inkomsten van
welken ten eeuwigen dage aan het manlijke oir van hem zoude
verblijven; het bruggeld zoude bepaald blijven op 2 duiten de
persoon, gelijk men voor het overvaaren met de pont ook moest
betaalen: dit accoord werd wel getroffen, maar is niet gemaintineerd;
want voor eenige jaaren is, bij het afsterven van den werkelijken
bezitter der brug, in het geslacht van den geenen die ’t accoord
gemaakt had behoorende, dezelve, gelijk gezegd is, als een amtjen
weggegeven; de tegenwoordige bewooner van het huis zoude thans,
nu alle broodwinningen, vooral het herberghouden, geweldig achter
uit gaan, met ernst zijn recht vervorderen, dan, hem ontbreeken de
noodige papieren, die hem in de woelingen in 1787, waarin hij
bovenmaatig gedeeld heeft, ontvreemd zijn, of liever zijn zij door
schendende handen vernield: zo veel heeft hij nog bij request
verkregen, dat de geenen die zig tot zijnent komen verpoozen, of
ververschen, en de brug moeten passeeren, vrij van de tol zijn, mits
evenwel dat zij uit zijn huis ook weder de brug over [5]terug gaan,
maar vervorderen zij hunnen weg, naar Abcoude of Ouderkerk, dan
moeten zij de gewoone 2 duiten betaalen: deeze tol wordt ook
alleenlijk betaald door den voetganger; paarden, hoornvee, of
andere beesten die over de brug gedreven worden, betaalen niets,
ook niet de rijtuigen, ja zelfs niet de geenen die er in zitten, alleenlijk
moet men, gelijk gezegd is, betaalen, als men te voet gaat.

De gezegde huizen, waaruit deeze uitgestrekte buurt bestaat,

worden bewoond door ongeveer 160 menschen.
 KERKLIJKE en GODSDIENSTIGE GEBOUWEN.

De bewooners der buurt zijn voor het grootste gedeelte den

Roomschen Godsdienst toegedaan, eenige weinige van hun zijn
Gereformeerd, en slechts vijf of zes Luthersch; deezen moeten naar
Amsteldam te kerk gaan; de Gereformeerden gaan naar Diemen of
Ouderkerk, maar de Roomschgezinden hebben te Duivendrecht een
mooi zindelijk kerkjen, dat bediend wordt door den Wel-Eerwaarden
Heere Joannes Meylink, behoorende onder het Aartspriesterdom
van Holland; de Roomschgezinden uit de Bijlemer, en sommigen in
de Diemermeir woonachtig, komen ook alhier te kerk.—De pastorij is
vrij aangenaam gelegen.

Wees- of arm-huis wordt in deeze buurt niet gevonden, wanneer de

ouders ledematen zijn van den Gereformeerden Godsdienst, worden
de kinderen door de Diaconen van Ouderkerk van die gemeente,
besteed en verzorgd; wanneer zij geene ledematen zijn, komen ze
ten laste der zoo genaamde gemeene armen; wanneer vader of
moeder lidmaat was, komen de kinderen voor de eene helft ten laste
der Gereformeerde Diaconen, voor de andere ter zorge van de
gemeene armen, en voor deeze zijn ook de Roomsche weezen.

Er is een school, dat echter alles behalven eenig [6]aanzien heeft;

het wordt van wege het Ambacht begeeven, en dient voor de
kinderen van alle drie de gezegde Gezinten in ’t algemeen.

Wereldlijke gebouwen worden in deeze buurt niet gevonden.

BEZIGHEDEN:

De bewooners geneeren zig meestal met de melkerij, er liggen

geene moestuinen; er worden voords eenige gewoone Ambachten
geoefend—er is ook een Chirurgijn.
In de geschiedenis deezer buurt, zoude geheel niets
aantekeningswaardig gevonden worden, ware het niet, dat zij, met
groote voorkeur ten getuige verstrekte, van de elende waarmede het
lieve Vaderland in den jaare 1787, door den geessel des
binnenlandschen oorlogs, geteisterd geworden.

Daar de Pruissen aan dien kant zouden komen afzakken, werd de

buurt weldra door gewapende burgers van Amsteldam en van elders
bezet; en o! hadden wij ter hunner eere mogen hooren getuigen dat
zij er zig niet schuldig gemaakt hadden aan die baldaadigheden,
waarmede de loontrekkende soldaat gemeenlijk de oord, waarin hij
ter bescherminge gelegen wordt, doet gevoelen dat hij er is! alrede
door het woeste krijgsmans leven van het pad der beminnelijke
burgerlijke bedaardheid en geschiktheid afgeleid, hebben zij ’er, in
navolging van den bezoldeling, verscheidene merktekenen van hun
daarzijn nagelaaten; intusschen moeten wij, naar ingewonnene
berichten, ook bekennen, dat zij zig, toen ’t op een staan en vechten
aankwam, als dappere helden gedragen hebben; zodanig, dat men
verzekert, hadde men te Ouderkerk stand gehouden, de Pruissen
zouden aan de Duivendrechtsche brug nimmer hun oogmerk bereikt
hebben; vier batterijen, hadden de patriotten rondsom Het huis de
hoop, meergemeld, opgeworpen, van dewelken zij [7]de Pruissen bij
hunne herhaalde aannaderingen, ook gelijke maalen, dapperlijk
begroetteden, met dat gewenscht gevolg dat er veelen van hun
vielen; de tekens hunner afgezondene kogels zijn nog hier en daar,
met naame in de muuren van de poort der gemelde hofstede
Welmeer, te zien: de overtoom waar van wij boven gesproken
hebben, was weggebroken, zo ook de tolbrug; (men voer toen weder
met eene schouw over,) en al het hinderend geboomte omgehakt, zo
dat zij hunnen vijand op eene vlakte voor zig hadden; echter
behoefden zij met hun geschut maar zeer smalle wegen te
bestrijken, (het platte land, stond rondsom ruim drie à vier voeten
hoog onder water;) het welk ook met zo veel moed en snelheid
gedaan werd, dat er, gelijk gezegd is, veele Pruissen door hun ter
nedergelegd werden; allerbenaauwdst zag ’t er toen in deeze oord
uit, en die akeligheid vergrootte niet weinig toen de Vaderlanders,
door dat Ouderkerk verlaten was, geraden vonden, of liever
genoodzaakt werden, aftetrekken, en de geheele buurt derhalven
door de Pruissische soldaaten overstroomd werd; zij kwamen er in;
als raazenden vielen zij op alles aan, want de dappere tegenstand
welke zij, zekerlijk buiten verwachting, ontmoet, en het volk dat zij
verloren hadden, had hun verbitterd; meest moest de meergemelde
herberg ’t Huis de Hoop lijden; want zij hadden hetzelve, wegens de
batterijen waardoor het van rondsom beschermd, (in hunne oogen
beschermd) werd, voor een of ander huis van aanzien, mogelijk wel
voor een Dorps Raadhuis gehouden, en hadden ook alle mogelijke
moeite gedaan om het zelve tot een puinhoop te schieten: dan,
allerwonderbarelijkst werd dat huis bewaard; want de Pruissen
pointeerden hunne stukken zodanig, dat zij telkens over hetzelve
heen schooten, en als zij het raakten was het slechts aan de randen
der hardsteenen waarmede de gevel gedekt is, gelijk men zulks dan
nog werkelijk in oogenschouw kan neemen—de bewooner van dat
huis, houdt die beklagenswaardige gebeurtenis voor de
[8]grondoorzaak van zijn onherstelbaar bederf, want behalven dat
sedert dien tijd een algemeen verval in het land plaats heeft, en zijne
herberg derhalven vrij schaarser dan weleer bezocht wordt, begroot
hij zijne geledene schade, zo aan zijn huis als goederen, op ruim
1000 guldens, waarvan hem, in gevolge van groote daartoe
aangewende moeite, naauwlijks 350 guldens vergoed zijn: de
Jooden, (men weet welke rol deeze, in die tijdsomstandigheden,
gespeeld hebben,) hadden verscheidene van zijne meubelen
gekocht, die hij naderhand, waarschijnelijk ten dubbelden en
driedubbelden prijze, weder heeft moeten inkoopen.

De
 HERBERGEN

Welken in deeze buurt gevonden worden, zijn voornaamlijk, het

meergemelde,

Huis de Hoop, dat ook eene goede uitspanning is; voords nog twee
andere herbergen van minderen rang.

De

REISGELEGENHEDEN

Zijn naar Amsteldam, Muiden, Naarden en Weesp, met de gewoone

schuiten welken op die steden vise versa vaaren, en de
Duivendrechtsche, of Kuipertjes-brug moeten passeeren, men kan
van daar ook naar Abcoude of Ouderkerk wandelen; nog passeert er
de Kerkschuit uit de Diemer- of Watergrafts-meir.

Door Duivendrecht wandelt men over eenen zindelijken straatweg,

tot aan en voorbij het Tolhek: van hier gaat men rechts af, langs de
zoogenaamde Ouderkerker laan, naar Ouderkerk.

Een andere Buurt, of Gehucht, in de banne van Ouderkerk gelegen,

draagt den naam van [9]

DE BULLEWIJK,

Die onderscheiden wordt in de Binnen- en Buiten-Bullewijk.

Hier strekt zig de ban van Ouder-Amstel uit tot aan het tolhuisjen bij
de Abcouder meir, welker bewooners nog onder het opzicht van den
Predikant van Ouderkerk staan.
De beide deelen van de Bullewijk liggen zeer vermaaklijk ter
wederzijden van de ongemeen schoone rivier de Amstel, en aan het
water, Bullewijk genoemd; de Binnen-Bullewijk is voor een gedeelte
een rijweg, met eenige buitenplaatsen vercierd, als Hoofdenburg,
Kerkzicht, enz.; zij strekt zig uit tot aan de Abcouder meir: de Buiten-
Bullewijk ligt in de polder de Ronde hoep, als mede de Rijke Waver,
en de Waardhuizen, welke polder begroot wordt op 1526 morgen, en
472 roeden gronds: men wil, dat dezelve van ouds eene
bosschaadje zoude geweest zijn, die afgekapt en tot land gemaakt
is; voords stellen onze ingewonnene berichten het voor niet
onmogelijk, dat die landen eertijds van slechten aart geweest zijn;
dat men er daarom bullen op geweid heeft, en dat daarvan het
gehucht de Bullewijk zijnen naam zoude ontleend hebben: wat
betreft dat de polder voorheen een bosch zoude geweest zijn,
daarvan geeft men, niet ongepast, ten bewijze, dat de landlieden
aldaar nog jaarlijks boomwortels uit den grond haalen, die telkens
naar boven werken: thans is de Ronde Hoep één der beste polders;
niet alleen wegens het land dat zeer goed voor het melkvee is, maar
ook wegens de schoone bedijking die rondsom de polder ligt: zij
heeft drie watermolens, welken het overtollige polderwater in den
Amstel overmaalen: het getal der huizen, onder de geheele Bullewijk
betrokken zijnde, kunnen wij niet bepaalen. [10]

Met de bestuuring en verzorging van Weezen en Armen gaat het

hier als in de voorgemelde buurten onder deeze banne behoorende;
de inwooners zijn voor het grootste gedeelte den Roomschen
Godsdienst toegedaan, gelijk zij er dan ook een zeer goede en zelfs
aanzienlijke statie hebben, een quartier uurs van het dorp gelegen,
die bediend wordt door den Wel-Eerwaarden Heere Hyronimius
van der Dorp, behoorende onder het Aartspriesterdom van
Holland: de Gereformeerden, welken onder hun gevonden worden,
moeten te Ouderkerk te kerk gaan, gelijk de Roomschgezinden in
dat Dorp in de Bullewijk behooren: de kinderen uit dat gehucht gaan
ook te Ouderkerk voornoemd, school.

De bewooners van de Bullewijk geneeren zig voornaamlijk met de

melkerij, waartoe, gelijk gezegd is, de landen aldaar zeer geschikt
zijn.

De Jooden hebben hier een groot kerkhof; zie onze beschrijving van
Ouderkerk.

Herbergen worden er geene anderen gevonden, dan de

Voetangel 1, alwaar men ook de reisgelegenheid van de
passeerende Utrechtsche schuit van en naar Amsteldam en Utrecht
heeft.

Rechtuit over den Voetangel voornoemd gaande, heeft men een rij-
en gaan-weg, langs den Amstel, naar Abcoude: maar den Voetangel
aan de linkerhand, begint de [11]

R IJ K E WAV E R ,

Mede, gelijk wij reeds gezegd hebben, in de Ronde-hoeper polder

gelegen: het is een rijweg tot dat men aan de Waarthuizen komt, van
waar men weder naar Ouderkerk gaat.

Van de Rijke Waver is niet veel anders te zeggen, dan dat het er in
den zomer zeer aangenaam is; men ziet er veele buitenplaatzen, tot
dat men komt aan de Stoppelaars brug, een gehucht van eenige
huizen, (Stichts gebied;) daardoor gaande komt men, over een brug,
wederom op Hollandsch gebied, naamlijk te Botshol: zie onze
beschrijving van Waver enz.
De bewooners der Rijke Waver bestaan mede meestal van de
melkerij, behalven eenige geringe lieden, die de baggerij ter hand
houden.

Gezegde bewoonen verhaalen, dat dit gedeelte van de Ronde hoep,

weleer, bepaaldlijk vóór en tot den jaare 1672, den naam van
Schamele Waver droeg, en dat het den naam van Rijke Waver
bekomen heeft, bij gelegenheid dat de Franschen, ten gezegden
jaare, aldaar en in den omtrek brandschatting uitschrijvende, dezelve
op geen pleksken zo in haar geheel opgebragt werd als alhier,
waardoor het zig, in de plaats van den naam van arm te verdienen,
betoonde rijk te zijn, en derhalven toen ook dien naam verkreeg;
doch onze medegedeelde berichten spreeken zulks volstrekt tegen,
verzekerende dat er geenige aantekening voorhanden is, waaruit
zoude kunnen blijken, dat de Franschen in 1672 de Rijke Waver een
bezoek gegeven hebben.

[12]

HOLENDRECHT.

Is eene polder onder dezelfde banne van Ouderkerk; zij wordt

begroot op 419 morgen, 363 roeden: hier en daar is dezelve
bewoond; doch niet anders dan door melkboeren, die er zeer goede
landen hebben.

WAARDHUIZEN EN DE NES,

I N Z O V E R R E Z IJ T E N O O S T E N VA N D E N
AMSTEL GELEGEN ZIJN.
Deeze buurten of gehuchten zijn redelijk digt bebouwd, en zijn ook
vrij volkrijk; de bewooners geneeren zig voornaamlijk met den
landbouw; ook worden er veele visschers gevonden: er is een’
goede sluis, de Nesser sluis genaamd: de liefhebbers van visschen,
vooral die van Amsteldam, gaan des zomers gemeenlijk alhier
hunne uitspanning neemen, het geen de inwooners nog al eenig
voordeel aanbrengt: deezen zijn voor het grootste gedeelte van den
Roomschen Godsdienst, en gaan aan de eene zijde te Waver, en
aan de andere in de Zwaluwe buurt te kerk.

In de Nes is ook een school. [1]

1 Dit is een schoon gebouw, behoorende aan de Thesaurie der stad Amsteldam:
alle vaartuigen, die er passeeren, moeten er aanleggen en tol betalen. ↑
[Inhoud]
 Het dorp Amstelveen

AMSTELVEEN, zo wel gelegen,

Mild bedeeld met Godes zegen,
Leed om Gysbrechts overmoed,
Leed door Spanjes dwingelanden,
Onlangs viel ’t in Pruisens handen,
Laatstlijk heeft er ’t vuur gewoed. (1792.)