Tucker's Strike (Spiked Raiders MC Book 2), page 1
Tucker’s Strike
Spiked Raiders MC
Book Two
E.C. Land
Contents
Acknowledgments
Trigger Warning
Playlist
Spiked Raiders MC Members
Note to Readers
Prologue Part 1
Prologue Part 2
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
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Epilogue
Author’s Note
Also by E.C. Land
Jingle Belle’s Biker
Battling Aries
Griz’s Edge
Social Media
Tucker’s Strike
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.
Tucker’s Strike. 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.
Cover Design by CT Creations, Clarise Tan
Model: Heath Roberts
Photography: Furious Fotog
Editing by Jackie Ziegler
Formatting by E.C. Land
Proofreading by Rebecca Vazquez
Acknowledgments
So many people to acknowledge, but first and foremost, my family. They always have my back and support me. My husband and kids are my biggest cheering team, and I couldn’t ask for better.
Next, I’d have to shout out to all my readers for sticking with me and enjoying the world I’ve created.
Then there’s my team, everyone who works alongside me to ensure that each book I release is ready to go when the time comes. I couldn’t ask for better.
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.
Take a look at the playlist for Tucker’s Strike!
Worst Way – Riley Green
Take the Lonely – Hayden Coffman
Shadows – Ryan Jesse
My Drug – Anthony Mossburg
Wolves Cry – Bryan Martin
Ain’t Thinkin’ Bout You – Greyland Janes
Breathing – Hueston
Bad Decisions – Dylan Schneider
Can’t Walk on the Water – Blake Tyler
Lost – Bryan Martin
Whiskey N Honey – Hueston
Become the Beast – Karliene
Lucky – Bif Naked
Breathe – Nickelback
Spiked Raiders MC Members
Corbin – President – Karsyn – Ol’ Lady
Sage – Corbin’s Daughter
Justice – VP
Abel – SAA
Dane – Road Captain
Tucker – Enforcer – Lake – Ol’ Lady
Zavier – Medic
Coby – Hacker
Jett – Treasurer
Tobias – Member
Quincy – Member
Salem – Member
Big Daddy – Former President – Mate Died
(Corbin & Cyrus’s Dad)
Daniel – Former Road Captain – Mate Died
(Dane & Karsyn’s Dad)
NOTE TO READERS
SOOOO!!!!! In writing Tucker’s Strike, I made a massive error.
The only way to fix it without scrapping the entirety of everything I’d written for this couple (I totally didn’t want to do) I had to make it in Corbin’s Conflict. It didn’t mess with the story or the couple. I simply had to adjust where it mentioned what type of shifter Tucker is.
Because it’s such a significant part, I changed him from leopard to tiger. I didn’t want anyone questioning. It has since then been changed and uploaded within Corbin’s Conflict.
Now, happy reading. Please enjoy Tucker and Lake’s story.
Prologue Part 1
Lake
Six Years Old . . .
“You’re a special little girl, my precious Lake,” Daddy says, soothing my hair, his touch warm. It’s always warm. Warm and safe. Daddy is all I’ve ever known.
Mommy died when I was born. Daddy told me that she was watching over me, though. I didn’t like that she was gone and I didn’t have a mommy like the other little girls in my class. They get to do things with their mommies, but I don’t get to. Their mommies do their nails and hair. They take them for mommy-daughter dates.
I get daddy-daughter dates. He also does my hair for me and makes me look pretty. He tells me just how pretty he thinks I am. He says the same thing. They’re all very protective of me.
“You always say that, Daddy.” I giggle and curl deeper into his warm body.
“Because it’s the truth, precious,” he states, snuggling his arms around me. “I want you to always remember that. No matter what happens in life. You’re special.”
“Why am I special, Daddy?”
“When you’re old enough to understand, I’ll tell you. If I can’t, one of your uncles will,” Daddy’s answer is always the same. “Just trust me that we’re always going to do what it takes to protect you. It’s important you’re always protected.”
“But I don’t understand why,” I whisper, not understanding.
“In time, my precious girl, you will,” he murmurs, kisses the top of my head, and climbs out of my bed. “Now get some sleep, Lake. Tomorrow will be here for you know it.”
“Okay, Daddy, love you.” I look up at him while moving to snuggle closer to where he’d been lying.
“Love you too. Night.”
“Night.”
Daddy switches off the light and closes the door behind him. The soft glow of my night-light flickering images of tigers on the ceiling, is all that shines in the room.
It’s the night-light I’ve had all my life, and Daddy says it’s because tigers are fearless and will protect. I love it when Daddy tells me stories of tigers. Especially the ones where the tiger turns into the prince. It’s way better than the frog prince story I heard in library at school.
Closing my eyes, dreams of tigers and the tiger prince follow me quickly.
Callum
“If we don’t move soon, they’ll find her,” my brother, Rohan, says, not waiting until I take my seat.
Lake was finally asleep, and I waited just outside her door until she drifted off. Each day, looking at her pains a part of me that I hope she’ll never understand or have to experience herself. Her mother was my mate, fated only to me, but I found her too late. She was pregnant at the time, and our time together was too short.
“We’ll leave first thing tomorrow,” I tell him, looking at my other brothers sitting around the table.
Until Lake came along, I hadn’t seen them often unless one of us needed something. It’s part of who we are and being what we are. Tiger shifters don’t always seek to be around others unless they’re a part of their streak, their family.
Where other felines have prides or leaps, tigers call their family a streak.
Rohan, Jair, Walker, and Trace are a part of mine. Our mother was mated and killed alongside our father well over a hundred years ago. We were old enough to take care of ourselves, but it hurt losing them both, no matter how old we were. To this day, I miss them. Our father’s teachings, his advice, the way he’d be an ass toward us. I miss the smiles my mom would give us, the smell of her cooking, and I even miss her temper. She could be more temperamental than anyone else. It’s part of who she was. She was a force to be reckoned with.
After our parents were killed, we separated and went our own ways. Only when Lake came along did I ask them to join me again. I need their help protecting Lake. She’s not mine by blood, but she’s mine regardless. She’s special, just as her mother was.
She is so special she doesn’t realize it. She’s just a little girl, and her life will never be easy, not without someone looking out for her. It’s my job to protect her. To see to it that she’s always protected.
“I don’t think we should wait, Callum.” Trace grunts, flexing his fingers, his claws coming from the nail bed. Some days, he’s more tiger than man, but he’d die to save Lake. The moment she came into this world, she wrapped her finger around all of my brothers’ heart
s alongside mine. The bond I share with her is through the one I had with her mother.
It wasn’t until after I found her that Sapphire found out she was pregnant with Lake. I’d been the one to tell her she was carrying a child. At first, I was pissed, but I knew what happened and wherein she’d escaped from.
Sapphire explained it was of upmost importance that Lake never be found. If they got their hands on her, she didn’t know what would happen, except she’d become a tool, a pawn for a man who is cruel to those he rules over.
My little Lake would be chained to a man who is as vile as they come. For the past six years—more than six, closer to seven—we’ve done everything we’ve had to do to protect her. To ensure her safety. We never stay in one place too long. We do, we chance being found.
“Why do you believe we should head out tonight?” I ask. If he senses something that I don’t, then I’ll listen to what he has to say.
“There’s something in the air. I can’t identify it, but it’s there and doesn’t sit well with me,” Trace responds, eyes locking with mine.
“I feel it too,” Rohan states, nostrils flaring. “I can smell it. I just can’t figure out what it is.”
“Same,” Jair and Walker speak up at the same time.
I felt it as well, and we need to be getting out of here before it’s too late. If we don’t, I’ll lose the most important person in my life.
There’s no way in hell I’ll let the King of Drakon get his hands on my little girl. He’d have to kill me first.
I glance around the table and stand. “Gather everything we need, and I’ll get Lake. We leave now. If we’re all feeling the same, then they’re close. I refuse to allow Drakon beasts to get ahold of her.”
We all must run before it’s too late. We’re not enough to go against the beasts. Not alone. To take them all on, to ensure my daughter’s safety, it’s best to run. Run for now, until the time is right. Only then can we strike out and take on the evil King of Drakon and his beasts.
Prologue Part 2
Tucker
Things are certainly changing around the clubhouse. With our President finding his fated mate, more or less her finding him, or more precisely, Dane bringing her to the clubhouse and the two of them finding each other at the exact moment, it’s been interesting around here.
It’s been a couple months since Corbin and Karsyn found each other. After the hell they both went through, none of us complained about the changes made. Karsyn not only deserves the respect, but she’s also damn well earned it.
So, we didn’t get pissed when Corbin changed shit up at the clubhouse about the Friday night parties. Things could get rowdy, and nothing was wrong with it, but he’s declared fucking the doxies is to be behind closed doors. Karsyn didn’t need to see that shit, and we all agreed.
Hell, in all honesty, I think a few of us are jealous of the connection Corbin and Karsyn have. Personally, if I knew where to find my fated mate, I would be out there looking for her, but I highly doubt I have one.
Felines rarely, if ever, find their fated mates. I don’t think I’ve ever known a tiger shifter who has. It’s why I hold no hope of this. I could easily choose a mate. There are plenty of women I could choose from, but that’s not what I want. At least not right now.
Until I’m ready, I have no problem fucking my way through the doxies or random women or shifters that I pick out for whichever day of the week I want them.
“Tucker,” Karsyn calls my name, getting my attention as she makes her way toward where I’m manning the grill for the evening party.
Unlike the Friday parties, this one is for family and friends. Sage and her cousin, Jazmine, were running around here. Cyrus was even here with a few members of his club and his ol’ lady and mate, Harmony.
I’m sure Big Daddy is ecstatic to be able to enjoy something like this without the hostility between his sons. Corbin made it known that they weren’t enemies any longer, that the rivalry was in the past, but they weren’t going to be best buds either. Just as Corbin ran our club his way, Cyrus had his own way of doing things. It wasn’t any of my business as long as it didn’t affect the club.
“Yeah,” I yell out, seeing my Prez following behind his mate, eyes on her. I glance down to see her hand resting over her rounded stomach protectively. Or more like soothingly because she honestly doesn’t have anything to fear here. Each and every one of us would give our lives for her. “You need something?”
Karsyn stops and looks at me closely. “Something is coming, and you need to be prepared for it,” she announces and looks to Corbin, who nods at her.
“What do you mean I need to be prepared for it? What’s coming?”
“It’s not a what, it’s more of a who,” she answers, whispering. “The Moon Goddess came to me.” I knew this had happened once before. No one talks about it because, honestly, even in a world full of shifters and other supernaturals, it’s freaky as hell. “She had a message for you.”
“And that is?” I prompt.
“Your mate is coming, and on her tail is danger, something that if you don’t protect her from it, then it’ll take her from you forever,” Karsyn utters soft enough that no one else in the vicinity would be able to hear her. She’s definitely learning when it comes to shifters, we all have sharp hearing. She might be a hybrid, but she wasn’t raised among shifters, so there’s more for her to learn.
“Come again?” I balk and stare at her in disbelief.
“She’s in danger, Tucker. If you don’t strike now, you’ll lose her before you even have her.”
Well, shit.
This is not what I expected by a long shot.
Chapter One
Lake
Present day . . .
“Come on, Lake, you’re a twenty-six-year-old woman. You need to stop all this mess,” I mutter to myself, unpacking my few possessions out of the box.
I’ve been on the road for so long, running, never looking back, that I don’t know how not to run. It’s all I’ve done all my life. A life where I’m constantly looking over my shoulder. For what exactly? I don’t know.
Up until my thirteenth birthday, I had my dad and uncles to look out for me. To help me. But one by one, they were killed. Dad made sure I knew about safety precautions to look out for, but I was never more than just a step ahead of the danger following me.
What I don’t understand is what exactly I have chasing me. I haven’t ever seen it before. Only felt the panic rise inside me as something came closer. I’ve gone all over to get away from it. Across oceans, never staying in a place longer than needed.
That is until I entered into the town of Redwich. The first time I crossed into town, it was like a sense of ease for me. I felt safe for the first time in my life. It somewhat hurts to think this way because I thought with my dad and uncles, I would always be safe, but I lost them all.
I swear I’m cursed. I’ve lost anyone who I’ve ever cared about. Anyone who helps me seems always to wind up being killed. Or that’s the only thing I can think of happening. Nobody is left where I’d last seen them—only blood. Enough so, I’m sure no one could survive with the amount of blood lost.
I sometimes look to the sky and plead . . . to who . . . I don’t even know, but I just want someone to listen. To help me. To save me. To give me back the ones I love most.
But I’m alone. Always alone.
I guess that’s why coming to Redwich and getting a sense of security within the town eases some part inside me. There’s a lot still to do. I have a job to make up the money I’ve spent so far from being on the run constantly. I’m never in one spot long enough to hold down anything permanent. It’s usually something under the table and quick earning.
My dad had made sure I had money, and I did. I didn’t like dipping into it unless it was a must. It’s important that I make it last for as long as I can. What I’m able to make, it’s never more than a hundred or so.
Maybe that’s why I’m hoping with how this town makes me feel, I can stay long enough to recoup. With the possibility of hopefully getting some rest.
