I step away from my chair, into the open space between Blade and the rest of the table.If they want a focal point, they can have it.
“You say nobody fucks with the Kings,” I continue.“Fine.Then maybe you should remember you brought me in under that crown.You claimed me.You put me in your house, under your protection.So, either I’m part of this family and my voice matters, or I’m a resource and we stop pretending this is about loyalty.”
Rooster whistles under his breath.Styx mutters something that sounds suspiciously impressed.Chrome’s lynx gaze brightens with interest.
Vex is still watching me, frozen in place, a storm in vampire skin.
Prophet’s mouth curves in a faint, almost sad smile.
Blade’s jaw flexes.The scrape of bone is nearly audible.“You finished?”he asks.
“Not even close,” I answer.“But it’s your turn.”
He studies me for a long moment.Then his hand rises and he rubs the bridge of his nose as though fighting a headache.
“Fury’s not wrong about one thing,” Blade says slowly.“You are a risk.The mark ties you to something that could level this land and take half the state with it.But he’s wrong about another thing.”He shifts his gaze across the table, pinning each brother in turn before returning to me.“We don’t throw our people to the wolves.We don’t hand them over, and we sure as hell don’t use them without their say-so.”
He hooks a finger under the chain around his neck, where his President patch hangs in miniature metal form.“Nobody fucks with the Kings,” he says quietly.“That includes the Kings fuckin’ with their own.”
A few brothers nod.Others look away, grumbling.
“So we plan,” Blade continues.“We figure out how to fight this thing, how to cut that tether without killing her.Prophet, you dig deeper into your fallen-angel knowledge.Flint, see what your dragon hoard of bullshit says.Bodhi, you’re our tree whisperer, find out what the land knows about what’s under it.”
Bodhi straightens, face flushing.“Yes, Prez.”
“As for using Tessa as bait...”Blade’s gaze swings to me again.“If we ever go that route, it will be because she agreed to it.Not before.Club vote.Full say.Understood?”
A low chorus of acknowledgments rises around the room.
Fury huffs, but doesn’t argue further.Ranger leans back, studying me with new calculation.Hollywood tips an invisible hat, mouth curling at the corner.
Vex finally sits, but the tension in him doesn’t ease.Not even a fraction.
Blade knocks his knuckles on the table once more.“Meeting adjourned.For now.Don’t do anything stupid without talkin’ to me first.”
Chairs scrape, conversations restart, the hum of noise slowly rising.Hannah touches my arm.
“Come on,” she says softly.“You need air.”
We step out into the cold air.The door closes behind us, muffling the noise.For a second, we stand in the frosty Alaskan air, both breathing hard.
“Are they always that intense?”I ask.
Her mouth twists into a wry smile.“You should see them on poker night.”
Despite everything, a laugh escapes me.It feels fragile, but real.
Hannah threads her arm through mine, tugging me away from the meeting room.“Walk with me,” she says.“Before Vex finds a corner to brood in and you feel obligated to fill it.”
We weave through the compound, past the main building, to a fire pit.The air bites in that dry, clean way only Alaska seems to manage.Snow crunches under our boots.The compound sprawls around us, the garage, cabins, training yard, the hut they first kept me in when I first learned they were monsters..
Hannah keeps our pace slow.“You were badass in there,” she says.“Half those guys respect nothing but spine and blood.You gave them both.”
“I nearly threw up on the table.”
“Spine and blood,” she repeats, bumping my shoulder.“Never said anything about stomach.”
We stop near a line of pine trees, dark spears against the pale sky.My shoulder throbs where the mark sits, a dull echo now rather than a scream.
