Luna's jaw sets in a stubborn line that does interesting things to her face. "I don't accept charity."
"It's not charity. It's insurance." I meet her gaze steadily. "Those three tonight were small-time. But word spreads fast in a town this size, and by morning everyone will know there's a stranger with something worth stealing. Until you get settled and learn how things work around here, you need someone watching your back."
"And that someone is you?"
"That someone is me," I confirm.
She's quiet for a long moment, those blue eyes searching my face for something I'm not sure I want her to find. "Why?"
Because you stood your ground when most people would've run. Because you talk about caring for people like it matters. Because something about you makes me remember who I used to be before I became this.
"Because your grandmother was good to my people," I say instead. "And because this is my town. What happens here is my responsibility."
It's not entirely a lie, but it's not the whole truth either.
My phone buzzes with Sally's reply: *Room ready. I'll leave the key under the flowerpot.*
"You're all set," I tell Luna, pocketing the phone. "Sally's place is five minutes away. Oak Street. Big yellow house with the rose garden out front. Can't miss it."
For a moment, I consider offering to escort her there. Make sure she gets to Sally's safely, maybe stick around long enough to ensure no one else decides to test their luck tonight. But something stops me.
I'm not going to be that guy. The clingy, overprotective asshole who can't let a woman walk five minutes through a safe neighborhood without hovering like a helicopter parent. Luna Hartwell stood toe-to-toe with three grown men tonight. She doesn't need me holding her hand to walk to a bed-and-breakfast.
"Thank you." She adjusts the bag strap on her shoulder. "I mean it. For everything."
"Don't thank me yet." I swing my leg over the Harley and fire up the engine, feeling that familiar rumble settle into my bones. "Blackwater Falls has a way of changing people. You might not like who you become here."
She steps closer, close enough that I can smell her shampoo, something floral and citrusy that makes me think of spring mornings and fresh starts. "What if I like the new me?"
"Then you're stronger than most." I rev the engine, needing the noise to drown out thoughts I have no business thinking. "Get some sleep, Luna. Tomorrow you'll see what you've inherited in daylight."
I pull away before she can respond, but I feel her watching me until I turn the corner. In my mirrors, she's a small figure standing alone under the streetlight, clutching her grandmother's memories and probably wondering what the hell she's gotten herself into.
Welcome to Blackwater Falls, sweetheart. Population: too many secrets and not enough hope.
I cruise through the empty streets toward the clubhouse, but I can't shake the image of blue eyes that looked at me like I was more than just the sum of my sins. Can't forget the way she stood her ground against impossible odds, or the quiet strength in her voice when she refused to back down.
Luna Hartwell is going to be trouble. The kind of trouble that makes smart men do stupid things and careful men throw caution to the wind.
The kind of trouble I should stay far away from, especially with the Iron Eagles circling like vultures and war brewing on the horizon.
But something tells me it's already too late for smart choices. From the moment I saw her refuse to surrender what mattered to her, something fundamental awoke inside me. Like a lock finally finding the right key, or a compass needle swinging toward true north.
The clubhouse looms ahead, all angles and attitude against the star-drunk sky. Home sweet home, where my brothers wait with their own demons and their own wars to fight. Where I'll sit in my chair and plan strategies for keeping us all alive while the Iron Eagles sharpen their talons.
Because that’s what kings do. They protect their territory, their people, their crown.
Even when all they really want to protect is one small woman who looked at them like they were worth saving.
Chapter 2 - Luna
The morning sun filters through the lace curtains of Sally's bed-and-breakfast, painting everything in soft gold. I wake up feeling more rested than I have in months, which is strange considering I'm in a completely unfamiliar place surrounded by the lingering echoes of last night's terror.
But my dreams weren't filled with the three men who tried to rob me. Instead, they were haunted by cold blue eyes and a voice like gravel wrapped in silk, by the way a dangerous stranger materialized out of the darkness like some leather-clad guardian angel.
King.
Even his name sounds like something from a fantasy novel. I'd expected him to be just another small-town thug playing dress-up, but there was something in those eyes—intelligence, pain, a kind of weary protectiveness that made my heart race and thighs clench.
