Letti’s brother’s eyes were locked on me and he was grinning like the devil himself.
Shit.
So much for water under the bridge. These two looked more like they wanted to drown me.
Sundance took a step back and blew the whistle, signaling the start of my initiation.
As suspected, Orion was on me like a fly on shit. He came rushing at me with an overhand right that just about put me down. I staggered backward and Sundance delivered a hard body shot that I’d feel for six weeks. Wrath and Rocky were next in that order. After that, I don’t know which Howler threw what punch or how long they were punching me. I was trapped in a tsunami of fists for what felt like forever, but as soon as I felt my legs give out from underneath me, I heard the merciful sound of Sundance’s whistle.
“Alright, gentlemen, that’s enough of that horse shit,” Sundance and my knees hit the bloodied grass. “Now help your new brother up and into his new cut,” he said to another round of hollers. “And get him a beer and a shot for fuck’s sake.”
I was carried back to the cabin where Needles gave me the once over, and after two sets of stiches and some tape on my ribs, I was deemed fit for drinking and returned to the fold of my fellow Howlers. I was bloody, sore, soon to be very drunk, and perhaps the proudest I’d ever been in my life.
I also felt something I never had before. A sense of belonging.
* * *
Violet
“It’s over,” Raquelsaid, setting her phone on the counter.
She’d surprised me by stopping by with two bottles of my favorite wine ten minutes after Aero left. That was almost three hours ago.
I shook my hands out, sliding off the barstool, and pacing. “How bad?”
“Ori didn’t say.”
“Oh my god, that means it’s bad,” I cried.
“No, it doesn’t,” she said, but her tone wasn’t convincing.
“I swear to god, if they’ve damaged his face, hands or cock, I’m going to maim them.”
“In that order?” Raquel retorted.
“Cock first,” I breathed out.
“I’m glad I missed Orion’s induction,” Raquel said. “Sorry. That was probably insensitive.”
“No. I get it. It’s really brutal.” I snagged my keys off the counter. “I need to see for myself.”
“You’ve had a bottle of wine.”
“Thenyoudrive me.”
“Um,hello...I had the other bottle,” she pointed out.
I threw my hands in the air. “I’ll call a car!”
“I think you should wait for your man to get home, honey. They don’t like being interrupted.”
“Iknow,” I growled, slapping my chest. “I’m well aware of what the expectations are for us little women when it comes to the club.”
She smiled gently. “That’s changing, Letti. You know it is.”
“Not fucking fast enough,” I hissed.
“I hear—”
