"Thank me by keeping that man of yours out of trouble." She nodded toward Axel, who was conferring with Hawk across the room. "He's been different since you got here. Lighter. It's good to see."
I watched him—the way he stood taller, smiled easier, touched the brothers who clapped his shoulder with genuine warmth instead of performed camaraderie. Had I done that? Or had he just been waiting for permission to be himself?
Maybe both.
Jake found me after breakfast, arm still in a sling but color back in his face. The bruises had faded to yellow-green, and his swollen eye had opened enough to see.
"Hey." He dropped onto the couch beside me. "Wanted to say thanks. Again. Properly."
"You don't have to?—"
"Yeah, I do." He met my eyes, and I saw the earnestness there—the foster kid who'd learned that gratitude was currency, that debts needed to be paid. "You came for me. You didn't have to. I'm just a prospect, I'm nobody, and you?—"
"You're not nobody." I cut him off firmly. "And you're not just a prospect. You're family. That's what you told me my first day here, remember? Phoenix takes care of family."
His throat worked. "Still getting used to that being real."
"Yeah." I squeezed his good shoulder. "Me too."
Church was held in a room I hadn't seen before.
Heavy wooden doors, soundproofed walls, a long table scarred with decades of use. The officers sat in designated chairs—Hawk at the head, Axel at his right hand, Tank, Irish, Blade, and others whose names I was still learning arranged around the perimeter.
I stood at the far end, feeling absurdly like I was facing a tribunal.
"Kai Nakamura." Hawk's voice filled the space, commanding without being loud. "You've been brought before this table to determine your status within the Steel Phoenixes organization."
Organization.Such a formal word for a family.
"In the past week, you have provided medical aid to our VP under dangerous circumstances. You have withstood attacks on your person and your home. You have demonstrated loyalty, courage, and skill in the rescue of one of our prospects." Hawk's dark eyes held mine. "Several members have spoken on your behalf. Do you have anything to say before we vote?"
I looked around the table. At Tank, solid and steady. At Irish, barely containing his grin. At Blade, who nodded encouragingly. At Axel, whose grey eyes burned with something that looked like pride.
"Just one thing." I straightened my shoulders. "A week ago, I was alone. I had a job I loved and an apartment I tolerated and a life that looked fine from the outside but felt empty in all the ways that mattered." I swallowed. "Then I stopped to help a stranger in a parking lot, and everything changed. You've offered me something I stopped believing in a long time ago—a place to belong. People who have my back. A family." I met Hawk's gaze. "Whatever you decide today, I want you to know that I'm grateful. For all of it."
Silence. Then Hawk nodded.
"All in favor of recognizing Kai Nakamura as family of the Steel Phoenixes, entitled to our protection and bound by our code, say aye."
"Aye." Axel's voice, immediate and fierce.
"Aye." Tank.
"Aye." Irish.
"Aye." Blade.
One by one, around the table. Not a single dissent.
"Motion carried." Hawk stood, and something like a smile crossed his weathered face. "Welcome to the family, Kai."
The room erupted. Suddenly I was being hugged, back-slapped, my hand shaken by men whose names I barely knew but whose acceptance I felt like a physical force. Irish lifted meoff my feet—literally lifted me, the maniac—and spun me around while whooping loud enough to wake the dead.
Through it all, Axel stood back, watching with that soft expression I was learning was reserved for me. When the chaos finally subsided, he crossed to me, cupped my face in his hands, and kissed me in front of everyone.
More whoops. A few groans. Someone—Irish, probably—yelled "Get a room!"
Axel pulled back, forehead against mine. "You're ours now."
