"I like the view."
He laughed—soft, voice still rough from sleep—and shifted closer. His body fit against mine like it had been designed to, all the angles matching up. I pulled him in, buried my face in his hair, breathed in the scent of him.
"I need to tell you something," he said against my chest.
"That sounds ominous."
"It's not. At least, I hope it's not." He pulled back, propped himself up on one elbow. Those dark eyes searched my face, suddenly serious. "Hawk talked to me last night. About... a ceremony."
"Jake's patching? That's today."
"Not just Jake's." He took a breath. "There's another tradition. For partners of members. A claiming ceremony."
I went still. "Hawk offered it to me," Kai continued. "Asked if I wanted to make it official. Become part of the family—legally, formally, in front of everyone." He paused. "I said yes."
The words didn't compute at first. Claimed. Official. In front of everyone.
"You said yes," I repeated stupidly.
"I said yes." His expression flickered—uncertainty creeping in. "Unless you don't want?—"
I kissed him. Not gentle. Not careful. I kissed him like I was drowning and he was air, like everything I'd never been able to say was trying to escape through my mouth. He made a surprised sound, then melted into it, hands fisting in my hair.
When I finally pulled back, we were both breathing hard. "I want," I said. "God, Kai. I want."
"Yeah?" His smile was blinding. "Good. Because it's happening tomorrow. Right after Jake's ceremony."
Tomorrow. Twenty-four hours from now, Kai would be mine. Officially. Publicly. In the eyes of everyone who mattered. "Who's sponsoring you?"
"Tyler. If he agrees."
"He'll agree." I was certain of that. The man had spent eight months protecting Kai from the shadows. Standing up in front of the club was nothing compared to that.
"I wanted to surprise you," Kai admitted. "But it felt wrong to spring a commitment ceremony on you without warning."
"Appreciated." I pulled him on top of me, settling his weight across my hips. "Though for the record? You could have sprung it. I'd still have said yes."
"Romantic."
"I try."
He kissed me again—slower this time, deeper. My body responded predictably, and he laughed against my mouth when he felt it.
"We have a ceremony to prepare for," he pointed out.
"Jake's not expecting us for hours."
"Kai..."
"Hours," I repeated, and rolled us over.
Jake's ceremony was held at dusk. The common room had been transformed—tables pushed back, chairs arranged in a semicircle, the Phoenix banner hung behind what served as the altar. Candles flickered on every surface, casting warm shadows across the faces of men who'd fought, bled, and killed together.
I stood at Hawk's right hand, where I always stood. But tonight felt different. Tonight, I wasn't just the VP watching a prospect become a brother. I was a man on the edge of his own transformation, waiting for his turn.
Jake entered flanked by his sponsors—Irish and Blade, who'd argued for days about who got to stand where. He walked with aslight limp, his shoulder still healing, but his head was high. The haunted look that had shadowed his eyes since the warehouse was fading, replaced by something steadier. Stronger.
He'd earned this. Every painful step.
