The thought should have terrified me. Instead, it felt like the first certain thing I'd known in years.
20
CLAIMED
KAI
I'd faced down armed traffickers, corrupt FBI agents, and a psychopath who wanted to carve me into pieces. None of that compared to the terror of staring at my reflection on the morning of my claiming ceremony.
"You look like you're about to pass out." Tyler leaned against the bathroom doorframe, arms crossed, smirking. "Should I get smelling salts?"
"Shut up." I adjusted my collar for the fifteenth time. The shirt was new—deep purple, because Axel had once mentioned he liked me in that color. Black jeans, the jade pendant visible against my chest. I looked... good. I thought. Maybe.
"You look good," Tyler confirmed, reading my mind. "Stop fidgeting."
"Easy for you to say. You're not the one about to stand in front of an entire MC and declare yourself someone's property."
"Property." He raised an eyebrow. "That's not what this is."
"Technically—"
"Technically nothing." He pushed off from the doorframe, crossed to stand behind me. Our eyes met in the mirror—two kids who'd survived the system together, who'd built a brotherhood out of choice instead of blood. "This is family, Kai. This is belonging. This is you choosing a life and them choosing you back."
My throat tightened. "When did you get so wise?"
"Eight months undercover gives you time to think." His expression shifted—something heavier underneath the humor. "Speaking of which. I need to tell you something."
"That sounds ominous."
"It's not. At least, I hope it's not." He took a breath, and I recognized the echo of my own words to Axel yesterday. "I'm turning in my badge. Today, after the ceremony. I already called Sarah."
I turned to face him. "Tyler..."
"It's the right call." His voice was steady, certain in a way I hadn't heard from him in months. "The Bureau is broken. Even if we took down Chen, the rot goes deeper than one agent. I can't fix it from the inside, and I'm tired of pretending I can."
"What will you do?"
"I don't know yet." A smile flickered across his face. "But Hawk offered me a place here. Not as a member—we both know I'm not cut out for the outlaw life. But security, maybe. Intel. Using what I learned undercover to protect instead of infiltrate."
"And that's enough? After everything you sacrificed for the FBI?"
"The FBI didn't earn my sacrifice. They just demanded it." He gripped my shoulders, squeezed. "But this family—your family, now—they've earned it. You've earned it. If staying here means I get to watch my little brother build a life with someone he loves, then yeah." His voice roughened. "That's more than enough."
I hugged him. Tight, fierce, the way I'd wanted to for eight months of silence. He hugged me back just as hard.
"Thank you," I said into his shoulder. "For coming back. For always being there"
"Nowhere else I'd rather be." He pulled back, cleared his throat, blinked rapidly. "Now stop making me emotional. I have a speech to give in two hours, and I refuse to cry twice in one day."
"You're going to cry?"
"Absolutely not." He was definitely going to cry. "Now come on. Maria's threatening to force-feed everyone breakfast, and I'm not brave enough to refuse her."
The clubhouse had transformed overnight. I'd seen glimpses of the preparation yesterday—members hauling tables, Maria directing traffic like a general—but the final result stole my breath. White lights strung across the rafters. Candles everywhere, filling the space with warm, flickering gold. The Phoenix banner hung behind a simple arch decorated with black and purple ribbons.
Black for the club. Purple for me. Someone had thought of that. The detail made my chest ache.
Members filled the room—not just the officers I'd come to know, but many others. Men from allied MCs who'd ridden in for the occasion. Women and partners clustered near the back, Maria at their center with her twin daughters peeking out from behind her legs.
