“Shadow called me. He’s made an important decision. He’s gonna claim Remi.”
Grizz frowns. “And you’re okay with that?” he asks our President.
“It was either accept it or watch him continue to moon over her,” he jokes, laughing. “He’s taking full responsibility for her until we can trust her.”
I shove my helmet onto the handlebar, my pulse still hammering from the ride. “Let’s not turn this into a parade,” I say, my voice rough. “I don’t want to scare her.”
Grizz snorts. “Brother, you showed up with six patched bikers outside a crack den. I think we passedscaringfive minutes ago.”
Axel steps closer, his gaze steady on mine. “You sure about this, Shadow?”
“No,” I admit, “but I know I can’t be without her, Pres.”
Axel gives me one last look. “Once you make this move, she belongs to us, to this club. She gets the protection but also the rules. You ready to deal with that?”
“Yes.”
“Then it’s done,” he says.
Grizz grips my shoulder. “Let’s get her out.”
The door swings open easy. It’s a shithole, just like every other drug den I’ve ever seen.
I step in, and the air hits me—stale smoke, piss, a sourness that sticks to your throat. The room looks smaller than the pictures in my head. The ceiling droops. The telly throws cheap light over empty bottles and bodies. Men shift and grunt, half-awake, half-gone.
And there she is.
Remi on her knees in the middle of it all, sobbing quietly while surrounded by mess. Her hair’s plastered to her face. Her jaw is bruised and raw . . . and I notice another blooming just under her eye.
Colin’s standing over her, his back to me. But when he hears the door creak, he glances over his shoulder. His expression falters before he remembers he’s not supposed to be scared, and he forces a fake smile. “Did you miss us, princess, or do you wanna pay for an hour with my latest recruit?” He grabs a fistful of her hair and tips her head right back. She winces, closing her eyes.
Something cold settles under my ribs and spreads. I take in the way they’re all watching her, with impatience, like they were just about to get to the good bit, and I’ve halted their fun.
And then I feel my brothers at my back. One by one, they join me, filling the tiny space, and I see the fear flicker in Colin’s eyes as he takes us in.
Remi finally opens her eyes, and for a second, she looks relieved before the humiliation returns, and then I remember he’s holding her like a dog.
“Let her go,” I say firmly.
Colin’s eyes fall to her, and he sneers, pulling her hair harder. She cries out, pushing to her feet to try and close the gap.
I bristle. “You’re gonna lose that hand,” I warn.
“Oh, yeah? I better make it worth it then,” he says, yanking her to him and wrapping an arm around her so she’s pressed against him. “You want me, you gotta get through her,” he says with a smug smile.
For a second, the whole goddamn world narrows to her pupils, and I do my best to reassure her that she’s gonna be okay.
I close the space between us in two strides, too quick for him to react before my hand finds his throat. I don’t whisper, I don’t warn, because I want him to taste what fear feels like from the other side. His grin falters, and the harder I squeeze, the wider his eyes go.
“Get off her,” I say low.
He laughs then chokes on the sound. His fingers scrabble at my wrist, releasing her, and he claws at my arm. I slam him down, and the chair cracks under his weight, splintering. He tries to rise, and I hit him again. Not because I want to kill him but because I want him to know what it is to be small and helpless. Each blow is clean, measured, surgical. They say something louder than yelling ever could—he will not touch her again.
The room is loud then, men shouting, scrambling. Someone lunges, and I turn and move fast, a shove sending one man into the telly. A palm to the jaw makes another kiss the carpet. I’m not graceful. I’m a machine with one function—extract her, remove her, end it.
When it’s over, Colin’s on the floor, breathing hard, spitting blood. His mates are gone, pushed out to the yard by my brothers.
I kneel where she kneels, close enough that she can smell me. Leather and engine oil, something that usually settles her. My hand hovers over hers and then drops carefully until it brushes her knuckles. She flinches, and my heart cracks a little more.
