“Nitro,” she whispered. “I’m sorry.”
He didn’t look at her. “Don’t do that. Not right now.” Another explosion rocked the far side of the lot—someone’s vehicle going up in a fiery blast, lighting up the night sky. Heat rolled across the night as the Saints scattered, their confidence gone, replaced with panic.
This wasn’t just a battle; it was a war zone. Through the chaos, Aurora saw Salis. He stood near the old mill doors, tall and unmistakable, watching the fight with cold interest rather than fear. His eyes locked on hers across the distance, and he smiled. The sight of him turned her stomach as he raised his hand to wave at her.
His men shifted, and guns seemed to turn toward her. Nitro seemed to see it at the same moment she did. He swore and pulled her down as shots tore through the air, splintering metaland shattering glass. The Saints were regrouping, focusing, and trying to end things fast.
Aurora clutched Nitro’s jacket, her heart in her throat. This fight wasn’t over. This was the moment everything she’d survived was converging into one violent point, and whether she lived through it depended on the man holding her and the choice she’d made to stop running.
The Saints had revealed themselves. And now there was no going back. They were going to have to stand their ground and fight this time. There would be no more running, and Aurora just hoped like hell that Nitro had brought enough backup because Salis wasn’t going to give up the fight easily—not when she was the prize.
NITRO
Nitro had expectedthe shit storm that was brewing around them, but he didn’t expect that the Saints’ Prez would be stupid enough to show his face at the abandoned mill. Nitro saw Salis the second the man stepped out from the shadows. He was tall and calmer than he had any right to be. The asshole was smiling like the chaos around him was something that he experienced daily. Seeing him smiling over at Aurora flipped a switch in Nitro’s head. It took every ounce of his restraint not to walk across the room and take the guy out right then and there.
The only thing holding him back was Aurora. She was behind him, allowing him to protect her and moving exactly the way she’d been told to. But Salis’s eyes never left her. Not even when bullets cracked past him. Not even when his men started dropping like flies, and that told Nitro everything he needed to know. Salis would do just about anything to get his hands on Aurora—even put himself at risk. Nitro could use that to his advantage to take him down.
“Stay put and stay down,” he ordered. Aurora looked at him as though he had lost his mind, and all he could do was smile at her. He was going to make sure that the Saints never got the chance to take his woman again.
Nitro broke from cover without hesitation, moving low and fast, using the wrecked vehicles and shattered concrete like steppingstones. His world narrowed to angles and timing, to the distance between heartbeats. Salis started to retreat, and Nitro thought that was the first smart thing the guy had done all evening. Showing up was a mistake, and Nitro planned on making sure that he knew that.
Nitro followed him into the shadows of the old building, not letting him get away. If he did, he might never get his chance to bring down the Saints again, and he couldn’t take that chance with Aurora’s safety.
Inside, the mill smelled like rot and old smoke. Broken glass crunched under his boots, loud as hell in the sudden quiet that surrounded him. The gunfire outside dulled, muffled by walls that were thick enough to give Nitro the false security that this place was safe.
Salis’s voice drifted through the dark. “You’re good,” Salis called calmly. “I wondered who finally taught her how to stand her ground.”
Nitro didn’t answer. Instead, he moved to the sound of Salis’s voice, not letting his monologue distract him. He knew better than to start talking because that usually got a guy killed. But keeping Salis talking was another matter. The more he talked, the more distracted he’d become, and that was when Nitro would be able to strike.
A Saint rushed him from the side—Nitro put him down without breaking stride. Another tried to attack him from behind, which was the wrong choice. Nitro slammed him into the wall hard enough to knock the fight clean out of him. He let the guy slump to the floor as he looked around the abandoned mill for Salis.
Salis laughed softly somewhere ahead of him in the darkness. “She always did pick dangerous men.” Nitro rounded the cornerand found the guy standing there, as though he was waiting for him. Big mistake—one that would end up getting him killed, not that Nitro would tell him that.
Salis stood near the back of the room with his hands loose at his sides. His weapon was holstered like he didn’t feel that Nitro was a threat. Other men had underestimated him and paid the price, and Salis would be no different. His cut hung open with his Saints patch visible. It was a deliberate move to try to intimidate Nitro, but shit like that never worked on him. He wasn’t a man who was easily intimidated, and that made him damn good at his job.
“You’re Nitro,” Salis said as though telling him something that he didn’t already know. “You’re military, but you work off-book now.” His eyes gleamed. Salis looked pleased with himself for knowing that little bit of information about him, but it wouldn’t make a difference in the end.
Nitro raised his weapon. “Step away from the exit.” Salis didn’t seem like the kind of guy who took orders from anyone, so they were going to have to do this the hard way.
Salis ignored him. “You think you’re saving her,” he said conversationally as though Nitro didn’t threaten him. “But girls like Renee don’t survive without men like us. She latches on and expects to be saved because she never learned to save herself.
He underestimated Aurora, and that was going to be his last mistake. Nitro lunged for him, not letting him get another word out. The fight was brutal as fists hit bones, and breath was knocked clean out of lungs. Salis was trained, disciplined, and dangerous in a way that spoke of old violence and instincts. But Nitro was relentless. His purpose was sharp with every move.
Salis went for a knife, and Nitro broke his wrist with just one snap. The blade clattered to the floor as Nitro drove Salis back over a table, wood splintering under the impact. Salis snarled, his control cracking as he landed on the concrete floor.
“She belongs to the Saints. Her father sold her to me,” Salis spat. “That makes her mine forever.”
Nitro slammed his forearm into Salis’s throat and leaned in close enough to smell his rancid breath. “She escaped,” Nitro said quietly. “That makes you nothing but the asshole who lost her. She doesn’t belong to you or anyone.”
Salis’s eyes flicked past him to the door, and Nitro could tell that Aurora had walked into the room. He felt the shift in the air and reacted instantly, spinning and firing his gun at the Saint who had lined her up in his sights to shoot her. The guy fell to the floor as Aurora screamed Nitro’s name.
When he turned back, Salis was scrambling, desperate now, blood streaking down his jaw. Nitro caught him by the collar and slammed him against the wall. “This ends tonight,” Nitro said. “The Saints end tonight.”
Salis smiled through blood that dripped from his busted lip. “You can’t kill the Saints. If you take me out, someone will be taking my place before the sun comes up. The Saints will never let her go.”
Nitro’s voice was like ice. “I’m willing to take that chance,” he said. Sirens wailed in the distance, and Nitro knew that his guys had called in the cavalry. The Saints were scattering as though they knew that the net was closing in around them.
Nitro dragged Salis toward the back door, toward the waiting Iron Vipers and the reckoning that didn’t require a gunshot to be permanent. If they waited around, the cops would take them all into custody, and this nightmare would never end. No, he planned on letting the Iron Vipers take care of the Saints’ Prez. It seemed fitting to let Torque handle their new rival club.
