Both men tap their noses mysteriously.
“What are they for?” I ask.
Havoc leans in. “Each is redeemable for one act of legally questionable but emotionally satisfying retribution.”
Mayhem nods sagely. “Use wisely.”
I stifle a laugh, but it just bubbles up as a real, helpless giggle. “You guys are out of your minds.”
Havoc grins. “Takes one to know one.”
Mayhem’s smile turns earnest. “We mean it, Riley. You’re one of us now.”
Warmth rises through me so fast it almost makes me dizzy. They’re all watching out for me in their own strange, sweet, terrifying ways. And for the first time in a long time, I don’t feel alone.
I’m finishing the last bites of breakfast when the door to Breaker’s apartment swings open. He strides in mid-call, grabs a coffee, drinks it like it’s medicine, and his eyes lock on me like the room doesn’t exist.
Then he bends down, cups the back of my neck, and kisses me full on the lips.
In front of everyone.
“Good morning,” he murmurs against my mouth. Then, loud enough for the entire clubhouse to hear, “I love you.”
The bar goes quiet for a fraction of a second. Molly’s eyebrows shoot up her forehead so fast I swear I hear the air move. Heat explodes across my cheeks, and I can barely breathe.
“I… I love you, too.”
Breaker gives me a soft, sure smile. It’s the kind that steals every bit of air from my lungs, and then pulls back and speaks a few short words into his phone again, before hanging up.
“Going out hunting with Viper,” he tells me. “I’ll be back later.”
He turns to leave, but Rabid — who I hadn’t noticed sitting at the nearest booth — stands abruptly.
“I’m coming with you,” Rabid says, his voice steel. “I want a full briefing from your friend. No monster like this Pike hunts in my town while I’m still drawing breath. Where’s the location?” Breaker grunts a set of directions I’m too new to Ironwood Falls to understand. Rabid considers for a moment, then nods. “We’ll take my truck.”
“Fine. Let’s move,” Breaker says.
They head out together, purposeful, grim, righteous.
I watch them go, heart squeezing with pride and fear tangled up together.
When I look back, Molly’s leaning over the bar toward me, eyes wide.
“He loves you?” she whispers. “Did I just hear that?”
I swallow, nodding, my fingers pressing to my lips where his kiss still lingers. “Yeah. You did. And I love him, too.”
Molly’s face softens into something warm and knowing. “Oh, sweetheart… you’re gone for him. Completely gone.”
I touch my lips again. Like I can still feel him there.
“Yes,” I whisper. “I am.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Breaker
The dirt road Viper told us about doesn’t even look like a road. If it ever was, the forest has all but reclaimed it — stubborn young trees and coiled brambles arching overhead, roots like broken knuckles punching up through the mud. Rabid's truck shudders through each pothole, axles groaning, the cab rattling so hard my molars ache. I can taste the metallic tang of adrenaline before we even stop. The sun’s barely visible through the overhanging branches, just enough light to ghost the outlines of trees in silver fog, dew dripping from needles, everything slick and cold and silent as a corpse. I let that chill soak in. It feels cleansing, in a way, the way a man’s supposed to feel before a kill.
