“Didn’t realize you guys were the fucking Vatican and needed a marriage certificate to stake a claim.”
The biker’s lips quirked as he slipped a cigarette between them.
Taking that as him shutting the fuck up, I beckoned, “Come here,duci. It’s safe.”
“No harm will come to you, Kitty.”
Sensing her hesitance despite Dagger’s reassurance, I held out my hand for her. The moment she reached my side, her fingers bridged mine.
Grateful that I was paranoid by nature, I lifted our joined hands.
His brow arched when he saw a ring on her ring finger.
The ring that was too big and that I’d lodged into place with one of her own.
While she slept.
Even as I vowed to replace her ring immediately and that this would be the last time she had anything other than a precious metal against her skin, both of Dagger’s brows spiked closer to his hairline.
At my side, Kitty tensed, clearly seeing what Dagger was, but she didn’t argue. For once.
“They’re kin, you hear me?” My tone darkened. “You get your brothers to back the fuck off or they’ll be dealing with me.”
Dagger narrowed his eyes. “Why didn’t you tell us she was yours?”
“I told Lucifer she was family. Anyway, it was none of your fucking business who my woman is. We’re allies, not best buds.”
Jaw working, he groused to his men, “Lower your weapons.”
Over three dozen safeties clicked on. That none of them expressed the dissatisfaction etched into their expressions and each obeyed told me how tightly Wolfe held the reins on his MC.
“Go back to the bunkhouse, Kitty. I’ll be in shortly.”
“Are you?—”
“I’ll be in shortly,” I repeated, again without looking back at her. “Lock the door behind you when you get inside.”
I sensed her hover for a millisecond but heard her rush off to comply. The door banged shut, abating my tension.
“She was coming onto us,” snapped one of the brothers who’d been stepping up to the plate.
“I don’t give a damn if Raisin did or didn’t. I’m telling you that you don’t fuck with my family. You know we back that shit up. I wouldn’t sniff around your women, so you leave mine the hell alone.”
Dagger raised his hands. It didn’t placate me. “Everyone, get your asses back inside.”
A tense silence blanketed the crowd, but not once did Dagger take his eyes off mine.
That he had the situation under control as they headed off, bitching and whining with every step, eventually leaving us alone in the yard, only confirmed my suspicions about Wolfe’s reign.
“If my men are right?—”
“I’m sure they are,” I concurred, pointing my gun at the ground. “I never said my family wasn’t trouble.”
“I know how that goes,” Dagger surprised me by grumbling. Then, he angled his chin at the bunkhouse. “That was some ring.”
“‘Go big or go home’ is a Valentini motto.”
“Should I give her my congratulations?” he mocked. “Seeing as she looked as surprised as I was to find out you were engaged to her when that ring sure as fuck wasn’t on her finger in Wolfe’soffice…” When I just stared at him, he shook his head. “You’re one cold sonuvabitch, Valentini.”
