My vision blacks out at the edges.
“Fuck, trouble.”
I stand up in one motion, keeping her impaled on my cock. Her breath stutters. I slam her back into the wall, lift her by her thighs and fuck into her with punishing thrusts.
“Come for me,” I grunt. “Let me see how much you enjoy the pain.”
I bite her neck hard. Hard enough to make her cry out. Her nails dig into my shoulders, but I don’t ease up. I fuck her through the pain, through the tremors building under my hands.
Her walls clench suddenly tight, pulsing, desperate. Her head falls back, eyes rolling white, and she screams my name like a prayer as she shatters.
Her orgasm milks me, pulls at me, rips a groan from my chest as I slam into her one last brutal time and spill inside her, filling her until I’m shaking.
Our breaths rasp in the quiet, sweat beading on my forehead, dripping down her spine, both of us trembling.
A knock shatters the moment.
“Flynn.” Declan’s voice. “Kaden is out of surgery.”
I exhale hard and lower her slowly, keeping her steady as her legs give out. “I need to—” I start, but shegrabs my jaw.
“Go.” She whispers it with a kiss against my mouth. “Check on him. I’ll get dressed and meet you there.”
I nod once, zip up and step out, closing the door behind me. Declan and Viviana wait.
“She’s getting dressed,” I say. Viviana nods gently.
“I’ll wait for her.”
We walk toward the clinic. Doctors cluster around Kian and Connor, the smell of antiseptic replacing the metallic stench of blood that clung to us earlier. My heart slams into my ribs like it’s trying to escape.
Please let him be alive.
I stop. I can’t force the question out. So Kian turns, meets my eyes.
“He’s okay.” His voice is steady. “Bullet missed everything vital. He’s gonna make it, mate.”
My body folds, hands braced on my hips as I drag in a shaky breath.
For one horrifying moment… I thought I’d lost him.
The cars arrive one after another, the Keeffes and the Flanaghans spilling out with their small armies in tow. I stand on the balcony above them, watching every movement, every shift in posture, every flick of unease they try to hide. The Keeffes can barely mask their nerves; the fear clings to them in waves.
“Funny how the Keeffes look more scared than John,” Kian mutters beside me, eyes darting between the groups.
“Yeah.” The fact that the Flanaghan bastard walks with his spine straight, with no tremor of fear anywhere in him, tells me everything. He ranto the hills during the Dark Wars, hid until it was safe to crawl back, and now he struts here without an ounce of fear.
“Tomorrow the Bratva arrives,” Connor says, leaning on the railing as Declan greets the leaders at the entrance below.
Kian turns to me. “You think he’s planning something?”
I nod once. “Of course he is. This is only the beginning.”
I turn away and walk down the hall, stopping outside the bedroom where Autumn sits with Viviana. When I step inside, they’re seated on the bed, hands in their laps, eyes lifting the moment I enter.
“Don’t leave this room. You hear me?” My gaze locks on Autumn first, then shifts to Viviana. “You know exactly what’s happening under this roof, better than she does. Don’t let her step out of this goddamn room, Viviana.” I try to soften the edge, but it still comes out rough. It needs to. She understands the danger the moment those families set foot inside.
“We won’t leave,” Viviana says with a nod.
