“Everyone ready?” I asked.
A chorus of grunts and nods answered.
Riot spread out the map, fingers tracing the compound where the Fangs had holed up. The room fell quiet as Link pulled up surveillance footage on his phone, grainy but clear enough to get the layout.
“They’ve got lookouts posted here, here, and here,” Link said, tapping the screen. “Main entrance is too risky. We need a flank.”
I nodded, taking it in. “No fireworks until we’re inside. Quiet, precise.”
Riot cut in, “Prospect Finn’s volunteered for rear watch. He’s sharp. Could give us the edge if someone tries to sneak out or call for backup.”
I glanced at Finn, a kid hungry to prove himself since day one. The fire in his eyes was a reckless kind of bravery that sometimes got guys killed but sometimes saved lives.
“Alright,” I said. “Finn, rear watch. Keep your eyes sharp and radios open.”
Finn leaned slightly closer, whispering, “What if they’ve got another entrance we haven’t seen?” His tone was careful but confident.
I caught the glint in his eye. He wasn’t afraid to speak up.
I nodded. “Good. Keep thinking like that. Could save our asses.”
“We move in two teams,” I said. “Keno, you take point with Link and the heavy hitters. I’ll bring up the rear with Riot and Finn.”
Link grinned, smirk breaking the tension. “Let’s show these Fangs what happens when they cross us.”
“We ride at first light. No one holds back.”
Around the battered table, the brothers sat with hard eyes and clenched jaws, every one of them ready for what was coming.
Chapter 41
Lucy
That night, the rough edge of Jay’s spare bed pressed into my back, but it was the first thing I’d had to stretch out on since the Fangs had taken me, and it was warm. Jay had given me some of his clothes and I’d chosen a well-worn black Dead Knight’s T-shirt of his to snuggle up in. The room was dim, lit only by the small lamp on the worn desk and voices carried up from the clubhouse’ main areas.
I stared at the chipped ceiling, thinking about everything. Caleb, the club, the war that had taken so much. Then there was Jay. Funny how in the chaos, my thoughts kept drifting to him, the man I’d hated for so long, the man I’d come to lean on, the man I was starting to care about more than I wanted to admit. I clenched my jaw and rolled my eyes. There was no time for those kinds of thoughts, not when everything could change in an instant.
But, for a moment, lying there alone, I allowed myself to think about what happened next with Jay, the Reaper who came for me when I was at my lowest, when I had nobody else, who risked everything to pull me out of the darkness. The memory of his hands, his words, the heat of his body pressed against mineflashed in my head, reminders that he didn’t only save me from the world outside but from the loneliness inside too.
At first, I’d hated him. Hated that he was a part of the life that took Caleb away. Hated that he’d treated me like I was grief in a hoodie, fragile and broken. Hated how he broke my heart years ago, but no other man had ever measured up to him, even when I hadn’t had a taste of him.
After the kiss on the porch the night of the fire, and then he saved me, I saw him for what he really was—steady, relentless, and fiercely loyal. A man who never backed down, even when everything inside him screamed to run, even when he could lose everything he had.
There was something raw and natural about the way he moved through danger like it was second nature, like he had been ready for that moment his whole life. But when it came to me, I saw the cracks, the fear he tried to hide behind his fierce, hard edge.
I swallowed, heart twisting. I was falling for him... again.
I hated how much I needed him, how much I wanted him to see me, not as the girl dragged into the mess but as someone worth fighting for. Tomorrow, I would ride with them into Fangs territory and help to take down the bastards who thought they could break me.
I closed my eyes and let the quiet pull me under, holding onto the hope that maybe, after all the chaos, there was still something good waiting for us. Something more than war and loss.
Chapter 42
Reaper
The room was heavy with silence, broken only by the steady rise and fall of Lucy’s breathing. I stood in the doorway watching her sleep and all I wanted to do was slide in beside her and pull her close. To whisper to her that as long as I was alive, nobody would ever hurt her again. I knew better, though. This war wasn’t something I could win with words and promises. Action was needed, and I wanted nothing more than to show the Fangs who really owned the town.
Carefully, I pulled the folded letter from my pocket and set it gently on the pillow beside her.
