A bunch of Crows were already back at the compound, their bikes lined in a semi-circle near the clubhouse. They mingled about as Lulu handed out beers as they hooted and popped off shouts of celebration.
Silas’s motorcycle rumbled as he traversed over the dirt drive, his men lifting their bottles in a salute as we passed.
He didn’t slow.
He only wound us through the trees to the back of the property.
That humble house came into view.
I thought it so odd the first time I saw it. Far too modest for a man I’d believed some sort of deviant criminal.
I remembered the first time I sneered ‘king’ at him.
Had I felt the power ripple through him then? The fact that there was something explosive?
Devastatingly mighty.
Great.
Good.
The second we came into the clearing, the screen door burst open.
Elena rushed out, though she fumbled to a stop when she saw Silas pulling his bike into its spot.
A hand over her mouth and tears in her eyes.
Silas kicked the stand, silenced the engine, and carefully helped me to stand before he did the same.
Both of us battle worn.
Damaged but no longer broken.
“Oh God, I was so worried,” Elena cried, and she was bounding down the stairs and throwing herself into Silas’s arms.
“It’s over. It’s over,” he murmured at the top of her head.
“Is everyone okay?” she begged, her fingers curling into his cut.
“We lost two men. Cliff and Jupe.”
A sob leapt out of her. “Oh no, I’m so sorry, Silas. I’m so sorry.”
“I am too.”
He’d gotten the gutting text with their names an hour ago, his body recoiling with the news, pain bleeding from his pores.
Guilt and another burden I knew he would carry.
Two others had sustained gunshot wounds but were in stable condition, the same as was confirmed for my brother.
All of them had been taken to Moonlit Ridge where there apparently was a secret medical facility set up to care for incidents like this.
Silas hugged and rocked Elena for the longest time, their relief and sorrow explicit, before she peeled herself out of his arms and stumbled over to me.
Swiping at the tears streaming down her face.
Her footsteps harrowed and heavy, though her arms were firm when she wrapped them around me. “I’m so mad at you. Don’t you dare do that to me again. I was so scared. So freaking scared.”
