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I started the engine, the familiar rumble vibrating beneath me. I’d put this right, but first, I had to make sure there was still a future for us to go home to.

The Kings wanted us to come to them.

Fine.

They’d picked the fight, and we’d finish it.

43

MARIA

Reaper folded the paper with the coordinates and tucked it into his kutte before looking toward the waiting prospects. “Leighton.”

The young prospect stepped forward immediately. “Yeah, Prez?”

“You and Mason are taking my truck and Finn’s back to the clubhouse.” Leighton frowned slightly.

“What about you?”

Reaper held out his hand toward him. “I need your bike.”

Leighton didn’t hesitate. He pulled the keys from his pocket and tossed them across. Reaper caught them one-handed before throwing his own truck keys to Mason. “You two get the women, Noah and yourselves back to the clubhouse.”

Leighton nodded as Mason threw his keys to Finn.

“The moment you get there, the clubhouse goes into lockdown,” Reaper added.

“No one in,” Mason finished.

“No one out,” Reaper replied.

“Yes, Prez.”

Reaper’s gaze swept across the two prospects, making sure they understood exactly how serious he was. “If anything happens to them . . .” He let the sentence hang.

Neither prospect needed to hear the rest.

“It won’t,” Leighton said firmly. “I’ll die before I let anyone near them.”

Reaper gave a single nod. “I know.”

Kate checked on Noah in his car seat, the baby still fast asleep despite the noise around him.

“I swear he could sleep through the end of the world,” Lucy murmured.

A tired smile tugged at Kate’s lips. “He probably could.”

My arms tightened around myself as the cold seeped through Tiny’s jacket. It smelled faintly of smoke and leather, but it wasn’t Riot’s.

Lucy moved to Reaper before he could put on his helmet. She reached up and gripped the front of his kutte, pulling him down enough to press her forehead against his. Reaper’s hands settled at her waist, holding her as though the rest of us had disappeared. “Come back,” she whispered.

“Always do.” Reaper kissed her once, hard and brief, before forcing himself to step away. His fingers remained wrapped around hers until the distance between them finally pulled their hands apart.

Watching them made something ache inside me. Riot and I hadn’t kissed goodbye. He had pressed his lips to the top of my head, but I had been too angry and hurt to reach for him. Now, he was riding toward a trap with my accusation following him.

What if those were the last words I ever said to him?

‘I know you’re fucking around.’