Samuel
I pull up to the Sutter house just as Knox rolls in from the opposite direction, gravel spitting under his tires. Perfect. Couldn’t have timed the firing squad better if I tried.
The front door swings open before either of us gets off our bikes.
Jon steps out onto the porch, shoulders squared, jaw clenched. The kind of posture that tells me he already knows. Or thinks he does.
And then Raven appears behind him.
She pushes past him, bare feet hitting the porch. Her eyes go wide when she sees me.
“Sam?”
“Get inside.” My voice comes out sharp.
“What are you doing?"
“Raven, go.”
She shakes her head, panic rising in her throat. “No. If you’re—”
“Raven.” I grit out her name. “Please.”
Knox’s boots hit the ground with a thud. “What the hell is going on?” he demands, eyes darting between his sister and me.
Jon’s eyes cut through me. “Go on, Wolf. Tell your brother here why you showed up at my front door.”
My stomach drops.
Knox’s gaze snaps to me. “Tell me what, Wolf?”
Raven makes a strangled sound, stepping forward, but her father’s arm shoots out, blocking her with a fierceness that freezes the air.
“Knox—” I start, but I don’t get any further.
His fist connects with my jaw before my brain can process the movement. A white flash explodes behind my eyes, and I hit the gravel on one knee, tasting blood.
Raven screams. A raw, broken sound that slices straight through the pounding in my skull.
“Samuel,” she yells as she throws herself between us before he can swing again, hands flat on Knox’s chest, her whole body shaking.
Knox’s breath heaves out in harsh, uneven bursts. He’s looking at me like I’m a stranger who broke in and stole the most important thing in his life.
Jon steps down off the porch, voice deadly quiet. “Tell him the rest, Samuel,” he says. “Don’t make my daughter do it.”
My pulse hammers, blood dripping from my lip.
Raven turns to me, tears streaking down her cheeks.
Every rib screams in protest as I push up to my feet and meet Knox’s blazing stare. His chest is heaving. His fists flex like he’s deciding whether to hit me again or tear me apart with his bare hands.
Raven’s voice slices through the chaos. “Knox, stop. Please.”
He doesn’t look at her. Not yet. His fury is all for me.
“Tell me it’s not true,” Knox growls. “Tell me you haven’t fucking touched my sister.”
Jon steps between us just enough to stop Knox from lunging again. His gaze pins me in place.
“Wolf,” he says quietly, “this is your chance.”
A warning. A sentence. A door slammed shut unless I open my damn mouth.
Raven grabs her father’s arm. “Pop, please—”
“Raven.” His tone is sharp, the kind that ends every argument. “Get in the damn house.”
“No,” she cries. “You don’t understand—”
“Inside. Now,” he repeats.
She looks at me. Her eyes red, terrified, burning with a plea that hits me harder than Knox’s fist.
Don’t let them tear us apart.
Knox finally drags his gaze to her, and something in him cracks. He grabs her by the upper arm, not rough, just desperate, and pulls her behind him like he can physically shield her from the truth.
Then, he turns back to me. “Start talking,” he snaps. “Right fucking now.”
My jaw throbs. Blood drips down my lip. My pulse is a hammer inside my skull. Raven is crying because of me. Her family deserves the truth, even if it destroys everything.
“I love her,” I say, voice rough, unforgiving. “I’ve been with her for months. And I’m not fucking apologizing for it.”
Knox goes still, like the air has been punched out of him.
Jon’s expression darkens into something carved out of fury and fear.
Then Knox slams into me with full force. My back hits the gravel hard, ribs screaming, vision flashing white. Then his fist connects with my jaw, once, twice, fast enough that I barely register the impacts before the pain catches up.
“You touched her?” he roars, knuckles cracking against my cheekbone.
I taste blood.
He hits me again. “Fucking answer me, Wolf.” My road name drips from his mouth like venom.
Raven screams my name, but Knox is past hearing anything.
Another punch and my head snaps sideways.
The world blurs, but I don’t fight back.
I can’t.
Not against him.
Not over her.
Knox grabs the front of my shirt and hauls me halfway off the ground just to slam me back down again, gravel biting into my skin.
“You lying, backstabbing piece of—”
“Knox, stop,” Raven shrieks.
But he doesn’t. He draws his fist back for another hit.
Jon’s voice tears through the air. “Enough.”
Knox is too far gone. His fist still comes down. It lands on my cheek as Jon grabs him from behind.
“Let go of me,” Knox roars, thrashing hard enough that Jon’s boots skid in the dirt.
Jon wrestles him back, muscles straining, and finally slams him against the side of the porch. “That’s enough. You hear me?”
“He touched her,” Knox yells, still trying to lunge for me, chest heaving, breath ragged. “Pop, he fucking touched her.”
I push up on shaky arms, blinking through the blood dripping into my eye, trying to find Raven. She’s on her knees in the grass, hands over her mouth, sobbing.
Knox sees her, and something fractures across his face. A mix of guilt, horror, and more rage that has nowhere to go.
“You’re crying because of him?” Knox spits, voice breaking. “After what he did?”
“What I did?” I rasp, tasting copper. “I didn’t hurt her. I love her.”
That lights the fuse again. Knox lunges, but Jon slams him into the railing so hard it rattles.
“I said enough,” Jon growls into his ear. “You’re going to kill him.”
Knox shakes, vibrating with fury he can’t unleash. His eyes find me—wild, betrayed, burning.
“You were my brother,” he says, voice shredded. “Until you went behind my back and touched my baby sister?”
Raven shoves to her feet. “Knox, stop, please. Sam didn’t force—”
“Get inside,” Knox snaps, pointing at her without even looking. “Now.”
“No,” she cries. “I’m not leaving him—”
“Raven,” Jon barks, sharper, stronger. “Inside. That’s not a request.”
She sobs harder, torn between all of us.
My heart splinters watching her.
Her eyes lock onto mine—pleading, terrified, refusing to let go. And even though it kills me, I force myself to hold her gaze. “Please, sweetheart,” I rasp, voice shredded. “Go inside.”
She flinches like my words hit her physically.
Jon’s stare lands on me next. Cold and unforgiving. “Wolf,” he says quietly, “leave. Now. Before this becomes something none of us walk away from.”
Knox is still straining against his father's hold, murder in his eyes. Raven makes it halfway to the porch before she looks back. The fear on her face hits harder than any punch I've taken tonight.
I wipe the blood from my mouth and stand on unsteady legs. Because leaving is the only thing keeping Knox from killing me.
But as I stagger back toward my bike, one truth hits like another punch.
I’m not giving her up.
Not now.
Not ever.