Chapter 34
Bowles clattering, chairs scraping, and loud booming laughter filled the room – it should have felt loud and overwhelming. But as I sat there with Aysel’s stew steaming untouched in front of me, I didn’t feel swamped at all. I felt transfixed.
I was watching them. Really watching them.
Rose’s words were still turning over in my mind like something precious and true. But seeing it all with my own eyes… I realised there was something she hadn’t said. She’d told me their love was fast and wild, but never how deep, how fierce it ran after the storm passed.
These men didn’t just love – they loved with everything they had, raw and all-consuming, nothing like anything I’d ever known.
Back in London, marriage was just business. Merging fortunes, keeping up appearances, never showing too much, never needing too much. If people loved each other, they hid it well. Compared to this, they didn’t know what love even was.
Here, love was life or death. It was fierce, unbreakable, the reason they drew breath.
I looked down the table at Pres and Rose.
Even while he listened to plans, his arm stayed tight around her, his thumb brushing slow over her hip, his body turned like a shield between her and the rest of the room.
Further along, Bones sat with Ivy, one hand resting light on her bump while she teased him, and he just watched her like she was the only thing that mattered, like he’d burn cities down if he had to.
The older brothers with their old ladies who had been at the club from the start, who have seen everything, been through everything, still held true to each other.
The love burning brighter than it had before.
They lived knowing every day could be their last. So, they loved harder, deeper, louder than anyone I’d ever met.
“You’re doing it again, girl.”
A dry warm chuckle pulled me out of my thoughts.
I blinked to see Hawk leaning forward across from me – older, face lined with years of living hard, a scar cutting through grey-streaked beard and eyebrow, grinning at me.
Beside him sat Tank, Sniper and Shadow, all the long-standing brothers watching me, clearly amused I’d been staring so hard I hadn’t noticed them.
And right up the other end of the table, Rage sat next to Pres tearing off chunks of bread. Even while he talked, his eyes kept flicking back to me, never staying away long. The bruise on his cheek and cut on his lip just made him look harder, more striking.
Hawk let out another loud laugh, thumping his hand on the table.
“I swear I never thought I’d see the day!” he said, shaking his head in disbelief. “Look at him. That’s our Rage. Hardest, coldest man we’ve got. And now one little redhead from London gives him a soft look, and he’s like a shy lad at his first dance.”
“He’s well and truly tamed,” Sniper added with a warm teasing grin.
Heat flooded my cheeks, and I twisted the hem of my jumper under the table.
“Oh, leave her alone!” Rose called out, her voice carrying clear over the noise, eyes bright and fierce on my side. “You’re just jealous. Remember how you were when you met Diamond? Don’t act like you’re any different!”
The room erupted in more laughter, but Rose ignored them all, looking straight at me with nothing but pride.
“Besides,” she went on, “she’s the only person round here who can get him to back down. You should have seen her in his office, telling him exactly what she thought. Didn’t even flinch. She’s the one who can handle him.”
At that Ivy sat bolt upright so fast she nearly knocked her drink over.
“Oh my God!” she gasped, bouncing in her seat, making her silverware rattle. “That’s it! That’s perfect! Danika – your road name, it’s Tamer! You’re Tamer now! Well done Sniper on giving her, her name.”
The whole room went quiet for a heartbeat, the name hanging there bright and proud.
Tamer.
A shiver ran right through me, sharp and bright with feeling.
In London my name meant nothing but my father’s wealth and reputation.
Here, given by this club who’d welcomed me like family, it meant I had power.
It meant I wasn’t hiding behind walls anymore – I was the one who held the leash of the most dangerous man around.
Tank let out a low sound of pure approval, nodding at Ivy.
“She’s right. Rage keeps the bad out… but she’s the one who keeps him from tearing the world apart.”
“Tamer,” Hawk repeated, lifting his bottle in a toast. “Welcome to the family, girl. That’s what everyone will know you as.”
Pres looked up then, a rare genuine smile tugging at his mouth, lifting his glass of whiskey my way in quiet respect.
And then I looked at Rage.
He’d stopped eating. He just stared at me, still and quiet, so much raw feeling in his gaze it nearly took my breath away. He didn’t mind the name one bit. If anything, he looked proud.
“Tamer it is,” he rumbled across the room, his deep voice steady and sure. “Suits you, sweetheart.”
I laughed soft and breathless, my heart fit to burst. My cheeks were still pink, but the fear was gone. I wasn’t just Danika. I was Tamer. And the beast beside me would burn the world down before he let anyone take me away. And I loved every bit of it.