Chapter Thirty-Two #2
“Couple men showed up at High Voltage late last night asking questions about a young woman and two kids. Didn’t stick around long. Chain says there’s no mistaking who they were looking for.”
“They Cartel?” I asked, already feelin’ the answer claw its way down my spine.
“They looked it,” Devil said, “but it’s worse.”
He turned his phone and showed me the picture, burned into the grainy image like it was branded into the bastard’s skin. An upside-down triangle. A circle on top. An eye inside. Flames crownin’ the whole damn thing.
My heart hit the floor.
“Children of the Flame,” I muttered. My voice didn’t sound like mine. “You’re sure?”
“Positive,” Chain said, his voice like gravel. “Prospect didn’t know the mark, but he knew it was wrong. Took a picture, sent it straight to me. I called Devil the second I saw it.”
Gearhead leaned forward, arms crossed tight over the table. “If they’re sniffin’ around our territory, it ain’t by accident. They want somethin’. And I’m guessin’ it’s sittin’ right under our roof.”
Bolt’s jaw worked. “Question is, how much do they know?”
I leaned back, jaw grindin’, thoughts already twistin’ into defensive lines and escape routes. “They’re huntin’ her.”
Chain’s eyes narrowed. “They’re too damn close. And if they’re pokin’ around places like ours, they ain’t askin’ for church or confession.”
My fists curled tight on the table. I could already feel the urge to burn their mark right off the bastard’s skin.
“We keep it quiet for now,” Devil said, eyes cuttin’ to each of us in turn. “Just inner circle. No one else. We don’t know if they suspect she’s here or if they’re casting a wide net. Either way, we don’t give ‘em a reason to look closer.”
His gaze landed on me, grounded, cuttin’ deep. “You wanna keep her safe, Thunder? Keep her close. Keep her calm.”
I nodded once. Slow. Solid. “I will.”
Devil stepped closer, his voice grim enough to scrape bone. “This could go to hell real fucking fast. You know that?”
“Yeah,” I said, standin’ to full height, lettin’ my eyes pass over my brothers. “And I ain’t askin’ for special treatment. I’d do the same for any woman under our patch.”
Silence settled like a loaded gun. Then Devil gave the barest nod, the kind you earned, not begged for.
I left the war room burnin’ with purpose, my mind already churnin’ through worst-case scenarios. I counted exits. Considered fallback points. Safehouses. What I’d need if I had to run with her and the kids.
Then I saw her.
Just past the hallway’s edge. Barefoot, hair a dark mess around her shoulders, arms locked tight across her body like she was goin’ be sick. Her eyes found mine, wide and hollow, a storm brewin’ behind ‘em.
She’d heard somethin’. Maybe not all of it, but enough. And I saw it, that panic already risin’ in her throat, crawlin’ over her skin like fire ants.
Our eyes locked, and her chest hitched. She was already unravelin’.
I stepped toward her, slow, deliberate, like a man closing in on somethin’ that might bolt. “Sable,” I said, my voice low, hard-edged.
She shook her head fast, back hittin’ the wall. “It’s them, isn’t it?” Her whisper cracked. “They’ve found—” Her breath stuttered and died.
I closed the distance another step, enough to smell her, enough to see her lips tremble. “Yeah, it’s them. Children of the Flame.” No point sugarcoatin’. She’d lived too much hell to believe in pretty lies.
Her arms tightened, nails diggin’ into her skin. “Then I’m not safe. Not here. Nowhere.”
I let out a low growl, barely a sound but harsh enough to cut through her panic. “Don’t you fuckin’ say that. Not while you’re under my roof.”
Her eyes snapped up, glassy but fierce.
“You think I don’t know what those bastards are?
” I went on, my fists itchin’ at my sides.
“I’ve seen what they leave behind. But you need to understand somethin’, Sable, I’ll bury every last one of ‘em before I let ‘em put a hand on you. You and those kids are mine to protect now. And I don’t give a damn how far I gotta go to make that stick.”
Her lips parted, a shaky breath spillin’ out, fear and somethin’ else tangled in it.
My gaze dropped to her mouth, then dragged back up to her eyes, hot and unflinching.
The want was right there under my skin, pulsin’, ugly and loud.
I wanted to kiss her, claim her, take that fear and twist it into somethin’ else, somethin’ that belonged to me.
But I held the line, every muscle tight with restraint.
“Zeke…” she whispered, my name frayed on her tongue.
I braced a hand against the wall beside her head, leanin’ in just enough to cage her without touchin’. My voice dropped to a promise edged with steel. “Let ‘em come. Let ‘em try. I’ll paint these walls with their blood before I let ‘em take you.”
The fear in her eyes flickered, broke, replaced by somethin’ hotter, darker. A shiver ran through her, and I felt it, straight to the pit of me.
I leaned closer, close enough to feel the hitch of her breath against my mouth, close enough she could taste the promise on the air. My knuckles grazed her hip before I curled my fist against the wall, holding myself back with every ounce of will I had.
Her eyes dropped to my mouth, then back up.
“Zeke…” she repeated, and it came out like a plea, fragile and raw all at once.
“Christ,” I muttered, my forehead almost touchin’ hers, my voice a rasp from the pit of me. “You don’t even know what you’re doin’ to me.”
The space between us was a spark away from burnin’. I wanted to crush her mouth under mine, claim her so hard she’d never doubt who she belonged to.
But I held. Gritted my teeth until my jaw ached.
“When I take you,” I whispered, rough and final, “it ain’t gonna be ‘cause you’re scared. It’ll be ‘cause you want it. ‘Cause you need it. And when that time comes, Sable…” My mouth hovered over hers, heat spillin’ between us. “There won’t be any stoppin’ me.”
Her breath shuddered out, eyes glassy, pulse jumpin’ at her throat. She didn’t move. Didn’t push me away.
I dragged myself back an inch at a time, every step like ripplin’ barbed wire through my veins. My hand fell from the wall, but my voice stayed soft, dangerous.
“Believe this much, darlin’. You ain’t runnin’ alone anymore. Not while I’m breathin’.”