Chapter 1 #2
My fingers brush her clit through the slick, soaked mess Myka left behind and her body jerks. Not from surprise, but from the betrayal of it. Even now, after what he did, she can still feel this. Want this. Need this.
My fingertips move in tight, slow circles. Nothing rushed or rough. She gasps quietly as her thighs tense and tremble.
Torment’s watching us from across the room. I can feel his grin like a punch between the ribs but he won’t say shit.
This isn’t about sex. Not for me or for her.
This is a reclamation of her body.
Of control and dignity buried in blood and bruises.
She parts her lips in a whisper I won’t let her say. I curl two fingers against her to ground her.
To remind her she’s still here. Still alive. Still hers.
She comes in silence. Quiet. Barely a gasp. Like she wasn’t sure she was allowed while a tear slips from the corner of her eye.
I wipe it with my thumb.
Then I pull my hand away and exhale through my nose, slow. Deliberate.
I’m hard.
“You’re still a kid.” I chuckle, voice low but cutting. “Too focused on your own finish to notice she ain’t got there first.”
The laughter hits like gunfire, sharp, brutal, and true.
That smug edge he always wears slips fast. He stands. Chair scrapes back hard enough to squeal and Nyxa jolts, thrown off balance by the sudden movement, her body teetering forward. She nearly crashes to the ground.
I’m already moving. My hand grips her waist before she hits the floor, steadying her, pulling her behind me in the same breath.
Myka’s eyes snap to mine, full of heat, but no control. He’s all bark. All nerves under that ego.
“You forget where you are?” I ask, calm as death.
Tornado’s suddenly at my back.
Solid. Still. Like a wall that can end a man before he breathes wrong. Rook’s on the other side, jaw is locked, arms crossed tight over his chest, waiting, watching.
No one speaks.
Myka’s chest heaves, lips twitching like he's biting back something stupid.
I tilt my head, just slightly. “Sit. Down.”
It’s not a suggestion.
Myka hesitates. Just long enough to feel the weight of every patched gaze on him.
“Problem?” Bullet’s voice cuts through the haze. He’s flanked by Brick and another Panther.
I meet Myka’s cold and hollow eyes. “Do we have a problem?”
Myka clenches his jaw. But his silence is drenched in shame. He storms off, snapping at Nyxa like she’s an afterthought.
She flinches and follows.
She always fucking follows, and that’s the part that gnaws at me.
I don’t move. Don’t let the heat twisting in my gut show. Not here. Not now.
“That went well,” Bullet mutters, stepping beside me with a glass of something expensive and unnecessarily fruity.
I snort. “Didn’t peg Rock for a pineapple whiskey kind of guy.”
“He ain’t. That’s Ashley’s doing. Swear she’s trying to civilize the whole damn alliance one drink at a time.”
Tornado chuckles behind us. “Next time she brings out mimosas, I’m leaving.”
“Speak for yourself,” Torment, his VP, grins, raising a glass. “I’ll take champagne if it comes with her sister’s number.”
“She doesn’t have a sister,” Rook deadpans.
Torment winks. “Then I’ll volunteer to be adopted.”
We gather near the fire pit just outside the reception tent, the night creeping in soft and warm. The high ranks from all three MCs drift closer, instinct pulling us together even without a call.
Rock raises his glass, hand wrapped around Ashley’s waist. She’s glowing. He’s trying not to show it, but I see the pride leaking through. Man’s made of iron and rules, but for her, he softens at the edges.
“To family,” he starts, loud enough to cut through the noise.
“To fire and steel,” Bullet follows, lifting his glass.
“To brothers who bleed but don’t break,” I say, raising mine last.
Glasses clink. No cheers. Just a quiet, weighty silence that means something when it’s earned.
Di slips between Rook and Tornado with a sly smirk. “Did I miss the heartfelt moment? Or are you all still trying to figure out how to toast without crying?”
“Watch it, sweetheart,” I murmur. “You’ll make Torment emotional. Then he starts hugging people.”
“That was once,” he grumbles. “And I was wasted.”
“You kissed Brick’s head and called him your soulmate.”
“You're still my soulmate, dumbass,” Brick yells from across the yard.
Everyone laughs.
Even me.
I glance toward the yard. Myka’s nowhere to be seen. So is she.
It settles heavy in my gut. Something about the way she looked at me. About the way she didn’t look back.
I down what’s left in my glass.
“Alright,” I say, low. “I’m done socializing.”
“You mean pretending to be human?” Bullet teases.
“Exactly.”
I nod once to Rock. He nods back. Then I walk. Past the fire. Past the crowd. And it’s then when I see her again.
Myka barks; someone wraps a hand around her wrist and she flinches.
I move fast. “You okay?”
“She’s fine. Right, baby?” Myka tries to puff up.
She doesn’t answer.
“Did he hit you?” I ask, stepping close. Voice low. Dangerous.
Her lips twitch and her eyes shine.
“Answer him.” Myka growls.
She doesn't. Her silence is the loudest scream I’ve ever heard.
Tornado steps in. “Not here, Prez.”
“Get Bullet. Now.”
Di slides up beside me. “Damn North, Rock will kick your ass.” She scans the party. “Follow me.”
More Panthers move closer while she leads us to a back room.
Since Myka doesn’t move I grab him by his vest and shove him through the door. He trips, crashing into a table. Furniture screams against the floor. Voices rise behind us.
“The fuck is wrong with you?” he snarls.
Bullet storms in, four men with him. Eyes wide, hands twitching near weapons. “What the hell, North?”
“You need to put a leash on your dog and teach him the rules.”
His gaze slides past me. “The fuck’d he do now?”
“Nothing, Prez.”
But my eyes are on Nyxa. She’s folding into herself, small, like she’s trying to disappear. Like if she closes her eyes hard enough, she just might.
I don’t blink. Don’t breathe. “She claimed?”
“What?” Bullet snaps his head to me.
“Is she taken? Can anyone from your club say she’s theirs?”
Bullet looks to Myka.
Nothing.
Coward.
“No,” Bullet says. “Not that I know.”
“She was drugged. Paraded around. Fucked in front of everyone like some party favor, and he wanted others to have a turn. At Rock’s goddamn wedding.
” I pause, letting it sink in. “She’s a candy, fine.
But your guy broke every rule in the book.
Made you look like a joke in front of every single prospect out there. ”
“Fuck,” Bullet exhales. Fury simmering just under the surface. I’ve seen him snap over less. Kill for less. Then his eyes meet mine. “You want her?”
The fucking flutter hits again. I look at Nyxa. “You want to come with me?”
Nyxa lifts her head and then it happens.
She speaks.
“Yes.”
One word. Fragile. Defiant. Everything.
“Do you allow her to come?”
Bullet nods, as does his brothers. Majority decides, which means it’s done.
I take off my cut. Drape it over her shoulders. She flinches again. It gets on my nerves but if I lose my shit, I will have more than a problem.
Myka lunges. Desperate. Foolish. “You ain’t going anywhere.”
My hand’s already on my weapon but no one moves.
Because no one fucking cares if the fucker dies.
Bullet steps in and slams a punch square into his jaw. “Shut the fuck up.” The room stills. The tension is thick. “We’ll handle this at church, and you’ll be wishin’ he’d ended you when he had the chance. You so much as blink wrong today… and Rock’ll be the one puttin’ you in the ground.”
Myka stares, shaking, raging.
“She’s mine now,” I say to make sure he gets it. Not soft. Not tender.
Final.
And every man in this room knows, I don’t lose what I claim.