10. Riot
RIOT
Crow woke in the back room of a private clinic run by a man who treated club wounds without producing paperwork.
By then Rook had moved trusted Wraiths to the clinic and Hale had told Crow’s oldest loyalists only that there would be news when it was safe. Stone’s men had found the depot and Rusk’s body, but not Crow.
Anna sat beside Crow’s bed while the medic checked his pupils and replaced the dressings on his wrists.
I stayed near the door, close enough to see her and far enough to give them privacy.
She’d refused stitches for the knife point at her side because it needed only a bandage.
The decision annoyed me, though the medic agreed with her.
Crow endured the examination with the bad temper of a man becoming himself again. When the medic left, Rook and Saint came in.
“You can’t go back to Gravewater yet,” Rook said.
Crow’s good eye narrowed. “Appreciate the rescue. Doesn’t make you my fucking president.”
“No. It makes me the man explaining why riding to your clubhouse today gets loyal brothers killed.”
Anna looked between them. “Stone controls the gate, Vandal is his VP and Rusk wasn’t the only man who benefited from Crow being gone.”
Crow pushed himself higher against the pillows. “My old guard will move if I call.”
“Some will,” Saint said. “Some have family under watch, and Stone has spent weeks telling them Wraiths took you.”
Rook nodded toward Crow. “You show up now after we recover you, Stone says you were coerced or compromised and forces a fight before you know who still stands with you.”
Crow hated it because it was true. He looked at Anna. “Hale?”
“Safe for now. His daughter has eyes on her, so he can’t move openly.”
“Then we move quietly.” Crow’s voice was weaker, but the authority under it wasn’t. “Separate my men from Stone’s, get proof of where he held me and identify the outsider. I don’t walk into my own clubhouse until I know who’ll open the door.”
Rook nodded. Two rival presidents had reached the same calculation.
“You stay somewhere Stone can’t reach you while we make contact with your old guard one man at a time.”
“Temporary.”
“Until going home won’t get your loyal men killed.”
Rook gave Crow a final nod and left with Saint.
Crow looked at Anna. “Give us a minute?”
She looked between him and me. “You mean me.”
“Yeah.”
Crow’s mouth twitched. “You know what I mean.”
Anna stood and kissed his forehead. “I’ll be outside. Neither of you threaten the other while I’m gone.”
“No promises,” Crow and I said together.
That earned a tired laugh from her before the door closed.
Crow examined me in silence. Captivity had stripped weight from him, not judgment.
“Hale told her about Canal Cut?”
“He did.”
“Should’ve told her before I went after Stone. I wanted proof first.”
“You didn’t pass the route. I know that now.”
“She knows too.”
“You forgive her?”
“Working on it.”
“Honest answer.” Crow settled back, fatigue dragging at him. “You saved her.”
“She saved herself more than once.”
“Also an honest answer.” His gaze sharpened. “I’m not giving you permission to be with my sister.”
“Good, because I wasn’t fucking asking.”
“But I won’t pretend she needs it.”
That was enough.
Anna returned with water and stopped when she saw neither man bleeding. “Successful conversation?”
“Riot failed to ask for my blessing,” Crow said.
“I’m shocked.” She set the cup beside him. “Did you offer one anyway?”
“No.”
“Then everything is normal.”
Crow took her hand. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you what I learned about the ambush. I wanted proof before I opened that wound again.”
“Next time, tell me the truth and let me decide what I can handle.”
Crow nodded. “Fair.”
“And when you retake Gravewater, Riot and I are still together.”
“Figured that out when you held his hand over my half-dead body.”
“Good. Saves a speech.”
Crow looked at me. “You ever make her choose between us, I won’t be half-dead next time.”
“I won’t,” I said. “But if you use her to pass Gravewater business, we’ll have a different conversation.”
“Riot,” Anna warned.
“He started it.”
Crow’s tired laugh became a cough, and Anna helped him drink until it passed.
Three days later, Crow was hidden at a farmhouse two counties away with Hale as his first contact to the old guard. Stone remained in Gravewater’s chair, Vandal stayed beside him and the outsider who knew Wraith routes was still unidentified.
Anna stayed at the compound while Stone’s people were still a direct threat. Rook gave her the guest room beside mine; she kept the key and slept in my room because she wanted to, not because either club had decided where she belonged.
That night Anna sat on the edge of my bed with a notebook across her knees, making a list for Crow and another for herself. Her own list started with a new phone, repaired glass in the SUV and better security at the house.
“You’re really going back there,” I said.
She looked up. “When it’s safe, yes.”
I thought about the weak back door, the street with no barrier and the bedroom windows visible from the road. “We reinforce it.”
“We?”
“You want me to pretend I won’t be involved?”
“No. I want you to remember involved isn’t the same as in charge.”
“Fine. You pick the locks. I reserve the right to hate them.”
She laughed. “That sounds workable.”
“And there needs to be room for my bike.”
Anna closed the notebook. “Your bike?”
“You think I’m sleeping here while you’re across town?”
“That sounds suspiciously like moving in.”
“Efficient.”
Crow hated the farmhouse, which was how Anna knew he was improving.
By the second day he was threatening to leave if anyone brought him another bowl of soup.
Each visit left Anna a little less tense, as if ordinary complaints from her brother were finally pushing weeks of fear out of the room one piece at a time.
At night she came back to my room because she wanted to. Sometimes we argued, sometimes we laughed and sometimes we were too tired for either.
By the fourth morning, work had become the first ordinary thing she wanted back. I found her in the yard carrying a laptop bag toward her SUV.
“Where are you going?”
She stopped beside the driver’s door. The small cut at her cheek had healed. Her hair was loose over a gray jacket, and sunlight caught the expression that had started arguments in two clubhouses.
“Work. Some of us have invoices to process instead of territorial conspiracies.”
I opened the passenger door. “I’m driving behind you.”
“Rook assigned a prospect.”
“Changed the assignment.”
“Did the prospect agree?”
“He looked relieved.” I lied, knowing full well I’d made no changes at all.
Anna put her bag on the passenger seat. “Are you planning to follow me everywhere for the rest of my life?”
Once, I’d have built an excuse from security, rival clubs and the responsibility of my patch. I didn’t need one now.
“Yeah.”
She tried not to smile. “That sounds exhausting.”
“You’ll adjust.”
“Arrogant.”
“You remember.”
Anna caught my cut and pulled me close. I kissed her beside the SUV, then followed her out through the gates.