y P

nd sharp pain. A heavy hand shook my shoulder roughly

even cleared, and I curled my upper body protectively o

with the Raven MC raven-and-skull back patch. Stale beer, cheap weed, and greas

slapping a stack of crinkled legal paper

eader at the top read: Irrevocable Surrender of Par

I swept my arm across the blanket, knocki

sped, my throat

. You sign the brats over to the club as property of the chapter, and you walk away with fifty

ssy, arrogant signature was already scrawled across the wi

d the edge of the nearest page, brought it to

eting the thug's gaze, "t

e reached behind his hip, whipped out a black Glock 19, and

inger tightening on the trigger. "Sign the back

ing my arms locked tightly around the sleeping twins behind my ribcage. If I was go

eak of hinges cut through the tension

with the sleeves rolled neatly to his forearms, dark trousers, and wire-rimmed gold glas

silent precision of an apex pr

ward the newcomer. "Who the fuck are you?

't waste a single

forward with blinding speed, his gloved fingers clampin

ough the room as bone splint

lock onto the floor as his hand dangl

an flick of his polished boot. His voice, when he finally spok

"Or I will sever the radial artery in your other arm

s chest, whimpering, and scrambled backward out the

oor clicked shut.

d off his gold-rimmed glasses, obscuring his eyes for a secon

baring my teeth like a cornered wolf. "Who sent you? If

tray, popping the latches with two crisp clicks.

ne vibrating in the small space. "And Jaxson Vance doesn't h

blocking out the harsh fluorescent ligh

ed, thrashing my arm out

ed hospital gown down my left shoulder, exposing the smooth

d froze i

His gaze locked onto the faint, irregular burn scar etched deep into my shoulder b

s lungs in a sh

d the fabric back up over my shoulder, wincing at the

beneath his bronze skin. When he looked back at my face, the clinical detachment in

carrying a strange, reverent tremor. "I am going to stop your bl

y bicep, pressing the needle smoothly into my IV port. The cool analgesic f

ttered as the exhaustion of thirty

le lancet, prick the tip of my ring finger, and press a bead of cri

ortable black diagnostic ana

er

e bar crawled across the LCD s

45%..

es turned stark white where I gripped the edge of the rusted clin

e

shed solid, bl

RECT DESCENDANT: 99.98% PATERNAL C

nds, swallowing the roar of sheer, una

ough every state line from California to Maine, huntin

n a rundown back-alley clinic, discarded like trash by a two-

e peaceful beneath the grime, her arms still locked around her newborn twins wi

oyalty in an empire built on asphalt and iron, a

f my custom leather vest, pulling ou

emergency override frequen

y, low, and deadlier than a hollow-point round.