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I shook my head and wiped quickly beneath my eyes, then I reached for the kutte. The leather felt cool beneath my fingertips. “Yeah.”

Riot’s expression softened immediately. “Yeah?”

I couldn’t stop smiling. “Yeah, Riot. I’ll be your old lady.”

The cheer that followed was deafening. Someone wolf-whistled. Ghost shouted something so inappropriate that several people groaned immediately, and Spider, naturally, made it worse.

The noise washed over me without really registering, because Riot was smiling. Not the cocky grin he gave everyone else. Something warmer that belonged only to me. He stepped forward and pulled me into his arms. The familiar strength of him surrounded me instantly, steady and reassuring and completely, undeniably home.

The rebuilt clubhouse stood behind him. Laughter filled the yard, and the evening sun warmed my skin, and as I buried my face against his shoulder, I realized that somewhere along the way I’d stopped searching for where I belonged.

I’d found it. Not just with Riot, but with all of them. With the club and the family, we’d built together. Life wasn’t perfect and it never would be. There would be more battles ahead. More losses. More scars, but standing there wrapped in Riot’s arms while our family celebrated around us, none of that felt frightening.

For the first time in a very long while, the future felt like something to look forward to, and whatever came next, we’d face it together.

PRESENT DAY

38

RIOT

Present Day

We were all standing outside waiting for the familiar rumble of bikes, brothers pacing back and forth while club girls checked their makeup and lounged across the laps of seated brothers.

Lucy stood beside Reaper’s bike with Noah asleep against her shoulder, gently rocking him while Maria fussed over whether she’d remembered enough food for everyone. Kate hovered nearby offering to help before being shooed away for the third time.

The clubhouse had changed over the last ten years. There were still half-naked women and enough whiskey to sink a ship, but now there were families too. Businesses. Homes. Something worth protecting.

Eventually the sound reached us, and every head turned.

A grin spread across my face as four Harleys rolled through the gates. Reaper and Keno were first, Tiny riding behind Reaper and Ripper behind Keno.

Cheers erupted around the yard.

I should’ve been there, waiting outside the prison gates when they walked free, but I’d spent the last week driving circles around the clubhouse, the tattoo shop and Maria’s clinic because the same two cars kept showing up. Different times. Three Different drivers. Always close enough to watch. Maybe it was nothing and maybe it wasn’t. I hadn’t stayed alive that long by believing in coincidences. So, I’d stayed back at the clubhouse to keep an eye on things.

Tiny and Ripper barely had both boots on the ground before brothers surrounded them, pulling them into hugs and slapping them across the shoulders.

I watched Reaper introduce Lucy to them before Maria suddenly grabbed my hand. “Come on.”

Before I could answer, she’d dragged me down the clubhouse steps.

Tiny spotted her first. “Nurse!” he boomed, throwing his arms open.

Maria laughed and ran straight into them.

A low growl escaped me before I could stop it.

Tiny looked over Maria’s shoulder and grinned. “Wow, easy, VP. Just saying hello.”

“Keep those hands where I can see ‘em,” I deadpanned. “Would be a shame if you spent your first day home learning how hard prosthetic hands are to get.”

For a heartbeat nobody spoke, then the yard erupted into laughter.

Tiny held both hands high above his head. “Happy now?”

“Barely.”