We drove in silence until he pulled onto a back road and killed the engine.

  He sat there for a long time, just staring out the windshield. Finally, he said, “He worked that warehouse, didn’t he?” He mumbled, more to himself than to me. “Clocked in like it was any other night, only this time he saw crates that weren’t supposed to be there. Asked the wrong question to the wrong man. After that, there was no walking away clean. He was a liability.”

  My stomach turned to stone. “A liability,” I whispered. “He was a person. My brother.”

  His eyes closed, just for a moment. “I know.”

  Tears spilled hot down my cheeks, and I hated myself for letting him see. “Why are you telling me this?” I asked as my voice shook.

  His gaze finally met mine, dark and steady. “Because you wouldn’t stop until you found it out anyway. Better you hear it from me than from someone who’d bury you for asking.”

  The words hit like a hammer and knocked the breath from my lungs.

  Because for the first time, I realized he wasn’t just keeping me in the dark to protect himself.

  He was protecting me.

  The silence stretched thick with things I couldn’t say.

  Finally, I wiped my face and forced steel back into my voice. “Then who killed him?”

  His jaw tightened. “That’s the question that’ll get you killed fastest.”

  “And you know the answer.”

  He didn’t deny it.

  My heart pounded, half fear, half fury. “Then you owe me the truth.”

  His eyes burned into mine, sharp and pained. “I don’t owe you a damn thing, Demi. But I’ll get you enough answers to put your brother to rest. That’s all I can promise.”

  It wasn’t enough. But it was more than I’d had yesterday.

  And for now, that had to be enough.

  When he dropped me back at my apartment, the night was nearly over. He took my phone and entered his number. “You need me, you text or call me. No more just showing up.”

  I took my phone back and nodded. I climbed out of the truck with my body buzzing with exhaustion and adrenaline. He didn’t say goodbye. Didn’t even look at me as I closed the door.

  But as I walked up the steps to my building, I felt his gaze on me.

  And even though I knew I should’ve been terrified of him, and of what I’d seen him do tonight, all I could think about was the way his voice had cracked when he said, I know.

  And the way, for one fleeting second, I’d wanted nothing more than to touch him.

  Chapter Nine

  Werewolf

  I should’ve never told her.

  That was the first thought that burned through my head as I lit a cigarette outside her apartment building and watched the glow of her window blink to life on the second floor. She hadn’t looked back after climbing the steps. Didn’t wave. Didn’t thank me.

  But she didn’t have to.

  The hollow ache in my chest said enough.

  I’d given her more tonight than I’d given anyone in years. Too much. Enough to put a target on her back ten times bigger than the one she already carried.

  I dragged deeply on the cigarette. Smoke scorched my lungs as I stared at the empty street.

  Tyler Cross had been a liability.

  I still saw the blood on the concrete outside the warehouse. Still heard the echo of his voice asking why. I hadn’t pulled the trigger, but I hadn’t stopped it either.

  I flicked the cigarette into the street and shifted into drive. I told myself I was leaving her behind. That this was the last time. That I’d already gone too far.

  But my gut knew better.

  I wasn’t done with Demi Cross.

  Not by a long shot.

  The clubhouse was half-asleep when I rolled in with dawn bleeding gray across the horizon. A few brothers were still passed out at the bar with empty bottles scattered like fallen soldiers. The smell of stale beer and smoke clung heavy to the walls.

  I parked out back and walked in. My boots thudded on the scarred floor. Every step echoed the memory of her voice.

  Then help me.

  Fuck.

  I poured myself a shot of whiskey from the bar, downed it in one go, and poured another. The burn didn’t touch the knot in my chest.

  “Up early, or not to bed at all?”

  The voice came from my left. Tremor leaned against the doorway, with his arms crossed and his sharp eyes locked on me. He was lean, wiry, built for speed on a bike and for trouble off it. And trouble was exactly what I saw in the way he was looking at me.

  “Didn’t sleep,” I muttered.

  “Figured. Word is you’ve been spending a lot of time chasing down ghosts lately.”

  My grip tightened around the glass. “Word travels fast.”

  He shrugged. “Faster when it’s about you. Prez wants to make sure you’re still focused. We can’t afford distractions.”

  I set the glass down hard enough to crack it. “I’m not distracted.”

  His gaze lingered, sharp and unblinking. “Ain’t like you to carry around dead weight, Wolf. If there’s something you need to say, say it. Otherwise, lock it down.”

  He pushed off the doorway and walked away.

  I swore under my breath, poured another drink, and told myself I didn’t care what Tremor thought.

  Except I did.

  Because if he suspected I was keeping things from the club, it wouldn’t just be Demi on the chopping block. It’d be me.

  I headed to my room to crash, but sleep didn’t come easy. Every time I shut my eyes, Tyler’s face appeared. Not the way Demi remembered him, smiling, young, alive. No. The way I’d last seen him. Pale. Broken.

  A liability.

  I hadn’t pulled the trigger that night, but I might as well have. I’d carried out enough orders to know that the difference between guilt and innocence didn’t matter. What mattered was loyalty. The Sons gave me purpose when I had nothing. Gave me a patch, a brotherhood, and a reason to keep breathing.

  But loyalty had a price. And Tyler Cross had paid it.

  Now his sister was banging on the door of the same grave.

  And I was the one holding it open.

  By afternoon, the garage was alive again with engines growling as bikes were tuned and brothers shouted over the clatter of tools. I kept my head down, worked on my Harley, and tried to drown the noise in grease and steel.

  It didn’t work.

  Every wrench twist echoed with her voice. Every spark of metal on metal reminded me of her eyes.

  Demi Cross was in my blood now, and no amount of whiskey or oil was going to wash her out.

  I knew what I had to do.

  Keep her close enough to watch, and far enough to protect. Feed her scraps until she thought she had answers, then send her packing before she got herself killed.

  That was the plan.

  A shit plan, maybe, but the only one I had.

  Chapter Ten

  Demi

  The diner was nothing special. It had fluorescent lights that hummed too loudly, vinyl booths patched with duct tape, and the smell of burnt coffee baked into the walls.

  But it was neutral ground.

  At least, that’s what I told myself when I slid into a booth across from Werewolf and felt the weight of his stare pin me to the seat like I’d just made the dumbest decision of my life.

  Maybe I had.

  But after watching him choke answers out of a man in an alley like it was just another Tuesday night, I wasn’t waiting for him to come to me. I needed answers, and I needed them now.

  “Why here?” he muttered and leaned back against the booth like he owned it. I couldn’t help but notice his broad shoulders stretching the leather cut tight across his chest.

  “Because you can’t slam me against a wall in front of half the city,” I said, my voice sharper than I intended.

  One brow arched. “Don’t tempt me.”

  Heat flared low in my stomach. Damn him.

  I grabbed the menu like it might shield me and flipped it open, though I already knew I wasn’t ordering anything.

  His gaze didn’t waver.

  I slammed the menu shut and leaned forward across the table. “You know more than you’re telling me. My brother didn’t just stumble into something. He was killed, and you know who did it.”

  His jaw clenched. For a second, I thought he’d shut me down again and feed me some line about keeping quiet.

  Instead, he leaned forward too. The space between us shrank until I could feel the heat radiating off him and the faint mix of leather and smoke clinging to his skin.

  “You keep saying you want the truth,” he said, voice low and dangerous. “But you don’t know what the truth costs.”

  “I don’t care.” My pulse raced, and my breath was shaky. “He was my brother. I loved him. And I’m not just going to let him be another body nobody talks about.”

  For a moment, his eyes softened. Just a flicker, but enough to send my heart lurching.

  Then the softness was gone, replaced by steel.

  “You think loving him changes the fact that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time? That chasing a ghost is going to bring him back?”

  I leaned closer until our noses almost brushed. “I think if you really believed that, you wouldn’t be sitting here right now.”

  His lips twitched, not a smile, not quite, but something dangerous flickered there.

  “You’ve got a mouth on you,” he said.

  “And you don’t scare me.”

  The lie tasted sharp on my tongue. He scared the hell out of me. He scared me in ways that kept me awake at night, my body buzzing with adrenaline and something hotter I didn’t want to name.

  He leaned back suddenly, dragging the air with him, and left me gasping like I’d been holding my breath.

  The waitress appeared with two coffees we hadn’t ordered while her eyes darted nervously between us before she scurried away.

  Werewolf wrapped his big hand around the mug, lifted it slowly while watching me over the rim as he drank.

  It shouldn’t have been sexy. It was just coffee. But the way his throat worked, the way his lips curved against the ceramic, and the way his gaze stayed locked on mine made my skin burn.

  I shoved my hair back and tried to shake it off. “You’re impossible.”

  “And you’re reckless.”

  “I’m determined.”

  “Stupid.”

  “Persistent.”

  His lips twitched again, like he couldn’t decide if he wanted to strangle me or kiss me. Maybe both.

  “You keep this up,” he said finally, “and I won’t be able to protect you.”

  The words landed heavy, but the way he said them, it wasn’t just a threat. It was a confession.

  I swallowed hard. “Then maybe I don’t want protection.”

  His eyes darkened, and heat sparked, making my pulse trip over itself.

  “You don’t know what you’re saying,” he growled.

  “Don’t I?”

  The space between us sizzled, charged with everything we weren’t saying.

  For one reckless heartbeat, I thought he was going to close the distance. His gaze dropped to my mouth, and mine did the same. My lips parted. Wanting.

  Then he pushed back suddenly. He threw a crumpled bill on the table, stood, towered over me with anger, and something hotter radiated off him in waves.

  “This is a bad idea,” he muttered, more to himself than to me.

  Before I could respond, he walked out.

  I sat there, my chest heaving while my body trembled with frustration and want. My heart screamed at me that I’d just lost my chance.

  But the echo of his voice lingered.

  This is a bad idea.

  And for the first time, I didn’t feel like running.

  I felt like chasing.

  I left and stepped into the cool night air. He leaned against his bike out front with a cigarette glowing between his fingers like he’d been waiting for me.

  “Get on,” he said, and jerked his chin at the bike.

  I froze. “What?”

  He climbed on and stared at me. “You wanted the truth? You’re in it now. Get on.” He started the bike, and the engine rumbled around us.

  I should’ve said no. Should’ve turned and walked the other way.

  Instead, I swung my leg over the bike and pressed my body against his back. The rumble of the engine thrummed through me.

  As we roared into the night, my arms wrapped tight around his solid frame, I realized something terrifying.

  I wasn’t just chasing answers anymore.

  I was chasing him.

  Chapter Eleven

  Werewolf

  The second she wrapped her arms around me on the bike, I knew I was fucked.

  Her body pressed tight against mine, legs snug on either side, and her breath feathered against the back of my neck. It all burned hotter than anything I’d ever felt.

  This was supposed to be about control. About keeping her alive long enough to send her packing. But when she slid onto my bike like she belonged there, I lost a piece of that control I wasn’t sure I’d ever get back.

  The road stretched ahead. I pushed the throttle and let the engine snarl loud enough to drown out the thoughts clawing through my head.

  She wanted answers. She wanted justice.

  What I wanted was harder to name.

  All I knew was that with her arms tight around me, the idea of letting her go felt like carving out a piece of myself.

  I just drove until I couldn’t handle her being so close to me anymore.

  I dropped her in front of her apartment.

  She slid off the bike slowly while her hand brushed my shoulder as she steadied herself. That one touch seared straight through my leather cut, down to the bone.

  “Thanks,” she muttered, like the word tasted foreign.

  I nodded once and waited until she disappeared inside her building before I kicked the bike into gear.

  But I didn’t leave.

  I circled the block and parked in the shadows across from her street. Killed the engine, lit a cigarette, and settled in.

  Because something in my gut wouldn’t let me walk away.

  I’d been in this life long enough to trust my instincts. And right now, every instinct screamed that she wasn’t safe.

  It didn’t take long.

  Half an hour later, I saw movement at the corner. Two men. Not brothers.

  Not Sons. Worse.

  Independent scum sniffing around like the kind that picked at scraps on the edges of MC territory looking for leverage and weakness.

  And Demi Cross was the juiciest weakness they could’ve stumbled onto.

  I ground my cigarette under my boot and moved before I had time to think.

  They followed her shadow when she went to the window with the glow of her phone lighting her face. She was probably texting someone, unaware of the predators circling below.

  I caught the taller one’s voice first. “That her? Wolf’s girl?”

  My blood iced. I didn’t know how it had gotten out that Demi was mine, but it had. I now had to protect her even more than I thought I needed to before.

  “Looks like it,” the other said. “Bet she squeals easy. Might fetch a price, too.”

  They didn’t see me until it was too late.

  I came out of the dark like the devil himself. My fist crashed into the taller one’s jaw. His bones cracked under my knuckles, and teeth sprayed the pavement. He dropped with a howl and clutched his face.

  The second lunged, and a knife flashed. I caught his wrist, twisted until the blade clattered to the ground, and drove my knee into his gut. He wheezed with spit flying, but I didn’t stop.

  This wasn’t about stopping. This was about sending a message.

  I slammed him against the brick wall, and my forearm dug into his throat. His eyes bulged, and his hands clawed at me.

  “Stay the fuck away from her,” I growled.

  He gurgled something, and I pressed harder as I watched panic bleed into his face.

  The other one staggered up with blood dripping from his mouth. “She’s… she’s just a girl.”

  I snapped my gaze to him, ice-cold. “She’s mine.”

  The words were out before I could stop them. Raw. Brutal. True in a way that made my chest ache.

  I let the second man crumple to the ground as he gasped for air. I stepped back just enough to let them see the rage in my eyes.

  “You even breathe near her again and I’ll bury you both so deep nobody will ever find you.”

  They scrambled away while dragging each other down the alley, leaving a trail of blood and curses.

  I stood there with my chest heaving, and my fists itched for more. The night was quiet again, broken only by the faint hum of the city.

  Upstairs, Demi shifted, tucked her phone away, and stepped away from the window. She hadn’t seen or heard a thing.

  Good.

  She didn’t need to.

  I stayed another hour. I lurked in the shadows and watched her light flicker through the curtains, making sure no one else tried their luck.

  By the time I finally swung back onto my bike, dawn was creeping over the rooftops. My knuckles throbbed, skin split and raw, but I didn’t care.

  All I cared about was the truth I’d spoken in that alley. The truth I couldn’t take back.

  She was mine.

  Even if she never knew it.

  Even if claiming her meant burning my world to the ground.

  Chapter Twelve

  Demi

  The decision came sharply and suddenly.

  I had agreed I wouldn’t just to show up, but I never promised I wouldn’t follow him. I needed more answers than the ones that Werewolf was giving me.

  By late afternoon, I was in my car across from the garage, my sunglasses hiding the direction of my gaze. My phone was clutched in one hand, but my attention was locked on the man moving across the street.

 

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