“Someone mention skinheads?” Cowboy and Hush joined the group.

I wrote faster. I just wanted to get the hell home before one of these guys decided to go against Styx. Being in this clubhouse was like standing with the devil himself. Now I had Bella, I wasn’t ever gonna put myself at risk of dying ever again.

“Li ain’t gonna rest until her sister’s back. So I’m gettin’ her the fuck back, and it’s gotta be done before Styx gets hitched in a couple’a months. Quick in and out. Then it’s all happy fuckin’ families from now on.”

“Who’s goin’?” Cowboy asked.

“Me,” Ky said and shrugged.

“You just got your kid,” Hush said.

Ky shrugged again. AK stepped forward. “Nah. You’re gonna stay here with your bitch and lil’ kid. I’ll go.”

Ky stared at AK. “Why the fuck would you wanna do that?”

AK shrugged. “I’m goin’. That’s all you need to know.”

“Well,” Viking closed in beside his friend. “If my brother AK goes, then so the fuck do I. Just love toyin’ with the Klan. Always promises to be a good fuckin’ time.”

“Then I go too,” Flame growled and the psycho trio stood as a fuckin’ impenetrable unit.

Cowboy slammed his Jack down on the table I was using and turned to Hush. “You gotta want a piece of this white power action, man? It’s gotta be your fuckin’ birthright or some shit to take these fuckers out.”

Hush smiled and his blue eyes shone with excitement. “Always up for polluting the WASPy bloodlines.”

Cowboy whistled in excitement. “Then the Louisiana contingent are in.”

“Gonna piss off Governor Ayers and Landry. But they had this shit comin’ anyhow. They’ve fucked with us too many times for us to just let it be,” AK said.

All the brothers nodded in agreement.

“Y’all sure you wanna go in?” the VP asked. They all nodded again. Ky turned back to face me. “The sooner the fuckin’ better with that intel.” I wrote down the rest of what I knew, then handed it to Ky. “This doesn’t mean shit,” he spat. “Now get the fuck back to that cabin and out of my fuckin’ face. My ability to hold back from stabbin’ you in the skull is fadin’ fast.”

Ky’s attitude slowly began to piss me off. I got they were seething. But I could only take so much. A hand pressed on my arm. “Rider?” Bella said softly, looking worriedly at the other men. “I want to go home.”

I took her hand without saying anything. I felt the brothers watching me as I left. For once, I didn’t care. Not with Bella by my side. She calmed me.

We walked out the door and past the painted Hades patch on the club’s wall that had first met me long ago, and I sighed a deep sigh. So much had happened in the five years that had passed. Some good, most bad. But I was fucking here now. I used to look at Hades’ soulless eyes and feel nothing but darkness and sin. Now, when I looked at his evil face, all I saw was liberation.

Freedom.

Survival.

Love.

Bella squeezed my hand, staring up at me with those fucking ice-blue eyes. A smile pulled on her face.

I cupped her cheeks in my hands. “Let’s go home.”

Hours later, I lay with Bella’s head on my chest as I tried to catch my breath. Our bodies were slick with sweat as we lay on the floor—we hadn’t even made it to the bed. The floorboards were uncomfortable under my back.

I didn’t much care about that.

I ran my hand through Bella’s hair. Bella sighed and lifted up on her elbow. She smiled as she ran her palm over my buzz cut. “You’re gonna give me a damn rash if you don’t stop doing that,” I joked.

Smiling mischievously, she moved her fingers to do the same over my short beard. “I like the feel of them both,” she said breathlessly. She kissed me, withdrawing only to drop her body onto my chest. “We should endeavor to make it to the bed,” she said, but I could hear the reluctant smile in her voice.

“Soon,” I rasped. “Soon.”

Bella tipped her head to the side and her face lit up with love.

“Bella?”

“Yes?”

“Are you happy? Is everything you were put through, that we are still going through, worth it to you?” I sighed. “I couldn’t bear it if I was robbing you of a better life.”

Bella’s expression grew serious and she reached for my hand. My left hand, with my wedding ring still firmly on my finger—I had never taken it off.