“No, nothing to add. You’ve covered it.”
Daniel snickered, his dark hair spiked with too much gel. “Yeah, Pop, you’ve gone over the boring shit. Let’s get to the good part.”
Nila froze; her dark eyes glared, shooting hatred across the table toward my younger brother.
Couldn’t say I blamed her; the feeling was mutual.
Daniel sneered at Nila, licking his lips and blowing her a kiss. “I want to see how our guest reacts.”
My fists clenched on the table.
Kestrel shifted beside her, nudging her shoulder with his. Loud enough for his voice to carry, he said, “It’s okay, Nila. You’re on the sane side of the table. I won’t let him touch you.”
Nila tensed as her head swivelled to look at him. Her eyes searched his, her chin cocked in a strange mixture of defiance and curiosity.
The second turned into a drawn-out moment, and still they stared.
What the fuck?
Finally, Nila nodded, her black ponytail draping over her shoulder. Never tearing her gaze from Kes, she said softly, “Thank you.”
Kes beamed, his golden eyes, the trait all Hawk men carried, glowed. “You’re welcome.” Something passed between them. Something I fucking hated.
Running a hand through his dark, silver-flecked hair, Kes tore his eyes from Nila’s to look directly into mine. “You only have to come to me if you ever feel overwhelmed.”
That lowlife bastard.
My hands balled in my lap. “Enough.”
Kes reclined in his chair, dropping his forearm—the one tattooed with a bird of prey—beneath the table.
Nila jumped a mile.
He’d touched her! That goddamn arsehole touched what was mine.
The instant Nila jolted, Kes pulled away, a smug smile on his lips. “Sorry.”
“Don’t touch me,” Nila hissed.
Something warm sprang from nowhere in my chest. Warm? How was that possible when my heart was full of snow?
My lips twitched, smugness of my own unable to be hidden. Nila might be intrigued or even drawn to Kes, but it was my cock that’d been in her mouth, my tongue that’d been in that pretty cunt of hers.
Kestrel’s suave smile dropped. He always did think too highly of himself. Just because the club whores preferred him, it didn’t mean he was better than the rest of us. He was my favourite person; however, I would not tolerate him poaching my prey.
Kes hung his head, turning on the charm and magic puppy-dog eyes that twisted the knickers off many women. “I only meant to offer comfort. I’m sorry if I offended you.”
Nila crossed her arms, breathing shallowly. Before she could respond, a Diamond brother muttered from across the table, “Yes, I’m sorry if we offended you the other day.”
Nila’s head shot up.
Daniel thumped him in the arm. “What the fuck, man?”
Stupid Daniel.
He didn’t understand how unravelling a person’s psyche went. First came cruelty—a stripping of every high and mighty concept that they were untouchable. Then came tenderness—an acknowledgement of going too far and promises of safety.
This was the second stage.
I’d seen it happen with Nila’s mother. I’d witnessed the bewitchment as she fell under my father’s spell.
That’s going to happen to Nila.
My heart froze at the thought of her looking at me the way her mother looked at my father. Not with fear or panic or loathing but with trust and happiness and…affection.
“Excuse me?” she whispered, almost mute with shock.
The brother who’d spoken, an older man with a goatee, smiled gently. “You have to understand, it was our way of welcoming you into our midst. You do not need to be afraid of us.”
She squared her shoulders. “I’m not afraid.”
I swallowed hard as a foreign emotion crawled into my chest. Goddammit. Jealousy. Again. I was fucking jealous of the men around this table. I wanted to rip their heads off for tasting what was mine.
Don’t go there, Jet.
My father was right to give her to the brotherhood the moment she arrived. If he demanded I strip and deliver her for a round of service again, I would draw a sword from the armoury on the walls and strike him down.
I would never be able to stand behind his chair now. Even though only a few days had passed, so much had happened. Nila had evolved into someone who drove me past rationality and straight into the chaos she wielded so well.
While Nila had been licked and tasted, I’d fought an unwinnable battle of possession. I’d said the words—I went along with the act of sharing her—but that was fucking bullshit now…
Now, I would never be able to share.
Never.
She was mine.
Not my brothers’, not my father’s, and definitely not the conclave of bikers, who by rights were my minions.
Mine.
Another brother broke through my tormenting thoughts, saying to Nila, “It was a special circumstance to welcome you into our family. We were all honoured to have you become a part of us.”
Nila’s face twisted in disgust. “A part of you?”
I jumped in before anyone else could. Ingrates. There was a way of delivering this so it made sense, not repulsed. “We all tasted you. We all licked a part of you and absorbed your sweat, your tears, your fears. No other initiation could’ve broken the barriers between newcomers and old-timers better than stripping you bare.”
Nila’s mouth fell onto the table. The same table I’d spread her over and driven my tongue deep inside.
Fuck, shouldn’t have thought about that.
My cock went from soft to hard in an instant. I shifted in my chair as memories of her blowing me in the forest came thick and fast. I’d come thick and fast. All down that beautiful throat.
I felt Cut watching me, the intensity of his gaze searing into my skin.
“What did you just say?” Nila whispered, her features strained.
Cut sat taller in his chair at the head of the table, steepling his hands in front of him. “Jethro’s right, Nila.”
Nila.
I hated that everyone called her Nila. They had no right to her first name. If and when anyone addressed her by it, it should be me.
Why don’t you then? She wants you to. She asked strongly enough in the woods.
I didn’t have an answer to that. And I didn’t have the guts to search for one.
Nila shook her head, looking at my father. “Is this another one of your mind games?”
Cut smiled reservedly. “No games. I told you, you’re a part of this family now. You’ll be treated kindly and respectfully. You will come to care for us, just like you care for your own flesh and blood.”