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Not for her but for the vision that had seated itself so deep in my mind that it could never be erased.

The memory of Elena’s fingers as she’d gripped me this morning. The little mewls coming from her mouth.

Fuck me. I didn’t know how much I could take before I snapped.

“I’m busy,” I growled as I kept following the pack ahead of me, and Fuse laughed as he shouted at my back, “Missing out, brother. Though you always do, don’t you.”

Silas tossed me a glance from over his shoulder like he agreed with the asshole, and I returned one that warned him not to push it.

Knowing what he thought.

That it was Felicity who was holding me back.

Silas shoved out through the swinging door at the end of the hall and into the strobing lights of the bar.

It was packed. A sea of leather cuts and a current of women dancing in the middle of the floor.

To the right was a long L-shaped bar.

A bunch of stools sat around it.

Lulu, the widow of Sonny, an old guy who’d died running a mission three years ago, was slinging drinks behind it.

This was her home, too. Her family. Her room was upstairs, elevated above the mayhem that possessed this area, but she chose to forever be a part of it, anyway.

Worn couches were tucked along the walls, concealed in the shadows and gloom. Up front were your typical round, high-top tables. Some had men gathered at them, sipping from their whiskies, a few others with women propped on top.

Brody jumped right into the melee, ditching us for the disorder the way he always did.

We weaved all the way through the bar before Silas pushed out through the double swinging doors, and I followed him and Phoenix out into the sagging, dense night.

A huge bonfire fought against it. Flames licking up to cut into the darkness.

A bunch of Crows and bunnies were out there, too. Shouts and bottles lifted in the air. Mood easy. One of revelry and celebration.

But I felt none of that when the energy shifted from my left. A seeping of warmth and a smack of intensity.

My head swiveled that way to find Brinley and Elena appear at the brink of the woods.

Hands swinging between them.

Laughter in their eyes and eager smiles on their faces.

I wasn’t surprised.

Wherever Silas was, Brinley wasn’t far.

Besides, Elena had all but claimed she’d show up at the clubhouse when she said she planned on having a couple of beers tonight. Knowing it didn’t mean I was prepared for the impact.

The knockout standing on the periphery of the fire. Still wearing the dress that had nearly done me in earlier. Black with those little red apples littered all over the fabric.

Docs on her feet.

Legs bare and little bits of hair that had gotten loose of her braid wisping around her face.

A dangling of forbidden fruit.

Silas had a full-body reaction to Brinley.