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My chest is heaving now, my eyes sting from the sweat and my hands are covered in blood…not mine. “I don’t think anyone in here is stupid, alright. That was my sergeant trying to test me. In fact, I admire every single one of you, takes a lot to ride one of those out there!” I point towards the front of the bar.

“You ride?” This must be the owner of the bar. He’s older, maybe early sixties, with a handlebar moustache and hands the size of shovels.

“I do… haven’t been able to acquire a Harley though… not yet at least.” I smile. He doesn’t move, he stands there assessing me, casually looking me up and down. If he’s looking for any sign of injury, he won’t find any, I’m not injured…he needs better guards.

He starts laughing hysterically and everyone seems to join in. My gaze darts from right to left, carefully assessing for further threats.

“Any woman who can take down eight of my guys, is welcome in my bar anytime.” He approaches me slowly, calculating and assessing. “Name’s Jared,” he says. He pats the crest on his biker jacket and holds out his shovel like hand.

I take his hand in a firm grip and shake it. “Emilia, nice to meet you… I am sorry for the…” I point at the guys on the floor nursing their wounds.

He chuckles. “You’ve just shown me they need more practice. You’ve done me a favour. Do you need a ride back to the station? I’d be more than happy to see the smirk disappear from that asshole who came in with you.”

“You’re not the only one… I’d really appreciate that, thank you.” I nod in thanks. Kade honestly thought this would break me? He has no idea what I’m capable of. I’m not ready to show him yet, but if he continues to be a gigantic prick I might just show him.

KADE

“You did what?” Cyrus demands. He stands in front of my desk with his arms crossed.

“Oh, unclench. She’ll be fine. I just need to know what she’s capable of.”

“Kade, she could get seriously hurt, you know exactly who runs that bar!” Cyrus bellows.

“Exactly, who gives a shit if she does get hurt, it’ll get her out of here that much quicker.” I shrug. She doesn’t belong here. I don’t want her here. She could be feeding everything back to her father or Tom for that matter. I don’t need them involving themselves in my business or my unit.

I hear a loud bike engine coming from the front of the station. Cyrus looks out of my office window and starts laughing.

“You’re not going to believe this…” He chuckles. I move beside him and catch what he’s looking at. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.

I stomp my way to the entrance of the station, Cyrus in tow to be greeted by Emilia on the back of a Harley, in accompany with a convoy of at least thirty bikers. The sounds of the bike engines echoing off every building in sight.

“Thanks Jared.” She nods at the guy and gets off the bike so casually. Another biker gets off his Harley and hands her something. Is that a rose? She takes it all too willingly and brings it to her nose with a seductive smile. I can’t get enough air in through my nose, the anger is too much.

Jared and the convoy make a swift exit. I’m sure he doesn’t want to be seen outside HQ. Emilia walks towards me and Cyrus. There’s not a scratch on her. Small bits of blood on her knuckles, but that’s it. Not a single injury. She closes the distance between us and presses her finger into my chest.

“The next time you want to get rid of me, Sergeant… you’d better kill me.” She winks at me and walks into the building towards the changing rooms. Clearly a bar brawl wasn’t enough for her. I need to reassess. I will break her.

“Fucking hell… she is something else,” Cyrus murmurs under his breath.

“Make sure she’s in the sparring ring tomorrow,” I order.

“What are you going to do?” He sighs. Clearly having had enough of my antics for one night.

“I’m going to test her myself,” I announce. She’s built different. I don’t know where she was trained or by whom. I intend to find out.

* * *

The gym already smells of sweat and we’ve only been in here an hour. I have high expectations for all of my officers. They need to be able to deal with anything that gets thrown at them. They need to be fit, fast and strong.

I’m already standing in the centre of the ring, knowing full well what I plan on doing.

“Alright, last up, Hale… in the ring,” I order. She’s wearing black cargo trousers and a black vest showcasing toned arms. She must do some form of weight training. She bends down and slips between the ropes all whilst keeping eye contact with me. Good, should never take your eyes off an opponent.

Cyrus stands at the edge of the ring with his arms behind his back. He’s clearly on edge. I’m not sure why. I’m not going to hurt her…much.

“Alright, let’s see those skills, shall we?” I tease. She scoffs and moves her hair from one side to the other. She plants both of her feet shoulder-width apart and starts to circle me.

I can see the predator in her. Slowly calculating my every move. She rolls to try and get behind me but I’m too fast, I strike out and she stumbles back.