“You fucking listening to me?” Rav’s growl has my head snapping towards him.

“Yeah.”

I’m not. I have no fucking idea what he just said.

“You want to get distracted by pussy, that’s your call,” Rav says, “but if that starts affecting club shit, I’m—”

“It’s not,” I cut him off before he can deliver whatever threat he’s about to. “I’m fucking focused. Always have been. Nothing changes that.”

The fact he thinks I’m not pisses me off. Yes, Lucy is a distraction, but my head is in the game. I will never let my club down. Now that I’ve claimed her, I need her to fit in. I need to take the heat off her and not give my brothers more bullets to use against her.

He peers at me for a second, as if trying to pull the lie from my head then scowls. “Do you think you’ll need more than Levi with you on this run?”

It’s a simple drop off to our Birmingham chapter. Friendlies. I could do it alone, but Rav always has us travel in pairs in case someone decides to take a shot at us. It’s happened before. It’s how our Edinburgh chapter Road Captain lost his life. He was alone on a run and some fucker from a rival gang took his damned head nearly clean off with a shotgun when he was stopped at a service station.

Since then, all chapters agreed runs have to be done in groups of at least two. Rav would prefer three or four, but given how hot things are here right now, we can’t risk losing that many brothers.

If Lucy’s attackers turn up, we need to be prepared and ready to fight. We also have Blackwood’s goons out there for fuck knows what reason.

Even the idea of leaving for this run has my stomach churning. I don’t want to go. I don’t want to leave Lucy, but the club needs me to do this.

Rav’s phone rings and I play with the pint glass in front of me while I wait for him to answer it.

“What?” he barks down the line. He listens for a moment, then his eyes find mine and I see the fire blazing in his gaze. “I’m on my way.”

He hangs up and pushes up from the stool.

“What’s going on?” I demand, standing with him. Tension radiates from every line of his body and it puts me on edge instantly.

“Trouble at the gate.”

He moves to the doors of the common room and I follow on his heels, wondering what kind of trouble, all kinds of scenarios running through my head.

Rav’s already moving and I follow him, ready to protect him with my life if necessary.

As soon as we’re in the corridor, I pull my gun from the holster under my arm and move behind Rav. He doesn’t look back, trusting me to follow, trusting me to have his back, which I’ll always do—to my last breath, and not just because he’s my friend, but because I’m loyal.

When we get outside, I see Kyle at the gate, his gun raised at two men standing on the other side. They don’t seem fucking fazed about having a gun in their face and as soon as Rav and I approach, they’re looking down the barrel of another—mine. The mid-afternoon sunshine glints off the metal, creating a kaleidoscope of colours. I keep my gaze split between him and the man I’m aimed at.

Rav doesn’t pull his weapon out, just moves to the chain link fence, his arms folding over his broad chest as he stares down this new enemy.

I recognise one of the men instantly by the scar on his face—it’s fucking Leon Gregory, Isaac Blackwood’s lackey that I’ve been chasing all over fucking town for the past few days. I guess we should have thought these fuckers would eventually come to us, declare their intentions and tell us why they’re breaking years of peace, but I didn’t expect it.

The other man with him must be Elijah Elliot. He’s shorter than Leon, his face unmarred. Both men are shaved clean, their heads too and are wearing suits beneath heavy wool coats that reach mid-thigh. They look bored as we approach, which I know will piss Rav off.

“You come to my territory without an invitation?” Rav growls. “You got a death wish?”

Leon raises heavy eyes to him. His greying eyebrows need a fucking trim. “You have something of Isaac Blackwood’s. He wants it back.”

My temper frays at his words.

“The fuck?” I snap. “We ain’t got shit that belongs to Blackwood, so get the fuck out of our town or you’ll be leaving it in a body bag.”

It’s a good thing the fence separates us, because I want to gut both men for this blatant show of disrespect. Rav’s right. You don’t come into our house without an invitation.

I keep my gun levelled at Leon while Kyle keeps his trained on Elijah.

“Natasha. You have her. Give her to us and we’ll leave. Refuse, and we’ll bring down hell on your little leather wearing dominatrix club.”

The disrespect has my mouth pulling into a snarl even as my mind tries to work out what the fuck he is talking about. Who the fuck is Natasha?

Rav growls under his breath and slams a fist against the fence. It rattles, the metal vibrating angrily as it does. “You come here and fucking threaten me? You looking to die? Don’t know no fucking Natasha and if you don’t get off my property, you’re going to be eating lead.”

Leon doesn’t back down. Clearly, he’s a fucking lunatic. A threat like that from Rav would usually be enough to send someone running.

“We know she’s here, that she’s seeking sanctuary with you. I have to tell you, Mr Blackwood isn’t going to look on this interference favourably,” Elijah says. His voice is like gravel. He’s a man who clearly has smoked too much over the years.

“Don’t know no Natasha,” Rav repeats.

The only person we have in the clubhouse is Lucy and she has fuck all to do with Isaac Blackwood… right? Titch’s words dance across my mind and I ruthlessly push them down. This isn’t the time for doubts.

“Who is Natasha?” I demand.

Leon’s eyes come to mine and that creepy fucker smiles, his scar making him look macabre.

“Someone important to Mr Blackwood.”

“Important how?” I press, needing more information. An uneasy feeling is starting to swirl in my gut.

Leon doesn’t answer my question, so I add, “Why do you think we have her?”

“She was seen coming here.”

Suspicion crawls through my mind, and I don’t like that it’s there. The only person who has come here in the past few days is Lucy.

Is Lucy who they saw?

Why would they think she’s this woman?

She isn’t Natasha.

She can’t be.

Right?

Something starts to leak into my veins, spreading through me like wildfire.

Sasha would know. After years of living with her, she’d know if Lucy was a fraud. My gun shakes a little as my hands tremble and I have to lock my arms to stay steady.

“Seen by who?” Rav snarls out, clenching his fists at his side.

“That’s not important,” Leon says calmly. “Are you bringing her out or not?”

“Since we don’t have any bitches here called Natasha, not.”

Leon glances at Elijah and something unspoken passes between them. “You leave us no choice. We’ll be back with more men.”

“You come back here, I’ll put a bullet in your head myself.” I can see Rav is barely holding onto his temper, ready to go nuclear.