Page 106 of Blood of Vengeance

And in that moment, I knew for a fact that I could actually trust my shifter. My fated mate.

Epilogue

Flinch

Life with my mate in Detroit didn’t last long. Not because I’d fucked up again—that wouldn’t be happening—but because a few weeks in, Locklyn and Zella both started talking about missing the desert. I had those two packed up and on a plane in under a week. Both of them. Moved them immediately in to my little house.

Of course, that hadn’t lasted long, either.

“Are we taking Zella to the clubhouse tonight?” My beautiful mate smiled over her shoulder at me, lipstick in her hand. She had been getting ready for us to go out, though why, I had no idea. Don’t get me wrong—that smoky eye makeup and shiny lip stuff looked fucking amazing on her. But she also looked fucking amazing with nothing on her skin at all except some sweet-smelling sunscreen she claimed she had to have. I preferred her bare and in my bed, but I loved her in whatever made her comfortable. Tonight, that meant lots of eye makeup.

“Nah. Cutter’s picking her up. I offered, but it’s his birthday party, and he wanted to walk in with her on his arm.” Which shouldn’t have been a surprise. No announcement had been made yet, but my new prez was certainly happy to have Miss Zella back in the desert. His bike always tended to end up in my driveway on the nights when Zella stayed home. In her home, because mine had gotten too small, too fast. And by home, I meant the tiny house I had set up in my backyard. I’d even added a composting toilet so the girl could be fully independent, though she spent most of her time with Locklyn. Her daytimes, at least. Locklyn’s nights were mine, and Zella’s certainly seemed to belong to Cutter.

I sat down to wait for Locklyn to finish getting ready, loving the sound of her singing along to the music coming from her phone. Enjoying the soft buzz of happiness tingling along our connection. Growing hard as I watched those hips sway. Goddamn, the girl was amazing and perfect. She could have asked me for the moon, and I would have figured out a way to snag it for her. Hell, she had asked me to put a heater in my pool—in the desert, where pool coolers were a thing—so Zella could do hot water therapy, and I’d complied. Never seen a pool guy so confused in my life, but we’d made it happen. My girl would have anything she wanted. Thankfully, she mostly just wanted me and Zella. I could handle that.

“I’m ready.” Locklyn came out of the bathroom looking like sin. Dark blue jeans, torn-up black top that wrapped around her neck and showed off her shoulders, and that fucking makeup drawing attention to those green eyes I couldn’t get enough of. She was ready to go, and I was ready to tear every stitch from her body and make her scream.

“You sure you want to leave?” I tugged her closer by her belt loop, biting into my bottom lip as she smiled down at me. “We could have a lot of fun right here, you know.”

She leaned over and dropped a soft kiss on my lips, leaving behind the taste of fruity sweetness. She also ran her thumb over my lips, likely wiping away whatever shininess had been left behind. I didn’t much care—that sticky stuff just proved she was mine and I was hers. A man should be so lucky as to be covered in such a woman’s lip gloss.

“We can have fun here later,” she said, her eyes sparking with promise. “Let’s go be social first.”

I sighed but rose to my feet, pulling her into my arms for a second. Getting two good handfuls of that ass before smacking it. “All right, then. Load up. We’re taking the truck.”

The drive to the clubhouse was as uneventful as always, though I kept looking side to side occasionally. We may have taken out the vamp who had led the attack on our club, but that didn’t mean they were all gone. The threat was still out there, the vamps who had joined up with Chiggy’s murderer still hanging around. For the moment. Because we were making plans to eradicate those motherfuckers, and we would. No doubt about it.

The clubhouse was packed with people and too loud to even think by the time we arrived, all the brothers feeling boisterous about Cutter’s birthday, it seemed. I headed to the bar, knowing Locklyn would eventually slip behind it to help serve drinks, wanting to keep my eye on her as she did. The woman liked to be helpful and we certainly appreciated it, but my brothers could be assholes. I made sure none of them decided to turn that part of their personality on my mate.

“You two finally made it,” Tex said, giving me a pat on the back with his remaining arm. “I was wondering when you and Cutter would get here.”

“He’s not here yet?”

Tex shook his head. “Haven’t seen him or his girl.”

That surprised me. I had expected them to have left before us. I would have asked Lock if she’d spoken to Zella, but, as expected, she had jumped behind the bar and was in full bartender mode. I’d have to wait. Zella tended to break plans if she was feeling under the weather, which happened a lot. Maybe they had decided to hole up at home for the night.

“How’s the pool?” Tex asked, as he always seemed to do. Losing his arm and about a quarter of his blood supply in my pool tended to come up in conversation, what with him still being armless. The fucker wouldn’t grow back, but he had adjusted well enough to the loss. Tex still rode with us on every trip, and we all knew driving a big bike one-handed was a bitch and really worked a man’s shoulder. Even his wolf had figured out how to tripod it across the desert at top speed. I had to admit, the man impressed me.

“Clean as a whistle. How’s the not-arm?”

“Still not there but not slowing me down.” He nodded over my shoulder. “Looks like someone wants to talk to you.”

I turned to find Rush sauntering my way, a big smile on his face. “What did you do?”

“Nothing,” he said, putting his hands up and grinning even wider. “Though I think Mule might be trying to steal your girl.”

I spun around to find that old coot leaning across the bar, talking to Locklyn. He looked animated and intense, while she had a small smile on her face and seemed almost distracted. I growled low, bringing my fingers to the bite mark on my neck that she’d left me. Her eyes met mine almost instantly, our connection strong. She gave me a cheeky grin then refocused on Mule, nodding to something he was saying.

“Never gonna happen,” I said, giving Rush a fist bump. “Old man ain’t got nothing on me.”

Rush hung around for a bit, busting my balls endlessly. Not that I minded. The boys could think I was whipped all they wanted—I was. I had been blessed with a mate who loved me good and strong. Fuck yeah, I was whipped. She treated me like a king and looked like a fucking goddess. Any asshole in the room would have gotten down on their knees and begged for such a woman in their life. And deep down, they all knew it.

Needing to touch Locklyn, wanting so badly to feel her against me again, I slipped in behind the bar. She turned my way and smiled, the look in her eyes a curious one.

“Hey,” she said, tossing her towel on the rail and stepping closer. “What’s up?”

“Nothing. Just missed you.” I wrapped her in my arms, holding her tight against me. Curling my body over hers so I could rest my cheek on her head. She chuckled softly before running her hands down my back to slip them into the pockets of my jeans.

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