Page 111 of They Break Beauty

“How many were there?” I asked him.

“Ten.” He glared at Lev. “She was there too lending a helping hand?”

“She had nothing to do with it.”

“Your connections in town then? Sammy’s guys?” Mason asked.

Well, more like demanded. It sounded like he was looking for a target for his wrath.

I saw it registering with Lev too, who told him clearly, “It was just me.”

“How the shit?” I exclaimed. “Ten? That’s—”

“You’ve been training over the last year you were gone.”

“Come on now, Mason, you know damn well how good I was before I even left.”

“No, this is more than that. To take on ten—most of them big fucking guys too—alone like this, it’s another level entirely.” Realization combined with condemnation flamed in Mason’s eyes. “So much for that supposed internship, huh?”

Lev didn’t give anything up, responding, “I’m a spectacular multitasker.”

Mason shook his head at him, then turned away, pacing the room with hard, angry steps. “Did you even think before you went on a rampage tonight? The cleanup it’s gonna take to handle what you did… losing that many Hex members… fuck, Levi!”

“I thought about it in great detail.”

Mason scoffed. “Bull. You reacted out of rage, and this was a kneejerk reaction, plain and simple.”

“Nah,” Lev said, coming a little closer, but stopping a few feet out from Mason when I flashed my eyes at him as a reminder to keep distance. “I thought about how debilitating it would be to your current operations against your mark. I thought about how it would fuck up your soldiers’ faith in you and undermine your rule. I thought about how it would be a shitshow when it got back to Chase’s father, in particular, given who he is. I thought about how he would likely hit back by going to Peter Hall and the glorious ways that would come back on you, especially how it would put you on a leash so you’re forced to back off.”

A dangerous growl rumbled from Mason.

“I warned you!” Levi yelled, undeterred. “I told you not to come after her! You don’t fuck with my woman! Do you fucking hear me? If you don’t back off right fucking now, what I did tonight will look like child’s play. End it, Mason, lift the mark.”

“Your woman? All this, going against our brotherhood, for her?”

“It’s you who’s gone against the brotherhood and completely lost sight of it. Your obsession with controlling every little thing has brought us here. You hurt me, you hurt Colt. And the crazy part is you can’t even recognize that you’ve become what you’re so afraid of—I’m the voice of reason in this.”

Mason started.

Shaking his head and blinking as though that would will away the harsh reality Lev had just laid out, he turned to me. “He’s wrong, yes?”

I sighed and shoved my hand through my mohawk. “No. He’s not, brother. He’s right on the money.”

Mason took a moment, looking between us. “All right, I may have gone harder than needed because of my worry about you being back here, Levi, and needing to reel you in again. And, yeah, the power reviving Hex made me feel after so long without it played a part too. But it doesn’t take away from the fact that the girl is still dangerous.”

“How’s that?” Lev asked, and I saw his eye twitch. Oh shit, what was going on?

“She’s the daughter of a motorcycle club president. The club princess of a one-percenter club. Steel Dawn MC.”

“She’s what?” I exclaimed. “Wow, I didn’t get that vibe at all. I mean, yeah, she has an edge and a toughness about her, but still.”

“She was,” Lev corrected. “The club is long gone now, disbanded years ago.”

“A club that was rumored to have done business with Knightsridge Engineering.”

“That’s how I know her.”

Mason frowned. “Why didn’t you just tell me that?”

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