Page 95 of Savage Heart

By the time she’d had her sixth orgasm, she was so boneless, she couldn’t even lift her arm to touch it when Trouble had presented her with her property kutte. She knew from the other ol’ ladies the meaning and importance of the property kutte, but it took on even greater meaning when Trouble had told her when he’d gotten it.

He’d held onto that kutte for ten years. He’d held on tothemfor ten years.

She’d cried her eyes out, and when she could finally see clearly again, she’d gasped then grumbled at the name on the front.

Skizzy.

Today, though, she loved it. Loved the kutte. Loved the man who’d given it to her.

Skathi, nursing a ravenous baby Nielsen, grinned at Liz, her smile lighting up her striking golden eyes. “Congratulations, my friend. I’m glad to see that you kicked Trouble into shape.” They laughed, but Skathi quickly sobered. “I mean it…I’ve known him not a long time, but what I know of him…he was a broken man, a man who hid behind club duty, women, and false bravado, but you brought him out of that, made him stronger, made him take responsibility for his own mistakes.”

“Damn right,” Tessa cracked, slapping the table. “I’ve never seen him so…I dunno…untroubled. Before, there always seemed to be a cloud hanging over his head. Yeah, there was Amelia and the parties and shit, but it didn’t matter what he was doing, it never reached his eyes, ya know?”

Sucking her lips, Liz nodded. “Guilt eats at you, and you don’t even know it.”

“It ate at Hawk…about him abandoning his family,” Fae supplied.

“And Fang about hisHive,” Tessa sneered, rolling her eyes. “And about not fighting harder to get his mother out of prostitution.”

Skathi hummed, pressed a kiss to Nielsen’s downy head, and admitted, “And Odin…he felt guilt for not meeting his father’s expectations, for not protecting Tessa and me from Madrigal, or Fae from Brian Tyler—FBI nutcase, or Tessa from her pedophile stepfather—he carries the guilt, all the weight he places on his own shoulders as the club president.”

“But that’s not on him, not really,” Liz remarked, understanding what Skathi was saying. “Our men carry their guilt like dark cloaks, and it’s up to us to help them lift it off their shoulders and burn it.”

“Damn straight; Savage Raiders and their savage women,” Tessa said, and Fae giggled.

“So,” Fae grinned wickedly, mischief twinkling in her eyes. “When’re we gonna get another Savage baby in this place?”

Liz gasped. “Oh no, oh hell no. We just got back together—there is no way he’s getting me pregnant, at least not for another few years.” Suddenly, Liz’s grin grew impish. “What about you, Tessa? Got any little wolf pups in there?”

Tessa’s face flushed so quickly, Liz couldn’t believe her eyes.

“Oh my God!” Liz squealed, her mouth dropping open.

Tucking her chin into her chest, Tessa looked up from beneath her lashes and muttered, “I’m in so much trouble….”

Laughter bubbled up from her soul as Liz exclaimed, “I love trouble!”

Jaxon “Grimm” Mason, leaned back in his creaky, worn-out leather chair and watched.

That’s what he did, he watched. He observed. As the Enforcer for the Savage Raiders MC, being alert, aware, perceptive, and suspicious were all a part of the job description. As the man in charge of club security, it was on him to make sure no one snuck in, nothing snuck through, and they were always prepared—no matter what their enemies threw at them.

And, fuck…the club was gaining too many enemies lately.

The Colombians, the Italians, and the goddamn Russians, not to mention the street rat Mexicans that were trying to move in and make a name for themselves with cheap ass street drugs on corners owned and controlled by the Savage Raiders. They were ballsy little shits, but they were nothing compared to the shit being stirred up between the Italians and Mendozas—and the Raiders could get mixed up in all that shit.

“Alright, motherfuckers,” Odin bellowed, “let’s get this shit started so I can get home to my woman and boy.” There was a chorus of chuckles, groans, and crude gestures. Brotherscongratulating or mourning for another brother, because some were happy for the bastard and some—like Grimm—feared the man had lost his balls to the badass Valkyrie.

Grimm smirked at the man, his prez, a goddamn warrior, a ruthless bastard…brought low by pussy. Domesticated. Wifed up. Fathered a little boy who looked so much like him, Grimm could swear Skathi manufactured a tiny twin in her belly.

Odin leaned back in his chair and cast his gaze to Fang, who was sitting on his left. Fang, the Road Captain and newly minted old man to the badass Tessa, was the half-brother to one of the club’s loosest allies, Jorge Calderone, the Jefe of the Calderone Cartel.

“Fang, brother, let’s do this,” Odin commanded. Fang sat forward and punched eleven numbers into the conference phone in the middle of the table. It wasn’t unusual to see that set-up, they used it often for conference calls with clients of Savage Protection & Investigations, of which Grimm was the managing director—as his civilian job, but it usually didn’t make an appearance during Church.

Something was up.

Suddenly, there was the buzzing of a ringing phone in the room, and then the click of someone answering.

“Javier,hermano, so glad you hear from you. How’s themuy linda fuega?”

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