Page 4 of Shadow's Edge

And I had expected someone… bigger. Some bruiser built like a tank, the kind of sniper you imagined being able to endure days in position, body hardened for the brutal patience required of the job. But from where I was sitting, the only extra weight she carried was in her chest?—

Jesus, focus!

Across the table, Preacher dropped heavily into his seat, the look on his face telling me he hadn’t known either. This was going to be interesting.

“You never told me,” He croaked at Duke.

Preacher kept me in the loop about everything—club business, rival movements, and, most importantly, his daughter, Kyle. Every week, he reached out to Duke for updates on her, piecing together fragments of her life from afar. But somehow, this particular detail had slipped through the cracks of their conversations.

Duke shot Kyle a glance, his expression unreadable, but she was the one who answered.

“I told him not to.”

“Why?”

“Because it was none of your fucking business.”

Her voice was calm, steady, but her eyes turned cold, like a steel gate slamming shut. There was no emotion on her face, just that impenetrable wall she’d built around herself.

We all knew the history between Kyle and Preacher, or at least, we knew the version she believed. What she didn’t know, what Preacher had failed to tell her, was the truth. And judging by the way she reacted to seeing him, first outside and now again in this room, it was clear she hadn’t forgiven him. In fact, it was clear she wouldn’t forgive him, not unless he finally stepped up and addressed the past.

I couldn’t look away from her as Preacher pushed himself to his feet. He and Duke launched into the details of the traffickers, laying out everything we had on them. I already knew the intel inside and out, so I focused on the Ghosts instead, watching their reactions. None of them looked surprised. If anything, their occasional side glances when certain names were mentioned told me they’d dealt with these bastards before. But through it all, Kyle sat there, unmoving, absorbing every word with a quiet intensity.

She wasn’t like the MC Princesses I’d met over the years. I’d transferred here from my old man’s chapter, and I’d seen my fair share of entitled, spoiled daughters who thought their last name made them royalty. Kyle wasn’t one of them. She wasn’t loud or demanding, didn’t expect special treatment. Hell, she carried herself like she didn’t give a damn about the Club at all. And maybe she didn’t.

She also wasn’t the type of woman I usually went for. I’d always had a preference, and Kyle didn’t fit it, but I’d be damned if I could look away from her.

And the more I watched, the more I started to think that the tough, detached exterior was exactly that—a front. A shield. I wasn’t a shrink, but I’d seen enough in this life to know you don’t go through what she did as a kid and come out of it unscathed, you just learned to hide the cracks.

For me, women had always been temporary. Distractions at best. Being part of an MC meant relationships were nearly impossible, and I’d never met a woman who made me think twice about that. It had been a long time since I’d focused on anything outside of the war we were waging against the traffickers.

Kyle, though? She was different. I didn’t know how, but I was damn sure going to find out.

Chapter 2

Kyle

Once the briefing wrapped up and we had a solid understanding of what we were up against, the weight of the last few weeks finally hit me like a freight train. My body ached, my mind felt drained, and I wanted nothing more than to crash somewhere far away from the chaos.

“Let’s get you to your room,” Preacher suggested, already holding the door to Church open.

I hesitated for half a second before following him out. As we climbed the stairs, an uneasy feeling began to creep up my spine. It wasn’t exhaustion, it was something deeper, something I didn’t want to acknowledge. By the time we reached the door to my old room, the feeling had solidified into full-blown dread.

“No fucking way!” I stopped dead in my tracks, pointing at the door like it had personally offended me. “Fuck knows who’s done what in there, so, no.”

I wasn’t naive. I knew exactly what kind of shit went down in MC clubhouses. What people did behind closed doors wasn’t my problem, but this room? This room had been mine since Iwas born. Every night I’d spent at the compound, I had slept inthatbed,inthatspace. And now? Now, I had to assume it had been turned into a goddamn porn palace, and the thought of stepping into whatever had gone down there made me want to gag.

Preacher just smirked and, with unnecessary theatrics, pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked the door. “Relax,” he ordered as he pushed it open.

I felt Duke and a few of the other guys watching from behind me. Sighing, I forced myself to move forward, stepping into the room with cautious suspicion.

“No one’s been in here unless it’s been to clean it since the day you left, Kyle.”

I took a slow turn, eyes scanning every inch of the space. Everything was exactly where I had left it. The bed, the furniture, the pictures on the walls, it was like walking into a frozen moment from my past. Even the old sketch of my dream bike was still taped up, its edges curling slightly with age.

The tension in my shoulders loosened just a fraction. I nodded and dropped my bag beside the bed before sitting down heavily, absorbing the familiarity of it all.

“I’m glad to have you back,” Preacher muttered. I glanced up to see him rubbing the back of his neck, the awkwardness clear in his stance.

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