Page 29 of Tater
She was twenty. Too proud, too angry, too lost to care about the difference between loyalty and chains.
Shadow found her in a backroom fight pit outside Garden City. She’d already broken a man’s jaw and torn through two more before he stepped in. Didn’t flinch when the dragon burned behind her eyes. He didn’t run when her skin split gold at the edges.
He just smiled.
“You hit like you’ve got something to prove,” he said. “Lucky for you, I like broken things that bite back.”
Ren should’ve killed him right there.
But she didn’t.
He gave her a place—called it family, even when it felt like a cage. He bought her leathers, taught her how to ride, how to fight smarter, how to keep her fire hidden until it mattered. Said the world wasn’t made for people like them, so they’d carve their own.
And gods, she believed him.
They ran jobs, torched safe houses, played war with anyone who dared wear a rival patch. He called it freedom. Ren called it living.
Until the night she saw what freedom looked like through his eyes.
A barn outside Kuna. Four men tied to chairs. One of them begging, one already gone, two bleeding out slowly. Shadow lit a match and smiled at her over the flame.
“Lesson time, sweetheart. Loyalty’s only real when it costs something.”
He wanted her to prove herself.
So, she did.
The dragon screamed inside her when she swung the blade. The sound still lives in her skull, stitched between the silence of dreams.
When it was done, he kissed her hand like she’d made him proud.
That was the moment she realized—he didn’t make monsters. He collected them.
The rain turned colder, dragging her back to the present. Her pulse matched the thunder rolling over the ridge.
Shadow’s alive.
And maybe that’s justice.
Because so is she.
CHAPTER 13
The Night I Ran
It was supposed to be a deal run.
Quick pickup, in and out, no witnesses.
Shadow sent her with two of their men—Rhino and Lace. Both were mean as rust and twice as dull. She knew something was wrong when Shadow didn’t look at her as they rolled out. He always looked. He liked to see his leash still fit.
Halfway down the state line road, Lace started asking questions that didn’t sound like questions.
“Shadow says you been keeping secrets.”
“Shadow says he saw fire in your eyes again.”
“Shadow says he ain’t sure you’re his anymore.”
