Couldn’t argue with that. I made more coffee. Brewed a pot of lady grey and sliced some lemons. I’d never pegged myself as omnisissy—whatever that fucking word was, but I swear to the Almighty that Alexei’s voice cut through the chatter the second I set down the knife.
“They are here.”
I took a slow breath, closing my eyes as the sound of their bikes rumbled home. A Dyna, a Softail, and the blood-red Sportster I’d spent six months rebuilding. The engine was sweet as sin. A fucking lullaby. I missed it when it cut off, and I opened my eyes again.
From the kitchen window, I watched the O’Brian siblings dismount and cross the yard, Orla leading her brothers like the goddamn queen she was.
Regal.
Strong.
So devastatingly beautiful it hurt to look at her, and the pain was almost enough to distract me from the fact that her leather jeans were splattered with a biblical amount of mud.It’s frosty as fuck out there.The ground frozen solid. If there’d ever been any doubt in my mind that these three had been up to no good, it evaporated the moment they strode into the chapel.
I emerged from the kitchen. Orla’s boots were loud on the wood floor. She approached the table with a steely expression and took Cam’s position at the head of it. “Take your seats.”
The kids were already gone, to the residence, I presumed, with Juana. I claimed the VP chair for convenience, leaving the chairs by the windows for the dads.
River didn’t sit. Neither did Cam.
He always sits. But with Orla claiming his place, no one seemed to notice.
Istopped noticing as my world narrowed to the woman at the head of the table and the man who just happened to be sitting directly opposite her. With Willow gone, she had Locke’s undivided attention, and the way he stared at her made my jeans feel tight. Goddamn.Do not pop wood. Not with Rubi sitting next to me. I’d never live it down.
It was my last thought before the atmosphere in the room shifted, all eyes turning to my woman.
She held the room with her dark gaze. “I won’t keep you long, especially those of you who are usually somewhere else for conversations like this. Priest is gone. He was caught by Embry and River last night. They rode him down and brought him to me.”
Silence greeted her statement.
I swear to fuck, even my pulse faded out.
Alexei leaned back in his seat. “Definegone, koroleva. He is dead?”
“Very much so.”
“At your hand?”
Orla placed her tattooed fists on the table. “You expected something else?”
“Not at all.”
Alexei’s lips twitched, but he was the only one laughing. Mateo’s scarred jaw had unhinged. Folk was slumped so low in his seat I thought he might drop through the floor. Even Saint seemed shocked.
Not me, though. For the first time since Locke’s past had reared its ugly head, everything made sense. It felt right, and nothing but relief coursed through me.
Love.
Pride.
Attention in the room gradually shifted to Locke. He was still staring at Orla, but his expression was unchanged, as if her words hadn’t quite reached him yet. Or they had and he had no fucking idea how he felt about it.
“Anyway.” Orla rapped her knuckles on the table. “It’s done, and I wanted everyone in this room to hear it from me. I also want to make clear what I expect from this table going forward. There will be no more Crows. No names left to chance or by the wayside. I suggest you use this time together to compare notes so we don’t find ourselves back here ever again.”
Ouch.
Rubi sucked in a breath. “That’s not fair. We’ve been stretched to breaking point for years now.”
“This isn’t about fair.” Orla dead-eyed him. “It’s about finishing what we started before we knew half the men in this room.Youunderstand that better than anyone.”