Page 63 of Blood & Throttle

Voss doesn’t move right away. He steps closer, gaze flicking to Sin, then back to me. Cold. Calculating. Like he’s weighing what it would cost to gut me right here and what he’d get from letting me play this game a little longer.

“You’re responsible for her. That means she rides with you, and only you. She goes anywhere she’s not supposed to, causes trouble, even breathes wrong in the wrong direction…” He leans in just enough for only me to hear it. “They’ll put a bullet in her skull before you can blink.”

I stare him down.

“I’m not planning on blinking.”

A beat of silence.

Then he smiles. Barely.

“Let’s hope not.”

He turns and walks off, coat dragging behind him, and just like that, the crowd disperses.

Sin saunters up, hair still wild, brow arched high.

“Okay, I definitely missed something.”

I take a drag. “Took you long enough.”

She rolls her eyes, walking straight to me. “Wasn’t aware I was on your clock, Carter.”

“You are,” I say simply, flicking ash onto the ground. “Now get on.”

She climbs onto the back of the bike like she’s done it a hundred times—easy, confident, without hesitation. Her handsfind my waist, her chest presses tight to my back, and I feel that sharp fucking pull in my gut again. The one I’ve been trying to ignore since the night she straddled me in nothing but a smirk and a challenge.

She fits there. Too well.

Her scent is all smoke and heat and something I can’t name. Something that sinks into my blood, settles low and dangerous. The warmth of her touch bleeds through my shirt, and every part of me wants to lean back into it. Into her.

“How long is the ride?” she asks, her voice brushing against my ear like a secret.

“Eight hours. Few stops. Try not to fall off.”

“Try not to drive like a suicidal maniac,” she shoots back.

I smirk. “Then what’s the fun?”

But beneath the grin, the tension’s coiled tight behind my ribs. Because I know exactly what the fuck I just did.

Kane’s men want her dead. Want her to bleed for putting his son in the ground. And a man like Kane, someone that high up the Syndicate chain? He’s got the reach to make it happen. He doesn’t need permission. Doesn’t need a reason. Just wants revenge.

And Sin? She’s the target with a bounty painted in blood.

But men like Voss… they don’t give a fuck about revenge unless it turns a profit. They don’t waste a spectacle. And her death? It’ll be one. A Syndicate convict. A Gauntlet racer. The girl who killed Kane’s heir.

But not yet.

Not while she’s still valuable. Not while there’s more drama to be wrung out of this twisted little show. Because what’s more entertaining than watching the reigning champion throw himself into the fire trying to protect her?

They’ll stringus along.

Build the tension.

And when it’s time, they’ll want her execution broadcast live—blades and blood and every scream fed into the veins of the sick bastards who keep this empire afloat.

But first, they’ll want to watch me fall for her, and when I go down trying to keep her alive, they’ll make sure the whole fucking world’s watching.