Page 127 of The Souls We Claim

“I saw them walking you somewhere on the cameras. I couldn’t sit in there and do nothing. Did I kill anyone?”

I want to tell her how grateful I am that she killed the man who would hurt us. But surely carrying the weight of killing my half-brother will cause lasting guilt. A trauma she’ll find it hard to recover from. Whereas one more death on my conscience will barely register. Instead, I dodge the question. “You created the perfect diversion, sweetheart. It gave me enough time and distraction to make sure we wouldn’t be targeted again. Where’s Lola?” I ask as King and Clutch join us.

“An ambulance is on its way,” King says, interrupting us. “Where’s Switch?”

“In there with Lola. She was waking up, though. I placed a blanket over Switch so she hopefully wouldn’t see his wound.”

“Shit. Is he dead?” Clutch asks.

“Not when I last checked,” Ari says. There’s a waver to her voice, and I pull her close, even though I feel like my broken ribs are piercing through my skin. The feel of her is the only thing cutting through the noise in my head. I’m still alive. I made it.

All those medals and commendations and tours and victories and lives saved, but none of it felt as visceral as this moment.

King reaches the panic room, enters the code, and we’re met with the sounds of Lola’s cries. Clutch grabs Lola and hands her to Ari, who lets go of me to cuddle her tightly. “It’s okay, Lolly,” she soothes.

“Come here,” I say to Ari, and I tug the two of them into my arms, leading them away from Switch and my brothers.

“It’s over. And you helped save us,” I say, kissing the top of her head.

She falls against me, and I wrap her tight to my chest, because the pain is nothing compared to the ecstasy of knowing I have Ari for the rest of my life.

EPILOGUE 1

HALO

As I sit in church, I realize I’ve had a lot of time to heal over the last six weeks.

The ribs.

The face.

The nightmares are fading. Dreams of Jax’s body being loaded into the back of one of our vans and leaving my gun with Bates as the clock of my life ticked out its last few minutes.

And I’ve learned something about myself.

It’s okay to rely on others.

King was right when he made me leave for the cabin. At first, I wondered if any of it would have happened if I’d just stayed home. But then I realized it was always going to be brought to a head somewhere down the line. Better out at King’s cabin where there was a safe room and there were no witnesses.

Saint went over to the only remotely neighboring cabin and found it utterly empty.

But it wasn’t just the lack of witnesses. It was the effort my brothers put into keeping us safe. Bates now has an almost identical scar on his thigh to the one Niro has on his leg from his bike smash during Catalina’s rescue.

Avery showed up one day with one drawn on her leg in pen so she matched the two of them.

My half-brother and his henchmen were buried in the Pines. Took two days to dig and bury all eleven bodies. Saint asked me if I’d like a proper funeral of sorts for my half-brother.

I told him that I didn’t.

Daryll West, a.k.a. Brad Collins, is a footnote in my story and nothing more.

And the Iron Outlaws across the country have stepped up in ways I can’t imagine. The deaths in Texas made the news.

There’s speculation. A handful of brothers from the Fort Worth chapter were dragged in for questioning, but they got quickly released when the lawyers found out the only reason for the questioning was the working theory it was “likely a rival gang.”

The only downside is Switch. I’ll be going to see him later, but the sacrifice he made for me was everything. Doctors say there’s a chance his injuries will stabilize and that they can bring him out of his coma soon. They tried once already, but he fought it, wasn’t ready.

And I went looking for River, Jax’s brother, with Niro and Bates and a plan to make him a prospect if he wanted so badly to belong somewhere. But we never found him. The house was empty when we returned.