Elara

I woke to the sound of beeping. Pain exploded through my left leg the moment I tried to move.

I gasped, my hands flying down to clutch at the heavy bandages wrapped around my thigh. The memory crashed over me slowly... rain, headlights, the sickening crunch of metal against bone.

"You're awake," a voice said beside me. I jerked my head to the side and found him sitting in the plastic chair beside my bed, his massive frame somehow folded into the tiny space. Shaved head. A broken nose that had healed crooked. Tattoos crawled up his arms and disappeared beneath the collar of his leather cut.

"Who..." My voice cracked. I swallowed and tried again. "Who are you?"

"Name's Jax." He leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees. "Fury, to the brothers. I'm the one who hit you."

My blood ran cold. "You hit me. You hit me with your motorcycle."

"T'was an accident." His jaw tightened. "You ran out of the dark. I swerved, but I couldn't miss you completely. The doc says you got a fractured leg, a concussion, and some nasty road rash. You'll heal."

I stared at him, my heart hammering against my ribs. The bruises on his knuckles told me he was a man who used his fists. The patch on his cut read Sergeant-at-Arms. The words meant nothing to me, but the weight behind them felt like a threat.

"I have to leave," I said, my voice trembling despite my best efforts. "They'll find me."

"Who'll find you?" Jax studied me for a long moment, his brow furrowed. But before I could respond, the door to my room burst open.

A uniformed man filled the doorway. The Sheriff. Thick mustache. Hands resting on his belt like he was reaching for something.

"Miss Vance," he announced. "I need to take your statement regarding the accident. Protocol requires..."

"She's not giving any statement."

Jax rose from his chair, and suddenly the room felt half its size. The sheriff's hand drifted closer to his holster.

"Step aside, Mr. Maddox. This is official police business."

"She's a minor."

"I'm twenty-four," I blurted out.

Neither man looked at me.

"She's under my club's protection," Jax said flatly. "You want her statement, you come through me. And you don't want to come through me."

The sheriff's face reddened. "You can't just..."

"I can. I am. Get out."

The stare down felt like it lasted for an eternity. Then the sheriff muttered something under his breath, spun on his heel, and stalked out of the room. The door slammed behind him.

I was already moving.

The moment the sheriff left, I swung my legs over the side of the bed. Pain lanced through my fractured leg, white-hot and blinding, but I bit down on the scream that tried to claw its way out of my throat.

I took one step. Then another. My leg buckled beneath me, and I grabbed the IV stand to keep from collapsing.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?"

Jax was on me in two strides, his massive hand clamping down on my arm. I tried to jerk free, but his grip was firm.

"Let go of me!" I thrashed, my free hand slapping uselessly against his chest. "You don't understand. They'll find me. They'll lock me away and I'll never get out and Rachel will die and..."

I was sobbing now, the words tumbling out in a broken rush. Jax didn't let go. He just stood there, holding me upright, his expression unreadable.

"Stop," he said quietly. "Stop fighting. You'll hurt yourself worse."

"I don't care."

"Well, I do."

The door opened again. This time, a new man stepped through... taller than Jax, broader, with salt-and-pepper stubble and ice-blue eyes that pinned me to the spot. His cut read President. His presence filled the room in a way that made Jax seem almost small.

Behind him, two more men slipped through the door. One lean and hawkish, with golden-brown eyes...the other lithe and angular, with silver-gray eyes.

Four of them. Four bikers. And every single one of them was staring at me like I was the answer to a question they hadn't known they were asking.

The eldest stepped forward. I didn't know his name yet, but I could feel it in my bones...this was the Alpha. The one who made the rules.

"Release her," he said to Jax.

"Kade..." Jax started to say but his grip loosened immediately. I stumbled back, my broken leg screaming in protest, and collapsed onto the edge of the bed.

Kade circled me slowly, his ice-blue eyes never leaving my face. He leaned in close, his nostrils flaring as he inhaled deeply. I flinched, expecting violence... expecting everything I had ever known from men in power.

Instead, his eyes flickered gold.

I froze.

"What..." My voice died in my throat.

Kade straightened. His jaw tightened.

"What are you?" he said. "Your scent... it's faint... You're a shifter. A latent one."

I shook my head. "That's impossible. I'm an omega. I can't shift. I've never..."

"You've been suppressed." Kade replied. "Someone blocked your wolf. But the scent is unmistakable. You're one of us. Pack property. Under our sacred laws, you fall under my protection."

Pack property. The words made my stomach lurch. I had escaped one cage only to be shoved into another.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "No. I don't belong to anyone. I don't belong to any pack. I'm not..."

He cut me off.

"You have two choices. Stay here and wait for whoever is hunting you to find you. Or come with us to the clubhouse. You'll be protected there."

Jax stepped forward, his expression unreadable. "She can't walk, Prez. Leg's busted."

"Then carry her."

Before I could protest, Jax scooped me into his arms like I weighed nothing. My broken leg screamed, and I bit down on my lip to keep from crying out.

"Put me down!"

"Not a chance, princess." Jax's voice was rough but not unkind. "You're coming with us whether you like it or not."

Elara

"Sir, you cannot remove this patient!" A nurse with auburn hair blocked our path, her clipboard clutched to her chest. "She still needs medical supervision. The doctor hasn't discharged her..."

"She's being discharged now." Kade's voice was flat, leaving room for no argument. "Move."

"I can't. If you take her against medical advice, we'll have to call security. The sheriff is still..."

"The sheriff is gone." Ryker stepped forward. "And if you call security, I'll make sure every single one of them regrets it."

The nurse's face went pale. She opened her mouth to argue, but Dante was already moving past her, his silver-gray eyes scanning the hallway. His hand rested casually on the handle of a blade tucked into his belt...visible enough to intimidate.

I already learned the other bikers name… Dante was the one with silver gray eyes and Ryker was the one with golden-brown eyes.

"Let's go," Kade ordered. "Now."

Jax tightened his grip on me and strode forward. The nurse scrambled out of the way, her protests dying in her throat. I could feel the other patients staring from their rooms, the weight of a hundred eyes watching us leave.

I should have been grateful. I should have been relieved.

Instead, I just felt terrified.

The parking lot was cold and dark when we emerged. A row of motorcycles gleamed under the overhang.

Jax set me down on the back of the largest bike. The leather seat was worn and soft. My broken leg screamed in protest, but I bit down on the pain and gripped the handle behind me.

"Hold on," Jax growled, swinging onto the bike in front of me. "Tight."

Before I could respond, the engine roared to life. The vibration rumbled through my chest, through my bones, through every nerve ending in my body.

Jax's massive frame blocked the wind as he twisted the throttle, and the bike lurched forward.

The other three bikes fell into formation around us. Kade on my right, his ice-blue eyes fixed on the road ahead. Ryker on my left and Dante bringing up the rear.

I pressed my cheek against Jax's back, feeling the heat of his body through the leather cut, and tried not to think about the fact that I had just been kidnapped by four bikers who claimed I was some kind of werewolf.

It was impossible. It was insane. It was... But Kade's eyes had flickered gold. I had seen it. And when Jax had carried me through the hospital, I had caught the faintest scent on his skin... like pine and something else. Something that made my stomach flutter in a way I didn't understand.

We reached the clubhouse an hour later.

The compound was massive. The main building was a two-story structure with a wraparound porch and a garage that could have housed a dozen bikes.

Jax killed the engine and swung off the bike. Before I could protest, he lifted me into his arms again, cradling me against his chest like I weighed nothing.

"I can walk," I muttered.

"Like hell you can. Your leg's busted."

"I've walked on worse."

Jax snorted. "Yeah? When?"

I didn't answer. I didn't want to talk about the time Margaret had locked me out of the house in the middle of winter and I'd had to walk three miles through the snow to find shelter. I didn't want to talk about any of it.

He carried me through the front door, and the clubhouse swallowed me whole.

The noise was overwhelming. Music blared from a jukebox in the corner. Men in leather cuts clustered around pool tables and bar stools, drinking beer and laughing. Women draped themselves over laps and leaned against walls.

Every single head turned when we entered.

A tall woman with platinum hair and amber eyes stepped forward. "Jax, what the hell is this? You brought a stray home?"

"Back off, Candy." Jax growled. "She's under pack protection."

Candy's eyes narrowed. "Pack protection? Since when does the President..."

"I gave the order."

Kade stepped up beside us, his presence silencing the room. His eyes swept over the crowd, and one by one, the club members looked away. Even Candy dropped her gaze, her red lips pressing into a thin line of frustration.

"Put her in the back room," Kade ordered Jax. "Second floor. The one with the lock."

Jax didn't argue. He carried me through the crowd, up a narrow staircase, and down a hallway lined with closed doors. The room at the end was small but clean, with a bed, a nightstand, and a window.

He set me down on the bed carefully, his hands lingering on my shoulders longer than necessary.

"Stay put," he said. "Don't try to run. You won't make it."

"I won't run," I lied.

Jax studied me for a long moment, his dark eyes unreadable. Then he turned and walked out, pulling the door shut behind him.

I sat there in the silence, my heart pounding and my leg throbbing and my mind racing. The room was warm. The bed was soft. But all I could think about was the look on Jax's face when he had carried me through the clubhouse. The way his nostrils had flared when he caught my scent. The way his hands had tightened on my body when Dante had brushed past us.

The way all four of them had looked at me like I was something precious.

The door burst open hours later.

Kade filled the frame, his face carved from stone. Behind him, Ryker, Jax, and Dante crowded the hallway, their expressions grim.

"We've got a problem," Kade said flatly. "Your husband is here. At the gate."

My blood turned to ice.

"Damian? He found me? How?"

Ryker shrugged. "The sheriff must have tipped him off. He's demanding we hand you over."

I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could form the words, a voice echoed up from the main floor below.

"Where is my wife? I know she's in there. Bring her out, or I'll have every one of you arrested!"

Damian stood in the middle of the room, his chest rising hard, fingers curling into tight fists as he dragged his jacket over his shoulders. The crisp wedding suit only made the tension in his body more obvious. I let out a slow breath, pressing my back against the wall, trying to steady the anger building in my chest.

“Are any of you even listening to me?” he snapped, his voice cutting through the room.

I stayed hidden behind the hallway door I had slipped through moments ago, not daring to step out. In front of me, Kade, Ryker, Dante, and Jax stood facing him, their shoulders squared, blocking my view.

Dante tilted his head slightly, glancing back at me over his shoulder. “You sure you don’t want to come out?” he whispered. “We can handle this.”

My throat tightened. I couldn’t answer. The way Damian stood there rigid, shaking with barely contained rage made my stomach twist. Then, before I could think otherwise, he lunged forward and grabbed a woman by the hair.

She cried out, her voice sharp with fear. “Ahh...leave me alone!” she screamed, struggling against his grip.

Chairs scraped sharply against the floor as the bikers pushed to their feet, tension snapping through the room, but Kade lifted a hand without looking back, and they froze where they stood.

“This stupid fucking psycho,” someone muttered under their breath.

I lowered my head, heat crawling up my neck. This was happening because of me.

“Hey,” Kade called, his voice low and steady as he took a step forward.

Damian’s grip tightened, dragging the girl with him as he shoved her behind his back like a shield.

“If you come any closer without my wife,” Damian warned, his voice rough with fury, “I’ll slam her head so hard into that wall she won’t walk again.”

Kade didn’t stop. He kept moving, slow and deliberate, like he hadn’t heard a word.

My breath hitched. I pushed away from the wall, ready to step out of hiding.

“Don’t even think about it,” Jax said, stopping me without turning around.

I sucked in a sharp breath, frozen in place then a loud slam cracked through the room, making me jerk my head up.

Damian hit the floor hard.

“Fuck!” he shouted, his body twisting as his hands flew to his back, his face contorting in pain.

Kade didn’t hesitate. He grabbed Damian by the legs and started dragging him across the floor toward the clubhouse doors.

“Get your fucking hands off me!” Damian roared, struggling against him. “How dare you kidnap my wife? I’ll make your life miserable if you don’t bring her back to me!”

Kade said nothing. He dragged him straight outside and let go, dropping him onto the ground before brushing his hands together like he’d just taken out the trash.

One of the security guards stepped forward and handed him a handkerchief. Kade wiped his hands slowly, then flicked it down at Damian without a second glance.

Damian wasn’t the kind of man who took humiliation lightly. Even I knew that much.

“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath, my head dropping as guilt pressed down on me.

“Lift your head and look at me,” Ryker said firmly.

I did, meeting his eyes as he folded his arms across his chest.

“Even if you told us not to handle it,” he went on. “we still would have. That’s our job, to protect you. So don’t stand there feeling guilty.”

My gaze drifted past him to the girl. She stood off to the side, arms wrapped around herself, rubbing at her skin like she could wipe the moment away. Her jaw was tight, eyes sharp with anger.

I walked toward her, the hem of my soaked wedding gown dragging against the floor, cold and heavy with every step. When I reached her, I placed a gentle hand on her shoulders.

“Hey… are you okay?” I asked softly.

She turned to me, her eyes glassy, sadness sitting heavy in them. She shook her head without a word.

Carefully, I reached up and tried to smooth her hair back into place, my fingers trembling.

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered. “This happened because of me.”

She gave a small nod, like she didn’t trust herself to speak, then pulled away and started walking toward the clubhouse exit.

Kade’s eyes followed her as she left, his expression unreadable.

“Gosh, this stray is already causing issues for us.”

I turned to my left. Candy stood there, arms crossed, her lips curled in irritation. Great. I was already making enemies.

“Yo, Prez, who’s that sick bastard?” one of the bikers called, pointing toward the door.

Kade didn’t answer. He just drew in a slow breath, his jaw tightening.

“We talk later,”

It was late, too late for the world to still feel this loud but sleep wouldn’t come.

I lay there staring into the dark, my mind running in circles. Damian knew where I was now. If he knew, then the family knew too. My chest tightened at the thought.

What if they did something crazy?

What if I had dragged all of them into something they couldn’t escape?

I turned onto my side, gripping the sheets. Should I just run again?

They kept talking about me like I was something like a werewolf, a shifter or whatever. The word still felt unreal in my head. But the way they said it… like it wasn’t a joke, like it was something I couldn’t walk away from.

And that scared me more than Damian.

Because if they really believed it, then they weren’t going to let me go.

And if they didn’t understand what kind of trouble was coming for them…

My breath hitched.

I swung my legs off the bed, the cold floor biting into my skin.

I needed to run, I had to and I didn’t care what it took.