Tyrant (Satan’s Angels MC #1)

Chapter 21

Tyrant

I t’s weird riding in the backseat of a cage like I’m some billionaire CEO getting chauffeured around, but it’s necessary. I would have wept tears of joy to see my bike, and I don’t need to be crying again. Not that it’s not fucking manly, but I’d like to be dry eyed for when I have to face my men.

Lark is beside me on the backseat, Raiden driving in the front, Gunner beside him. Raiden is huge and Gunner is so fucking scary that the car is pretty much frigid with his wintry vibes. I’m glad it was these two holding the club together in my absence.

The two of them came to collect us. Raiden left Penny behind guarded at the compound. I was disappointed, but it was a good call.

“The men are gathered for church,” Raiden says gruffly as he pulls through the chain link gates with the steel barbed wire gleaming on top.

They’re immediately shut and locked behind us. It’s more than just prospects standing guard now. Bullet and Atlas are at the gates, Preacher and a few of the prospects walking the length of the compound. Reaper and Wizard and probably inside in the control room, monitoring the cameras around the building without so much as blinking.

“Take a minute.” Gunner’s voice, as per fucking always, is so dead and cold it raises the hair on the back of my neck. “We’re ready for you whenever you are.”

Fuck . These men. They had every right to want me gone and worse, but they’re doing more than standing behind me. They’ve ridden at my side, in front and behind me, down long stretches of highway, on good days and bad, frigid and ones so hot the road feels like it’s melting beneath you. That simple little touch isn’t simple, and it isn’t little. I’m rocked by it so hard that it takes me a minute to get out of the car.

Lark rushes around to my door. I should be shielding her, not the other way around, but she slips her hand into mine and leans in, to whisper in my ear so close that I catch the honey summer scent of her. Flowers, even so far removed from them.

“I love you so much, Gray. Does it numb some of the pain being back here?”

I nod. All of it. The agony of pain that’s been a part of me for days now feels like it’s lifted. I might only have vision out of one eye at the moment since the other is too swollen and hazy to be much good, but there’s something about being back in the embrace of my club and my woman, that makes it all clear. I wrap an arm around Lark and lead her inside. The heavy curtain of grief is wrenched away. It’s time for the main act and it starts right now with me seeing my daughter.

“We sat with you when you were sleeping,” Lark whispers beside me as we walk through the heavy steel door, Raiden and Gunner following behind us, our boots echoing in the darkened entryway. She already told me this earlier, while we were waiting for our ride to arrive. “She knows all about you. She’s ready.” My arm snugs around her a little bit tighter. I’m not willing to let her go. I couldn’t stop touching her if I wanted to. There’s a new desperation there for me, knowing by rights I should be underground.

There’s another metal door, always locked with a keypad. We change the codes every week and we each have a personal one for our own rooms.

“Eight, one, four, nine, eight, six.” Gunner gives it and I punch in the numbers.

I crack the door, loud as thunder. The main room is empty, which makes sense with all the brothers on duty, running surveillance at our properties, and already assembled for church. It’s disquieting not to see any of those big men lounging on the couches and chairs in here, the TV on, pool balls cracking together. There’s no insults, no jokes, no loud conversation. No smoke hanging in the air and no whiskey to balance it all out.

“Take your time,” Raiden repeats, but I reach out and clap a hand on his shoulder before he can leave to trace Gunner’s path down the hall to the large room where we hold all our club meetings.

“Would you join us?” Lark asks. The way she looks at her brother makes it impossible for him to say no.

“This is a family moment.” He tries to deny her, but gets no traction.

“Perfect. You’re my brother and Gray’s. Dad’s going to be there. Before you do your church, this is for us. Please .” Lark reaches for Raiden’s hand, holding onto both of us.

“Can you assemble all the men?” I ask roughly. It’s the first thing I’ve said since we left Archer’s. “Not just the officers.”

Raiden’s surprise is clear. “I can make it happen, but I’m going to have to talk to Reaper and Wizard about it. Someone needs to watch the cameras, but we could conference him in with a phone. It’s not normal protocol, but facing down a war, I agree that every single man needs to be there hearing what their future is going to be. They should all have a say.”

I’ve always known that Raiden is capable of this kind of leadership and my heart is full to bursting. If my brothers still want me to lead them, will Raiden finally stand by my side officially? He’s filled in as VP for the last few days and I know that undoubtedly, he was made for it. He’s not just intelligent on paper. He’s got an intrinsic way with people that gets men to listen and follow.

“I’ll go talk to them now. I’ll join you shortly.”

It’s just Lark and me, side by side, her hand latched firmly in mine. She puts in the code for the door. It’s one of our bigger rooms, at the end of the hall in the wing we use for guests. When this place was converted, it was built with everything from emergencies to daily living in mind. Lately, it’s been good and when the club thrives, I’ve made sure we all thrive. We’ve made so much money with our businesses, both legal and not so, that every brother has a property in Hart, whether they’re single or have a family.

As soon as we enter, Henry gets to his feet. He’s on the leather couch with Penny tucked beside him. Her hair is combed into braids. She drops the book she was looking over with her grandpa and stares at me instead. For a kid, she has a wicked poker face. I can’t tell what she’s thinking.

I’m not sure what I expected with Henry either, but it wasn’t a hard clap on the shoulder and a nod as he leaves us in private.

Lark’s fingers sweep up my arm. “Dad’s just respecting our time right now. He’s not… he’s not how he used to be. He doesn’t disapprove of you.”

She sits down on the couch beside Penny. “Hey, sweetheart, we’re back. I know it’s a lot and it’s been really overwhelming, but do you remember what I told you about your dad?”

Never have a stare down with this kid. She hasn’t so much as blinked. I’m proud as can be, knowing my daughter is tough. She’s not going to give in and run to me or let me into her life as her daddy. That’s something I have to earn from her. I’m just a stranger with a title right now.

Penny looks at her mom. I watch her eyelashes, like little black wings, flutter up and down as she finally blinks. “Are the bad men gone now?”

Lark sucks in a breath. “Not yet, honey, but hopefully soon. Everyone will get to come home pretty quick. Your dad and the rest of the men from the club will make some decisions about what’s going to happen, but whatever they decide, we’re absolutely safe here. You have nothing to be afraid of.”

It’s my daughter’s eyes that I first found so striking. I’m having trouble breathing as it is, but when she gets off the couch and walks over, hands on her hips and looks up at me, a gasp escapes that probably scares her. She doesn’t flinch. Four years old and a sassy little MC princess in training. My heart swells with love for my little girl .

“Mom says that you got hurt.”

All I can do is nod.

If I’d died that night, it wouldn’t have been from the fuckery my father and his band of cunts performed. It would have been from watching Lark’s heart breaking, savage and fierce as she held our daughter to her, spitting like a feral demon even though she was wild eyed and scared. I should have protected her better. Should have kept all of Hart and my brothers safe. I failed her and I failed all of them.

“Can you bend down?”

I’d do anything this girl asked me to do. Give up my life to protect her in a second, but hopefully live to watch her grow up. As pretty as she is already, growing up a biker princess, she’s going to need her dad and all his fearsome brothers around to bash in the heads of any fucker who is stupid enough to think he could ever hurt her. Or look at her. Or get within a hundred feet of her.

One little hand lands on my jaw, so very carefully.

“Dad will be okay. He’ll heal up and everything will be fine.” Lark isn’t going to stand for it any other way. “It does hurt, but he’s brave and there are good medicines to help make him better faster and help with the pain.” Lark’s dark eyes pierce through me. They’re half agony, half overwhelming love.

“What can I do?” Penny asks cautiously.

“Nothing, sweetheart. You’re already amazing. Unless you want to fist bump.”

“What’s that?” Penny makes the tiniest fist.

My heart arrests. I went years not knowing I was a father, but every single day I’m going to be the best of everything I can be now. Best man, best dad, best protector, best story reader, best whatever she needs, whenever she needs it.

“Like this.” Lark brings her knuckles to mine.

“Oh!” Penny smashes mine as hard as she can. She doesn’t even wince. “That’s way better than shaking hands!” She looks way up at me because even on my knees, I’m a giant compared to her. “I thought you went to be with Grandma when Mommy said you got taken away.”

Lark sucks in air so roughly that she hiccups and coughs. “No, sweetheart, remember, we talked about that? Dad isn’t going to be with your grandma for a long time. A very, very long time. No one is going to take him from us. We’re going to be a family and one day we’ll all live together. We’re moving back to Hart for good, and the club is our life now. We’ll pack up our things and we’ll get Oscar and we’ll be right back here.”

Lark and Penny aren’t leaving. I’ll send whoever it takes to get her things and her cat, but I will not let her out of my sight again. I’ll break that to her as gently as I can sometime soon. She might hiss and fight me over it, but that’s alright. We’ll work it out naked and hissing and spitting while I’m pulling her hair and rutting up into her like a feral beast is perfectly acceptable. She’ll let me take care of it in the end. Take care of her and Penny too. She’s capable. I don’t doubt that. Being in her life is an honor for me and she’ll learn that when I seem demanding and unyielding, it’s only because she’s absolutely it for me and I am so far fucking gone.

She might have been the most insane option, the worst, off limits, taboo, least likely choice, but she’s it forever. My best friend’s little sister ruined me for anyone else and she can go right on ruining me for the rest of our lives.

“You’re home here.”

“Yes.” Lark lifts Penny up. She clings to her mom and her mom throws an arm around my neck, breathing me in by my left ear, her lips pressing against the shell of it. “Yes, absolutely. You’re our home, Gray.”