Caution to the Wind (The Fallen Men, #7)

by Giana Darling

Mei was everywhere in the studio ’cause she was everywhere I looked inside my own head.

I preferred to paint landscapes, and I’d only dabbled in a couple of portraits of Cleo and Lin, a paintin’ of Angel and Monster for Loulou, and another of Prince for Cressida and King. Nova’d asked me to do one of Lila for her birthday, too. But the ones of Mei, they were the best I’d ever done.

“Is this enough?” I asked, voice rough with disuse ’cause I wasn’t used to voicin’ the things written in ink on the inside of my chest. “’Cause I haven’t been able to get you outta my head since the moment I saw you again at the hospital. I told you, you got your teeth and claws in me, Rocky. And the fuck of it is, even when I wanted so fuckin’ much to hate you, it was me I hated, for lovin’ you still and for wantin’ you now in this new way that rocks me.”

“No runnin’ now,” I warned her. “Not again.” “No,” she agreed. “I’m home again.”

“Now, every inch of you is mine.” “In case it wasn’t clear, I always was,” she said through a smile that was more at peace and lovelier than any expression I’d ever seen before on that exquisite face. “I’d be yours forever, if you asked. Even if you never do, I already am.”

“Okay, I was. I still am, only now, I’m in a place where I want to believe the best in the people I’ve chosen to care about.” “Axe-Man and your Cleo.” “Yes, and The Fallen MC as a group. They’re good people. They…they’re a family. A criminal one, yeah, but I like their values. They’d burn down the world for each other.”

I hefted the heavy strap over my shoulder and went to the door, Priest pulling it open for me. “You so much as flinch, I’ll be there,” he promised quietly, much to my surprise. I looked into his face and saw the almost joyful anticipation there. He wanted the mark to come at me just for a chance to exact violence on him. A little shiver tore down my spine, and I thought, not for the first time, that Bea was much more of a badass than me if she’d somehow won the heart of Priest McKenna and survived his brand of affection.

When I found her, I let out a bark of shocked laughter. She was sittin’ on the table the triad members had been meetin’ at, sippin’ from a glass of leftover sake with two dead bodies on either side of her, both their necks obviously broken. “A little messy,” she noted dryly, takin’ in my blood-splattered body and drippin’ axe with a small smile. “But now I know why they call you Axe-Man.” I laughed again, shocked to find myself enjoyin’ a moment with Rocky in the aftermath of battle even though I shouldn’t’ve been. This was my fighter, my Rocky girl. I caught sight of Priest up noddin’ at her in respect as he cleaned his wicked knife on his tee and fought the inappropriate urge not to laugh again.

He was like something from ancient times, a Viking marauder come to plunder me. And I was only too willing to surrender.

“I know you got a low opinion of yourself,” he told me when he was done drying me and tossed the towel into the other sink so he could cup my face in his rough hands. “But your brain goes there, you gotta remember that there’s never been a moment, even when I thought I hated you, that I didn’t admire your spirit. You’re the most loyal, lovin’, and sacrificin’ person I know, and your beauty and worth have got everythin’ to do with that and nothin’ to do with your exquisite fuckin’ face. But that doesn’t hurt either.”

She was inside me now. Lodged under my rib cage, beatin’ like a second heart. Or maybe, she’d always been there, hidin’ in the dark recesses of my chest, waitin’ for me to recognize her for what she was and give her the light she needed to thrive within me.

After all the battles I’d fought in my life, it should’ve occurred to me fate would give me a fighter to stand at my side and have my back. Someone as fierce as she was lovely.

“There’s this thing online about ‘lucky girl syndrome.’ Bea and I were talking about it, joking that I had ‘unlucky girl syndrome.’ But then I thought about it. The truth is, I am the luckiest because God took Mum from me, but He set the scales right when He gave me to you.” She looked up at me with her cheek pressed to my gut, and her eyes were wide with gratitude. “I don’t think I’d be alive today without you, Dad. Mei was right when she made you into the Off-White Knight, because you don’t wear armour, but you’re the best hero I ever could’ve had.”

“Glory of the father,” I muttered the definition of Cleo’s name and the reason I’d always called her Glory. “Always, sweetheart. You and me against the fuckin’ world.”

“Dad, you think after watching some of the most epic romances in history play out in front of my eyes the last five years, I don’t recognize soul mates when I see them? Whether you want to admit it or not, I’ve been quietly rooting for you and Mei since I was seventeen.”

“Bikers, seriously, you guys are ridiculous. You’re all lucky women dig a guy in leather.”

A thundercloud rolled over her face and for a second there, she didn’t look a thing like a girl who loved pink and knittin’ thick, fluffy fuckin’ blankets curled up on the couch to watch classic movies or anime shows. She looked like a woman scorned who wouldn’t rest ’til vengeance was exacted on those who’d wronged her. It was a look I’d seen in the mirror a thousand times, on Mei, too. On my brothers in the club and some of their women, even the softer ones like Cressida after King was shot. But never on Cleo. It was as beautiful as it was terrifyin’.

“He wants to meet you,” I confessed. “But I told him fuck no, if you don’t want to. Or ’til you’re ready. It’s all on your terms, Glory. You get me?” She stared at her hands in Mei’s and mine for a while, worryin’ her lower lip between her teeth before she looked up into my eyes. Her expression was unusually fierce. “I don’t give a fuck,” she decreed, shockin’ the hell outta me by swearin’. “He’s nothing but the man who contributed half of my DNA. My real dad is and always will be you. The man who quit his dream job to take care of me. Who went to jail to keep my best friend safe and free. Who created a home for mum and me for the first time in our lives. How can you ever think I’d care to meet a man who didn’t protect us when the dad I ended up with has proven again and again he’d give his life for me? No,” she bit out. “No fucking way do I want to meet this guy.”

“Whatever. I’m glad you told me,” she added, a little gentler. “It feels good you felt I was strong enough to hear this. But for now? I want to pretend Maxwell Dutton doesn’t exist and my family is right here. You two and Lin and every single person in The Fallen.”

“Okay, please, I am dying to know,” Tayline gushed dramatically as she sprawled on the couch beside me in the living/dining room where they’d set up beauty stations. “What’s Axe-Man like in bed?” “Tay!” Cleo shouted. “Please don’t be gross.” “Welcome to my world, babe,” Harleigh Rose drawled, waving at Cress and Loulou. “I’ve had to put up with these two talking about fucking my dad and brother for years. It’s about time someone else felt my pain.” Loulou and Cressida grinned unabashedly, but to my surprise, it was the former who winked conspiratorially at me. “Hot dads for the win, am I right, Blossom?”

“It’s always the quiet ones,” Harleigh Rose said sagely. “I loved Lion for years before we got together, and I never could’ve known what a bossy sex god he’d be in the sack.” “Maybe all bikers are good in bed,” Lila mused. “Because Nova seriously took his time with me this morning, and I’m telling you, I’m still weak in the knees. I’m worried about walking down the aisle without falling.”

“Oh! What did he do?” Tayline leaned forward with huge brown eyes. I stole a glance at Cleo who sighed heavily, even though her eyes sparkled. “You better tell us, Rocky, before Tay tackles you and searches you herself.” I stood up, pulling the silky fabric of my dress up over my ass cheek, exposed by my underwear. The words were a rich black in thick gothic script: Property of the Off-White Knight. “Jesus,” Maja, Buck’s Old Lady, gasped, waving a hand to cool herself. “I think I just had a hot flash.”

Loulou studied me with pursed lips, Angel asleep in her lap, her hand carding gently through her daughter’s abundance of golden curls. “You know, sometimes the things we love the most, we also fear the most. It requires a lot of trust to admit to a vulnerability. Especially for men like The Fallen who think they need to be unconquerable. Especially for a man like Axe-Man who’s already lost so much.”

“It’s my wedding day,” Harleigh Rose interjected, sitting in a white lacy nightgown even as Hannah did her makeup dramatic and bold, the contrast somehow suiting her to a T. “So let me give you some of my honesty, too. To be the best kind of lover, you have to be a fighter. Don’t stop fighting for him if you love him. I fought and literally almost died for Lion, and I’d do it again today, tomorrow, and any day following.”

This…sisterhood. This group of women in all shapes and sizes and ages who sat together like a family, teasing and supporting and loving so blatantly the room seemed filled with magic. I’d never had this on such a scale.

I got her tattooed into my skin forever, right over the heart she owned in my chest.

Lion leveled him a solemn look. “Damn eager. Can’t wait to make Harleigh Rose Danner my wife.” Zeus scowled as he joined our group. “Still think she should keep her maiden name. This is the twenty-first fuckin’ century.” King knocked into his dad with a laugh. “Sure, old man. You couldn’t even wait for Lou to graduate high school before you made her Mrs. Garro, so shut up about it.”

“I think we oughta propose a toast to the groom,” Bat announced as he brought over a bottle of Patrón tequila, Dane and Wrath followin’ with two trays of shot glasses. “The man who gave up his sterlin’ reputation with the law to come over to the dark side with his lady love and her Fallen family.” Lion laughed good-naturedly as Bat filled the shot glasses, and Dane and Wrath handed them out. “It wasn’t just for my Rebel Rose,” he admitted, hoistin’ the glass into the air to address the club as we gathered around him. “Found a home and a family with her and hers, and I’ll be grateful to you all for that forever.”

“Are you cryin’?” King asked Curtains who was dashin’ somethin’ from his cheek. Curtains scowled. “Fuck off, you’re the one who writes poetry.” “Yeah, but you don’t see me c...

“I knew you’d find me,” she cried, clutchin’ me hard, nails diggin’ into my wet, ruined shirt. “I knew it!” “Always,” I swore. “Always, little dragon. But swear to me right fuckin’ now, you won’t pull this sacrificial shit again. Swear to me!” “I swear,” she said instantly, shudderin’ against me, pullin’ and clawin’ to get me closer as if she wanted to crawl beneath my skin.

“I love you,” I confessed, reachin’ between our bodies to wrench open the button-up, poppin’ buttons ’til I could reveal the fresh tattoo I’d got for her. “You got your teeth and claws in me, and I’m never lettin’ you go, you hear me? I’ve been a fool for most of my life, but I know how fuckin’ lucky I am to have the love of a woman as fierce and fuckin’ perfect as you. You hear me? I’ll scream it from the fuckin’ roof. I love you,” I ended on a roar.

“I don’t know if I deserve that.” “You deserve everythin’, and I’m gonna be the one to give it to you,” I swore, kissin’ her again ’cause she was alive, and she was mine.

“I happen to like the taste of blood,” I reminded her in a voice thick with remembered lust. “And I don’t give a fuck about anythin’ in your past or mine anymore, you hear me? I would wade through a lake of blood for you. I would dig ’til the bowels of hell opened under my raw, stingin’ hands. I would cut out my own heart and would barter with Satan himself if it meant keepin’ you safe. You’re mine if you’ll say I’m yours, and I’m keepin’ you forever.” Mei clung to me even tighter, flippin’ me so I was on my back in a coffin six feet in the earth, and all I could see was my girl hoverin’ over me like the angel of death, ready to kiss me into heaven. “Then,” she promised, “I’m yours.”

be

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I’m being totally…overbearing. I’m just excited that my best friend and my dad are getting married. But it’s your day, not mine, and I’m totally embarrassed that I’ve taken over.”