I shrug out of my kutte and turn it the right way around before settling it back onto my back just as Sasha climbs out of the car. My woman looks amazing tonight. She’s wearing a pair of skin-tight jeans that should be fucking illegal, my property kutte and a tiny vest top beneath it that shows a slither of her stomach. The tattoo of Lily’s name is visible on her wrist. The moment I laid eyes on her, I wanted to drag her upstairs and fuck her brains out, but we were already running late because of Lily-May.

My daughter does not like doing anything in a hurry.

She had the transplant a month ago. So far, it seems to have taken well, but it’s still early days. All I know is my daughter has grown from strength to strength, completely changing from the sickly little girl in the hospital to a bubbly toddler with an attitude that reminds me of Sasha when she was young. She was only let out of the hospital this week and this is the first time we’ve taken her anywhere, so there are banners hanging from the walls of the building with ‘welcome home’ written on them. It warms me in a way I didn’t think was possible to know my brothers have embraced my daughter the same way I have.

I move to the back door of the vehicle and pull it open. Lily-May peers up at me through long lashes and smiles a radiant smile that reminds me why I did all the shit I did, who I did it for. My family. And it feels amazing to be able to say that. I love them both. It’s amazing how fast this little girl has wormed her way into my stone-cold heart. I didn’t think I was capable of loving anyone, of letting anyone in but Sasha. Lily-May proved me wrong. The love I have for this little girl scares me sometimes.

Being responsible for her scares me.

I unfasten the straps in her car seat and pull her out of it, into my arms, tugging down the Untamed Sons tee she’s wearing. When I start to lower her to the ground, she grips my neck, making me chuckle. I straighten, and she circles my neck tighter.

Holding out my other hand, Sasha takes it and together the three of us walk over to join my brothers.

“Hey! Look who’s here!” Titch yells, a pair of tongs in his hands. He tickles under Lily’s chin and she giggles a high-pitched sound that makes the ice around my heart thaw a little more.

“Really, Titch?” Sasha says, gesturing towards him even as she rolls her eyes at him. He’s wearing an apron with a picture of tits and a snatch on it.

“What?” he demands, holding his arms out as he peers down at himself.

She shakes her head at him, but there’s a smirk on her lips. Sasha grew up here. She knows what the guys are like. Lily will probably learn a few new words from the brothers, but each one of them would die for her.

Nox strides over and hands a bottle of beer each to Sasha and me.

“Food should be done in a few, if those two dickheads can stop arguing for five seconds.”

I don’t care about the food. All I care about is the people here. My family by choice.

I let Lily-May down and she rushes over to Fury. She’s taken a shine to him, although I don’t think he knows how the hell to handle it. He stiffens but then after a moment is taken in by her raised hands, demanding he picks her up. He leans down and sweeps her up and I find myself grinning as she chatters a million miles per hour at him.

I move over to a bench, taking Sasha with me, one eye on my daughter as Sasha sits and talks to Briella, Levi’s sister and Francesca, Daimon’s cousin. Titch’s boys, who are seven and five, are running around making bike noises, racing each other.

After a few moments, Fury puts her down and I stiffen as I watch her scampering over in our direction, my heart in my throat until she’s at my side.

She surprises the fuck out of me by yelling, “Catch me!”

Then she throws herself into my arms and I’m glad I have fucking good reflexes. I wrap my arms around her and pull her to me, kissing her head.

“Daddy!”

I freeze. She’s never called me that before. I wasn’t entirely sure she understood when Sasha was trying to tell her who I am.

I glimpse Sasha behind her who is grinning like crazy. “Yeah, baby. He’s your daddy.”

I hold my daughter close to me, breathing in her baby shampoo and powder smell, and Sasha grips my hand.

“I got something for you,” I tell her.

She frowns. “What?”

I dig in my pocket around Lily-May and pull out a set of keys.

Her eyes flare. “Is that—”

“The keys to our new house.”

Sasha comes to my side and dips down so she can press her mouth to mine.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

The roar of an engine catches my attention, and I move quickly, putting myself between my daughter, woman and the danger, fear clogging my arteries as a car peels through the gates, taking them off their hinges with a creak that hurts my ears. It crashes into a stone pillar at the side of the drive, the sound so loud it reverberates around the compound like an explosion.

Smoke pours from under the hood, making it hard to see what’s going on. I hand Lily to Sasha and keep them both behind me as I reach around my back for my gun, ready to go to war with anyone here to harm my family.

“Get the women and children inside,” I yell, knowing one of my brothers will see to it.

I see Sash, Briella, and the other women clamouring towards the clubhouse, Levi with them.

Kyle approaches the vehicle from the gate’s security booth, gun drawn. The other brothers move closer, their own weapons aimed at the car.

Yells go up as my brothers shout instructions as they move to the car to see what the hell is going on. I can’t see shit past the airbag which has deployed, smothering the occupant of the vehicle.

Nox moves like a panther next to Fury, gun raised, signalling to the others to close in.

The car door opens with a creak of protest and someone falls out of the driver’s seat. All I see is blood, a fuck ton of it, but she’s female. I can see that much.

Titch curses and cocks the hammer back on his firearm.

Nox moves forwards, then something dawns in his eyes and he stops.

“Fuck! Lower your guns!” Nox yells, “Lower your fucking guns.”

Then he’s moving and is in front of the car.

“Lucy?”

She peers up at him through the blood covering her, as if she’s struggling to focus on him.

“Help.”

The End