EPILOGUE

Loki

My eyes almost fall out of my face, seeing Bea covered in blood as she and Haven walk down the stairs of the governor's building. Panic tears through me as I take off faster than my boots can carry me. Alpha by my side as we race for our old ladies.

The fact is, I have no clue if that blood is hers.

So, I need to get to her— right fucking now.

Slamming into her, my hands rush all over her beautiful body. "Where are you hurt?" My words come out breathy and desperate, and at the same time, Alpha reaches for Haven, checking her over.

Bea's beautiful smile calms me a little as she wraps her arms around my body, pulling me to her. "I'm fine. It's not my blood."

Alpha snorts out a laugh, rolling his eyes. "Of course it's not. The fuck did you do, Haven?" he asks.

She scoffs. "Why do you automatically assume it was me?"

Alpha narrows his eyes on her. "You trying to tell me that Bea caused all this blood?"

Haven smirks, shrugging her shoulders. "Well, at least a little bit of it. Girl's a badass."

Snapping my head around to Bea, I really look at her. "Did you have to hurt someone in there?"

She swallows a lump down her throat. "Yeah… I never thought I could do something like that."

Clenching my eyes shut, I run my fingers through my hair in frustration. "Haven, you were supposed to protect her from that," I growl.

Bea reaches up, gripping either side of my face. "Don't take it out on Haven. She saved both our asses in there. Those security guards were no joke. And one of them really gave her a hard time."

"Until he didn't," Haven snickers under her breath.

Alpha looks her up and down. "I'm assuming it's his blood on you?"

She throws her hands to the side. "What do you expect? He told me I should be in the kitchen making a sandwich, so I made one with his ears as the bread and his tongue as the filling. Then made him eat it."

Alpha simply nods his head like he isn't surprised at all. "Of course you did. You really scare me sometimes, baby."

She laughs. "I know. That's why you love me."

He groans. "With every ounce of my being. But you're fucking crazy."

Haven grins widely. "Thank you. That's the nicest thing you've said to me."

I glance down at Bea, seeing her grimacing from the memory, and I can't help but be pissed off that Haven did all of this in front of Bea. Pulling Bea to me to comfort her, I turn to face Haven. "The fuck were you thinking exposing Bea to something as violent as that? She's so fucking new to the club, Haven. I only just got her back. I don't want her scared off because you can't control your fucking blood lust!"

Haven's smile falters, and she goes to speak, but Bea beats her to it. "Stop! First, you have nothing to worry about when it comes to me leaving you again. That's just not going to happen. I'm your Old Lady. I'm in this, Loki. And second, yeah, it got a little fucking crazy in there. Okay, so I shot a guy and killed him. And then watched Haven hack a guy's face apart and make him choke on it. Should I be freaked out by that? Yeah. But after seeing the shit that was on the governor's flash drive, the men that we killed were there supporting him. They clearly knew what he was doing. They didn't deserve to be alive either. I don't know… maybe being at the club and around all of you is changing me. I'm not sure if it's a good or a bad thing, but what I do know is that you can't keep trying to protect me. You have to let me be a part of this club, Loki. All-in, baby."

My eyes shift to Alpha, and he tilts his head with a grin. Inhaling deeply, I cuddle into Bea further, planting a tender kiss on the top of her head. "All-in, baby."

The faint sound of sirens blares in the distance, and we all glance up. Alpha signals to the others. "We gotta go. The security feeds all taken care of?" he asks me.

Nodding, I smirk. "Yeah, they went down thirty minutes before we arrived and are still down."

Alpha grins. "Excellent. Let's roll back to the clubhouse to celebrate."

Wrapping my arm around Bea, I walk with her back to the van, where we all pile in and head back to the clubhouse.

It's a long drive back home, and when we arrive, the rest of the club is waiting for us. We jump out, everyone eager to hear if the mission was a success, and we make our way toward them.

Alpha throws his hands to the side with a grin. "We did it," he simply states.

A loud round of cheering echoes around the parking lot as everyone throws their hands in the air in celebration, grabbing each other and embracing. It's not every day you take on someone as important as the governor of California and can come home with the win.

Clover jumps up and down, trying to gain all our attention. "Hey, hey, listen up. It's breaking all over social media. We have to go inside and turn on the news," she calls out.

Bea glances at me, and I tilt my head at her. "Let's go see if your hard work paid off, Sparkle."

She grins, and we make our way inside. Navy already has the television on as we gather around it to view the headline news reporting on the governor of California being arrested.

Pictures of him being dragged out of his office in handcuffs and resisting arrest make all of us break out into laughter.

"You're going to have a great time in prison, Governor. We'll make sure of that," Alpha calls out, making everyone laugh.

I reach out, grab Bea, and lift her, twirling her in a circle. She giggles as she cuddles into me. "We did it! Your app is secure. The client information is safe, and I can tell you now that Theo and I are going to work on the backend, so there is absolutely no way in hell anyone is going to be able to hack into it ever again." I slide her down my body as her eyes stare into mine.

"I can't believe we did it… we actually pulled this off."

"We did, and mainly because of you."

She smirks, shaking her head. "I had a lot of help… from my new family."

I glance around the clubhouse at everyone continuing to celebrate our win. "I was always your family, Bea."

She inhales deeply, her hand coming up to caress my face. "I know that now. I am so, so sorry for the years we were apart. It seems incredibly pointless to me now."

Holding her closer to me, I flash a fleeting smile. "Everything happens for a reason, right? Your app teaches us that."

Her eyes widen as she scoffs. "You mean to tell me you actually take classes from the app?"

Rolling my eyes, I can't fight back my smile. "Shut up! They help with my anxiety."

Her smile widens so vastly that she looks like she's about to burst with happiness. Bea lunges forward, her lips slamming to mine, kissing me with so much passion that I'm worried she might start ripping my clothes off right here in front of everyone.

Not that I mind.

Our tongues collide, my hands slide to her ass, lifting her. She wraps her legs around me, my cock hard as a rock as I begin to walk her toward our room, but a clearing throat steps up beside us as we pant for breath.

We glance to the side, Bea still hoisted around my waist, as both our eyes meet with Theo's.

He tries to fight back his chuckle as he scrubs at his chin. "Well, this is awkward," he mumbles.

Bea and I both burst out laughing as I gently lower her to the floor, keeping her in front of me to cover my clearly visible erection.

"Hey, did you hear?" Bea asks.

Theo nods, tilting his head. "I did. It's why I came over. Figured there would be a celebration. Though, would have been nice for you guys to keep me in the loop, seeing as I'm a third owner in the app?"

Grimacing, I reach out, gripping his shoulder. "Damn! Sorry, man. That's my bad. It's just been fucking hectic. There's been prospect problems, prospects getting patches, dealing with the governor, making Bea my Old Lady, her moving back to LA—"

Theo jerks his head back in shock. "I'm sorry… what were those last two?"

Rubbing the tension in the back of my neck, Bea cuddles into me closer as I sigh. "Theo… I know you always had a huge issue with me and Bea being a thing, and we fought it our whole lives. But we're not running from it anymore. She's a part of this club now. She's more than proven that. And I don't want that to put a strain on our friendship or your relationship with Bea, but I'm not giving her up, man. I can't."

Bea manages a small smile, and Theo lets out a stifled laugh. "When you say she has more than proven she's a part of the club… what exactly does that mean? Is that like some club orgy gang-bang- initiation type thing? Should I take her to get tested?" he quips.

Scowling, I step forward and shove him. "Fuck you, asshole."

He bursts out laughing, moving forward, and pulls us both into a tight embrace. "Honestly, I am happy to see you both finally getting your acts together. You've both been so miserable. I was the idiot who didn't connect the dots that it was because you were miserable without each other. Just promise me one thing, Loki."

"Anything," I reply to my lifelong best friend.

"You protect her with your life. You love her with everything you have and take care of her. That's all I ask."

Smiling, I hold Bea tight. "There was never any doubt in that."

Theo grins wide. "Well then, when am I going to be an uncle?"

Bea and I gawk at him. "Jesus, Theo, let us have some time together as a couple first." Bea giggles, and I nod in complete agreement.

"Fine! But we're celebrating tonight, right?"

"Yeah, we're celebrating," Bea declares.

Theo reaches out, grabs Bea by the arm, and starts dragging her toward the bar. "Great! We should get a drink… at the bar."

Raising my brow, I chuckle as she glances back at me with a ‘ help ' look. "Is this just so you can talk to Navy?" Bea asks.

Theo shrugs. "Oh, is she working at the bar tonight?" he asks nonchalantly.

Bea snorts out a laugh, pointing to Navy, who is obviously behind the bar. "You can clearly see she is there."

Theo rolls his shoulders, straightening out his suit. "Oh, would you look at that? It would be rude not to go say hi. Let's go, little sister." He drags her off while I chuckle under my breath.

"Have fun, you two," I call out while Bea scowls at me.

Watching the two of them take off together, knowing that the three of us are okay with everything that has happened, feels fucking good. I never thought we would get to a place like this, but as they say, all good things come to those who wait .

I make my way over to a table where Clover, Phoenix, Maverick, Sadie, Alpha, and Poppy are all sitting, and I slide in beside them as they chat away happily.

"So, where did you say Haven had gone off to, Dad?" Poppy asks.

Alpha sits back in his chair, beer in hand. "She had a shower, then made a call to the prison to make sure Valarie was doing okay, which she is. Then she wanted to go pick up some fried chicken for us all. She said after the day we've had, we need to celebrate with a bucket of fat… her words, not mine."

Sadie smiles. "I mean, you can never go wrong with fried chicken. And honestly, I don't know what this baby is doing to me right now, but I feel like I could eat, like… so much. She better be buying. A. Lot."

Maverick chuckles under his breath, making Sadie snap her head to him, giving him the worst death stare. He shuts up instantly as Sadie folds her arms over her chest, letting out a huff. "Did you laugh because you think I'm putting on too much weight?"

Clover widens her eyes, trying to fight back her smile, slowly lifts her cell, and starts recording behind Sadie's back. I smirk at the scene unfolding.

Maverick groans like this is a normal occurrence for him now. "Baby, I will love you no matter what size you are."

I grimace along with Alpha and Phoenix as Sadie jerks her head back with a scoff. "You do think I'm fat?"

Maverick clenches his eyes shut, rubbing his temple. "That's not what I meant by that. Clo, help me out here."

Clover continues to smile and record as she shrugs. "I don't know what to tell you, big bro. You've never been good at dealing with the emotions of females."

Sadie spins to face Clover, her eyes wide, and she nods. "Right? I mean, when Mav and I first met, he was so mean." She snaps her head back around to Maverick, glaring at him. "Why do you have to be so mean? Oh God, I'm pregnant to an asshole!"

The rest of us try hard to keep in our laughter as Maverick simply reaches out his hand to grab hers. He looks her in the eyes and softly smiles. "You're my cute little ten, Cupcake."

I have no clue what that means, but it obviously struck a chord with Sadie because her eyes instantly well with tears, her bottom lip trembling as she bursts into tears, throwing herself into Maverick's arms. "Oh fuck, I'm the asshole. I'm sorry, baby. It's the hormones. They're making me fucking crazy."

Maverick smiles, holding onto her as she cries in his arms. He strokes her hair, comforting her. "It's totally fine, Sadie. You've always been a little crazy. I can handle it ramped up for nine months."

Sadie pulls back, looking at him, a slow smile crossing her face. "I love you."

Maverick smiles back. "I love you, too, Cupcake. And our baby, who will probably be just as crazy as its mama."

Clover ends the recording, placing her cell on the table. "You guys are so freaking cute. I hope I have a love like yours one day."

Phoenix chuckles. "What, completely unhinged?" he teases.

Maverick glares at him.

Alpha shrugs. "Brother, unhinged romance is the best kind."

Phoenix glances across the table at Clover, a slight smile crossing his face. "I dunno… sometimes I think going for someone sweet could be nice too."

Clover's eyes meet his. She tries to fight back her smile as a bright red flush crosses her face. Sadie notices her brother eyeing Maverick's sister, and she elbows Phoenix in the ribs before Maverick can catch on. But Alpha and I both saw. We side-eye each other, raising our brows.

Clover goes to say something as Rip races into the clubhouse, completely out of breath, gaining all of our attention. "Pres! Dude, like… I seriously need you. Right fucking now!"

The urgency in his tone has us all standing immediately and rushing toward him while he continues to catch his breath. Alpha places his hand on Rip's back, his brows furrow. "Rip, brother. Talk to me. What's going on?"

He pants a few times, then slowly rises, looking up at Alpha, his eyes full of concern. "There's a package at the gate. I didn't open it. The gnarly-looking dude who left it said only you could open it. Pres, the outside package is a fried chicken box."

Alpha's face falls.

My stomach sinks through the floor as Alpha takes off running so fucking fast I can barely keep up.

"Alpha! It could be a trap! I need to scan it for explosives!" I yell as everyone chases after him, but he doesn't stop.

Dropping to his knees as he reaches it, I tense as he grabs hold and begins tearing at the cardboard.

I don't stop running.

If it is a bomb, I'm going down with him.

He rips off the lid just as I reach him.

I drop to the concrete, his breathing frantic as he pulls out a handwritten note.

The paper shakes in his grip as he reads it aloud for everyone who is now catching up to us to hear. "You chopped off the head of our organization, so we're going to chop off parts of your loved ones, piece by piece." Alpha cranes his head to the side, trying to keep his composure, but then continues, "You thought Rico Rojas was bad, you ain't seen nothing yet. This has only just begun…" He lets out a low growl, his breathing increasing as he lowers the piece of paper. "It's signed, the Rojas Cartel."

My eyes widen as Alpha scrunches up the piece of paper in his hand, his chest rising and falling furiously with his frantic breaths.

Shaking my head, I scrunch my face in confusion. "I don't understand. The cartel? We killed them all," I blurt out.

Alpha grits his teeth, swiping the back of his hand across his face. "The box isn't empty, Loki," his voice is so low, I almost didn't hear him.

Snapping my head back to him, my heart racing hard in my chest, I slide in closer. A single piece of greasy tissue paper lines the bottom of the box, but he's right. There's a definite shadow beneath it. Letting out a breath, I shake my head. "Why don't you step back, and I'll look. Just in case?"

Alpha flares his nostrils, his entire body shaking, beads of sweat dripping down his temple. "I need to know."

Inhaling deeply, I nod. "I'm right here with you."

Alpha hesitates, inhales deeply, then reaches for the tissue paper and slowly pulls it back. There's a severed finger in the box. But not just any severed finger, a ring finger with an engagement ring still attached.

Fucking hell!

Alpha lets out an animalistic growl, his breathing becoming more and more frantic.

I look behind me at the rest of the club. My stomach churns at the thought that whoever is running the cartel now has Haven.

Trying to compose myself, I go straight into fight mode. "I'll run inside, put a ping on Haven's cell, see if I can trace her—"

Alpha's arm comes out, slapping against my chest to stop me from talking. I widen my eyes at him as he reaches into the box, pulls out the finger, and studies the ring. His face contorts, and he glances back at Poppy, his eyes shimmering. Then, he turns back to me, keeping his voice low. "We need to ping Haven… but this is not Haven's ring. This is the ring I gave to Livvy. We need to call Livvy. Now!"