Page 55 of Finn's Future

“And you just handed them confirmation,” Reaper snapped. “You showed them exactly where she is, how we react, and who matters. You don’t get to lose your head,” he went on, quieter now, but I felt worse for it. “Not here. Not under my patch.”

Then he straightened and stepped back, turning his back on me and walking to his seat at the head of the table.

Reaper’s gaze moved around the table. “New prospect, what’s your name again?”

“Leighton, Pres.”

“Leighton, go to the bar and get my old lady and Kate.”

The prospect nodded and scurried off.

Reaper watched after him for a moment, then his eyes settled on me. “You’re off her.”

The words didn’t register right away. “What?”

“You heard me,” he said. “You’re too close. Too distracted.”

“I’m doing my job.”

“Not the way I need it done.” His voice didn’t rise, it didn’t have to, the tone was enough. “I don’t put men on protection when they’re thinking with anything other than their head.”

The sounds in the room turned muffled, someone coughed, but all I felt was pain. Not the physical pounding in my jaw where he’d hit me, but a deep ache in my chest that Kate and Noah would be protected by someone other than me. It should’ve been me.

“She moves to the cabin,” he went on. “Two prospects on rotation. Keno checks in.”

My chest went tight. “You don’t trust me?”

His eyes locked on mine. “Right now, no.”

The door opened behind me. Kate stepped in, arms folded around herself, her eyes flicking between us like she already knew something was wrong.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

Reaper didn’t soften when he looked at her. “You’re moving,” he said. “To the cabin. It’s safer, quieter, and more controlled.”

“With who?” Her hands twisted at her waist.

“Two of mine,” he replied. “They’ll rotate. You won’t be alone.”

Her eyes shifted to me, but I couldn’t hold her gaze. “Finn will be there?” she asked.

Reaper answered before I could. “No.”

“What?” Her voice cracked, just slightly. “No . . . no, I don’t, I don’t know them.”

“They’re patched prospects,” Reaper said. “They follow orders.”

“I don’t care about orders,” she snapped, her panic bleeding through. “I don’t know them. I don’t trust them.”

Her eyes locked on mine, wide, desperate. “I trust you,” she said. “I want Finn.”

Every muscle in my body went tight. I fought the urge to argue back, to take her in my arms and promise to stay with her for every moment. But that wouldn’t help anyone. Club first, it had always been the way.

“Kate,” I started.

“No.” She shook her head, clutching Noah closer. “I’m not going out there, somewhere isolated, with men I’ve never met. Not after—” She cut herself off, breath shaking. “I won’t do it.”

Reaper stepped forward slightly. “You don’t get to pick your protection,” he said.