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Axle pounded his fist on the table and announced, “We’ve got a new Ol’ Lady.”
Then Skull got up and retrieved a leather cut from the shelving unit in the corner of the room.
“Prez,” Brute said and waited for Axle to look his way. “Can I have the honors?”
As the rest of the room laughed, Axle rolled his eyes, but gave a nod.
Stiletto
While Trick was gone for church, what he told her they called their club meetings, Stiletto hung out in her room at The Hen House with Mama Hen. That woman was a hoot. They were watching some reality show, and the hotel owner had all kinds of commentary on it. If it didn’t hurt to laugh, Stiletto was positive you would have heard her mirth all the way in the parking lot.
It was a good distraction from worrying about Trick. He wanted so badly for his brothers to let himclaim her at the table, and she didn’t want him to be disappointed if it didn’t go the way he wanted.
The night before, he went over what it meant to be an Ol’ Lady, what a property patch was, and what it meant. He also talked about traditions the Ol’ Ladies had among them, but he didn’t want her to feel obligated to do anything. But the most intriguing thing he told her was that he was getting Stella tattooed on the left side of his neck to act as the mating mark on him. It was the hottest thing she’d ever heard, and it put her in a bad mood that she couldn’t act on it.
She was curious about the traditions of the Ol’ Ladies, but Trick just told her that they had them and the women would fill her in as soon as she was wearing her patch. She brought it up to Mama Hen, but the woman just smiled and told her she’d know soon enough.
That helped ease a bit of her worry about the meeting. And when Trick returned an hour later with a smile on his face, she knew things went the way he wanted. He gave her an hour to get ready, then he helped her to the car and drove her to the clubhouse.
When they made it inside, the place was full of people and talking, but the room went silent when they saw her. The men gathered in front of her and Trick, with Brute in the front with Axle.
After snatching something from the bar top, Brute headed her way. “This is supposed to be the president’s job,” he began as he stopped a few yards in front of her. The other Howlers, minus Trick, moved with but stayed behind him — A united front. “According to the club rules and procedures, he’s supposed to do all of these, but we’re bikers. We don’t like rules.” The other Howlers snickered and chuckled. “This time, I get the honor, and itisan honor, Stiletto. By tying yourself to Trick, you tied yourself to us. By having his back and taking that bullet, you saved us. By protecting him, you protected us. By loving him, you love us… and we will return that favor. We’re a package deal. And we understand we’re getting more out of the deal than you are.” He cleared his throat as she watched his eyes start to shine with tears. “You will never need for anything for long. You will never want for anything for long. You will never sufferagain… and if for some reason you do,” a gold light shot from his eyes and growls, hisses, and grumbles of encouragement came from the rest of the Howlers, “the one who caused it will suffer far more for their efforts. I’m honored to call you my sister, even though I haven’t always behaved that way. And I hope you’re honored to call us your brothers.” He held out his arm, and hanging from his closed fist was a leather cut like the one she’d seen all the Shifty Sisters wearing the night before.
She took it from his hand and held it out to get the full view of the front. There was one patch that readTrick’s OLand another that readStiletto.It was perfect.
Swallowing hard around the lump in her throat, she quietly asked, “Matthew, will you help me put this on?”
“Sure.” Trick took the cut from her hands and helped her settle it on her shoulders. When he was done, he put his lips by her ear and whispered, “Fucking perfect.”
“I know you can’t have alcohol,” the one named Trip called out from the end of the bar, “but can you have apple juice?”
Stiletto chuckled. “Yes.”
“Great. We have traditions, so you can shoot some apple juice.”
“Shots of apple juice?” Sugar cried as she stormed across the room from where the Shifty Sisters had been hanging in the corner. “That’s just… sad.”
Stiletto couldn’t hold back her grin. Out of all the Ol’ Ladies, Sugar was the last one she thought would be advocating for drunken celebrations. “When I’m off my meds, we’ll get sloshed. Promise.”
Sugar held out a fist and waited for her to bump it with her own. “Deal. Shots of apple juice all around.”
“What?” Trip shouted, looking aghast.
A redheaded woman walked over and covered his mouth with her hand. Stiletto couldn’t remember her name, so she glanced at the woman’s cut and read her patch.Darlin’. “Don’t listen to him. He’ll be fine.”
As Stiletto watched the room of people, most of which were shifters, she was overwhelmed with a deep guilt that she ever believed they were vicious monsters who murdered because they could. They were brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, spouses, friends…human.
“You good?” Trick asked as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
She cleared her throat and smiled at him. “Yeah. Just… thank you.”
He looked confused, but she didn’t clarify. “Take me to my people,” she told him and pointed at the Shifty Sisters table. “I think there’s an initiation I’m missing.”
“So, what’s this Shifty Sisters tradition I keep hearing about?” Stiletto asked as she sat around one of the tables in the clubhouse with the other women.
“Once you’re all healed up,” Butterfly began, “we’ll take you across the street to the tattoo shop. Each of us have a tattoo for our men. It started with Darlin’.”
Darlin’ nodded. “I got the Howlers colors with the wordsTrip’s Bitchunder it because, well… I’m a wolf shifter, and I’m his.”
