Throne of Scars (Lost Kings MC 20)

I watch the action with a detached sense of reality as the adrenaline and fury evaporate from my veins. Breathing hard, I turn toward Wrath. He holds out a towel and wraps it around the knuckles of my right hand. Now that the rage is leaving, pain sets into my fingers.

“Fuck,” I mutter, shaking it off. Getting into fights at fifty hurts a hell of a lot more than it did in my twenties.

“Stop moving around and let me look at it,” Wrath orders.

“You a fuckin’ doctor now?”

“No, but I have some experience with broken bones, ya prick.”

“You all right?” Rock asks, joining us at the bar.

“No, I’m fuckin’ pissed. What the hell was that?”

“I don’t know.”

“Where’s Serena?”

“The girls took her to a quieter location,” Z says, stepping up behind Wrath. “He all right?” he asks.

“He is fine,” I snap. “Don’t talk about me like I ain’t sittin’ right here.”

Z blows out an irritated breath and runs his knuckles over his chest. “Just worried about you, Grumpy.”

I shoot a glare at Z. “I told her…I promised her that my patch meant no one would pull this shit with her ever again in our clubhouse.”

“I know,” Z says with apology in his tone. “I’m sorry. I’ll talk to Ice as soon as I can.”

“Doesn’t matter what he says. The damage is done.”

I yank my hand out of Wrath’s grasp. “Am I free to go, Doc?”

He cocks his head. “Yeah, but I’d readjust that attitude before you see your girl. She’s gonna think you’re pissed at her.”

“She doesn’t need that, Grinder. Give it a minute,” Rock adds.

“Don’t fuckin’ tell me what my woman needs.” I turn but Z’s blocking my path. He steps aside with a dramatic sweep of his hand. “First room on the left.”

People move the fuck out of my way as I charge the short distance from the bar to the hallway. The first door on the left is closed. I shove it open without knocking.

Four patched ol’ ladies are clustered around Serena. Trinity moves to block Serena. Then her gaze lands on me.

“You plannin’ to fight me, Trin?” I ask.

“If I had to, yeah.”

Damn, I love her fire.

My eyes land on Serena. She’s calm now. The beautiful makeup she took such care applying earlier is smeared but there don’t seem to be any recent tears. Good thing, or I’d have to go beat on Pants some more.

Hope whispers something in Serena’s ear. When Serena nods, Hope pats her leg and stands. “We’ll leave you guys.” She offers her hand to Lilly and pulls her off the floor.

Charlotte hugs Serena one last time before joining the girls.

On her way past me, Trinity stops and squeezes my arm. “You all right?” she asks in a low voice.

“I’m pissed but yeah.” I meet her concerned golden eyes. “Your husband took care of my hands.”

“Good.” She glances over her shoulder and squeezes my arm one more time. “Serena’s made of strong stuff, but she definitely needs you.”

“Thank you, Trinity.”

She closes the door behind her.

Serena watches me with wary eyes as I approach. Fear flickers over her face. She shrinks against the couch. I know it has nothing to do with me, but it still wounds.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers.

Her apology snaps my control and I rush closer, sitting next to her and gathering her in my arms. “What are you sorry about?”

“For whatever I did that brought that on.”

“Baby, he just has a death wish. That’s got nothing to do with you.”

Her eyes widen and she pulls away. “You didn’t kill him, did you?”

“No.” I chuckle. “He still had a pulse when they dragged him away.”

“I’m so—”

“Don’t apologize one more time. Tell me exactly what went down.”

“I don’t know. It all happened so fast.” She shakes her head. “He grabbed my arm and said something about not meeting before. I told him to let go. He tried telling me I was pretty and wanted me to show him a good time. I told him to get his hands off me and asked why he was ignoring my patch. Warned him that my ol’ man would kill him.” Her lashes flutter as she drops her gaze to her lap. “He said something about how he’d heard I’m always down for a good time.”

“Hey.” I place my finger under her chin and lift her head. “I’m the one who’s sorry. I promised you that would never happen if you were wearing my patch.”

“It’s not your fault. It’s mine. There’s something wrong with me.”

“There is nothing wrong with you, Serena.” Fuck, I’m never bringing her near one of our clubhouses again.

“There is. Don’t you get it? Every time you take me to one of these parties, someone will mention my past. You can dress me up however you want, but people remember and will want to test both of us.”