The Reaper's Daughter

The compound felt different after the revelation. Whispers followed me through the main room. Some brothers nodded with respect. Others watched with narrowed eyes, like my blood had suddenly made me a threat. I kept my head high, Colossus’s hand a steady weight on my lower back. His touch said everything his mouth didn’t in front of the club: You’re mine. I don’t care whose daughter you are. We didn’t make it far before Viper called church. I wasn’t invited. Not officially. But Colossus didn’t let go of my hand. “She stays,” he told the room, voice like gravel. “If we’re talking about her blood, she hears it from us.” Viper didn’t argue. He just jerked his chin toward the empty chair beside Colossus. I sat. The leather cut felt heavier than ever. Rogue dropped a folder on the table. Old photos. Yellowed documents. “Lena’s old man wasn’t just any Reaper. He was their Sergeant-at-Arms fifteen years ago. Name was Marcus Voss. Went by ‘Ghost.’ Started a war with another club, then vanished when it went bad. Took secrets with him. Reapers have been hunting his bloodline ever since.” My stomach twisted. Marcus Voss. Mom never said his name. Not once. Colossus’s hand found my thigh under the table and squeezed. I squeezed back. Viper leaned forward. “They think you know what he took. That’s why they’re coming so hard. That’s why they grabbed your mom and the toolbox. They want leverage.” I swallowed. “I don’t know anything. I was a kid. Mom never talked about him.” Rogue’s eyes weren’t unkind, but they were sharp. “Doesn’t matter what you know. Matters what they think you know. And now the whole club knows whose blood runs in your veins.” The tension in the room was thick enough to choke on. Some brothers shifted. One — a patched member named Brick I’d barely spoken to — spoke up. “No offense, Lena, but we took you in. Protected you. Now we find out you’re Reaper blood? How do we know this ain’t a long game?” Colossus moved so fast the chair scraped. He stood, towering over the table, voice deadly calm. “Say that again.” Brick didn’t back down. “I’m just saying what everyone’s thinking. Her old man betrayed his club. What’s to stop her from doing the same?” The room went quiet. I stood up slowly. My voice didn’t shake. “I didn’t ask for this blood. I didn’t ask for any of it. But I chose this club. I chose him.” I looked at Colossus, then back at the room. “You want to vote me out? Fine. But you do it knowing I’ve bled for this place. I’ve fixed your bikes. I’ve stood in your fights. And I’ll keep doing it — because this is my home now. Not because of blood. Because of choice.” Colossus’s hand settled on the back of my neck. Proud. Protective. Viper finally spoke. “She stays. Under full protection. Anyone who has a problem with that can take it up with Colossus… or me.” He looked around the table. “We use this. The Reapers want her because they think she’s the key to whatever Ghost stole. We find out what it was first. We end this war on our terms.” The vote was quick. I stayed. Barely. After church, Colossus didn’t take me to his room. He took me to the garage. The door clicked shut behind us. He turned, eyes stormy, and backed me against the workbench again. This time there was no teasing. Just raw need. “They don’t get to make you feel small,” he said, voice rough. His hands framed my face. “You’re not your father’s sins. You’re mine.” I grabbed his cut and pulled him down. “Then show me.” He did. This time it was slower. Hungrier. He stripped me carefully, like unwrapping something sacred, then lifted me onto the workbench like I weighed nothing. His mouth was everywhere — neck, breasts, stomach — while his fingers worked between my legs until I was shaking and begging. “Kane,” I gasped when he finally pushed inside me. The stretch, the fullness, the way he filled every inch — it was almost too much. Almost perfect. “Say it again,” he growled, hips rolling deep and steady. “My name. While I’m inside you.” “Kane— f**k— Kane—” He groaned, forehead pressed to mine, one massive hand gripping my hip hard enough to bruise. “That’s it. My girl. My wrench girl. Taking me so f*****g well.” The size difference hit different this time — his body overwhelming mine, his hands careful even when the rhythm turned rough. I came hard, nails digging into his back, and he followed with my name on his lips like a prayer. After, he didn’t pull away. He stayed inside me, arms wrapped around my smaller frame, breathing hard against my neck. “I meant what I said in church,” he murmured. “You’re mine. Blood, past, all of it. I’ll burn the whole Reaper club to the ground before I let them touch you.” I traced the scar on his collarbone. “And I’ll stand beside you when you do. I’m not weak. I’m not running.” He pulled back just enough to look at me, gray eyes soft in a way only I got to see. “I know. That’s why I love you.” We stayed like that until the adrenaline faded. Eventually we cleaned up and stepped back into the compound. Mom was waiting near the infirmary. She looked smaller than I remembered. Tired. Scared. “Lena,” she said quietly. “Can we talk?” Colossus didn’t leave my side. I didn’t ask him to. We sat in the small room off the garage. Mom twisted her hands in her lap. “Your father… he wasn’t a good man. But he loved you. In his way. He left that toolbox for you. Said if anything ever happened to him, you’d know what to do with it.” She swallowed. “There’s a false bottom. I never opened it. I was too scared.” My heart pounded. “What’s in it?” “I don’t know. But the Reapers have been hunting it for fifteen years. And now they know you have it.” Colossus’s hand found mine. Steady. Warm. I looked at my mom — really looked at her. The woman who chose Marco over me again and again. The woman who finally said sorry when it was almost too late. “I’m not ready to forgive you,” I said honestly. “But I’m not ready to lose you either. So we start over. Slow.” She nodded, eyes wet. “Slow is good.” When she left, Colossus pulled me into his arms again. “You’re stronger than anyone in this club realizes.” I smiled against his chest. “Good thing I have a giant watching my back.” He chuckled — that low, rare sound — and kissed the top of my head. “Always.” Night fell. The compound was quiet but tense. Church had been called again for tomorrow. Decisions would be made. Sides would be drawn. I lay in Colossus’s bed later, his huge body curled around mine like a shield. His fingers traced lazy patterns on my bare stomach. “Whatever’s in that toolbox,” he said quietly, “we face it together. No more secrets. No more shadows.” I turned in his arms and kissed him — slow, deep, full of everything I couldn’t say yet. “Together.” His hand slid lower, teasing, possessive. “And when this is over… I’m putting my name on you. Property patch. Old lady. Whatever you’ll let me give.” Heat curled in my belly again. “You asking me to be yours in front of the whole club?” “I’m telling you,” he growled against my neck, teeth grazing. “You already are.” I laughed softly, then moaned when his fingers found exactly the right spot. “Then I guess I’m saying yes.” He rolled me under him again, eyes dark with promise. “Good. Because I’m not letting you go. Not now. Not ever.” Outside, the Reapers were circling. Inside, the titan had claimed his wrench girl completely. And nothing — not blood, not betrayal, not the past — was going to take that from us.