Page 80 of Scornful

I'm Geirolf's woman.

I’m part of this family in a way I never was before.

And whatever comes next, whatever this war brings to our doorstep, I'll face it along with him because this is who I am now, who I choose to be.

The Patriot has added fuel to the fire, but now the club is going to burn down his entire world.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Geirolf

The chapel doors close behind me with a heavy thud, sealing all of the available full patch and officers inside.

My hands still throb from beating Laken's skull in, and despite scrubbing them raw, I swear I can still feel his blood under my fingernails.

The hammer's weight, the wet crunch of bone, the way his threats about Astrid cut off mid-sentence—it all plays on repeat in my mind.

Good fucking riddance.

I take my usual spot at the table—not at the head with the officers, but close enough to hear everything clearly.

The energy in the room is much different today.

Usually there's some bullshitting before Runes calls us to order, brothers catching up, trading insults.

Today, we're all silent, waiting.

The weight of what's happened—Flora's death, the overdoses, now Kraken's family—sits heavy on every shoulder.

Tor sits across from me, jaw clenched tight.

Magnus drums his fingers on the table, a nervous habit I've rarely seen from him.

Runes doesn't make us wait long.

He rises from his seat at the head of the table, and the temperature in the room seems to drop ten degrees.

His weathered face shows every year of his life, every fight, every moment of stress that’s plagued him.

But it's his eyes that make my blood run cold—crystal clear blue, but burning with rage I've never seen before.

"Brothers," he begins, then stops.

His fist comes down on the table hard enough to make beer bottles jump. "Enough is enough!"

The roar echoes off the walls.

I've seen Runes angry before, but this is different.

This is the rage of a man who's watched children get hurt, families terrorized.

This is the fury of a president who's had his kingdom attacked one too many times.

"They come for my family, tryin’ to steal my damn granddaughter," he continues, voice dropping to something more dangerous than shouting. "They target our children. They blow up our homes. Flora is dead. Rio's daughters grow up without a mother. Now Bjorn—sixteen fuckin’ years old—is fighting for his life because these cockroaches think they can break us."

The room is dead silent.

"We end this now," Runes declares. "Not next week. Not when it's convenient.Now."

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