Chapter 37 Training day
Ryder's POV
I channeled every ounce of frustration into training Sage harder than ever.
If she was going to be a target, if someone was watching her through rifle scopes and sending death threats, then she needed to be ready. Ready to fight back, ready to defend herself, ready to survive whatever came next.
We spent three hours at the range. My ears rang from the constant gunfire but I didn't let up. Sage's hands shook from fatigue but she kept shooting, kept improving, kept pushing herself past the point where most people would quit.
"Center mass," I called out. "Two shots, quick succession."
She fired. Both rounds hit within an inch of each other right where the heart would be.
"Good. Again."
We ran through drill after drill until she could hit targets without thinking, her body moving on pure muscle memory. When she finally lowered the gun, her arms were trembling but her eyes were fierce.
"More?" she asked.
"Hand to hand. Let's go."
The clubhouse gym was empty when we got there. I pulled out the training mats and we went through basic defensive moves first. Blocks, redirects, using an attacker's momentum against them.
Then I came at her for real.
Not hard enough to seriously hurt her but fast enough to make it count. She blocked and redirected, her movements getting smoother as her body remembered what I'd taught her.
But she was tired and I was bigger. I had her pinned against the mat three times in a row.
"You're thinking too much," I said, letting her up. "Stop trying to remember the moves and just react."
"Easy for you to say."
"Again."
This time when I came at her, something clicked. She didn't think about the sequence, didn't plan her counter. She just moved.
Her elbow caught me in the ribs hard enough to make me stumble. Then she hooked my leg and used my own weight to send me crashing to the mat.
I landed on my back with her knee on my chest and genuine surprise on my face.
She grinned down at me, fierce and proud and beautiful. "Did I hurt you?"
"No. But an attacker would be hurting right about now." I couldn't help grinning back. "That was perfect."
"Again," she demanded, climbing off me.
We kept going. By the time we took a break, Sage was exhausted and bruised but she hadn't quit once. Sweat soaked through her shirt and her hair stuck to her face but she looked more alive than I'd seen her in days.
I became aware that we weren't alone anymore. Tommy leaned against the wall watching. Diesel stood near the door. Snake was by the weight bench. Other members had filtered in quietly to watch Sage prove she wasn't a helpless victim.
"Not bad, princess," Diesel called out. "You might actually survive a real fight."
Sage flipped him off without looking and I heard a few brothers chuckle.
After training, I was heading to the showers when Diesel caught up with me in the hallway.
"Got a minute?" he asked.
"What's up?"
He looked around to make sure we were alone. "The girl's got heart. I'll give her that. Reminds me of Vincent in some ways. Stubborn as hell."
"That's what you stopped me to say?"
"No." Diesel's expression turned serious. "Listen, about this marriage contract thing. Some of us have been talking."
I tensed. "Talking about what?"
"About how we don't like the idea of Sage being used as a bargaining chip any more than you do." He crossed his arms. "I know I gave her a hard time when she first came back. Questioned whether she belonged here. But she's proven herself. She's earned her place."
This was the last thing I expected from Diesel. He'd been one of Sage's biggest skeptics from the start.
"We're still Steel Wolves," he continued. "We don't let outsiders dictate our family's choices. The Blood Sisters can make all the threats they want but that doesn't mean we have to roll over and take it."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying you've got support if it comes to a fight. Not everyone will back Jaxon if he tries to enforce that contract." Diesel met my eyes. "Just want you to know you're not alone in this."
He walked away before I could respond, leaving me standing in the hallway trying to process what just happened.
The club was quietly taking sides. Some members would support Jaxon and the contract because they believed in preserving the alliance. Others would support Sage's right to choose even if it meant war.
A civil war might be brewing within the Steel Wolves themselves.
"What was that about?"
I turned to find Sage at my elbow. She must have followed me from the gym.
"Diesel was just—"
The security alarms blared, cutting me off mid-sentence. Loud wailing sirens that meant someone was trying to breach the clubhouse perimeter.
Brothers poured out of rooms, grabbing weapons as they ran. Jaxon appeared from his office already on the phone with whoever was monitoring the cameras.
"East fence," he shouted over the alarms. "Two people trying to cut through. Everyone to your positions now."
I grabbed Sage's hand and pulled her toward the safe room in the back of the clubhouse. "You need to get—"
"No." She jerked her hand free. "I'm not hiding anymore."
"Sage, this isn't the time to—"
"I said no." Her jaw set with that stubborn determination I'd come to recognize. "If someone's coming for us, I want to see who it is."
The alarms continued blaring as the club mobilized. Somewhere outside, someone was actively trying to breach our defenses.
And we had no idea if it was the Blood Sisters making a move, the person who killed Vincent, or something else entirely.