Chapter One
Nadia
Like a nearly empty tube of toothpaste, I’m being rolled up and squeezed to get that last bit out of the container. Ignoring the dull throb at the base of my spine and in the soles of my feet encased in Crocs, I climb from the forest green sedan and zombie walk toward the clubhouse. When Doc calls, you answer, or you’ll regret it later. As his daughter, I’m not immune to his highhanded arrogance. I’d wager to say it’s worse. He’s a narcissist who sees me as an extension of himself, not an independent woman with her own life to live. I know our relationship is unhealthy, but he and the Feral Wolves MC are my only family.
Cutting them off and going cold turkey would leave me with nothing but my career and a few surface relationships. Wouldn’t that be better? The steely inner child who got me out of the house and into nursing school despite my father’s negative attitude toward the career rears her head. I shove her back down. At twenty, I’m not ready to take the final step to cut out the toxicity in my life, so I keep putting one foot in front of the other until I’m at the thick metal door with a guard posted behind it. Knocking, I rock back. Women aren’t usually a common sight at the clubhouse unless there’s a party, but I’m an exception to that rule as a nurse. Since twelve, I’ve been patching up bikers under my father, Doc’s tutelage, when he discovered I was a dab hand at threading a needle, straight stitches, and able to stomach blood.
I rap on the front door and rock back on my heels, rolling my neck. The satisfying crack makes me groan. The door opens, and a smirking Leer looks down at me.
“Nurse Nadia.” He grins, flashing his pearly whites. “Are you here to take my temperature?” He wiggles his eyebrows. “Cause I have something I’d love you to examine.”
“Not even in your dreams on my worst day, Beast.” I roll my eyes at his lust-filled brown gaze and slid past his muscular frame.
He’s stunning with his classic, beautifully sculpted Greek features and shock of thick dark hair he keeps in a braid. But his attitude is shit, and he treats women like trash. I have to tolerate the brothers’ archaic beliefs, toxic masculinity, and chauvinism. But I don’t have to ball and chain myself to a horny meathead who goes through females like sex is a video game and objectifies and degrades them.
I scan the room, ignoring the naked couple passed out on the pool table, the lines of coke on various surfaces, and the intense stench of sex, cigarette smoke, pot, and bodies. Breathing shallowly, I quietly weave my way through the crowded area. Three o’clock is kin to early morning for this bunch during the weekend.
“Looking for your old man?” The emotionless voice sends a chill slipping down my spine like a cracked egg.
I turn to face the massive man with broad shoulders, a scar across his face’s left side, and the coldest pale blue eyes I’d ever seen. Looking at him is like diving into the frigid waters of the Antarctic.
“I came by to check on his wound.” A month ago, Dad caught a bullet. I didn’t ask because I knew better, but I’d been drug in at four o’clock in the morning to fix him up.
Scar grunts. “Your father is in his room. But I’d knock first. He had company last night.”
I grimace, and Scar chuckles. “Speaking of company. You thought anymore about my offer?”
Stomach twisting, I lick my lips. “I love the Feral Wolves, but this life has never been for me. I’ll always be here to play my supportive role. But I want to live quietly.” I wring my hands as I wait for his response.
“Does little Nadia think she’s better than us now that she has a fancy degree?” He chuckles darkly.
I shake my head. “It’s not that at all.”
“Sounds like it, baby girl.” The nickname on his lips is a mockery. He’s never hidden from the fact that he wants me in his bed.
I glance away.
He steps into my space. The heat rolling off his body tosses my stomach like a ship on a stormy sea. My body vibrated with tension, and fear creeps over me. He’s always been unpredictable. Would he press this issue? He chuckles.
“Poor little girl born to the big bad wolves when she’s a little sheep. It’s only a matter of time before we devour you. Why not walk into the feast with your head held high?” Bending down, he leans over and inhales deeply. “I love the smell of fear on your skin.”
My lips form an O before I can stop myself from responding.
He chuckles. “I live for your responses. So innocent despite all the filth and corruption surrounding you. Makes me hard.”
Sounds like a personal problem, pervert.
“Feel what you do to me.” He steps forward, and I counter, moving back. He chuckles. “I like the chase, Nadia.”
“I’m not interested,” I stand my ground.
“Stubborn. I’m patient. I look forward to fucking that out of you.” His certainty makes me flinch.
“Don’t hold your breath. You’ll choke,” I snap.
His eyes narrow, and I hold my breath. I’m walking a tightrope with this man.
Throwing his head back, he laughs. “Go. You escape another day.”