The Warlord's Comeback: Claiming My Lethal Queen

e Shaff

a perfume. Heavy metal thrummed through the floorboards, a relentless bassline that rattled the teeth in my skull. Around the pool tables and

tire world. Tonight, it felt like an iron c

coronation. After months of grunt work and dirty errands, t

nd the bottom rocker blaring NORTH CAROLINA declared

s, drunk on cheap bourbon and

haw. She was draped in a black cal

scraping grease off combine engines at the local farms. I had bought it for Dale's patch-in n

counter. The iron thud cut through the mu

fighting rooster. He wrapped an arm around Bianca's waist, hau

ts stomping the floor, and glasses clinkin

r eyes roaming over the room like a cat

ked directly onto me, standing isolated in the shadowy

ts leaned over the jukebox, whisp

l clinging to the shado

ng his grease rags and stitching his sp

quiet orphan girl. Two years of tending to Dale's hangovers, nursing his road rash, and turning a blind eye while he di

over. Her hips swayed with deliberate, theatrical exaggeration. The mus

nestly so sorry it had to end like this. But Dale's a real patched man now

ence so absolute that her smirk flickered. The lack of tears seeme

clumsiness, she

king through my faded cotton shirt and chilling my skin

lapping a hand over her mouth. "I am so clumsy! Look at

ned

of my skull. And then, somewhere behind m

onths evaporated in a single, icy second. The meek g

e for what he was: a petty thief wearing heavy leather. I s

rs back. The sadness washed out of my eyes, l

ember Highw

azor-sharp resonance that cut through the lingering

oring her completely, and

h three cracked ribs and a punctured lung, left behind by the very crew you were trying to impress. I drag

he rear poker table, several older patched me

loyalty, a prospect who abandoned the wom

idn't earn that reaper on your back. You just wo

ng his fist onto the mahogany. "Get this craz

ombat boots and walked toward the exit. No screaming

ed into my face. Behind me, the roar of angry voices signaled that Da

ded stray. They had no idea what kind