All Chapters of Claimed By My Father’s Outlaw : Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

RAINEThe ride back from the canyon was a blur of pain and roaring engines. I kept my bike steady through sheer force of will, blood soaking on my side and dripping onto the fuel tank. Isla rode tight on my left, Sean on my right, ready to catch me if I fell. We made it through the gates just as the sky turned black.They helped me off the bike and into the infirmary. The doc dug the bullet out while I bit down on a leather strap. I couldn’t scream or tear up in front of everyone, so I kept my cries down.Once the wound was stitched and wrapped, I waved them all out.“I need the documents from the last raid cache,” I said. “Bring them to my office now.”Isla hesitated. “Raine, you should rest.”“I’ll rest when we’re not at war everytime.”She brought the sealed box herself. I locked the door behind her and spread the papers across my desk under the single hanging bulb. Most of it were what we already suspected; cartel payments, Vex loyalists, all the names I had already dealt with.I

RAINEI limped the damaged bike through the back gate just after midnight, my engine coughing smoke. My men rushed out to meet me immediately. I waved off help and walked straight into the main hall, blood still seeping through the bandage on my thigh. The club needed to see their Queen standing.Reforms were already rolling out. I spent the next two hours personally overseeing loyalty oaths and pairing up riders for every patrol. New conduct codes were posted on the board. Some veterans grumbled but most fell in line. While that happened, I pulled my inner circle together and started planning the retaliatory strike on the cartel outpost ten miles south.“We hit them hard at dawn,” I said, pointing at the map. “In and out. Destroy their staging supplies and send a message.”Ghost — the rogue ex-Revenant — stood quietly in the corner. I had to make the call on him tonight.I looked him over. “You fought well today. But trusting a man who burned his own club is a gamble. Give me one rea

Raine POV The report of Vex at the airstrip kept playing in my head through the night, as I kept rolling around my bed. I slept in short stretches on the office couch, waking every time I hear a bike engine turned over outside. By first light of dawn, I had the new hierarchy posted and the strike team ready and assembled. Reform rollout and the cartel skirmish ran together. I enforced the new structure hard, and made all the Lieutenants reported directly to me, while the patrol leaders answered to them. There will be no more loose chains of command. Anyone who skipped the chain of authority lost their privileges on the spot. While the rules settled in quickly, I led a fast strike on a minor cartel depot ten miles east of our border. We hit it at mid-morning. Ghost’s recon team fed us the layout we used to enter. The depot was lightly guarded, with two trucks, a handful of men, little fuel and small arms. We rolled in tight and slow, our engines low until the last milisecond. I to

RAINE I lasted eleven minutes. Double the watches. Hold until we know what he wants. It was a smart order, the kind Vex himself would have been proud of, and I hated it the second the scout's boots left the hall. My father never needed to throw a punch when he could make you flinch at your own shadow. He wanted me behind my walls, counting bullets, picturing him out in the dark. I grabbed my cut, ignored the stitches pulling in my side, and walked out into the yard. Ghost was crouched by his bike under the floodlights, cleaning his rifle by feel. He looked up. "You're not going to hold." "Do I look like I'm going to hold?" "You look like you're about to do something stupid." "Good. Pick a bike." He stood without arguing. I filed that under useful. I was still filing people under useful. It had worked out great with Cole. "Where do you think you're going?" Isla crossed the yard almost at a run, one arm in her jacket, gray shadows under her eyes. "Northwest." "The rail yard? N

RAINEI got ninety minutes of sleep before the noise woke me. Dozens of men in one room, voices stacked like thunderheads. The sound of a club deciding something about me.I shoved my arms into my cut and went down. The hall was packed wall to wall, veterans in front, Ghost's riders along the east wall with their arms folded. Isla stood at the foot of the platform with her hand near her pistol. She gave the smallest shake of her head. It's bad.In the center of the room, Hollis held up the bullet between two thick fingers."Here she is. The Queen."Silence rippled out."Somebody in this club shot our President. Look at the stamp. That's Serpent ammunition.""A cartel sniper put it in him," I said. "They've been using stolen ammo for weeks. They burned our depot—""Convenient." Hollis swept a hand toward Ghost, who didn't move. "Everything's convenient. Dan's dead. Vex is shot. And the daughter holds the gate with a new rule for everything. Codes, oaths, outsiders at our table. You wan