“Pierce. Didn’t know you were in town,” he greeted. Storm moved to the left of Pierce. Savage slipped in on the other side. The rest of Torpedo Ink spread out behind them. They would take their cue from him. He was Alena’s older brother and he was the one calling the shots without Czar or Steele there. He would always call them for Alena or Storm.
Pierce wore his colors with every bit of the same pride with which Torpedo Ink wore theirs. He was Diamondback, one of the largest clubs in the world. One of the strongest. Torpedo Ink resided in their territory and was technically considered a support club for the Diamondbacks.
Pierce nodded at the others as he came right into the center of the room, but his gaze rested on Alena. She was artfully draped on the pool table looking the way only Alena could look. Her jeans fit the curve of her butt lovingly, while her tight tank barely held in her straining breasts. She stood up very slowly, a lazy, sexy move that was all Alena. Ice wanted to shake her. He sent her a look of reprimand, but she was Alena and she ignored it.
“Heard you were in town celebrating. Where’s the happy couple?” Pierce asked Ice, but he still didn’t look at him. He looked only at Alena.
“They took off for their honeymoon. More to the point, what are you doing in Vegas? Specifically, what are you doing here? This is a little beneath you, isn’t it? Slumming?”
“I have business here. Or perhaps a better way to put it would be I have unfinished business, and since she’s here in this bar, so am I.”
Ice wanted to take three steps forward and end Pierce right there. He could move with blurring speed. The moment he took that first step, his brothers would distract Pierce. He wouldn’t need that edge; he had already planned every step out and each counter Pierce might try. Pierce would drop and they’d be gone. But there was Soleil . . . He could feel her hands gripping the back of his jacket.
Alena was sacred. She’d lived through hell, but she was alive, and that was more than any other female other than Lana could say that had attended their “school.” Ice and Storm had managed to keep her alive by bargaining with their bodies. By allowing torture and rape. By agreeing to monstrous terms.
Pierce’s club wouldn’t welcome her, men or women. She wore another club’s colors on her back, on her skin. Just like every one of the brethren, she was Torpedo Ink. He had no idea what was really going on between his little sister and the enforcer for the Mendocino chapter of the Diamondbacks, but for Pierce to saunter alone into a bar filled with members of a club he knew were lethal, something big had to be drawing him.
Ice swung his gaze to Alena. She looked cool. Nonchalant. As if she didn’t have a care in the world, but she had learned, just as the rest of them, to hide her true feelings behind a mask.
“Not sure why you’re here, Pierce,” Alena said. She settled once more over the pool table, looking a little haughty.
Ice winced. His sister sounded as sultry as hell. He sent her a reprimanding frown. The only indication that she noticed that he’d gone completely glacier was the small swallow. Her gaze hadn’t shifted from Pierce, but she’d seen his frown.
“Just want to talk, Alena. Walk with me.”
It was more an order than an invitation, and immediately Ice made a small movement toward Pierce. Alena’s breath hissed out. Behind him, Soleil’s hand twisted in his jacket, as if she could hold him back. Her hand trembled and he felt it right through his colors. She had no idea what was happening, but she could feel the terrible tension surrounding them.
“You want to talk to him?” Ice asked. He waited. A heartbeat. Two. The room was so still, no one moved. No one made a sound. Waiting, just as he was for Alena’s answer.
“Yes.”
Ice switched to his native language. “This is a dangerous game you’re playing, Alena. It could get both of you killed. This man touches you without your consent or allows you to get hurt in any way, I will kill him. I won’t care what club he’s in or how many brothers he has. I will kill him. Do you understand what I’m saying to you?”
Alena nodded.
“I did things to protect you. I sold my soul to protect you. No one hurts you. No one, Alena. His club will not want you.”
“I know, Ice.” Her voice was soft. She spoke in the same language, keeping her eyes on him.
“Let him underestimate you. Let them all underestimate you. But this man will know me. He won’t take you without seeing who I am and what I’ll do to him if anything happens to you. Do we have an understanding?”