Feral Devotion
The backyard was crawling with leather and smoke.
Grills hissed and spat. Bottles clinked like wind chimes made of glass and teeth. Sunlight burned down on steel and ink and blood-soaked brotherhood. One of those rare afternoons when SAMCRO pretended the world wasn’t a powder keg — beers cracked open, prospects sweating behind the grills, laughter rolling in low waves beneath patches and narrowed eyes.
Then he showed up.
Not a Son. Not even close.
Fucking Ezra Delaney. My ex.
Model-pretty. Soft-spoken. City-slicker. Blond hair gelled like he’d never sweated under a hood. Tailored jacket that sneered at leather. Clean boots, no dirt under the nails, no fight in his bones. Walking into the yard with that plastic smile like he was bulletproof.
I was across the yard with a beer, leaning against the picnic table, watching Jax talk with Bobby and Tig when I saw Ezra approach me.
I’d been laughing at something Happy said. A soft sound. Head tipped back. Tank top hugging every curve. Dark jeans. The belt Jax had stolen off me once in bed.
Ezra slid in beside me like he belonged there.
My spine stiffened. Smile dropped.
But he didn’t take the fucking hint.
He leaned in, murmuring something in that smarmy, polished tone. His hand came up — fingers moving toward my face, toward my hair like he had a right.
That was all it took.
Across the yard Jax’s head turned, sharp as a wolf scenting blood. His jaw ticked. Then — deliberate, slow — he passed his beer to Bobby and stepped away from the circle.
“Uh oh,” Bobby muttered. “Here comes the firestorm.”
I didn’t catch the words Jax threw first. I didn’t need to.
The whole yard felt it. The shift. The drop in air pressure before a thunderclap. Ezra’s smug little smile cracked. He tried to laugh it off, hand half rising like he might clap Jax on the shoulder—
Jax’s hand shot out, grabbed his collar, spun him, and dragged him toward the lot.
“Out. Now,” Jax snarled, voice so low it vibrated in my chest.
“Jax—” I started, heart slamming.
“Stay there, Roxy.” His voice cracked like a whip. “You move, I swear to Christ—”
He didn’t finish. He didn’t have to.
Every head in the yard turned. No one stepped in. Not to stop it. Just to watch.
Because Jackson Teller never snapped like this unless it was personal. And when it was personal—he didn’t fucking miss.
Ezra stumbled as Jax shoved him through the gate into the dirt lot. “This is—this is insane,” he stammered. “I was just being friendly—”
“You touched her.”
“I dated her—”
Jax hit him. A blur of leather and rage. Fist met jaw with a crack like a gunshot.
Ezra dropped.
Jax followed.
He didn’t stop.
Knuckles slammed into pretty-boy cheekbones, into a nose that shattered wetly, into ribs, gut, gravel. Dust exploded around them, boots scattering stones. Ezra coughed blood through his teeth while Jax broke him — no words, no mercy, fists pounding a rhythm only violence could calm.
And through it all—
No one stepped in.
Everyone had seen Ezra touch me.
Everyone had seen Jax’s eyes when he did.
And everyone understood.
When Ezra was a heap of blood and whimpering cartilage, Jax finally stood.
Chest heaving. Hands slick with blood. Blue eyes gone feral.
He turned to me.
I didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. Just stared at him — feral, panting, mine.
He came at me fast.
Grabbed my wrist.
Didn’t say a word.
Dragged me inside the clubhouse, past the stunned faces, past the silence, past the laughter that had died completely. No one dared speak.
The chapel door slammed behind us.










