He's a prospect building hurricane-proof houses who never planned to need one. She's fighting alone to save her family's legacy from a predator who thinks culture's for sale. When corporate exploitation targets her food truck, their survival alliance ignites into fierce claiming that rebuilds them both. Amy Broderick has spent three years trapped in an impossible fight-borrowed nothing, lost her family's restaurant to fire, and somehow Curtis Trask thinks fifteen thousand dollars buys four generations of Cajun recipes.
Trask's property manager Raymond knows where she parks her truck, and his threats are escalating from vandalism to violence. The law won't help when Trask owns half the city officials in Houma. Hammer came to Louisiana as a prospect trying to prove he could channel rage into patience. Six months of construction work and brotherhood missions haven't erased the guilt of watching his childhood home collapse in Hurricane Laura.
When he finds Amy's food truck destroyed and Raymond escalating to weapons, Hammer's protective instincts override every plan to earn his patch quietly. From their explosive first meeting to coordinated tactical operations, Hammer and Amy forge a partnership built on stubborn refusal to surrender. She's everything he shouldn't claim-a civilian with a business to protect who deserves stability, not outlaw life.
He's everything she should fear-a man who solves problems through elimination instead of negotiation. But when Trask's operation escalates to propane bombs and systematic destruction, Amy must choose between fighting alone and accepting Serpent protection that comes with permanent claiming. Their battle will take them from parking lot rescues to burning restaurant confrontations, testing both their courage and their explosive attraction.
In the sultry heat of Louisiana bayou country, two survivors will risk everything for heritage-and each other.
He's a prospect building hurricane-proof houses who never planned to need one. She's fighting alone to save her family's legacy from a predator who thinks culture's for sale. When corporate exploitation targets her food truck, their survival alliance ignites into fierce claiming that rebuilds them both. Amy Broderick has spent three years trapped in an impossible fight-borrowed nothing, lost her family's restaurant to fire, and somehow Curtis Trask thinks fifteen thousand dollars buys four generations of Cajun recipes.
Trask's property manager Raymond knows where she parks her truck, and his threats are escalating from vandalism to violence. The law won't help when Trask owns half the city officials in Houma. Hammer came to Louisiana as a prospect trying to prove he could channel rage into patience. Six months of construction work and brotherhood missions haven't erased the guilt of watching his childhood home collapse in Hurricane Laura.
When he finds Amy's food truck destroyed and Raymond escalating to weapons, Hammer's protective instincts override every plan to earn his patch quietly. From their explosive first meeting to coordinated tactical operations, Hammer and Amy forge a partnership built on stubborn refusal to surrender. She's everything he shouldn't claim-a civilian with a business to protect who deserves stability, not outlaw life.
He's everything she should fear-a man who solves problems through elimination instead of negotiation. But when Trask's operation escalates to propane bombs and systematic destruction, Amy must choose between fighting alone and accepting Serpent protection that comes with permanent claiming. Their battle will take them from parking lot rescues to burning restaurant confrontations, testing both their courage and their explosive attraction.
In the sultry heat of Louisiana bayou country, two survivors will risk everything for heritage-and each other.