“Christ, not Mav?” I demanded. I fuckin’ loved that kid, but how Mav belonged to Fish and Marsha, I didn’t know. Dante was terrible, yet Mav was worse.
“Nope. Fish has tied Mav to a pole for ten minutes. Knowing Mav, he’ll chew through the rope. Austin, Beau, and Everleigh have had a fight, and everyone’s taking sides.” Lex and Vivie’s triplets? They weren’t as feral as most of the wild Hellions, so this was unusual.
“Dare I ask?” I shouldn’t have asked, and Phoe’s grin confirmed that.
“Oh, Austin hasn’t evidently learned that anything he can do, Everleigh can. Even if she loves dresses and ribbons. Vivie told her to kick Austin’s ass, and Everleigh did. Unfortunately, she’s clearly been listening to Eddie, because Austin is curled in a corner holding his nuts.”
“Eddie taught Everleigh to fight dirty?” I groaned.
Phoe grinned. “Lex wants to throttle you because of your daughter.”
“Oh, now Eddie’s mine. Although that makes a change from Gunner wanting to kill me because of Dante.”
“No. Gunner still wishes to do that. Dante found some handcuffs and lost the key, and now Aria is chained to him and melting down. Aria’s giving Dante and EJ hell. Dante’s learning, however, that handcuffs aren’t as pleasant a prospect as he first thought.”
“What brought that on?” I demanded, getting up. I was too damn old for this shit.
“Aria stated Tye was hot and Carmine even hotter. That went down like a ton of bricks with Dante,” Phoe grinned.
“Crap.”
“Yeah. Dante’s now holding a grudge against his brothers and was plotting on how to make them, I quote, ‘Not hot.’ The brat’s all yours, honey. See you when I get home.”
With that, Phoe sashayed her ass out of the study.
“Drake!” Gunner bellowed from somewhere in the Hall. Christ, fuck my life. No, fuck my damn son. Dante had inherited too much of my personality.
Phoe
With the file tucked away safely, I headed back to the car. A few minutes’ peace and quiet were always welcome. I loved the huge family we had and encouraged get-togethers, but a girl sometimes needed a few moments alone. That was rare in Rage MC.
Drake made monthly gatherings mandatory a couple of years ago. Every weekend, most of us congregated around the clubhouse anyway, but the first weekend of the month was compulsory. Anytime you hit the compound during the week, there were always several of the brothers and their families about. The clubhouse was never not busy.
Once a month, the men took the Hellions, and we girls had a night out.
They were all hands-on fathers, but women did the bulk of the raising of the Hellions. It was very much appreciated when we hit a bar and let off steam. I’d never met Arrow, but I knew him from what Drake said about him. I hoped Arrow was looking down, watching. His dream had been to create a club focused on riding and family. He’d succeeded. Arrow hadn’t seen his goal come to fruition when he’d been alive, but he’d installed those values in Drake.
I heard footsteps behind and turned. A nondescript young guy stood close, his face eerily expressionless.
Immediately, I grasped who he was.
“No!” I gasped, and the last thing I saw was his grin, right before Judas psychically knocked me out.
Drake
Growing concerned, I glanced at the clock and frowned. Phoe had been gone for several hours now. I bet she was having coffee and relaxing while laughing at us lunatics riding herd on the kids. The Royal Harlots and Royal Bastards had taken one look at the chaos earlier and fled. I couldn’t blame them. I wish I had the same luxury.
An image flashed into my mind. Phoe was lying in a heap on the floor. For a moment, I thought it was a flashback to the past, when her ex-husband had kidnapped her. Then I noticed the clothes matched what she’d been wearing today. My phone pinged, and I picked it up, my gut tensing.
‘Phoenix is beautiful asleep. If you want Phoenix alive, follow my instructions.’
Judas had Phoe. In his murderous hands, he held my heart and reason for living. I didn’t react, unsure if he was in my mind. Instead, I let emotions wash over me. I felt a tickle and hesitated slamming the walls down.
“Drake, shut that shit down,” Belladonna ordered, bursting into the kitchen. Everyone paused and looked across.
“Judas has Phoe,” I stated, anger rising. Judas had touched my wife. He’d dared lay a finger on my woman.
“I caught the flash, but Judas wasn’t fast enough to retreat this time. I can track him,” Belladonna confirmed.
