Page 21 of Tye
“Seriously, you don’t know who Tye is?” another teen asked. That was Jared, I think.
“Nope. I don’t follow ice hockey,” I replied.
“Damn girl, you were raised wrong!” Christian joked.
“We watch baseball,” I said. “I’m aware of who Carmine Michaelson is. Sorry. But my question stands,” I said.
“Yeah, I play for the Blackhawks. My last game was a shitstorm, which is where a rival team player tried to smash my head in,” Ice explained shortly.
“Why?” I asked, shocked. I knew hockey players would ‘drop gloves’, I believed it was called, but actually trying to kill another player was shocking.
“Long story,” Ice replied with a glance at his younger siblings, who’d all stopped chatting again and were listening.
“Kids!” Drake demanded, and they returned to talking.
A giggle escaped me. “Sorry, it’s like being at home. My cousins all love to listen in to adult conversations.”
“I can imagine. Youngsters like to know what’s going on even when it doesn’t concern them,” Phoe said firmly, and the chatter from the children’s end rose.
“If you’ve all finished, Mrs Ames has sent dessert down to the cinema, where you can watch a film. Clear your plates and load the dishwasher,” Drake drawled as the kids watched the adults again.
There was a mass stampede, and I was amused when the room emptied of children.
“Wow, they’re well-trained!” Pops exclaimed.
“Christian, Harley, Cody, Jared, and Aaron, please take the leftovers out and store them, and then bring our dessert in,” Phoe said, and they all got to their feet.
It was nice to have a sense of normalcy because the situation we were in was anything but normal.
Ice
Demi was making an effort, and I appreciated her apology, but I was on guard. She’d snapped at me without any reason. I understood that her birth was upsetting and a sensitive subject, but she had jumped the gun. Hell, I was the last person to make a judgement on anyone.
Demi was listening a lot to the conversation, and she was clearly at ease in a large gathering. The kids and the adults surrounding her did not faze her.
But like most of my family, I was on edge around hers and shocked that Dad had allowed them to stay here. If they were genuine, Reading Hall was the safest place for them, but it was a big if. Dad had assigned each of them a guard. They were free to roam the Hall, but not alone.
None of them seemed bothered by having a shadow following them, which was to their credit. Security was also increased within the Hall. Guards patrolled the house, vigilant and not interfering with my family. The internal cameras were on, and extra men sat in the security office watching.
Dad was on high alert, and I could see it in his body language. He didn’t trust them but couldn’t find a chink in their story. Which meant Dad would watch and make his decision on their behaviours.
Volcano was a surprise. Of course, I knew his reputation; he was known as Fury’s Pit Bull. Volcano’s rep was the stuff of nightmares, yet it was at odds with the guy who had sought a few quiet moments in the orangery with me. He could be playing me, but he’d appeared pretty chilled. Like the rest of Rage, I was alert to any sign of trouble. Things were moving quicker now. The war was coming, and I’d no clue who’d be left standing.
I envied those who went about their daily lives with no clue about the shitstorm heading for Rapid City. Worse, I had no idea if I’d be present when the attack happened. I could be travelling to a game or in practice when the Fangs attacked. The idea of being absent was distressing. I was a prospect. For shit like this, I should be present to protect my people.
Even so, the MC Presidents had discussed sending the prospects away. That didn’t sit well with anybody, either. We needed all available men who could shoot. We had a city to protect, and worse, there were thousands of innocents who didn’t deserve to live under Fury’s thumb.
It was hard to understand how Fury thought he could take Rapid City and hold it. Chief Howser had declared Fury and the Venomous Fangs a home-grown terrorist organisation, which allowed him to call on the National Guard. Dad had announced Howser was reaching out to the military and everyone else he could think of.
So far, our friends, Congressman Andrew Wainwright, and Senator Antony Parker Jones, had tried to convince the president this was a liable threat. Their pleas had fallen on deaf ears. The president simply refused to believe that an MC was a danger on the scale Antony and Andrew insisted it was.
That wouldn’t help us defend the city.
Volcano and Pops would be spending the next week spewing every last drop of information they had. Somehow, Dad had gotHawthorne to agree not to kill Volcano, who Hawthorne held responsible for McKenna.
Davies, however, needed distance. He’d refused to agree to anything and still planned to put a bullet in Volcano’s head. I couldn’t blame him. McKenna hadn’t been released from the hospital as she wouldn’t speak or interact with anyone. McKenna had completely shut down, and everyone despaired if she’d ever heal.
Fourteen samples of sperm had been taken from her. We understood what that meant. Fangs pulled a train on her. Those dead had got off too easily. Those being held in prison were safe from our retaliation, but we had eyes on them. If any were released, we’d be there before they disappeared.