* * *

“Calm down Devon, she’s fine, we’re all here. No one’s gonna get to her.” I wanted to yell at Quinn that he didn’t know what the fuck he was talking about, but I knew it was irrational.

The idea that that sick fuck was after that sweet girl turned my guts. I’ve never known such fear in my life and I’ve been in some dicey situations before. But we all knew how formidable a foe we were facing.

Khalil has proven time and again that he doesn’t give up, that there are no lengths he wouldn’t go to- to get what he wants.

“He can’t fucking have her. Somebody knows where this fuck is, where’s the general? Fuck this shit.”

“Lo!” That was Connor.

“I’ve got him.”

“Devon, look at me. I’m gonna need you to rein it in brother. We can’t just go after the general, we have to plan and…”

“Why?”

“Because he’s a fucking three star general. We start going after these fucks on domestic soil do you know the hell we’ll unleash on us, on the women?”

“I don’t care who the fuck he is I’m all outta fucks to give. Have you seen her? Have you seen who they’re hunting down like a fucking dog in the wild?”

“And there he is. I’ve been waiting for this.”

“Tyler, don’t fuck with me right now.” The jackass rubbed his hands together and grinned.

I wanted to punch his lights out when he winked at me. It was only the look in his eyes that told me he was only trying to calm the situation that saved his ass.

“Devon, no one is going to get to her. She’s ours now. Would I let someone take Danielle? No. No one is taking your woman. Just get your head on straight brother, focus and let’s find this motherfucker so we can all sleep at night.”

I rubbed the pain in my gut and tried to calm down. I wasn’t expecting this but I should’ve. It all made sense now, the way she’d been so well hidden.

The fact that she doesn’t show up anywhere, almost like she doesn’t exist. What kind of life has she had? Did she even have a childhood? The shit was heartbreaking.

“I can’t…” I felt like I was fucking losing it. It’s one thing for Khalil to play his fucked up games with other people’s lives, but she was different, what he wanted from her… “Oh fuck no!”

I squeezed my head between my hands to ease the pressure and looked around at my brothers. I need help. I didn’t know what to do with the shit that was going on inside of me.

I’ve never felt more murderous in my life and that’s saying a lot. But it was the sense of helplessness that bothered me more.

I’m not afraid for myself, never that, but I never knew what it meant to have someone you care for in danger.

I know that as long as he lives she will never be safe. And we have no idea how many he has working with him on our end.

Kelly had come damn close to being lost, how much more danger is Ariel in? Everything else up to this point was child’s play.

She was the main goal. The thing one of the most dangerous men in the world wanted. Fuck me!

“I want his blood in my teeth. I want to find him and rip him limb from limb.”

The anger and rage was instantaneous, but there was no outlet, no way for me to abate it. Nothing was going to make this shit better except Khalil’s head on a platter.

Before I wanted him dead because of the CO, but now with her added to the mix, that shit has been multiplied tenfold.

My chest felt like it was about to explode and there was a vise like pressure in my head. It took a monumental effort for me not to walk out the door and go on the hunt.

My control was slipping fast. I could feel it happening but couldn’t stop it. I made a move towards the door but a line of bodies stopped me as they stood in my way.

“Get out of my way.” I don’t know which of them I was talking to because I couldn’t see through the haze that clouded my vision. But I knew it was Quinn who put his hands on my shoulders and tried turning me around.

* * *

* * *

Oh fuck, Dev’s a madman. Are you shitting me? Not Mr. Cool! How did I not see this shit coming? I should’ve known he was wound too tight, and trying way too hard to pretend he wasn’t affected by this girl. We all saw it.

Last night we’d been excited and high fiving each other when he was in the cottage getting her settled. The circle was complete and I didn’t have that nagging feeling in my gut any longer because my brother wasn’t going to be left out.

Now this shit! I know how he feels though, which makes it harder that I have to stop him. I too just want to go find the ones responsible and finish this shit. But Lo is right.

We have to think of the others that had been taken as well as what would happen if we went after the general and shit went south. Our lives would be fucked.

* * *

* * *

Why the fuck me? From Connor down to Dev they all lose their shit when it comes to their women. I am not looking forward to putting my brother on his ass for wanting to do something I want to do myself. But I’ll do it to save him.

“Where are you going Dev?” He glared right through us and didn’t say a word, which I knew was more dangerous than the yelling.

It kills me that I can’t make this shit right. I’m always the one, they look to me for answers. But there were so many angles at play here, and all of them dangerous.

As the one my brothers look up to, I have to keep a calm head even when I want to just let it all hang out.

Ever since seeing the CO on that recording my blood has been on a slow boil, but going in hot on this would make shit worse for a whole lotta people.

If that’s not enough, I have my woman mad at me because she can’t have the wedding that she wants, and is making my life a living hell.

Her latest scheme is that sleeping with me outside of marriage goes against everything she believes in. Never mind that half the time she’s the one hopping on my dick before I’m fully awake.

My brothers, their women, and now my damn niece is being held hostage and there isn’t shit I can do because of some asshole that thinks the world belongs to him.

I know they understand the need for caution, but how can I blame them for wanting to break rank and go vigilante when I’m tempted to do the same on a daily basis?

* * *

* * *

Well damn, not another one. Between Tyler and Cord I thought we were done with this shit. Zak I halfway expected to be nuts when it came to Vanessa because of their history.

Tyler is always talking shit but I’ve always known he’s crazy since I’m always the one tasked with reining him in.

But I have to say I didn’t expect this from Dev. He’s always been the most laid back and even tempered of the bunch.

Now it looks like we were going to have to take his ass down. The fucked up thing is that I see his point.

None of the men involved deserve to live, especially the general. I expect asshole politicians to be dirty as fuck. We’ve cleaned up enough of their messes over the years to know the deal.

But this business of stealing and selling humans was a new low. And now that I looked like he’d found his one, we learn that a madman, one we knew only too well was after her.

This shit had barely touched Danielle and it put the fear of hell in me, his girl is the fucking main event. I don’t blame him for wanting to go AWOL.

* * *

* * *

Oh-ho-ho, I knew this shit was coming. I saw the way he looked at her last night, saw the second he fell and fell hard. It’s always the quiet ones you have to look out for.

I should be used to this shit by now though. Fucking Connor was nuts, so was Lo and Cord took the fucking cake.

All kidding aside, I can’t imagine how he feels knowing that a twisted fuck like Khalil is after his girl, just hours after finding her.

I’m willing to give Lo some leeway here, but if Dev decides to go rogue I’m with him, I don’t give a fuck. I know my boy Colton is down, all we need to do is escape the all seeing eye of Lo and his nosy ass.

We’ve spent way too much time on this shit and as far as I’m concerned, after seeing the CO and hearing what he had to say, I’m done waiting.

“Now that we finally have the answer as to what the fuck is going on here, I say we take care of this shit once and for all. No more waiting.”

“Tyler you’re not helping.” Zak and his peace- keeping ass, is full of shit. “Like you’re not thinking the same thing. Which one of us wouldn’t feel the same way if she was ours?”

“Not the point Tyler. We’re all going to get what we want, but we have to do shit the right way. Devon, I asked you where you were going.”

“You know where. I’m tired of waiting, tired of hiding from this fuck. When is the last time any of us had a good night’s sleep? Can you imagine what her life has been like?”

“I don’t think she knew Dev. I think Samson kept her well insulated from all that. She doesn’t seem…”

“I don’t care if she knows or not Lo. The fucking girl has been hidden away her whole life. Not one more fucking day.”

“Women have rights, sure her father made the choice for her, but he had reason and we all know that it was the right one. Khalil is a fucking monster.”

“Yes he is Dev, but the fact still remains that we can’t go running in. We touch the general now everything goes to shit.”

“That’s what you think, but there’s got to be a way to make him talk. He has to know where Khalil is. He’s the reason that asshole has always been one step ahead of us.”

“Now we know he killed the old man and you want us to do what? Sit around and wait for them to find her?”

“I agree. I have to tell Susie that her father was murdered in the same breath I have to tell her who he was.”

“Cord, don’t start. Can’t any of you see that we can’t go off the rails here? You wait until we get this close to lose your collective minds? I blame you for this.”

Logan looked at Lyon whose expression pretty much said he didn’t give a fuck and his shrug solidified it.

“I’m sorry but I don’t see the problem. This general whoever the fuck he is-is just a man, and apparently not a good one at that. I say take his ass out, after we extract the information we need.”

“Yeah see, but that’s not how any of this is done. The general isn’t just a man, he’s a whole fucking army of men. We go after him and miss the shot they will be in our ass and our children’s ass for generations to come.”

“I still say we can do it. As far as I’m concerned, it’s her life or theirs. They were heading to Cali Lo, they either knew she was there or they came very fucking close to knowing.”

“They don’t know we’re here though, so we have the upper hand. I say we lay low and do what we have to-to find whatever hole Khalil is hiding in.”

“And once again we’re doing shit according to his will. I don’t think so. I’m tired of playing his fucking game.” Dev pulled away from Quinn but they still wouldn’t let him through.

This shit is getting good. It’s been a while since I got to cut loose and now it looks like Dev was ready to join me. Go Dev. “Tyler!”

“What Con? I didn’t say anything.”

“Yeah but your face is saying a lot. Stand the fuck down and don’t encourage him.”

“Damn Lo, you like to suck the fun out of everything. Very well, carry on.”