Hunter (Brothers of Chaos MC)

Phoenix had been at the clubhouse three days before they held church on what to do about the new information she had given them about the day Mac was gunned down. She’d wanted to leave the compound but she hadn’t found a way to do it and she did not know where to go to be safe. She bided her time.

She realized why they wanted her to recount what all she knew. After twelve years, there wasn’t any evidence or witnesses willing to step up.

As the men of the club took their seats and settled down, Thunder and Rambler sat at the head of the table talking quietly.

Phoenix sat behind them as her dad thought she should tell the club the events that led to Mac’s death and their disappearance. Most had heard parts of the story but not all of it .Thunder wanted them all to hear what happened first hand.

She looked around the room and wondered about the looks some of the men were giving her. Finally, she leaned forward and asked, Rambler, “Why are they looking at me so weird?”

Rambler looked over his shoulder and grinned. “It’s not normal to have a woman in here.”

Phoenix sat back and shook her head. “Boys club only, huh?” She frowned. “Then why am I here?”

Thunder turned to look at her. “Because I want every one of the men here to hear the events that happened that day. I want there to be absolutely no doubt in anyone’s mind what we lost that day and who took it away from us. We lost one of our own and we laid the blame at the wrong party’s feet.”

Phoenix shook her head. “But dad, they’re going to believe what they want to believe. You know that. What I have to say isn’t going to make a difference to some of them.”

“I know but they still need to hear the words,” Thunder assured her.

“And they need to see what that bastard did to you.” Rambler growled.

“No, they don’t need to see my scars.” Phoenix snarled. “Those are mine and mine alone to bear.”

“But they need to see them in order to understand,” Rambler told her quietly. “They need to see them all.”

Phoenix snapped her head around to glare at him. “No, they do not.”

Thunder stared at her for a moment then turned to his VP. “She has more than just the rope burns on her neck?”

Rambler sighed and nodded. “Yeah boss, there’s more.”

Thunder looked livid but he tried hard not to lose his temper. He turned to study his daughter and then asked, “What else is there?”

Phoenix didn’t say anything. She didn’t want him to know. Then she finally told him, “It doesn’t matter. It never did.”

He stared back at her without moving.

When he still didn’t get it, she told him, “Fine, when I woke up in that cabin, I didn’t know who I was or even where I was. I was lost and in a great deal of pain. Moon assured me I would get better and that one day, I would remember what happened to me, but that first I had to heal. He tended my wounds and gave me the strength to get better. I was young, alone and scared and he helped me. I’ll never forget what that man did for me. So, no, the scars I bear don’t matter to me. I am more than what they represent to me. Moon taught me that.”

“Someday, I’d like to meet this man,” Thunder told her. “But right now, I want my brothers to hear what you have to say about the day Mac died. They need to know the truth finally.” He turned to face the room, picked up a gavel, and banged it on the table to get everyone’s attention.

The noise died down and everyone looked at him.

Thunder got to his feet and addressed his men, “Brothers, we now know what happened to our brother Mac. Twelve years ago, he was gunned down and left to die alone in the streets, but we now know who shot him and we know why. He looked down at Phoenix and said, “We now know we were attacked that day by Blood Vikings and the President’s own brother shot Mac to try and take Shelby and my daughter Phoebe. He left Mac dead in the street and got away with Shelby. What I’d like to know is how he got into our territory without one of us knowing it.”

The men all murmured and shifted in their seats.

“Odin is the president of the Blood Vikings. In fact, I know that well. When I brought Shelby here, I had to fight the lousy bastard to get her away from him. Only I didn’t fight to take her away from him, because she didn’t want to be there in the first place. And as most of you know, Odin resorted to cheating in order to win that damn fight. Odin has a younger brother, who is just as dumb as he is. He goes by the name of Burrick but prefers to call himself Burr. Burr shot and killed Mac when he stepped in to save my woman and daughter. What most of you don’t know about all of this, is Burr took my women down to the Big Bend National Park and he dragged my little girl out into the desert where he wrapped a fucking rope around her neck then he knocked her out, so she wouldn’t struggle as she choked to death.” Thunder turned and grabbed his daughter by her arm and pulled her to her feet, then he tore the scarf away from around her neck, allowing everyone in the room to see the rope burn scar around her neck.

No one said a word as all eyes remained glued to Phoenix’s neck.

Phoenix pulled away from his hold and glared at him as she sat back down. “You bastard.” She hissed.

“What happened to your woman, boss?” one of the men asked. “If he could do this to a kid, what did he do to her?”

“Nobody knows that for sure but I think she got away from him. At least, I hope she did.” Thunder shook his head. “A few years ago, Phoenix believes she found some clue in a fucking newspaper that might let us know what happened to her mom. We don’t know yet, but we’re looking into it and that’s all I’m gonna say on that.”

“Where’s your daughter been all this time?” Razor asked.

“An Apache man who goes by the name of Moon took her in and raised her. Back then, she didn’t know her own name due to shock or injuries…. we really don’t know and she didn’t remember until she came back here. For twelve years, her memory of all of this was locked away. She said Mac’s bloody patch brought her home again. Whatever it was that brought her back to me, I’m grateful. But now my brothers, it’s time to get justice for Mac. We’re twelve years late but now it is time.”

“Are we going for justice or revenge Pres?” Hunter asked.

Thunder looked over at him. “I’d like to think it’s for justice, but I can’t say that one hundred percent. I want a small measure of revenge as well. He took my woman and my kid right out from underneath my nose. He damn near killed my daughter by wrapping a rope around her neck and leaving my little girl to strangle to death.”

Rambler got to his feet. “He did a hell of a lot more than that. She won’t tell you but I’ve felt the scar her hair hides. Burr would have shot her in the head and left her for dead as well but instead, he only grazed the side of her head. He left her with a groove about four inch long just above her left ear. She was only eight years old, in shock from watching Mac die and then the fucker shot her. When that didn’t kill her, he takes her hours from her home and wraps a rope around her neck so fucking tight he meant to strangle her. It’s only by the grace of God she’s lived through all that.” He looked down at her face but she wasn’t looking at him, instead she was staring at the floor. He leaned down and raised her face to him. “They need to know the rest of it.”

She got to her feet but glared at him the whole time. “No, they do not need to know. I don’t know if I will ever forgive you for this.” Her hands went to the buttons on her shirt and she began to unbutton them, then opened her shirt to show everyone the scars she carried from that day.

Burr had taken some time to carve into her tiny torso the words, Blood Vikings. The rugged letters had healed a long time ago but everyone could see the man hadn’t been careful in cutting her. Her skin was puckered and thick in places like he carved parts of the letters a bit too deep.

Phoenix didn’t know if he did it just because he could or if he took pride in the fact that he damn near killed her. He never came back to check on her so apparently, she wasn’t worth the effort to him.

After a moment, she closed her shirt and sat down again, but she wouldn’t look at anyone.

The men began murmuring their discontent and the tension grew. The men had been shocked when they’d seen what Burr had done to her.

Finally, Hunter sat back in his chair and asked, “When do we leave for Texas boss?”

“It’s a nine-hour trip and I want us to arrive just before dawn. I want to catch Odin unaware and make the first strike painful for him. He’ll fight back, so it will be kind of a fair fight which is more than he would give us.” Thunder growled. “We’ll leave in two days. I want us well rested so I am thinking we stop half way and rest the remainder of that day, then the next morning say six am, we attack, so we have a plan. Odin is by no means smart but he does plot and play dirty, so catching him unawares isn’t going to be as easy as it sounds.”

“How the hell are we going to hide a group as big as we are?” Hunter wanted to know.

“Well, that’s just it,” Thunder countered. “I don’t think we all need to go to take care of this situation. We’re four dozen strong but I think we only need about ten riders. Ten is a good number to go in and raise a ruckus big enough to do some damage. Ten men can get in and get out again, without a problem.” He shook his head. “The rest of you will stay and watch over our home.”

“This will start a war between your MC’s and that’s never good,” Phoenix whispered.

Thunder turned his head to glare at her. “They spilled the first blood baby girl. They should have thought about that twelve fucking years ago.” He turned to look at his men. “They came all the way here to cause trouble, we’re just returning the gesture.”

Phoenix bit her lip to keep from arguing with him. She stood up and told him, “I’ll leave you to make your plans then. I think I’m done here.”

As she walked past him, Thunder reached out and grabbed her arm. “Don’t even think about leaving here. We’re doing this for you.”

Phoenix wrenched her arm from his grasp. “No dad, you’re doing this for yourself,” her words were whispered so only he and Rambler would hear them but she watched as her father’s eyes went cold.

She walked around him and made her way to the door. When she opened it, she was more than a little surprised to find Misty standing there.

The other woman ducked out of sight right away but Rambler saw her. He looked over at Thunder and noted he’d seen the other woman as well. Thunder frowned as he stared at the doorway then he glanced at Rambler and shook his head.

Phoenix pulled the door shut behind her and made her way back to her room. Walking over to the window, she stared out. Sitting down, she was lost in thought for a long while.

Her door opened and Rambler came in. He knelt in front of her and took one of her hands. “Baby, I have something to ask you and I need the truth.”

She turned her head to him and waited.

“When your mom first saw Burr sitting in his car, was he waiting for her? Or did he just drive up to her?”

Phoenix shrugged. “I think he was waiting for her. We were going to pick up the cake like you told me.”

Rambler sat back on his heels. “Yeah, before she left for town that day, she told Thunder she would pick up the cake.”

“What difference does it make now?” she asked him tiredly.

“Your dad and I are thinking Burr had some help getting to Shelby and you.”

Phoenix’s head snapped up as she gasped. “Why would someone do something like that?”

“That’s what we have to find out isn’t it?”