31. Chapter 31
Chapter 31
Gage
T he memory of Freya chained to my bed with Hazen’s cock in her mouth while Lucas fucked her from behind is all I can think about.
My own dick has been rock hard for the past two days, and that’s not exactly ideal when I’m observing the new recruits.
I wish I filmed it so I could watch it every night.
It’ll be happening again, but this time, I’ll be the one fucking Freya from behind.
My cock strains against my briefs, begging for me to take a break and release this tension.
“How are they doing?” Hazen asks, coming through the office door.
I look out the window.
Hundreds of new soldiers are in groups, sparring or shooting targets in the backyard.
They are in the practice stage, proving their worth to us.
If they can’t fight or hit a target, then they won’t continue to the next round.
That’s when shit gets lethal.
We put them through a series of scenarios to test their loyalty to us.
To prove they won’t go telling shit to anyone in Daringhood.
Being with The Brotherhood is everything.
It’s protection and a family.
Most of the men don’t have any family, and that’s exactly what we want—men with no ties to anyone else but The Brotherhood.
We are their family now.
We’ve stepped up security since the guard-house explosion, more men on the gate and watching the girls.
“Already lost twenty, but there’s some good talent there,” I say, moving back around my desk.
“Good. We’re going to need it.” Hazen watches me closely.
“Are we ready for a war?”
It’s the exact question I’ve been replaying over and over again.
“No, but we have to be,” I reply, leaning back against my office chair.
Daringhood was never supposed to murder our men, women, and children.
They’ve never gone this far before.
Yeah, they have mounted small resistances, causing chaos, but those were always quickly shut down.
The Hood is to blame for the explosion, so war it is.
Since we’ve become the leaders, everything’s gone to shit, and that fucking kills me to admit.
After all these years of training and being groomed to lead, then this happens.
I can’t help but wonder if what Dominic said is true—we aren’t ready to lead The Brotherhood.
I mean, look at what’s happened since we took the reins.
How can we come back from this?
Still, I won’t give up on this, on us.
We can do better than those leaders before us.
“We will get through this and make everything right again,” Hazen says.
I nod.
“Have you heard from Dominic since last week?”
Hazen shakes his head, biting into his bottom lip.
“He hasn’t made any moves yet, and if he isn’t causing any trouble, he can stay where he is.”
“You’re right. Brax has eyes on him, so if he does anything, we’ll know about it and stop him.” I’d trust Brax with my life; he’s never let me down before.
Hazen turns around, staring out the window.
“Ah, Amirah is coming, and she looks pissed off.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose and sigh.
These fucking girls will be the death of me.
A few minutes later, my office door flies open, and Amirah storms in, her hair flying wildly behind her shoulders.
Her security detail waits outside the door.
“Yes, Amirah?” I ask, cocking my head to the side.
“So, what, now I can’t even go outside our front door without someone glued to my ass?” she snaps, bracing her hands on the edge of my desk.
Fucking hell, just what I need today—another headache to deal with.
She’s clearly just found out I’ve assigned a new guard to her this morning.
We finally have enough resources with the new recruits.
“It’s for your own protection,” I say, glancing back at the paperwork scattered over my desk.
“I don’t want to be holed up in the house all day. I wanna help,” she whines.
I move around the desk, standing in front of her.
“Absolutely not,” I growl.
There’s no way in fucking hell she’s helping us—it’ll get her killed.
She’s safer at home, preferably locked up with nowhere to go.
As much as I love my sister, this isn’t the life for her.
The Brotherhood is run by men, and men only.
I can’t risk her getting hurt.
Our enemies will use her to get to us, and I’d murder every last person in Daring before I let that happen.
“Please, let me do something. Anything. I’m going crazy,” she says, looking up at me with her puppy-dog eyes.
Fuck.
She knows exactly how to win me over, much like her best friend, who I’m surprised isn’t here in Amirah’s corner, egging her on.
“Fine. Get Freya and go train with the new recruits—brush up on your skills. You both need to be able to protect yourselves if, God forbid, we can’t,” I say, moving back around the desk.
“Thank you.”
I look up to find Amirah beaming, and I frown.
Normally, she wouldn’t be so enthusiastic about self-defense.
When I’ve suggested it in the past, she couldn’t care less.
I expected more of a fight.
She leaves, and Hazen shuts the door behind her and watches through the window while she crosses the training field with her security detail.
“You know Freya’s not going to back down. She doesn’t want this war,” Hazen says, and I let out an exhale.
“None of us do, but they declared war on us when they blew up our guard station and the town hall. If there was any other resolution, I’d jump at it. But if we back down now, we’ll appear weak to our men, and we can’t afford that. There are a few who still don’t trust us to lead, and I’m starting to question myself too. I won’t allow this to overpower us. We need to make a stand and fight back. We’ll deal with Freya when she comes breaking down our door.”
Hazen nods.
“For now, we need to oversee these new recruits.”
Fuck, I hope they are strong enough to stand beside us and fight.
There’s a war coming—whether we’re ready or not.