Chapter 8 - Hannah #3
Saint stands in the doorway, face stern and dark. Blood spatter across his jaw and knuckles, fresh blood, but not his. His shirt is torn on the shoulder, and he's breathing hard like he ran here. There's a cell phone clutched in his left hand.
"What the fuck happened?" Phoenix demands, already moving toward him.
The entire room tenses. Wesley's hand on my back becomes protective, pulling me slightly behind him.
"Got jumped three blocks from here," Saint says, and he sounds beyond pissed. "Some random asshole came out of nowhere. We fought. I won."
"And?" Brick asks, already on his feet.
Saint holds up the phone. "After I put him down, he just handed me this. Said someone wanted to talk to me. Then Demon's voice came through."
The temperature in the room drops ten degrees.
"He was watching," Judge says flatly. "Probably still is."
"Yeah." Saint's jaw clenches. "The whole thing was a setup. He wanted me to know he's still out there. That he survived, and that the war isn't over."
“I didn’t expect him to retaliate so quick. What exactly did he say?"
Saint's hands are shaking with rage. "That I'm a traitor. That I chose you over blood. That he's going to make me pay for helping burn down his clubhouse." He pauses. "And that his revenge is going to start with his 'cheating brother.' Me. He's coming for me first."
"Fuck," Brick mutters.
Ice floods my veins. I pull Theo closer against me, and Wesley turns to me, hands gentle on my shoulders. "Hannah. Look at me."
I meet his eyes. See the determination there.
"You're safe here," he says. "You and Theo both. I will give my whole life to protect you. Every brother in this room will. Demon can threaten all he wants but he's not touching our family."
"Wesley—"
"No." His voice is steel. "I just found you. Just found my son. I'm not losing either of you to some asshole who can't accept that he lost. You hear me?"
I nod, throat too tight to speak.
Phoenix addresses the room. "Lockdown protocol. Nobody in or out without clearance. Full security, no exceptions."
"Echo and I will reinforce the cameras," Ranger says. "Make sure we have eyes on every approach."
"Diesel, check all entry points. Weapons, ammunition, everything," Phoenix continues.
"Saint, you're staying here," Brick adds. "Demon wants you, he'll have to go through all of us."
Saint nods, still vibrating with anger. "Understood."
The men spring into action. The women gather the children: Grace, Mariah, and now Theo, keeping them calm despite the tension. Wesley hasn't let go of me. His hands are still on my shoulders, grounding me while chaos erupts around us.
"I meant what I said," he tells me. "I'll die before I let anything happen to you or Theo. You believe me?"
I look at this man who wrote me a check for forty-two thousand dollars without hesitation. Who claimed me and our son without question. Who looks at me like I'm something precious worth protecting.
"I believe you," I say.
"Good." He kisses my forehead. "Now go with the women. Stay together. I'll be right outside this room the whole time."
"What are you going to do?"
"What I do best. Watch. Plan. Make sure nobody gets close enough to be a threat."
Echo. The surveillance expert. The one who sees everything.
I trust him. Despite a lifetime of learning not to trust anyone, I trust him completely.
"Okay," I say. "Be careful."
"Always am."
He kisses me, and then he's moving toward the security monitors with Phoenix, Judge, and Ranger.
Nora appears beside me. "Come on. We'll keep the kids entertained while the men do their thing. They're good at this. They'll keep us safe."
I follow her to the corner where Ivy, Eden, Rosie, and Quinn have already created a barrier of couches and bodies around Grace and Mariah. Room for one more.
I sink down beside them, Theo secure in my arms. The women close ranks around us.
Protecting each other. Protecting the children.
This is family too. Not just the men with their weapons and plans.
But the women who survived their own hells and came out stronger.
Who know what it means to be scared and choose to be brave anyway.
"We've got you," Eden says. "All of us. You're not alone in this."
I look around at these women I met hours ago who are already treating me like a sister. At Theo sleeping peacefully against my chest, unaware of the danger. At Wesley across the room, already deep in planning mode with his brothers.
My family. All of them.
Demon can come. Can threaten. Can try to hurt us.
But he'll have to go through every single person in this room first.
And somehow, surrounded by dangerous bikers, their old ladies and the sound of weapons being checked, I feel safer than I've ever felt in my entire life.
"We've got this," Rosie says firmly. Looking at each of us in turn. "We survived worse. We'll survive this too."
"Together," Quinn adds, “From Ash, we rise!”
"From Ash, we rise!” they all repeat and I just go along.
Wesley catches my eye from across the room. Nods once. A promise without words.
*I'm here. I'm not leaving. I'll protect what's mine.*
I nod back.
*I trust you. I believe you. We're in this together.*
Whatever comes next, we'll face it as a family.
The Iron Phoenix way.