“Where is that coming from?!”
“Perimeter bordering the Bossier Estate. They are running across their field,” the voice says, and I quickly fumble for my phone.
“The Bossier Estate is Shaun’s property,” I rush out, opening my phone contacts to find his number and hitting call.
It rings twice before picking up, his voice breathless.
“Abs, are you okay?”
“There are bad men on your property. Three of them,” I blurt, my eyes flicking to Ringo to see him watching me. “Make sure your parents are safe.”
“I can see them running across the field. Heard the gunshots,” Shaun confirms. “There are more running after them.”
“Yeah, they are the good ones,” I tell him, not wanting to go into detail right now. There’s no time for that.
“Gotcha. My brother is getting the dirt bikes ready now. Simon is with me. The three of us will herd them back your way.”
“Wait! No!” I yell, but the line is already dead, and I lock eyes with Ringo.
“What is it?” he asks, moving to me.
“Shaun and two others are going to try to herd Tups, Spud and Banes back this way on their dirt bikes. You need to tell your men not to shoot them,” I cry, and JD is on his radio relaying that information a second later.
“It’s okay, Angel. Your friends will be fine.”
I shake my head, scoffing, because he doesn’t know that.
Ringo ignores me, turning to the few men nearby.
“Get the mum and kid out, but keep them apart. Let them hear and see what happens when you mess with the Southern Sadists.”
A round of wolf howls come from a couple of men, and I shift out of the way as they do what Ringo asked.
Gunfire echoes in the distance, with some yelling, and the sound of dirt bikes.
I should probably call Rhys and let her know two of her boyfriends are risking their lives right now, but then again, what will that help? She’s better off being oblivious to it all until after the fact, because knowing her, she’ll get here by any means possible, and end up getting hurt herself.
I don’t want that.
Jols sidles up next to me as my mum and sister are led out of the containers, Maggie moved up one end, and my mother up the other.
“You hear that?” Ringo asks my mum, who simply curls her lip in disgust at him. “That’s the sound of traitors getting what’s coming to them. Banes being one of them.”
My mum pales then, and Maggie’s sobs meet my ears, so I glance over my shoulder to see her hands tied in front of her as her eyes scan the treeline where the sound is coming from.
The radio crackles right before a voice comes through.
“Got ‘em. Heading back.”
Everyone but my mum and sister visibly relaxes.
Mex and Lewy return while we wait, and JD orders the men lining the perimeter to head back to the clearing.
“You doing okay?” Jols asks, and I flinch a little, realising I was so focused on everything happening around me that I kinda forgot she was there.
“Yeah. I guess. I just want this to be over.” I mutter the truth as the dread of it all sinks in.
For this to be over, justice needs to be served. Or perhaps revenge? I’m not sure, but it means more death. More violence. More of what the monster in me craves, but everything that the angel in me fears.
