22. Rory

22

Rory

R ory screeched into the clubhouse parking lot and burst through the doors. Everyone else had already arrived. The rest of the Griffins stared at him as he stormed his way toward Sebastian.

“What the hell happened?” Rory demanded.

“The Silver Fangs rode into town and broke into a couple of houses. They roughed up the families pretty badly, in their shifter forms, and stole money, jewelry, and anything of value that they could put in their pockets and saddlebags. They didn’t hurt the kids, thank goodness, but they did claw and bite one of the fathers so bad that he’s in a coma,” Sebastian reported. “The other adults are in the hospital with some pretty serious injuries.”

“We know for sure that it was the Silver Fangs?” Rory asked.

“Yes. One of the families had that ring camera that caught the gang members on video as they busted through the door. Luckily, the security system was active and notified the police, who got there pretty quickly. According to one of the teenage girls, who had been forced to watch her parents being attacked by the Silver Fangs, heard the sirens and took off. They moved a block over and neighbors spotted the motorcycles pulling into the family’s driveway. The neighbors called the cops, but not before the gang members managed to shred one of the adults in the house, almost to pieces. From what I heard, the doctors aren’t sure that the man is going to survive. The victims were able to identify the patches on the vests,” Sebastian said.

“What are we going to do about this?” Teresa yelled. “You said that we weren’t going to touch them until they came into our town. They’re here. We aren’t going to stand down.”

“You’re right. We’re going to pay them a little visit and have a come to Jesus meeting,” Sebastian said. “Rory and I will go in first and confront Blackjack. You all will know when it’s time for you to come in and kick some ass.”

They rode to the Silver Fangs’ hideout. Fury rose inside Rory as they rode. He knew that the Silver Fangs were a nasty group of people, and he figured that they would be taken down by shifters or other law enforcement. It wasn’t the Griffins’ job to be vigilantes. However, they had come into his town and hurt his people. It was going to take every ounce of his willpower not to destroy Blackjack as soon as he laid eyes on him.

Rory and Sebastian walked inside. Blackjack smirked at them.

“I figured that I would be seeing you guys sooner, rather than later,” he said.

“You came into Angel’s Creek and hurt some of our people,” Rory said. “That’s unacceptable. Now, you can either turn over the individuals responsible or we will beat the living shit out of all of you.”

“You can try,” Blackjack said. “As far as I can see, there are two of you and thirty-five of us.”

Sebastian stuck his fingers in his mouth and let out a long, high-pitched whistle. The rest of the Griffins piled into the clubhouse.

Most of the shifters shifted. Fangs and claws clashed. Growling filled the air. It didn’t take long for the majority of the Silver Fangs to be laid out on the floor with various wounds. Sebastian had Blackjack on the ground, his mouth on the wolf’s throat.

Blackjack shifted and said, “Fine. I’ll give you the names.”

Rory shifted and called the sheriff, who raced out with a bunch of deputies. Blackjack pointed out the five shifters who were responsible for the Angel’s Creek raids.

“Much obliged for your cooperation, sir,” Sheriff Greene said. “I’m sure that all of you will be willing to give your statements. Make sure all of you are at the sheriff’s department tomorrow or we’ll be back to shut you down, permanently.”

Luckily, everyone kept a change of clothes in their saddlebags in case they had to shift without warning, so no one had to ride home naked. The Griffins went back to the clubhouse and celebrated.

“Do you think that we’ve heard the last from them?” Sebastian asked.

“I doubt it. They are going to be sneaky about attacking, though. We’ve already proven that they can’t win a fair fight,” Rory said.

“Plus, they’re down five members,” Sebastian said.

“Yep. I think that’s going to make them even more dangerous. Luckily, I still have the guards around the house to protect Savvy and the kids,” Rory said. “Speaking of which, I’ve had a long day. I’ll see you later.”

The house was dark by the time he got home, which didn’t surprise him. He stopped by Savvy’s suite door and thought about waking her up. He really wanted to tell her how he felt about her, but decided that it could wait until tomorrow. Rory looked at his watch and then amended that to, It can wait until later today.

Rory slept in the next morning. He only woke up when his phone rang. It was the sheriff.

“The clan leaders and pack alphas got together. They all decided that since these guys were shifters and they had shifted to attack the mundane folks, they would be sent to Charred Cove Island for life,” Sheriff Greene reported.

“That’s great news. Thanks for letting me know,” Rory said.

Charred Cove Island was where the exiled shifters were sent. It was very remote and any food not grown on the island had to be flown in by helicopter. The shifters sent to the island were forced to do hard labor ten hours a day.

In spite of his conversation with Sebastian, Rory sincerely hoped that would be the end of the issue. The Silver Fangs knew that any kind of violence against the people in Angel’s Creek would be dealt with and the consequences would be severe.

Savvy and the kids were out back playing when he stepped outside. The guards were nearby and were diligently watching the kids.

“Daddy, you’re home,” Cat said.

“We thought you went to work without saying goodbye,” Drake said.

“What happened to your face?” Cat asked.

The words came at him in a barrage, and Rory laughed.

“I had a rough night so I decided to take the day off. I had a little incident, but my face will be fine. It’ll heal quickly.”

“Can we go for a run?” Cat asked.

Rory hesitated for a minute and then figured that the Silver Fangs wouldn’t have had a chance to regroup yet. He wasn’t as worried about the angry family members anymore. Typically, if they were going to strike, they would do it within the first day or so. By now, they would have had a chance to think things through.

“Sure,” he said.

Cat ran into the house to grab three bags. They undressed and carefully folded their clothes before putting them in the bag. Rory grinned because he felt Savvy’s eyes burning a hole through him. They would definitely have to talk tonight.

Cassia decided that she was going to go with them. “If I get tired, I’ll just ride one of you guys around.”

The pups were full of energy and ran around until all four of them were tired. Cassia landed on Cat’s forehead. They were just about to turn around when five shifters came out of the woods.

“Kids, get behind me,” he ordered.

“I’m going to get Savvy,” Cassia said, flying off.

One of them shifted. “Mark. What are you doing here?”

“We were just out for a stroll and saw you with your pups. We decided that you couldn’t be the only one having fun out here – although our kind of fun is different.”

Rory noticed that the rest of the shifters were from the Silver Fangs. “Why are you doing this? Why are you with them?”

“Because of you. I wasn’t doing anything to hurt you or the Griffins. I was just trying to make a little income by producing and selling some product.”

“It is my business. You know the rules. We don’t tolerate drug use in the club,” Rory said. “You knew that when you joined us.”

“Things changed. I lost my job, and I had to find a way to pay my bills,” Mark said.

“You mean you had to find a way to support your drug habit,” Rory said.

Mark sneered. “You should have stayed out of my business. Get ’em.”

He shifted into his bear form and attacked Rory.

Two of the wolves went after the pups, who were running for their lives. Mark and two other wolves attacked Rory. Rory whipped around, clawing and biting as much as he could, but he was quickly losing the battle. He was terrified that once they killed him, they would kill Cat and Drake. He just hoped with every bit of his soul that they were able to hide.

Suddenly, just as he was about to collapse, the wolves and bear that were attacking him let out horrendous sounds of extreme pain and collapsed around him.

Darkness overtook him, and the world went dark.