"Never know."

From passing through Demon territory, I've seen Stump with some regularity over the last few years. Only recently did I discover he'd been involved in wiping out the fuckers who harmed Trinity when she was a teenager.

To say I've got a soft spot for the grumpy, old fuck is an understatement.

Stump and his son, the VP of the Demons, Chaser, greet us with handshakes. Stump's delighted with what we've brought. As his guys load it in their van, he invites us to their local support club.

"Can't. We got a situation back home. Bordering MC tried to jack my ol' lady tonight. Gotta get back."

Whether he's surprised by the information or the fact that I have an ol' lady, I'm not sure.

"Who's your ol' lady?"

"Trinity."

A dark look of concern transforms his face. "She all right?"

"Yeah. Knifed him and got away, but I gotta-"

"I understand. I'd do the same. I know Trin from way back. She's a good girl. Glad she's with someone like you now."

"Aw, shit. I remember Trinity from when she was just a lil' kid," Chaser adds.

Not really sure what to say to that, I just nod.

Stump shakes my hand. "That shit ain't right. You let us know if you guys need support."

"Will do."

Without the concern of a crapton of weed in the back of the car in case we get pulled over, Z presses the pedal to the floor.

Rock meets me at the door with a hug. "I spoke to Wrath. Guys are all coming in. You okay?"

Pulling out of his embrace, I nod. "Yeah."

All softness vanishes and President Rock is in charge. "While we're waiting for Wrath to get here, tell me what went down," he barks at me as he leads me into the war room. Teller's waiting in a seat on the other side of the table, but he gets up and gives me a hug.

Holding me at arm's length, he peers into my eyes. "You okay?"

I nod and he releases me.

Rock points at Wrath's chair and has me sit.

"Sorry, you're going to end up going over this more than once, sweetheart," Rock apologizes.

It's okay. I tell him word for word everything I can remember.

"This is over me not letting them dip into our territory. Are they fucking nuts?" Rock fumes.

"We're gonna have to call some brothers in to help keep Crystal Ball locked down," Teller mutters.

"Yeah, I'll have Z do it when he gets in. Where the fuck is Murphy?"

"Don't know, Prez. I texted him a bunch. Got no answer yet."

"Fuck, that's all we need."

My head hurts from where I got slammed against the car. Listening to them go back and forth lulls me into a sleep like state. Sometime later, I'm aware of Rock picking me up and laying me down on the leather couch in the back of the war room. A blanket floats over me and I drift out.

Angry voices shake me from sleep a little while later. The guys are assembling around the table. Murphy's here and he smiles at me. Wrath and Z's spots are still empty. My bladder insists I get the fuck up, so I toss off the blanket.

"You okay, Trin?" Rock calls.

Feeling fuzzy, I nod. "Yeah. Gonna run to the bathroom."

Run is overly optimistic. What I do resembles lurching. Instead of using the communal bathroom, I go into my room to clean up. Brushing my teeth unzombifies me a bit, but I'm still exhausted.

Walking back to the war room, I hear car doors slamming outside. I quicken my pace just as the door's thrown open and Wrath storms in. Fierce is the only way to explain his expression. I choke out a startled gasp drawing his attention to me.

"Angel." In three quick strides he crosses the room, and sweeps me into his arms. Only then do the tears start falling.

Every sob that wracks my girl's body sends a shiver of rage through me. This is three years ago all over again. Fucking Vipers going after women.

This time, they all fucking die.

Trinity has her arms looped around my neck, face buried against my shoulder, legs wrapped around my waist. I've got my arms banded around her keeping her tight to me, one hand rubbing her back.

"You're okay, baby. I got you. You did good. I'm so proud of you," I keep whispering in her ear.

Rock and Z are standing in the doorway to the war room looking like they've just spotted an alien spaceship in the living room. I pause to flip them off, then go back to calming my girl down.

Every patched brother is at the table as I carry Trinity in and drop into my seat. She adjusts, so her legs are draped over my lap and she's leaning against me. She's stopped crying, but she's definitely still close to the edge. Exhaustion dogs me, but I shake it off.

Rock gives me the story. I'd like to hear it from Trinity's mouth, but she's still silent and I don't want to push her. My brothers are still staring at us like they can't believe what they're seeing. Fucking hell, can't we concentrate on the war that's breathing down our necks instead of my love life?

"He said he remembered me from the night of the fight," Trinity says suddenly.

"Good. Good Trin," Rock reassures her. "Anything else you remember?"

"Uh, he called Wrath a bandeho."

Bricks snorts at that. "Was it a pendejo, sweetheart?"

"Yeah."

My eyebrows draw down. "What the fuck is that?"

Bricks shrugs. "Depends where the fucker is from. Could be anything from jackass to coward."

I grind my teeth.

Lowering my voice, I ask her the question I've been dreading the most since I first got her phone call. "He touch you anywhere else, baby?"

She squeezes her eyes tight, her lip quivers, giving me all the answer I need. White spots of rage dot my vision.

"Any other words Bricks can translate?" Rock asks with a smirk to lighten things.

"He called you a cabrn."

"Asshole," Bricks clarifies.

"Called me a puta, but I know what that means," Trinity says with a laugh.

I know what that means too, and if my rage intensifies anymore I'm going to disappear in a cloud of smoke.

Trinity sits up and faces the table. I keep my arms around her waist. I know we need to strategize, but all I want to do is take her to our room and make sure she's okay.

"It all happened so fast, guys. I just knew I couldn't let him take me anywhere."

"You kicked ass, Trinny. We're all proud of you," Teller says with a smile. Everyone agrees.

"All right, I'm going to give Ulfric a call. We gotta align ourselves with his pack again. He's been itching to take these fucks out for a while now, and I'm sure this will push him over the edge." Rock doesn't elaborate on why that might be. Trinity shifts in my lap.

"Do you want me to go, prez?"

Rock flicks a glance at my face, which I'm sure is screaming No fucking way and shakes his head. "Stay in case I need you to explain any of it to him."

Rock uses a burner to call, but sets the phone on the table on speaker so we can all hear.

"What?" Ulfric snaps.

"It's Rock."

"What up, man?"

"Got a situation. Viper tried to grab one of our ol' ladies tonight as she was leaving class." Rock gets that out right away, because he needs to establish that Trinity hadn't been violating our turf agreement with the Vipers.

"Fuck me. You sure it was a Viper?"

"Pretty sure. Said he recognized her as one of our girls."

We all hear him cover the phone and call for his VP and sergeant-at-arms, then put us on speaker. "I got Merlin and Whisper on now too."

"His beef seemed to be about us not wanting to do business with him, but she didn't get a lot more info than that," Rock continues.

"Whose ol' lady?"

"Mine," I answer. "Wrath."

"Since when you got an ol' lady?" Merlin snickers.

"Who?" Ulfric asks.

"Trinity."

"Fuck, she okay?" Merlin asks.

I find it interesting that Whisper didn't spill to his brothers why I gave him a split lip a couple weeks ago.

"I'm okay," Trinity answers.

There's a bit of silence as I'm sure they're absorbing the fact that one, Trinity belongs to me now, and two, we're letting her sit in on club business.

"Tell me the story from the beginning," Ulfric asks.

Trinity sits up, her voice much clearer and recounts everything.

"Damn girl. Your man trained you well. Nice job," Merlin praises her.

Hearing her tell the whole story from the beginning leaves me shaking with murderous rage by the time she finishes.

"No fuckin' way, prez. You ain't shuttin' me out this time."

Rock drags his hand through his hair. "I'm not. There's nothing we can do right this second. We need to plan and organize before we take action. You need to take care of your girl." He glances at Trinity, who's curled up in the couch staring at nothing.

"You're right."

Rock's eyes widen. Guess he figured I'd be more stubborn about it. "I promise I'll come get you as soon as I've got something."

"Okay."

He smiles and slaps me on the back. "Take care of your girl."

Trin doesn't even look up as I approach.

"Come here, angel," I whisper as I scoop her into my arms.

She clings to me, but remains silent.

I drop her carefully onto the bed and shut the door. She lies there while I strip her down. "Come on. Sit up for me," I urge so I can slip a nightshirt over her head.

I take off my cut, shirt and shoes and slide into bed with her. Gathering her in my arms, I kiss her forehead.

"Wyatt?"

"I'm here."

"I love you."