Page 6 of Blade (The Dark Angel’s MC #1)

Blade

I lock my jaw as I watch the CCTV from our warehouse as five men enter it with torches, and three stand outside as lookouts looking nervous and nervous they fucking should be because those fuckers have signed their death certificate.

They’re all prospects but Fury prospects, the fire symbol large on the back of their cuts clear as fucking day, like Axe wants us to know he’s behind this shit.

I watch with pure anger as they begin torching the furthest boxes away from the front door, making their way down the large area, not bothering to look inside the boxes to see if there is anything even worthwhile to torch, the empty fucking boxes that we use as decoys from the cops.

After speaking to Axe last week, I thought everything was fucking good. No, I don’t think, I know, because he said everything was okay, that our truce still held tightly despite my mother’s blatant disrespect, and yet here we are, his prospects torching my warehouse.

It’s a decoy warehouse, but he doesn’t know that.

Now all this has done is bring the cops to our fucking doorstep, meaning we had to clear house of all illegal weapons and cocaine because it wasn’t just torching the place down.

They also killed Macky, our oldest brother who was my grandfather’s first recruit after they met at college decades ago.

He went to check the place out after one of our many surveillance cameras alerted us that someone was on the property.

The old fucker thought it would probably just be kids messing around and volunteered to check it, ending up going alone, something I wasn’t aware of until it was too late, and now I watch helplessly as a short fucker rams his knife into Macky’s neck with fear after he confronted them, the fuckers face paling realizing what he’d just done.

“They’ve declared war!” Venom sneers, his voice laced with so much anger and pain, and I look at the brothers sitting around the oval black oak table, who nod in agreement.

Torching the place, we could have had a meeting over. There was no gear inside, but killing a brother who’s a legacy, they’ve declared war.

I fist my hands as I lean back in my large black chair and watch Macky struggle to breathe, putting his hands up to his neck before his legs give out and fall to his knees.

I don’t look away as he slowly dies before Venom turns it off, and everyone stays quiet, allowing me to process what has happened.

“Who agreed for him to go out alone?” I demand quietly.

Never, fucking never does a brother go and check out a surveillance flag up on their own, and Macky knows this.

“Your mother told the prospect who was going to go with him to stand down. Cain wasn’t happy about it, but she threatened his patch,” Fury mentions, and I lock eyes with his light green ones that are blazed with anger.

Macky was the brother who taught him and me all about cars and bikes.

Without breaking eye contact with Fury, who shows nothing but wanting revenge, I demand, “Dad, call your wife in here now!”

Dad doesn’t question me. Instead, he stands, knowing full well Mama has gotten involved one too many fucking times, and I’m done because she’s now cost a brother his life.

Fuck, it's almost as if she's trying to get herself kicked out.

The old timers look on with anger and confusion over Mama’s actions knowing she’s never gone this far before. Like my dad, they come into church when things are bad, real fucking bad, and this is one of those times.

Pitbull, Glock, Bear, and Eagle sit stoic, Glock struggling the most, his hands fisted, his eyes stuck on the now turned-off TV.

Macky was his father, meaning he now has to tell his daughter Ivy that her grandfather is dead.

My eyes slide over to Venom. His face is also stoic, showing no emotion, but I know differently. I know he wants blood for this, and I can’t blame him, but…

I give a nod to Viper and Fury, and both men stand and walk over to Venom, who doesn’t move but raises a brow at me.

I smirk and remind him, “She’s still my mother, a woman you see as a second mama.”

He shrugs, and I shake my head and look towards the entrance of church to see Mama walking in, Dad following closely behind with a face like thunder.

“What is this about Blade? I was having words with the prospects,” she says like I’ve inconvenienced her, and Venom pipes up and asks, “And what exactly were you talking to our prospects about, Anna? Because last time I checked, they have nothing to do with you!”

Mama narrows her eyes at him and states, “So you are all just happy with them sitting around on their ass’s doing nothing?” she curls her lips, “If you won’t ensure they’re doing the jobs you all pushed on them then clearly I have to because you know I’m the first lady!”

I narrow my eyes at her finger quotes and state coldly, “You’re not first lady and you have no say in this club,” making her look my way with a tiny smirk that just pisses me off. I glare back and demand, “You ordered Cain to stay behind while Macky went to check some things out. Why?”

Mama raises a brow, not seeing the tension in the room, and admits, “I needed him to watch the stove. Those clubwhores cannot cook to save their lives, and besides, Macky is capable of looking after himself.”

No fucking remorse, no care in the world despite knowing he could have been walking into anything, and now he’s dead, and his granddaughter is none the wiser about the situation.

His grandson looks ready to slice Mama’s throat while his son fists his hands to stop himself from grabbing his best friend’s wife.

“Venom!” I growl, needing her to get a reality check and fucking quick, and within seconds, he puts the footage back on the big screen on the wall. Mama looks with a roll of her eyes when I nod to it, but her face pales as she looks just in time for Macky to get stabbed in the neck.

She takes a step back only to bump into Dad as Macky falls and takes his last breath before the fuckers who just killed him run out and his body burns along with the boxes and the warehouse, the cameras cutting out.

“You are not first lady, and right now, you are not an old lady,” I state coldly, making her look my way with wide teary eyes.

I continue, “As of today, you are banned from the clubhouse. If you step foot inside this building, then you’ll also be kicked out of your home on club property and before you say I can’t do that, I fucking can because all properties have only the brother’s names on the deeds. ”

Her breathing picks up as she stutters, “But-but I-I, I’m your mother, what about our…”

Venom cuts in, “And? That doesn’t give you the right to try and take over like you are the president!” she glares his way but soon swallows when he growls, “And now, because of you, I have to tell my sister that you got our grandfather killed.”

Mama’s tears fall as she shakes her head and mutters, “I didn’t get him killed so don’t you dare put that blame on me Cale.

He could have taken any other brother with him or even demanded another prospect or overridden me of my order, so don’t you fucking dare.

I get you are angry and want to push the blame on someone, but I never forced him to go alone so I won’t take responsibility over his death especially when he was like a father to me,” she looks around the table and I frown at the hate she’s showing as she states, “All you men sit around this table like you’re the big shots and always put the blame on us women when it doesn’t go your way.

Your prospects are letting women onto club grounds, sitting around smoking weed and drinking, not doing the jobs you all had to do to prove yourself while the clubwhores are not doing their chores,” she looks at Glock, “Your dad didn’t have to go alone. ”

Glock tilts his head in understanding, any other prospect could have accompanied him while Venom flinches knowing she is right and my jaw ticks.

“Dad, have a prospect escort Mama out of the clubhouse and remove her cut. She is no longer an old lady, only your wife,” I demand, and Mama’s tears fall but not for her cut because shocking us all, she removes it and throws it on the table not looking at it twice, her eyes going to the now black TV.

And I finish with confusion, “Then announce to the club the changes. No one is to go to her for anything from now on.”

Dad gently grabs Mama’s arm, but she rips it out of his grip.

She looks at Venom, then Glock, and says, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry that you have lost an amazing man and I’m sorry that you feel like you have to blame me for his death,” and they both look away, a little shame etching off them, and she walks out without another word.

"Why do I feel like I’ve been doused in shit for blaming her for Macky’s death and forcing her out of her home?" Viper mutters while I furrow my brows as we watch her walk out without a fight and Dad stands near the door full of confusion.

It would be alright if this was the first time she’s done shit like this, but it wasn’t, and now a brother, a very much-loved brother, is dead and even though she is right, Macky could have gotten anyone to go with him, he didn’t and now a war is on.

“Venom, find all the prospects that were involved with the fire. Axe wanted a war, and now he has one. I want their heads, and he can have them back in body parts,” Venom nods, his green eyes gleaming with revenge, and I demand, “Viper, gather all of our prospects and the clubwhores, Mama is right about one thing, things have gone lax over the months and it is time to change. They don’t like it then they know where the door is. ”

He nods once and I look around the room and demand, “We need to find out where the Furies like to hang out because war is happening. Church dismissed.”

The brothers all stand despite my not banging the gavel, and slowly, I follow their lead, knowing we now need to explain to the club about Macky, and worse, we now have to help his granddaughter through her pain.

Venom follows me out of the church, and we pause when Ivy, his little sister, bounces over to us. Her black hair, like her brother’s, sways with movement, and her green eyes look innocent and happy. I instantly hate myself, knowing we’re about to break her world.

Macky was her favorite person in this world.

“Hey Cale, have you seen Grandpa? He promised to show me how to change a clutch,” She says, completely oblivious to the pain she’s about to have inflicted on her.

“Ives, we need to talk,” Venom says solemnly, not even snapping at her for using his legal name, something she hates not using even after all these years of him being Venom.

She furrows her brows at his sorrowful tone, and Psycho steps forward out of instinct.

Ivy and Psycho have been inseparable since she could walk and talk.

Growing up together, she has become his best friend, his confidant.

It’s just a shame the idiot can’t see how madly in love she is with him or won’t allow himself to know, I guess, but he will lose her sooner or later if he doesn’t get his act together.

Ivy, being a club brat, realizes quite quickly that something isn’t right and looks around the room, but only towards the officer brothers, who quickly look away, not able to meet her eyes.

You can see she’s picked something up, and she looks back at us and demands, " What has happened? Is it Mama?”

I wince. Clara, her mother, doesn’t live on club property anymore. After walking in on Glock fucking an ex-clubwhore, instead of looking the other way, she burned all his clothes, trashed his bike, then left, leaving divorce papers on the club’s bar with her cut.

He has yet to sign them, even after five months of her absence, because he wants her back but she doesn’t want him.

“No, Mama is alright. I spoke to her this morning,” Venom says and Glock walks over, but Ivy doesn’t acknowledge him—she hasn’t since she found out he cheated on her Mama. He sighs, looking down, and a bit of me feels sorry for him.

He made a mistake, and losing his wife, his old lady, was bad enough because of said mistake, but he also lost his daughter.

While Venom can understand because club life isn’t easy, he let him off.

Right now, he’s just watched his father get killed, and even when Ivy finds out in just a second, she won’t hug him or comfort him.

She hates cheaters.

“Grandpa was killed, Ives,” Venom says, and everyone freezes at those words while Ivy blinks, then blinks again before shaking her head in denial, taking a step back right into Psycho’s body.

“Breathe, cupcake,” he mumbles as he wraps his arms around her, holding her close. Her whole body shakes as her tears fall before a gut-wrenching scream releases from her body that has the hardest of brothers flinching at her pain.

We watch helplessly as Psycho tries to keep her up as she falls apart, and Venom, watching his baby sister struggle to catch her breath through her pain, vows coldly, “They’re dead, they are all fucking dead for this.”

I nod, not denying him as I eye Mama standing near the back door watching Ivy with pure pain etching her features, tears rolling down her cheeks.

I frown and step forward but she notices me and shakes her head as she turns away, walking outside without another word and I swallow hard, suddenly feeling guilty for banning her.

I get Mama fucked up because she let her anger and jealousy over my sister, who literally walked back inside the building just to dodge me the other day, get the better of her.

But killing a brother over something petty just makes Axe unhinged and now the war is on.

Ivy drops to the floor, Psycho following as he holds her close, and Venom kneels down and cups her cheek as Glock grabs her hand, squeezing it tight to try and help her get through this, and I fist my hands full of anger.

The Furies messed with the wrong fucking club because now, the only way to satisfy us, is if their whole fucking clubhouse burns and burn it will because of what they’ve caused, killing our brother, has just become their downfall.

I just didn’t expect her to be my downfall instead…