Page 14 of Judge (Devil’s Rose MC #7)

“Brother,” Rhodie nods on his way past, a guy in a suit slung over his shoulder. “Your woman and the kids are in the bunker.”

I slap his free shoulder appreciatively and make my way down to the basement as my brothers’ voices ring out, stating the house is clear of any and all threats. It’s been a fucking blood bath and I don’t give a shit.

Entering the code that Marx briefed us on before we left, I wait for the door to swing open before stepping in.

“Hands up, motherfucker.”

Kaia

“How much longer do you think we’ll be here? Annie-Bella whispers.

“No need to whisper,” Sage smiles at my daughter. “We’re all in here together. But I’m hoping it’s not for too long.” Her eyes flick back to the screen that she’s watching, where we can see everything that’s happening.

Remy wired it up so we can be kept in the loop. We can see everything that is happening outside, but the house is a blind spot for us as Remy ran out of time to finish installing all the cameras. It’s fine though, a little bit of information is better than none at all.

Looking around I take in how relaxed the kids all are.

I’m not sure if they’re used to this sort of thing, or if they just don’t care.

It’s cozy down here, there are movies playing on the big screen, a playpen set up for the littler kids and the big little kids are busy working on what looks to be some type of wooden contraption.

Mama Debs is busy baking with Mira and the rest of us are just trying to keep our nerve, I guess.

My eyes are glued to the screen as a crap load of SUVs pull into the drive.

“Shit,” I mutter under my breath. Men pour out of the cars, at least seven per vehicle, until it seems like a mob is on their way into the house.

My thighs tense, and my gut drops knowing that Pops and TumTum can’t put them all down before they get in.

Then how much longer will it be until they find us?

We’ve been assured that this place is bulletproof and next to impossible to infiltrate without knowing the code to get in, but what if they’ve got some fancy hacker like we do?

I extricate myself from Annie-Bella, who seems more relaxed now that Sage has drawn her into a conversation. It’s good for her. With Chef upstairs helping keep the cartel at bay, Sage is doing pretty damn well holding it together for the rest of us.

Moving toward Mama Debs and where the other women have congregated, I sidle up to Nat, thinking if anyone was going to have a weapon, it’d be her.

“Hey, do you have a spare weapon” She stares at me with narrowed eyes, before a smile starts to form on her face.

“Ladies, Kaia is asking for a spare weapon,” Nat calls over her shoulder, the women dropping what they were doing to gather around.

“Oh young one, follow me,” Mama Debs says, wiping her hands on her apron.

I stare at Mira, Nat, Ana, Vi and Mama Debs, not sure why the hell they’re all smiling goofily, but I’m sure I’ll find out any moment now.

They all file out of the kitchen, making their way down the long hall that separates the expansive living from the bedrooms. I take a quick peek back at my kids, Annie-Bella still on the couch with Sage, talking about who knows what, Jax standing sentinel in front of the large TV screen where he’s been since we came down here.

My chest clenches when I take in his large form.

He walks around with the weight of the world on his shoulders, acting as the man of the house even when I’ve pushed him to be a teenager.

Letting out a sigh I follow the excited whispers and chatter from the women ahead of me.

“You want weapons? We got weapons!” Vi explains, using Vanna White jazz hands as Mama Debs rolls open a pocket door that looks like a solid wall.

“Holy shitballs,” I whisper, staring in awe at the weapons all filed neatly on the wall, kinda like I remember my dad’s tools being kept in the garage.

“We got everything you could ever want!” Nat adds.

“Big guns, little guns, cross bows, ooohh look! A garotte!” Mira and her goldfish attention span starts petting all the weapons, muttering away to herself.

“So, what’s your poison?” Mama Debs asks, brow raised.

A small smile tugs at my lips as my gaze locks back on to the cross bow. “Ahh, good choice kotiro ,” Mama Debs lifts it from the wall, handing it over with a handy quiver of bows. “Feel better now?”

“Much,” I laugh as I strap the arrows to my back feeling like goddamn Katniss.

The other women take out a few items, all ranging from knuckle dusters to little single shot pistols.

Feeling much more relaxed I head back to the living area, Jax still standing exactly where I left him.

Shaking my head I move up to his side, wrapping my arm around his waist as it’s been at least three years since I’ve been able to wrap my arm over his shoulders.

“How you getting on, buddy?”

He grunts, thinking over his words. It’s moments like these where he reminds me so much of his father. “If they make it down here, we’re fucked.”

I hip check him.“Language!” I bark.

He rolls his eyes, then stares back at the screen. His eyes widen and I follow his gaze. There, larger than life is Leo, riding through the carnage, firing his gun at anyone that looks like a threat to the DRMC, to us.

“Holy shitballs,” he whispers, clearly in awe of the man who fathered him.

Crap, so am I! He’s fierce and strong and so damn sexy my thighs clench when he guns his Harley.

He beelines to someone just off to the side of the screen, my eyes darting wildly to find him on one of the smaller feeds.

There’s some dickhead trying to scale the house, to make it through the window.

The window Pops and I wired up. I lean forward, excitement fizzing in my veins.

I jump when he gets blown off the side of the building with way more force than I was expecting, my gasp of surprise morphing into the giggles.

“Holy hell! Did you see that?” I shake Jax. “I need to get that on replay.

Jax stares at the screen as Leo pulls alongside the man, putting a bullet into him before riding away, blowing gravel and dust over the dead man.

I stare, frozen in place. I knew that Leo wasn’t a saint, but I never knew he would kill so easily.

It just seems at odds with the man I remember, and the man I’ve met since I’ve been here at the farm.

The Leo here seems almost hesitant, standoffish and unsure of himself.

This Leo on the screen, this is more the man I remember.

He makes his way to the front of the house and then he disappears.

Just knowing that he’s here, in one piece, has me feeling calmer than I expect.

I think that knowledge has the same effect on Jax too, as his shoulders slump a little. “Go grab a cookie, kiddo, while they’re still hot.”

He rolls his eyes. “I’m not a kiddo.”

“You’ll always be my baby boy,” I tease, his eyes rolling so hard I’m afraid I may never see the bright green orbs ever again.

I stare at the TV screen, knowing full well that if Leo is in the house I won’t get a glimpse of him.

Flicking through the screens I can’t help but feel a sense of pride at the sheer chaos that the DRMC has managed to rain down.

I know that it’s only been a few days, but regardless of what happens from here on out with Leo, I think these might be my people.

A metal on metal scraping sound has my back stiffening.

Jax drops the cookie in his hand and flies across the room, standing with his back to the wall, next to the door, ready to pounce.

Taking the cue from my son I move to stand directly in front of the door opening, feet planted, crossbow loaded and ready.

In my periphery the women, Sage and Annie-Bella gather up the babies from the play pen and move the Littles to the safe room deeper in the bunker.

Flicking my eyes to Jax he gives me a tight nod.

A gut dropping “click” rings out, the door disengaging.

There is an agreed password that will be called out if it’s one of the DRMC, and yet the silence is deafening.

Breathing out slowly, I try to calm my racing heart. I almost laugh when I notice Jax doing the same thing. It’s funny how adrenaline screws with you like that. The door inches open slowly before big boots stomp in, coming to an abrupt stop.

“Hands up, motherfucker,” Jax growls.

“It’s me, Son,” Leo’s raspy voice fills the room and my crossbow drops, as if my arms couldn’t hold the weight of it any longer.

My breath whooshes out of me before it rushes back in on a gasp, “Jax! Where the hell did you get that gun? Put it down, now!” I growl, burning a goddamn hole into my son’s head.

Leo turns slowly, his large hand wrapping around the muzzle pointing directly at him. He holds it in his hand, not daring to move until Jax does first, dropping the gun quickly as if it’s burnt him.

“Good man, you did good,” Leo murmurs, resting this large hand on Jax’s shoulder. My boy slumps into him and I can’t help but rush him, hitting his stupid teenage boy shoulder before wrapping him in my arms.

“You are so fucking grounded for pulling a gun,” I growl. He nods into my shoulder as I hold him tight.

“What did you think I was doing?” he mumbles.

“I thought you were going to hit him over the head with something! What the hell, where did you even get a gun?” I push him away from me, but not too far as my hands are fisting in his shirt so I can shake some damn sense into the boy.

Before I can get started on treating this kid like a rag doll, a heavy weight wraps around me, pulling me and my son into a warm solid wall, Leo’s scent surrounding us. He stands there, holding us, until Jax and I feel as if we can stand on our own two feet.

“Where is Annie?” Leo asks gently.

“Shit!” I move as fast as I can to the safe room, hitting the intercom button, “It’s safe! It’s just Judge.”

The door disengages and everyone comes flooding out, talking over each other for an update from Leo. Annie runs straight to him, wrapping her arms around his waist once she sees that he’s fine. He looks momentarily shocked, before his posture softens and he wraps a large arm around her small body.

“What’s the damage? Any casualties? Are our men OK?” Nat takes the lead, holding her daughter Rosie tighter, for comfort.

“The men are all fine, apart from Rider who got shot in the nipple.”

As a collective we all stare at Leo. “He got shot in the chest? Is he OK?” Mama Debs asks, her normally tan face, pale.

“Not the chest. The nipple. It grazed past sideways or something. I actually have no idea.”

I let out a breath, feeling better about that. Still puzzled, but at least no one got hurt.

“Roman’s men and Moss Davies are doing clean up now. Someone will come get you when it’s safe to let the kids up.”

I nod, taking in the words. “Wait, Moss Davies, as in Sergeant Moss Davies?”

Leo gives me his crooked smile, but doesn’t say a word. He gently removes Annie’s arm from his waist, dropping a kiss to the top of her head, before handing her over to me. I wrap my arm around her and watch him walk out the door.

“Well, we better eat these cookies before Rider gets down here and acts all pitiful because his nipple got blown off,” Mama Debs sighs.

A giggle bubbles up in my throat and bursts out before I can stop it. I snort and the giggling gets worse when my friends join in until we’re all in a heap, leaning on each other, cackling.

“Ah shit, you heard the news already, didn’t you?” Rider’s voice booms over the sound of women losing their shit.

“Sorry ‘bout your nips, Uncle Rider.”

“Thanks, sweetheart. Can I have a cookie?”