Page 46 of The Monsters Within

“Yeah, well, if I’d known who his father was, I would have made a different choice. The fact is, she has ties to two clubs that are notorious for being involved in shit. Two fucking clubs that have brought shit to our front door already.”

My hand loosened on the knob, but I still didn’t return to my seat. Instead, I leaned my back against the door.

“Not to mention the club she willingly joined. Valhalla is tied up in all this shit. She’s in the fucking middle of all of it. I have to know, when shit hits the fan, where Kytten’s loyalty will fall.”

“Jesus Christ, King.”

“Something’s coming, brother. Something big. My first priority is to protect my family.”

“Rose is family. Even if she weren’t my old lady, she is Mimic’s twin sister. That makes her family.”

He nodded, but I wasn’t sure he got it.

“I said what I needed to say.” King watched me for my reaction. I understood his concerns, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

“Yeah, you did.” I turned and left his office.

I refused to think about what he said. Rose wouldn’t put the Soulless Sinners or the Golden Skulls before the Silver Shadows. Not with her brother here. Of that I had no doubt.

My concern came from Valhalla and the Nyght Nymphs. That was her club. The family she chose. Valhalla wasn’t just her president. She had raised Rose from the time she was eleven years old.

She was Rose’s mom as much as Sam was Mimic’s. Even if she wouldn’t admit it out loud.

When I got back to the main room, I searched for her. The smile on my face grew wide when I found her in the corner of the couch, Charlie on one side of her and Tucker on the other.

Tucker’s head lay in her lap as she read a book to Charlie. Watching her for a few minutes, I noticed she never actually touched the dog. Though Charlie did. She had her hand resting on the dog’s head. Rose pretended he wasn’t there.

She had a white-knuckle grip on the book, but she let the dog lay with her. I considered that progress.

“She’s making progress.”

I didn’t turn to look at the brother from her father’s club. But I nodded an acknowledgement that I heard him.

“There’s still a lot to unpack.”

“Are you allowed to talk to me about her therapy?” I asked, my eyes still on my woman.

“I am. She gave me permission to discuss some aspects with you.” That had me turning to look Torment in the eye. “I can’t tell you what she talks about. But I can tell you about her progress, and what she might need.”

“What does she need? I’ll make it happen,” I assured him, turning back to see Rose stiffen as Tucker opened his mouth to yawn. The dog’s mouth was as wide as a fucking shark’s.

Charlie stuck her hand in Tucker’s mouth and Rose snatched it out, forgetting her own fear, and pushed the dog’s mouth closed. Charlie laughed, and I smiled, knowing what she had done. I hope Jack understood just how fucking smart his daughter was. She must have gotten it from her mother.

“She needs her brother.”

“She has her brother.”

Torment sighed heavily beside me. When I turned, he looked me in the eye. “She needs him to talk.”

“Fuck.”

Mimic didn’t talk to anyone but Sam. King tried to order him to talk to Haizley, and even Mellie. But they both said no. They said he wasn’t ready and they wouldn’t push him. He had Sam, and if Sam thought he needed either of the two therapists we had at the clubhouse, she would convince him.

I wondered if she would push him to talk to his sister.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

He nodded, and I went to my woman. I wanted to hold her, maybe help her with her fear of the dog. But when I got over there and tried to lean in, the dog growled low in its throat and its ears flattened.