Page 2 of Tye (Rage MC: The Prospects #8)

Ice

S ome of the club arrived before Dad did. He was fuming and needed space, but he wasn’t going to get it. Apache, Ace, Fish, Texas, and Manny had arrived so far. We were waiting on Rock, Gunner, Ghost, and Axel. While Ghost was not part of the Inner Circle, he knew Volcano and would be helpful.

Dad stared at the two men who’d remained motionless. Hate was written clear across Dad’s face as he held Volcano’s eyes. Volcano didn’t seem to give a shit; he almost seemed resigned.

“Where’s Irish?” Grunt asked.

“You don’t talk. Not until we’ve given permission,” Dad snapped.

Boot steps stomped down the stairs; Gunner and Axel entered.

“Well, what a fuckin’ surprise this is,” Gunner sneered as he stared at Volcano and Grunt. “Think giving yourself up is going to mean mercy?”

“Why don’t you shut your mouth because you’ve no idea what’s going on,” Volcano spat.

“I’d put a bullet in your brain right now, except you’re gonna suffer like McKenna,” Gunner snarled.

“You know shit. Clearly, you ain’t the brains in Rage,” Volcano retorted.

“Christian, Cody, upstairs, guard the door; Harley and Ice can remain here,” Dad said as he watched Volcano.

Rock and Ghost arrived with Chance and Bear on their heels.

“This is not what I envisioned tonight,” Chance muttered.

“Think I expected my woman to bring them home?” Dad demanded.

“I’m gonna have words with her. Has Phoe developed a death wish?” Chance snarled, and a smile nearly crossed my lips. Mom would ignore Dad because they loved each other. She couldn’t dismiss Chance, he was her President, and he was going to tear her a new asshole. And she deserved it.

I peered up and groaned as footsteps echoed on the stairs, and the woman of the hour appeared with Irish.

Mom looked positively rabid while Irish remained calm.

“Are you trying to give me a fuckin’ heart attack?” Dad yelled.

Mom ignored him and walked up to the two cages holding the men.

“Talk. You got more evidence than those photos? McKenna is very much loved, and I’ll be quite happy to start slicing you up,” Mom said, and a shiver ran down my spine.

Damn, she meant business.

“Fury is my father, yeah. But in biology only, because he wasn’t any sort of parent to me or my siblings,” Volcano replied.

“We get that motherfucker, why are you here?” Chance snarled.

“If someone had let me fucking explain instead of losing his temper, you’d have a clue,” Mom said tartly and subsided at the glare Chance gave her.

“Fury made Grunt. I got him out alive before Fury tore him up. Now Fury knows I’m not his trained attack dog, which means he’s coming for me. I’ve people I need to protect, I need your help,” Volcano explained.

“In exchange for what? To walk away unscathed? That ain’t gonna happen, cunt,” Rock growled out.

“Do what you fuckin’ want with me. But the others were innocent,” Volcano insisted, surging to his feet.

Dad laughed. “How is anyone linked to you blameless?”

“You’re a rabid dog needing putting down. You killed your brothers and sisters,” Axel boomed.

“No, I didn’t!” Volcano retorted. “I faked their deaths and got them out.”

“Bullshit. We know what you fuckin’ are. But on the off chance… why the hell should we protect Fury’s spawn?” Axel demanded.

“Because Fury’s kids are Legacies. Rage place a high value on bloodlines,” a voice spoke from behind us. Everyone spun to stare at the man standing on the stairs.

A stunned silence fell across the room.

“What the ever-living fuck?” Axel boomed as shock crossed all our faces.

“This is what I tried to tell you!” Mom stated. Chance, Dad, Rock, and Gunner sent her a baleful look and then returned to staring at our unwelcome guest.

“Surprise fuckers. Now, let my fucking grandson out of that cage!” the intruder ordered as he stomped down the stairs.

“What the fuck is going on?” Dad exclaimed, voicing what we all were thinking.

I stared in absolute disbelief. This man was a legend, but I’d never met him. He’d been gone before Mom even met Dad.

Holy shit!

That was Spike, the missing founding member of Rage MC. He had been presumed dead for years, and now that fucker stood in front of us demanding we release his grandson.

“Grandson?” Dad demanded finally.

“Volcano. He’s a Rage Legacy,” Spike said.

“Fury ain’t Rage, and his spawn isn’t Legacies,” Axel argued.

Spike held his gaze.

“My daughter’s kids are, though,” Spike snarled and shoved his hand out as Axel only glared at it. “Keys.”

Axel looked at Dad, who nodded.

“Someone better start talking. If I do not like what I hear, I will put a bullet in your brain as easily as I can his,” Dad said, tipping his chin at Volcano and Spike.

Spike spun with a snarl.

“Ain’t got no case to put one in me, boy. I’m a fuckin’ founder, and that means something. Don’t pull asshole shit with me, Drake, because I’ll take you down,” Spike warned.

Dad’s eyes narrowed.

“Do not threaten me. You’ve been missing since before the war. You don’t hold much say right now,” Dad retorted.

“Michaelsons. All mouth, and no brains. Think I’d walk in here without a damn guarantee of leaving alive? Jesus, this is what is running the club nowadays?” Spike muttered.

“What’s that mean?” Drake demanded as Axel groaned.

“It means, asshole, that I’m armed with a dead man’s switch. Just like the old days, right Axel? You don’t hear us out, we all go boom, that includes your woman and kids, Drake. So shut the fuck up and learn how a founder runs shit,” Spike snarled and let Volcano out and then Grunt.

Irish and I moved to cover the stairs. We both had our weapons drawn and aimed at Spike as he checked Volcano over. I watched, and something like relief crossed Spike’s face.

“Dead man’s switch?” Gunner asked, his own weapon by his side.

Spike grinned and waved his left hand. We saw a trigger attached to his palm; then Spike quickly closed his fist.

“Before one of you assholes gets fuckin’ clever, you gotta reach me within a second of shooting me. Otherwise, boom!”

“Fuck me,” Dad complained.

“Start talking, Spike, and drop the drama. You’ve got our attention,” Ace ordered.

“Remember my Evelyn?” Spike asked the older generation.

“Yeah. Evelyn was your daughter, and she disappeared. Rage assumed she was dead,” Apache answered.

“Wish Evie had been. Fury kidnapped her,” Spike replied.

“Wait a minute. Evie vanished back in ‘eight-six. That was before Arrow died and Bulldog took over,” Axel interrupted.

“Don’t remind me. Fury took my sixteen-year-old baby girl and kept her chained and locked up,” Spike growled out. “Forced six kids on her before he got bored.”

“Shit,” Axel whispered.

“The club searched for Evie, I remember that. Even fuckin’ Fury looked and returned with nothing,” Texas said.

“Yeah, he didn’t come back empty-handed. He gave her Deke,” Spike replied.

“Deke?” I asked. Volcano did not look like a Deke.

“That doesn’t excuse what he’s done,” Dad snapped.

“You ain’t got a scooby what my boy’s been through or suffered. Don’t stand in judgement Drake Michaelson when you swam in shit too. Difference is you had good men to get you out, Deke had me and nobody else,” Spike hissed.

“Volcano could have had us too!” Dad retorted.

“And leave his mother and sisters in Fury’s hands? Fury had a taste for little girls. Didn’t matter if they shared his own blood,” Spike accused, and I recoiled.

What the fuck? Anger began bubbling under my skin, but I kept a tight rein on it. “Start talking. Because giving us bits of the picture ain’t helping resolve matters,” Ace suggested.

Ace sounded calm, but I saw his eyes. They were burning with hate and a desire for vengeance. Something told me he wouldn’t get it.

“Fury took Evie and had her chained in a basement at a cabin he owned. When Rage spilt, he disappeared with her and the kids. Eighteen years that cunt looked me in the face and commiserated with me over Evie’s disappearance. All the time, he had her prisoner and was giving her babies. Deke was first born in eighty-four. Then Jubilee in eighty-five and Sienna in eighty-six. Carter arrived in eight-six and Gideon in eighty-seven, with Ember in eighty-eight.

“Fury wasn’t interested in the girls, not until they got bigger. He’d no use for them until they started to bleed. Said if they bled, they could breed. When Deke turned five, Fury decided it was time to make him a guy in his own image. Didn’t work. Deke was too much like Evie, and Fury only bothered with the boys when he wanted to. Or when he believed they required lessons in being a man. Which meant they were with Evie most of the time, and she moulded them.

“Evelyn couldn’t protect the kids without taking a beating, but she made sure they understood who I was. Told them how to find me. In ninety-seven, Deke came looking; he was thirteen, and Jubilee was in danger from Fury breeding her,” Spike said, taking a breath.

“You’d left Rage by ninety-seven,” Drake replied.

“Yeah, I’d left Rage, disgusted with how Bulldog ran it, and my gut told me Evie was somewhere out there. So, I was searching when Deke found me at home. When he explained everything, I was horrified. A man I’d called brother had done this to my family, taken my girl, raped and bred her and battered her kids. Deke informed me more was to come. Jubilee had started her monthlies. Which meant Fury could breed her with someone he picked.

“I didn’t think twice. I packed up my stuff and followed him back. They still lived at the cabin, although Evie wasn’t chained anymore. Fury knew she wouldn’t run without the kids. When I got there, they were living in filth. Evie couldn’t believe I’d come for her. Luckily, Fury had stopped raping her after Ember was born. He’d lost interest.

“Knowing what Fury planned for Jubilee, we began planning. We started draining blood from Evie, Jubilee, and Sienna. They had to be rescued first. Took us a few days, but we gathered enough to make the cabin resemble a slaughterhouse.

“We waited for a weekend when we knew all three boys would be with Fury and planned to rescue Evie, Jubilee, and Sienna. Almost everything went to plan. Fury took the boys one weekend, leaving the girls with their mother. Evie splashed their blood everywhere while Ember slept. Ember could categorically deny knowing anything; we drugged her and hid her in the cellar. We thought we’d made a clean getaway,” Spike said, and his voice faded as he winced at a memory.

“You didn’t?” Axel boomed softly.

“Yeah, they escaped. But Jubilee was a casualty. Fury had raped and knocked her up,” Volcano announced and spat on the floor in disgust.

“She was twelve!” Mom exclaimed, doing the maths.

“And she was bleeding and, therefore, would be bred!” Volcano snapped. He spun away from us and punched the wall. “We’d left it too late. We saved Sienna, but not Jubilee. You got any idea what it’s like watching your twelve-year-old sister give birth? Nah, I bet you don’t. None of ya have that seared into your brain.

“When we returned to the cabin, Fury entered first and found the scene. He went berserk. We discovered Ember where she was meant to be, dozy and unaware of what had happened. Without Mom there, Fury brought us back to the club and that put us in more danger. Fury was convinced an enemy had struck at him, and his legacy was threatened. That was laughable.

“After six months, Fury ended up buying a house and installing us in it with a woman to look after us. Having kids under his feet wasn’t his plan. The following year, Grandad snatched Ember off the school bus, and Fury lost the plot…” Volcano trailed off as he clearly recalled a painful memory.

“Fury put Deke in the ring with a thirty-year-old brother. Deke nearly died. Fury blamed Deke for Ember’s kidnapping, fuck knows why. But Deke nearly paid with his life. From then on, Fury rampaged, and the boys suffered. He sent them down a road that should have ended with all of them dead.

“Instead, Deke set up Carter’s death after Fury ordered it and got Carter out. Not before Deke took some pictures of his brother,” Spike continued the story.

“Fury was fuckin’ crowing. His boy was a psycho that didn’t hesitate at killing his own blood. Then Deke faked Gideon’s, that pissed Fury off because he was down to one son. But Fury was proud of the monster he’d created. Deke acted the part while he worked from the inside to dismantle the club. Which you fucked up, asshole,” Spike snapped as he turned to Ghost.

“Me?” Ghost asked, surprised.

“You! We figured you were a snitch for a Fed. We made you within six weeks and watched you meeting your FBI brother. You weren’t too clever. Who do ya think was feeding you info? You weren’t smart enough to get shit on your own,” Spike said with a humourless laugh. “Deke fed you information to take members down, those who’d back Fury to their death. He also worked directly with Anderson after reaching out to him. When you ran with Drake’s sister, you started a chain of events which leads us to the here and now,” Spike explained.

“Which is what?” Dad questioned.

“War, son. What do you think Fury’s numbers are? Couple of hundred? Mid-hundreds? High hundreds? How about a thousand?” Spike demanded.

“How many?” Axel asked.

I watched as Spike and Volcano swapped glances.

Spike nodded.

“Around thirteen hundred. Fury infiltrated MC after MC and installed his own people as leadership. He’s been throwing those who he assumes are weak or lack loyalty at you. That’s done with. Only those who are inherently loyal remain. These are either too afraid of Fury or warped like him. And they’re hunting Volcano.

“Fury has figured out that Volcano was coming for him. Idiot grandson saved that prick’s life and endangered himself.” Spike nodded at Grunt. “Now I got a family to hide because Fury’s no fool. He’s going to question every single moment he had with Volcano, and he might start looking for the graves of his kids. When he discovers there ain’t bodies in them, he’ll guess they’re alive. We need to move them somewhere,” Spike insisted.

“There isn’t anywhere safe,” Dad replied.

“Not in South Dakota,” Axel agreed.

“Not in fuckin’ America either,” Mom said, and we looked at her. “Have they got passports, Spike?”

“Phoe,” Dad warned, but Mom ignored him.

“Drake, whatever Volcano is, there’re innocents involved. A twelve-year-old girl was forced to give birth to her father’s baby. That makes it her daughter and sister. How sickening does life have to get? Spike, I have homes abroad. I can send your family to one,” Mom said, ignoring everybody.

“Get my Evie, granddaughters, and my great-granddaughter out. Gid has a wife and three youngsters. They need moving, and Carter’s girl is dead, but he has two children. Ember has a son, and Jubilee has two. Sienna has two kids, too. Everyone needs protection apart from Carter and Gid, who are staying with us. We’re making a stand,” Spike announced.

“I never ordered McKenna raped. I specifically gave orders nobody was to be touched. There’s no way to prove this, but I’ve seen too much rape carried out on children, teenagers, men, and women. I’m sickened beyond belief for your friend. Those who remained alive in the Escape Rooms were the perpetrators. Have the police do a DNA test on them, and you can have mine, too,” Volcano said.

“You were in charge,” Chance accused.

“Yeah, and I failed her. Another innocent who has suffered because of Fury. I’d never have allowed rape. Not after Jubilee,” Volcano replied.

I glanced at my elders. The only one showing emotion was Mom.

Spike remained alert and on guard. Volcano seemed resigned. Grunt had said nothing.

“Why ain’t you speaking?” I asked, nodding at him.

“Because as far as I am aware, you all know my story. What you haven’t realised is my wife is Ember,” Grunt replied. “And I’m not leaving either.”

“Holy fuck, the plot just thickens,” Ace said sarcastically.

“Gotta wonder what else will crawl out of the woodwork,” Dad agreed.

“Problem you guys have is, we only got your word for this shit. Ain’t no evidence. Sure, Irish would vouch for him”—Apache pointed at Grunt—“but I bet she didn’t realise his ties to Fury. Fuck, you’re Fury’s son-in-law. You told Irish you were after revenge for your family.” “I am. But I met and fell for Ember. She ain’t to blame for what my twelve-year-old sister and mother suffered. I will stand against them and bathe in their fuckin’ blood even if I lose my life doing so. Ember understands Jubilee took years to recover from what Fury did to her, but she got there. My mother and sister didn’t get a chance. They died. Want my pain? I don’t know if they are better off dead or if they’d had a chance to rebuild their life. I am glad they’re dead, so they do not have to deal with this shit, but I’m gutted they are not here,” Grunt stated. The emotion is his voice couldn’t be faked.

“You got anything to collaborate this?” Dad asked.

“A Fed be enough? Anderson, Ghost’s brother, knew who was feeding them shit,” Volcano answered.

“Ghost,” Dad said, and Ghost stepped aside and yanked his phone out.

“Anything else we need to be aware of?” Ace inquired.

“Fury has files on everyone here. Your wives, kids, parents, siblings, and you aren’t alone. Fury is a maniac, but he is diligent. He’s got similar info on the major players in Rapid City. He knows your weakness, where to strike, and how to destroy you. Ain’t no secret that Rage MC and their allies value family over everything else,” Volcano warned.

“Fury won’t get to our families,” Dad said firmly, and Volcano shook his head.

“Like he wouldn’t get to this McKenna girl? No fucker there should have disobeyed my orders. There’s only one reason they did. Someone called Fury and let him know we had one of Hawthorne’s weaknesses in our grasp. That’s the only possibility I can assume,” Volcano growled out.

I looked up as Ghost rejoined us.

“Anderson vouches for Volcano. Says he’s been an informant for years,” Ghost announced grumpily.

“Not a good one if Fury is still running free,” Apache challenged.

“Oh, to live your simple life,” Volcano sneered.

“You ain’t got a clue what my boy has sacrificed while you bed your women and reproduce. Don’t cast shit at my grandson for surviving. Fuck. None of you even realised Fury was coming. You were all sitting pretty in your safe little compound. My boy has been working to bring that bastard down longer than you have been clean. Come and talk shit to us when you’ve lived it as long as Deke,” Spike snapped.

“He didn’t have to,” Axel pointed out.

“No? Then, who do you think would have given you the information? Deke could have run years ago; we could have left this fuckin’ country and let you all rot where you fell. You, fucker, who gave the orders to get that asshole’s sister to Santos—and safety?” Spike demanded, looking at Ghost.

Ghost opened his mouth and then shut it.

“Yeah, precisely,” Spike sneered.

“Ghost?” Dad asked.

“It was Volcano. He said she was annoying the fuck out of him with her constant whining and crying. He ordered me to take Carmelle and the girls,” Ghost replied.

“What state was he in when you returned?” Spike pushed.

“You were a mess. You’d been in a fight,” Ghost drawled slowly, his mind whirling.

“Fury sicced the club on him until he was knocked unconscious. All because Volcano had removed Carmelle from his sphere of influence. Now ask Volcano why he got Carmelle out,” Spike continued.

Dad blanched.

“Yeah. My boy nearly died to stop your sister from having a train on her. The day after Volcano got her out, two clubs came to party. There were over sixty men in total. And Fury planned to have Carmelle as the entertainment. He was going to have her tied down, stripped naked, and wide open to every dick there. My grandson took a beating to save her. You remember that,” Spike said.

“Ain’t they family?” I asked as I tried to work shit out.

“What?” Dad replied.

“If Fury is Carmelle’s grandfather, then you’re related to her,” I continued.

“Carmelle’s mother was my half-sister, which makes Carmelle my niece and her kids my great-nieces. Look at that, Drake, we’ve got blood in common,” Volcano jeered.

“This trash-talking’s getting us nowhere. We need to get your family to safety,” Mom interrupted. “I’ve got somewhere they can go. Get them packed and ready, and I’ll put my plane on standby.”

Mom faced Dad. “And then we need to move up Operation White Knight,” she said.

Dad nodded and turned to Volcano and Spike.

“You’ll stay at the clubhouse, but you’ll be watched. I ain’t trusting blindly.”

“Ditto,” Volcano returned.