Page 44 of Royal

I walk over to her to see what she is looking at, but there is no dog. “It must have run under the fence, sweetie.”

I take her hand, leading her away from the gate. “Give me the girl, bitch!” someone screams right behind me.

I whip around to find a woman who looks like she is deathly ill. Her hair is in strings around her head.

Her evil eyes are focused on Penny. She looks confused about who this woman could be. “Give me the girl. I’m going to take her to where she belongs,” she says, attempting a sweet voice.

I look behind her to see how she could have gotten in. I see a hole under the gate. The woman must’ve crawled under the gate. Holy shit. Her hands are blackened from clawing through the dirt, she is so skinny that she barely even had to dig.

Penny is scared, her little hand is trembling in mine. “Darling, run to your daddy, okay? And don’t stop!” I tell her without taking my eyes off the woman, who is shaking like she is trying not to charge at us.

Penny lets go of my hand and sprints toward the clubhouse. The woman screams at the top of her lungs, and then she runs after Penny, but I catch her at the last second, gripping her grimy strands of hair.

She tries to hide from me. “Stop this right now, you are not going to get this girl!” I yell at her.

She snaps her head around toward my hands, snapping her teeth at me like she is trying to bite me. “Eww, what are you, three? My toddler doesn’t even do that!”

She then scratches me with her fingernails. I let her loose and punch her hard in the face, sick and tired of her trying to hurt me.

She glances at me, stunned momentarily, then crumples to the ground. Her head bounces off the ground.

I turn around and look behind me to see if there is anyone else, and that’s when I see a woman I would recognize anywhere.

Penny’s egg donor. I asked River for a picture of her in case she ever tried to come around Penny, so I would know to be cautious.

“What are you, a pussy? Sending someone else to do your dirty work? You are a sick excuse of a human. Why can’t you leave that girl alone?” I glare at her through the metal fence.

I want nothing more than to wrench every strand of hair out of her head. She gives me a dirty look before running into the woods and disappearing.

“Naomi!” Royal roars, and I turn around to see him running over the small hill toward me. I swear he almost hits the ground when he sees I’m okay.

He runs to me and lifts me off the ground, holding me. “What the fuck happened?”

“I noticed that Penny was missing. Annie told me a dog was at the edge of the fence, but I had a bad feeling.”

I look at the woman on the ground, and she looks like she is starting to come around. I’m pissed more so now, knowing she was helping that witch, whose name is Sabrina—which is very fitting.

“I found her, and we were heading back when she ran out from behind that tree bush thing. She ran out, explaining that she wants Penny to come and be with her where she belongs.” Royal is shaking. All of the club members are here with us now. “Then she tried to chase Penny, but I was not going to let that happen.” I glare at the woman when her eyes open. “But I looked through the fence, and there she was. Sabrina.”

Royal hisses, his eyes like fire. “You’re fucking kidding me!”

I shake my head. “I’m so pissed. She is a pussy, sending someone to get Penny. The woman even crawled under the fence.”

Gage looks at the hole. “Why is the cunt trying this after all these years? She usually watches but never does anything.”

“I don’t know, but if I’m ever face to face with her, it will be the worst day of her life because of what she has done to that baby.”

Royal’s pissed-off face falls, replaced by an expression of amusement. All the guys chuckle. “I think we just saw her momma bear side,” Terror jokes, and everyone laughs, but I don’t.

“Let’s go eat. Gavin will take care of her and dump her somewhere,” Gage tells us, and we all walk past her while the prospect cringes at touching the woman, and I don’t blame him.

Royal picks up the hand I punched her with, looking at my swollen knuckles. “Slugger.” He kisses the redness.

“You best believe it.” I wink, and he laughs out loud.

Penny is sitting at the picnic table with the ole ladies. When sees us, she runs to me. I bend down in front of her on my knees, hating to see the scared look on her face.

“Hey, angel, don’t be scared,” I tell her. All the guys walk past us to go to their women, but Royal stays beside me.

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