Page 58 of Tav

“OK. All the players are in position. Let’s roll out,” Marx walks out, Rider following behind.

I hug Cove, whispering I love her before giving her a kiss and then doing the same with Elio.

Sage wraps her thin arms around me, squeezing me tight. “Be safe, Mom.”

“I love you, Sagey,” I kiss her on her forehead and then move to wrap my eldest in my arms.

“I love you Mom. Go get rid of the Devil and burn that place to the ground,” I pull back from my son, so thankful that Royal never got to him. I make a note to contact my lawyer when all this dies down. Niko might well be my eldest, the child I grew in my body, but all four of them are my babies and they will be seen as such in the eyes of the law. I give them all one more hug each and blow kisses while Tav shakes hands and pounds on hisbrothers’ backs, Gus lingering for a little longer. He hugs Ana and then waves at Chewy when she waves back at him.

“Where’s Pops?” he asks, those thick black brows pinched.

“He’s looking for a hooker,” Chewy answers, a dozen heads all whipping toward her. “Trust me, it’s all for a good cause.”

My gaze flits to Debs who has a small smile on her face as if her boyfriend looking for a hooker is completely normal behavior. Tav stands staring at his sister for a moment before shrugging his shoulders.

“Right then,” He goes up to the kids and hugs each of them. Cove, Elio, Sage and then man hugs Niko. “You relax and be kids. I’ll take care of your mom,” he tells them before taking my hand and leading me out the door, turning to wave once more.

Tav and I settle into the seats of my mom SUV. The booster seats have been removed and in their place are cases of surveillance equipment and weapons. I giggle at the sight, Tav turning to see what tickles me and when he sees what I’m seeing he rewards me with a beautiful grin. We watch Marx and Rider roll out while we sit in the idling car.

“Ready Pixie?”

“Ready.”

Chapter 17

Tav

We traveled the three hours to the outskirts of Eden’s Keep and the whole team have spent the last two hours setting up surveillance. I have to admit, I’ve worked security, people recovery, even search and rescue before, but never have I seen anything quite like Eden’s Keep.

“The place is absolutely massive,” Savage says, dropping into a seat in the motel room that we’re all gathered in.

Adonner is a shitty little town close to Eden’s Keep. Blanche’s intel pegged Adonner as the best place to hole up because the Keep members never come here. They prefer to go further afield for their supplies. Well, that and Adonner locals dislike Eden’s Keep with a vengeance, so the likelihood of someone from this small town ratting us out seems fairly low.

“It’s massive and fucking creepy. Did you see how the women dress there?” Nitro asks the room. “Did you wear that shit, Blanche?”

Pixie’s lips curl up in the corners, “Hells yes I did! I loved my floor length brown dresses and big white sneakers,” she snorts then giggles, unable to keep up the lie. “Want to know what they wear on their wedding days?”

Rider leans forward, clearly interested in hearing more. Hell, he’s not the only one. Most of my brothers are listening in eagerly.

“We get to wear pink versions of the brown dress. And big white sneakers.”

Rider shudders, looking horrified, and rightly so.

“After the ceremony, everyone gathers in the hall, seated for dinner, while the bride and groom get taken to the bridal suite. They’re not allowed to come out until they consummate the marriage. After that, they enter the hall and the members celebrate the fact that they just fucked. Then they get to eat dinner.”

“That’s fucked up,” Tank grumbles, everyone else nodding along.

“There’s a lot that’s fucked up about the place. I was lucky. It wasn’t so bad when I was growing up but, it got more and more fucked up after I left. At least I knew things weren’t normal. Others, people that are born there, they don’t know. Someone like Lovely will take a long time to get used to the outside world.” Blanche says, her sister very obviously on her mind.

Marx frowns for a moment, then goes back to watching the small screens our video feeds are playing on. I have to admit, being able to bring a shit ton of security equipment is making our jobs a cakewalk. We spent two hours setting up a perimeter, and now we’re chilling out, watching the coming and going of Keep people.

It’s Saturday, so the younger kids are playing with balls and hula hoops in the middle of the compound. The older teenage kids are in groups, the boys playing something akin to football while girls huddle in packs on the sidelines watching. The women look tired as they push large baby buggys with two or even three babies sitting in them. There are no men in sight, at least not on our feeds.

“Pixie, where are all the men?”

She leans closer to the screens, then frowns at the smart watch on her wrist. “The men usually meet at 5pm on a Saturday. They’re two hours early.”

Marx runs a hand down his beard. “What does it mean if they’re meeting early?”

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