Page 98 of Patching Over

Ares chuckles, leaving me confused as fuck. “What’s going on?” I ask, finding a seat, when I realize only the three of us are present.

Raptor stares at me for a long time, not saying a word, until he apparently comes to a decision about something. “How much do you know about our sister chapter up in Ankeny?” he asks.

A glimmer of understanding hits me as I process his words. “I know that without Angel, my sister would really be dead. And my former president as well.”

“Ares and I are shifters,” he announces.

“Shifters? As in, you turn into an animal?” I question.

“Yes. I’m a hawk, he’s a mountain lion,” Raptor continues. “When Ares left Church earlier after asking about Rory’s stuff, he went to get her scent from something she had worn so he could track her.”

“So, you’re telling me no one blinked an eye when a mountain lion roamed around the mall?”

“That’s where I came in,” Raptor admits. “Facet followed the van as far as he could using the cameras and the two of us started from that point. He tracked her scent, while I flew overhead looking for possible hiding places.”

“Y’all were the ones she was telling me about, then,” I muse, thinking of everything Rory shared about her experiences with the mountain lion and hawk.

Ares smirks then outright chuckles. “Your ol’ lady is funny as hell.”

“How so?” I question.

“Well, she wasn’t really scared of me, then she proceeded to give me her life history with that piece of shit ex of hers, plus she said I was gorgeous,” he says, still smirking.

“She didn’t know it was you, asshole,” Raptor retorts.

Wanting to get this meeting done so I can get back to my woman, I ask, “Is he gone? I don’t want my ol’ lady to ever worry about him again.”

“Yeah, he’s as dead as you can get,” Ares tells me. “But we didn’t let him off easy, Brother.”

Raptor snorts. “For every mark Ares cataloged on Rory’s flesh, he swiped off a strip of skin which I then pulled once I got there. He was a bloody mess, that’s for fucking sure. But I think my favorite was when you used one claw to pluck out his eye.”

I barely hold back my shiver of revulsion. I can torture people with the best of them, however, these two are in a league of their own.

“Well, hers was so swollen, I couldn’t tell if she still had it or not,” Ares retorts. “And how about when you used your talons to eviscerate him.”

“Big word there, Brother,” Raptor sneers. “Figured it would be easier for the wildlife to find him if he left a trail is all.”

“So, he’s not in that shack any longer?” I question, trying to rein the conversation in which has turned down a path I don’t want to follow.

“Nope, we dragged him out then I carried him over to a field while the brothers burned the house down to obliterate your woman’s DNA. Last I saw, a steady stream of vultures were hovering overhead, and he was still screaming, although I suspect he no longer had any voice left since I couldn’t hear a word. He fucked around and found out with the wrong group of men, that’s for damn sure,” Raptor advises.

“Good. I suspect we’ll be here for a few more days at least until she’s comfortable enough to travel home.”

“Figured as much. The guys are putting a better hitch on the back for the bike hauler so you can drive the RV.”

“As much as I hate being in a fucking cage, there’s no way she’ll be able to drive it all the way to Virginia,” I admit. I hate I only got a few good punches in, but Rory is and will always be my number one priority.

“We’ll make sure we put together a route for y’all so you can stop at places that’ll allow you to hook it up. Also grabbing a four-person tent and some sleeping bags since I’m pretty sure Scythe and Kracken will stick to y’all like glue,” Raptor says.

“Appreciate it, brothers,” I reply. “If there’s nothing else, gonna go grab some food for my ol’ lady, then go take care of her.”

“It hopefully goes without saying that we don’t share our secret with just anyone,” Raptor cautions.

“Outside of these walls, I know nothing beyond y’all are two of my many brothers,” I reply, smirking.

“We’ll wait a few days before we start toward Roanoke,” I tell Rory as we eat. Right now, she’s high on pain meds, so she just nods.

“My life has turned upside down,” she says. “But out of everything that’s happened, I’m glad you stopped that day.”

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