Page 74 of Sapphire's Gem
“Holy shit. So does that mean she’s still running the Bloody Femmes from inside?” I wondered.
“Good question. I don’t know, but moving the letters around matches her name.”
I leaned back, my mind whirling. Feral Rhynn was precisely that. Feral. Her name had been Rhianna Black when shemarried her first husband. Five years later, she was bored with him, and because she didn’t like sharing her toys, she killed him. She went on to murder three more lovers before marrying again. That lasted two years when he cheated on her, and she offed him as well. Two more lovers bit the dust before Feral was caught.
She was notorious as a serial killer throughout these parts. Feral Rhynn was now around fifty-five and had been behind bars for fifteen years. Foxy had been groomed by Feral Rhynn and stepped straight into her shoes when Feral was locked up. We all heard there’d been a conflict when Foxy became president. Feral continued to try to run the Bloody Femmes from prison, while Foxy refused to abide by any orders.
And now her name was cropping up? Were the Femmes going through an internal power struggle with Feral flexing her muscles here? If she took Portsmouth from us while being inside, it would put her above Foxy. If Foxy took over Portsmouth, it would shut Feral up and strengthen Foxy’s position. Had Portsmouth just become the chew toy between two rabid bitches?
“Saph?” Cyber said, and I looked up.
“I think you might have hit something. Send a message to everyone, warning them to be alert. We need to dig deeper on this.”
“If Feral Rhynn’s flexing her muscles…”
“We’ll be fighting a war on two fronts. I know. But we’ve got an advantage they don’t have. Our abilities. Do we have anyone we know on the inside?” I asked as I thought.
“Yes, Kate Mallory, Candle’s cousin. She’s even in the same wing as Feral.”
I typed out a quick message and contacted Candle. If Kate could dig into what Feral’s goals were, we’d have a heads-up. Feral might think she had a leg up with our ignorance, but she was wrong. Nothing ever got past us.
???
“Welcome!” I called out as Soul swung off his bike. Driving behind him in an SUV were his wife and children.
“Hey, Sapphire.” Soul nodded to me, as his eyes searched for Storm.
“She’s inside, Soul, safe and sound,” I replied, and he looked a little sheepish. He came over and hugged me as Bryony and the children approached.
“Sorry, Sapphire, I’ve been worried.”
“You know us better than to imagine we’d let harm come to her,” I chided.
Soul nodded.
I reached out and touched his cut. “You made brother early.”
“Yeah. Warden said my actions spoke of the kind of man I was. I just did what you taught me.” He turned to those accompanying him. “Bryony, this is Sapphire, the club’s president. Sapphire, this is my woman and children. This is our son Ham, our daughter Maci, and this is baby Grace.”
The pride shining from Soul as he introduced his family was awe-inspiring. The young boy had grown into a man, and I was so proud of him.
“You’re like us,” Maci said, and I nodded.
“Yup. My club is special.”
“How will I know who to join when I grow up?” Maci demanded, and I laughed.
“You’ve plenty of time to decide that, kid. Come on, let’s go inside.”
“Thanks for having us. Soul has been worried ever since we heard you were shot. Ham was ill, which is why we didn’t come straight away. I hope you won’t hold that against us,” Bryony said as the kids shot after Soul.
“Not at all. You’re welcome here, although you could have brought Noble with you. I hear this little lady has quite the temper,” I said, gazing at the sleeping baby in Bryony’s arms.
“Yeah, but she’s learned control. Noble, keeping a shield around her for three weeks, taught Grace that she doesn’t like being wet.”
“At least she learned,” I replied.
“It took some time, but yes. Now she only drowns someone if she’s startled or frightened,” Bryony said and laughed.
