Hunter (Riders of Apollo #2)

Chapter 5: Julian Atlas

Marielle is still a jealous little minx; she basically staked a claim on me in front of all of those women and I definitely don't mind it. Thing is I don't think she realised that that was what she was doing so I'm not going to pull her up on it, at least not yet.

At the moment we're heading back to the clubhouse, I'm following behind her hybrid as we pull up in front of the building. Saviour hurries out the door and over to Mari, "Is everything okay? What's wrong? Do I need to kill someone?"

"Peyton, I am fine. I was with Hunter anyway; I just came here to talk to you and Lex."

"Oh okay, I'll meet you inside. Lex is in the pink room and if you wanna drop little-un off with Runner he's in the lounge." I continue to lean against my bike and smile reassuringly when Mari looks at me with confusion. In response to the smile, she shrugs and heads inside while I focus my attention on Saviour. The glee and mirth in her eyes just makes me aware of what she's thinking.

"Don't start, please."

"Oh, hell no! You're not getting out of this; I fucking knew you fancied her! Knew it!" She bounces over to me and shakes me with excitement. She's like a kid who filled herself up on candy and now can't keep all the energy inside. "You better treat her right, Hunter. That girl has been through hell and back, she can't have you causing more problems."

"I know, I know that, okay? I'm not going to hurt her." Saviour nods and claps my shoulder, we both head inside and while Saviour heads into the pink room, I head into the lounge finding Bear, Reign and Runner spread out on the couches since everyone else is busy or somewhere else in the building.

As soon as I've gotten comfortable on the couch, Gemma saunters in and launches herself on the couch next to me. She grabs one of the cushions and puts it on my lap before resting her head on it. "Tired." She mumbles as she makes her little nest with two other cushions and a thick blanket that she needs my help with since it's really heavy. After a few minutes of manoeuvring, she settles and basically passes out.

"Dude, I have been replaced by Gemma and Saviour." Runner whines and leans back on his couch to the point where he falls off of it.

"You need to find yourself a guy so you stop annoying us." Reign says and kicks Runner up the ass, "Besides, my wife considers you her best friend but she does have other friends too you fucking weirdo."

"Did she say that though? Or are you just trying to shut me up?" Runner's accent gets stronger the more he talks and it starts to sound a little choppy which just makes the whole situation so much funnier.

"Just fuck off to the pink room." Bear groans because he's also trying to sleep and those two knobheads are stopping him from doing so. I grab the remotes for the TV as Runner hurries off, Bear falls asleep and Reign fucks about on his phone. I put on the local news to try and suss out what pressure points I need to work with to get the most out of the situations being presented.

I stroke Gem's hair as she starts to stir like she's having nightmare or something so I try and comfort her without waking her up. She turns over and buries her face in my stomach, instantly relaxing as she takes a large breath before letting out a snore at the same time as Bear.

I continue to stroke her hair absentmindedly as I watch the TV with vague interest, the world is going downhill. "Another fire has been set in the gated community of Prestige housing, this is the fifth fire within the month and fire marshals have declared them all arson." I rewind the footage over and over looking for something I recognise.

"Shit." I mumble before texting Saviour to come and look at this, all three of the girls walk in and before they can say anything to me Saviour picks up on what I'm showing her.

"Shit." She echoes me and drops onto the couch next to Reign who pulls her into his lap. Lexie lays down next to Bear and buries her head in his neck. Mari sees Gemma asleep on me and she chuckles softly, lifting her legs and sitting down where they were. "Looks like Slasher is making his move."

"What do you mean, baby?" Reign asks as Lexie wakes up Bear so he can listen to this.

"A few weeks ago, Romeo and I bought up some houses in Prestige and put some of our men's names on them. I got a few of them to go in and out but never stay to make it look like a storage facility then I leaked the information through a back door in our server to the Fire Demons. Those houses are now being burned down."

"He made his retaliation effort fire, wow, creative." Mari speaks out, making us laugh softly.

"I need to call my mum, if she gets hurt because of him I swear to god..." Reign kisses the back of Saviour's head as she reaches for her phone. Her hands are shaking as she dials the number. "Mama... why are you whispering? Mama! Reign with me, Runner bring the big gun, Boulder! I'm on my way, can you get out or am I breaking in?"

"Saviour, be careful please. I can't protect you if you're on his territory." Bear admonishes with a sigh, understanding that there is no way to stop her from doing this.

"We're not flying colours; the boys'll wait at the border and I'll go in and get my mother. Slasher beat the shit out of her and she's hiding in their compound. Hopefully she'll get out before I have to find the way in. I'll be back as soon as possible, Lex could you make up a room for her?"

"Yeah, of course." Normally I'd ask why Marie couldn't stay with Saviour but behind the walls of our compound Marie will be safer and any retaliation made against her will bounce off.