I woke up the following morning to someone banging on the door loudly. Scarlett, who had been sleeping right next to me, rolled over and glared at the door before turning her glare to me.

"Shut them up before I shoot them," was all she said before rolling back over.

I chuckled and rolled out of bed lazily and made my way to the door. The whole time I was walking the person on the other side wouldn't stop banging on the door.

I threw the door open to come face to face with Butcher.

"What-"

"Raine is going crazy in the cell. You need to get down there now. I called Ripper and he's down there with Jason right now."

Fuck.

"Give me a minute to get dressed and I'll be right there," I told him before shutting the door and fast-walking to my closet.

"What's going on?" Scarlett muttered sleepily. She had turned back over and was staring over at me with sleepy eyes.

I pulled on a pair of pants and grabbed a random t-shirt. "Problem in the cells. I don't know what's going on or how long it'll take me, but don't worry, I'm sure it's nothing I can't handle," I reassured her.

She sat up and motioned for me to go over to her. Once I was standing right in front of her she grabbed my hand and pulled me down so she could give me a quick kiss.

"I know you said not to worry but just be careful please?"

I smiled and kissed her again. "I promise."

On my way down and out the door I didn't bother to speak to anyone, but I could see the confusion on their faces. Especially Lilly.

Awhile ago, Lilly asked me why we hadn't just killed Raine. And while I wasn't opposed to the idea of it, I had to keep Joker in mind.

He had been married to Raine for years, they were childhood best friends and high school sweethearts. When we found out that Raine betrayed the club he came up to me personally and said that he knew she would be executed eventually, but he wanted to know what possessed her to do it. And since everyone else wanted to know why she did it too, we kept her alive.

But ever since she told us that she did it for the money, she had been silent. Everyone who had been guarding her told me that she was quiet, that she was calm, and that she didn't even really react when they put food and water in there for her.

It was confusing because we were all in the dark so far as to what had changed.

As soon I stepped inside of our holding facility I could see Ripper, Jason and Butcher all staring through the one-sided mirror with tense forms.

As soon as they heard me coming closer to them they turned and seemed to sigh in relief. And once I got to where I could see inside of the cell, I could understand why.

Raine was hysterical.

Since the room was soundproof I couldn't hear what she was saying, but I could tell that she was screaming. Loudly.

On top of that it looked like she had been clawing at herself. All down her arms, legs, and face there were dark red scratches most likely made from her nails. If there had been anything in there for her to throw I'm sure she would have made a mess of that too by now.

"How long has she been like this?" I asked. I turned my gaze to Jason.

"When I switched with Rider he said that she had been acting up but she wasn't this bad until around an hour ago. She started scratching herself then but then about a half hour ago she started the screaming. I turned on the mic to try and listen to what she was saying but it's all scattered and you can't understand her."

I nodded in understanding.

I pulled out my key and opened up the cell door carefully, and automatically Raine turned her head to stare at me.

"You lied to me!" She screamed hysterically. "I gave you information! I should be let go!"

I sighed and walked further into the cell. "Just because you gave me information doesn't make you any less of a traitor. The only reason you aren't dead yet is because Joker didn't want you to die right away because he was still in love with you. Now I know he couldn't give two shits about what I did with you but I have let you live for this long because I wanted you to feel like the sorry excuse of a human you are.

"You betrayed this club that saved your sorry ass a long time ago. You handed my daughter over to a man and woman who tortured her without any remorse because you wanted money. I wanted you to go insane knowing what you did. You don't deserve to die quickly or happily. You deserve to be tortured both mentally and physically, I've just been too busy to get in here and have my fun," I smirked.

She was seething as she clenched her fists and made a move to advance towards me.

"Do that and you die," Ripper spoke from behind me before I heard the sound of a gun clicking, indicating that the safety had been turned off.

Raine sneered at him but stayed put where she was.

"Raine," I spoke for her to look at me. "By the end of this week you'll know."

"Know what?" She snapped.

"How long you have left to live."

_____________________

I left Jason and Butcher down there to keep guarding her cell while Ripper and I went back to my office to go over some things.

"Alpha, can I ask you something?" Ripper asked as we were sitting in the chairs at my desk.

"Of course," I put down the stack of papers that I was going through and gave him my full attention.

"I know Lilly and I haven't been together long, but I was wondering if I could have your blessing to propose to her?" He asked.

I had known Ripper for a long time and when I looked into his eyes after he asked me that question I could see for the first time ever that he was nervous and unsure.

"You want to marry my daughter?" I asked sternly. I remembered Lilly saying to me about how she wanted to marry him, but by this conversation and his reaction I could assume that she hadn't spoken about it to him yet.

"Yes sir," he nodded. Even though I could tell he was nervous, I could also tell that he was very sure of his decision.

I sighed. "I know you're a good guy. But if you hurt her in any way, if she ever comes to me upset about something that you did, I'm putting a bullet through your head. Understand?"

"Yes sir."

I smiled and held my hand out for him to shake.

The grin that spread across his face made my heart warm, and I could see the pure happiness shining through in his expression.

"Thank you so much Alpha. You have no idea how much your blessing means to me," he said as he shook my hand.

I chuckled. "Have you picked out a ring yet?" I asked.

He started to chew on his lip in nervousness as he shook his head.

"I don't know what kind of ring she wants. Would she prefer a more fancy one or a simple one? Does she want it engraved with something or would she not want that? Does she want a diamond or just a regular band? Fuck I don't even know her ring size," he stressed. The more he spoke I could tell the more he was getting worked up about it.

I stood up and placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at me and even though he was putting up a calmer mask, I could tell that he was very panicked on the inside.

"She's already spoken to me about you two getting married, I can talk to her again at some point and probably get that information out of her without giving it away. Don't panic about it though, you two have plenty of time to sort this out. It's not like you are on a time limit to propose next week. Personally I would prefer if you waited until all of this mess was sorted out but you don't have to. But don't stress, that will only make it worse okay?" I assured him. He nodded and took a deep breath in to help calm his nerves.

"Thank you," he smiled. Although it was small, I could tell how happy he was that he had gotten my blessing.

I grinned.

I knew Lilly would be well taken care of with Ripper. Although he had his demons and she had hers, they balanced and helped each other out perfectly. From the moment Ripper had first reacted to her that I had saw, I knew he was attached. It might not have been love right away, but he did develop a fierce protectiveness over her from the start.

Personally, I couldn't have asked for anyone better for her to have for the rest of her life.

"Thank you for being her happiness."

____________________

Later that night, at around 2am, I was filing through some more paperwork when I heard a crash from downstairs. At first I ignored it thinking that it was one of the guys drunk and being stupid until I heard footsteps that definitely didn't belong to the club making their way quietly up the stairs.

Quickly and as quietly as I could, I stood and grabbed my gun from under my desk. It was loaded and ready to go at all times so I tiptoed my way to a corner of the room where you couldn't see me right away if you walked through the door. Thankfully only my desk lamp was on, creating shadows throughout the room that helped to hide my figure even further.

As the footsteps drew closer I recognized the sound of something being dragged quietly, almost as if it was a limp foot that the person was unable to use.

The only thing I could hear besides the footsteps coming closer and closer was the sound of my heart beating inside of me. The pounding grew more rapid in my head the closer and closer the person came to the door.

They paused as the reached my door. I heard them stop just outside of my office door, before I heard and saw the handle begin to turn slowly.

I made sure my gun was ready as the door slowly started to push open, I was ready for whoever was on the other side.

The matted hair and the sinister grin of someone who I had only seen in pictures so far came into view. Anger boiled inside of me, the person who had been causing this club so many issues was standing right in front of me and they hadn't even seen me yet.

Blood and dirt stained their clothes, as if they had been attacked previously.

And they didn't even get the chance to turn their head to the corner I was hidden in before I pulled the trigger.

Adam.