Chapter 5

Merigold

" What's so funny?" a female voice says. I turn and see an older woman walking towards us. When she sees the boys she moves faster towards them. She is almost beside them when I jump down from behind Tank. “ Are you two of the cutest things?” the woman says. I dart within arms reach of the twins to place myself between them and this strange woman. She is in her late 50's I think with dark brown hair. I can see a few wrinkles on her tan face. She is about five foot eleven I guess. Don't they have any short people in this place? You know besides me. 

" The twins just got excited about having a few new uncles." Viper answers. She looks over at the twins then at Viper. She takes another step closer to my boys and I’m getting pissed. Who the hell does this lady think she is getting close to my boys.  I don't know this woman that is way too close to my boys and my momma sense is kicking in. I lean over the boys and whisper " Enemy in sight." The boys slink down in their chairs and make themselves as small and as still as possible.

 I know the others saw it even if they don't know what I said. The twins are now blocked from view and I position myself between them and this lady. I’m tense and ready to throw this woman across the room. Viper must have seen my body language change because he puts his hand on the woman's shoulder and pulls her back a bit. But not enough to make me feel comfortable.

" Anna, how about you back up a little bit," he says to her. She takes a few steps behind Viper. Ace now has his hand on my " Easy Little Bit." he says softly from above my head. When did he get close to me? He starts rubbing my shoulder. I didn't realize I tensed up. But I’m ready for a fight.

" Merigold, this is Anna. She was a good friend of Raider's and kind of a house mom here." Viper says. I guess he was hoping it would have a calming effect on me. Nope. I don’t care who this woman is. She is too close to my boys. She takes a step towards me but it is also another step towards the twins. I'm very uncomfortable so I whisper to the twins " Enemy fire." They slide down out of the stool and hide under it. I still have them blocked from her sight but I know Viper and Ace saw it. Viper eyes go wide as Anna says " It's nice to meet you." steps closer and puts her hand out for me to shake.

Either this old woman is stupid as hell or she doesn't sense the tension and discomfort coming off me. My fists are balled up and ready to fly for fucksakes. But everyone else seems to sense it because Viper practically yells " Anna back up now." Ace tightens his grip on my shoulder " Breath Little Bit." I don't know what everyone else is seeing but it can't be good. It has been a long time since I felt this way and it took Alaric and Mac to hold me back. Anna doesn't move, it looks like she might take another step forward. I move to knock her out. You don’t ever come near my kids without my permission.

Axel

I don't know what's going on with Merigold but ever since Anna showed up and moved towards the twins she has been tense and the closer Anna gets the worse it gets. I don't know what she said to the twins but they are under the stools, not moving a muscle. Viper sees it but like the rest of us, he doesn't understand.

Anna is a sweet woman and a mom figure around here. But Merigold doesn't know that and from the tension coming off her, she doesn't give a shit. The tension is coming off her in such strong waves and you can almost feel it.

Ace has a hand on Merigold trying to calm her. Anna takes a few steps toward her to shake her hand. A friendly gesture, but that's not how Merigold is taking it. I see her fight or flight mode kick in and the fight is winning over. I can see she is in a defensive stance ready to go Viper sees it " Anna back up now!" but she doesn't. Merigold raises her fists slightly and glares at Anna. Anna has been around bikers forever. She has seen it all and isn't afraid of shit but now would be a good time for her to be. 

When it looks like Anna might push her luck and take another step forward I see Merigold slowly raise her fists higher. She sees Anna as a threat for some reason. " Anna back up now!" this time it is Ace that yells. Still, she doesn't listen. We don't know Merigold, we don't know if she can fight or if she would hurt Anna. But my gut is telling me that to protect her boys she will fight with everything she has. I slid beside Merigold and put my hand on her other shoulder. I get the jolt again but ignore it for now.  I know she felt it because she breaks eye contact with Anna and meets my eyes. Good girl, look at me. I can feel her breathing rapidly. I lean in and whisper in her ear " No threat." As I hear Viper yell "Anna you need to back up now" I keep eye contact with Merigold " Breathe. No threat."

I don't know how long we stay there. I have no idea what is going on around me. The only thing I'm focused on is Merigold. I pay attention to her breathing. I keep repeating " Breathe. No threat." I say no threat to her based on what she said to the boys. It shows she is familiar with the military so I figured she would respond better to it. We maintain eye contact. I feel her muscles start to relax, her breathing slows. I can feel the tension start to fade. " Breathe. I got you." I say as I rub her shoulder. 

" Merigold?" Viper asks. She turns her head. She looks up at him. " What the hell?" he asks. She lowered her head and stared at the floor. " I umm have to go. It's close to the boys -- we just need to go," she says. She turns to where the boys are and whistles two short bursts `` Threat neutralize. At ease and mount up." she says. She leans into me, whispers " Thank you." and kisses my cheek. I can see the look in her eyes a mix of embarrassment and shame. But I don’t know why. The boys move as one and come out from their hiding spot and stand beside her in single file. The boys are so close to each other it's hard to tell where one stops and the other begins.

She looks up at Viper " I'm sorry" and walks out the front door. Viper watches the door for a minute before she shakes his head and goes behind the bar and grabs himself a beer. He looks at Ace and me. " Since you two jumped to whatever the fuck that was. Feel like explaining?" he says. Ace sat down " Merigold saw Anna getting too close to the boys and went into mamma bear mode. Is what I can figure" he says.

Viper laughs " Anna is a threat! Really? Sweet Anna. Are you serious?"  Ace and I nod. He still doesn't get it " Seriously. Anna wouldn't hurt anyone. We all know that." " That's true we know that, but Merigold doesn't. Think about it. Merigold is in a strange place with people she just met. Suddenly a woman she doesn't know comes out of nowhere and starts walking towards her boys. Her instincts kicked in" I say. " So why didn't she calm down when I introduced Anna?" Viper asks. " She probably would have if Anna had moved from the boys and stood by you. But Anna got too close for her comfort and she was prepared to fight." Ace answered.

" That is ridiculous. Merigold didn't act that way with any of you." Viper says. " Because we kept our distance at first. And didn’t approach the boys until after we introduced ourselves to Merigold." Ace says. " They are right, Viper," Anna says, coming up from behind him. Viper turns to her " I should have paid attention. I made her very uncomfortable. I was just so excited to meet her. Then I saw those boys and I couldn’t resist getting close to them. I didn't pick up on the clues. I should have backed off and I definitely shouldn't have gotten close to those boys without her being ok." she puts her hand on Viper's " Don't be mad at her. It's my fault. She was just being a protective mom. In her shoes I would have done the same thing." she says.

" Be mad at her? I'm just trying to understand what happened. And how you two got her to back off?" Vipers says. Ace holds his hands up " It wasn't me who got her to back off. I just stopped her from advancing." Viper looks at me. " Before I answer you said her fiance was enlisted. I have to ask, was Merigold." I ask. " No, why?"  " Because she is trained and so are the twins." I sigh. Viper is looking at me like I have grown a second head. He served in the Marines. He should have been able to see what I was talking about.