JUNE MASSAGED HER temples as she skimmed through the paperwork between dance lessons. One day she would definitely hire someone to do the accounting before her head exploded.

Amber mainly took care of such things, her best friend definitely better at such things. In return, June took care of the cleaning, which wasn't Amber's area of expertise.

The blonde was a bit of a chaos queen, but thanks to Juice and his OCD she had a good balance to keep her chaos under control.

"Hey baby", June snapped her fingers to get Alanna's attention, the girl practicing a few steps. On Saturdays she always spent time with her mom in the studio all day. Besides taking photos, dancing was her biggest passion. "Can you please get some drinks from the other room before the next lesson starts?"

"Sure", the nine-year-old hummed, jumping out of her current dance position. "I'll be right back."

"Thanks sweetie", the former Teller woman called after her daughter as the girl disappeared into the other room, slamming the door behind her. "Callie baby, can you please move your toys out of the way?"

"Yes mommy", the three-year-old chirped, pushing herself up on her palms and starting to collect all her dinosaurs. "When's Daddy coming?"

"Probably after the next dance lesson, he has to talk to Uncle Jax and the others about something, you know?" June sent her daughter a small smile, watching the little girl for a while as she threw her toys into a specific box. "You did great, baby."

"Thanks mommy!" Happy at the praise, Callie jumped across the room until she stopped in front of Rat, smiling up at him and giggling. "Can you play something with me?"

"Sure thing", the lanky man stood up from the couch he had been sitting on and rubbed his hands together. "What do you wanna play?"

June shook her head with a small smirk as Callie immediately used the poor Prospect to ease the boredom. At least it meant June could finish the paperwork and Rat didn't seem to mind having to entertain Callieᅳ probably a refreshing change from having to play babysitter until Happy got back.

"Oh, Lana", June began when she heard the door again, expecting Alanna to be back with the drinks.

But her breath faltered as she raised her head, her smile immediately falling and replaced by sheer terror. A man in his forties, tall and broad, had his hand resting on Alanna's shoulder, squeezing hard as he pushed the girl forward, holding a gun to her head.

Callie began to scream immediately, her heart-wrenching cries filling the large dance room as Rat pushed the three-year-old protectively behind him, drew his gun and aimed it at the unknown man. "Drop the gun!"

"Oh, that's sweet", the man mocked, pressing the gun harder to Alanna's temple with a nervous twitch of his tattooed wrist, pure madness reflecting in his bone-chilling gaze.

"But I advise you not to do anything or I'll put a bullet right through that little skull here", he added dangerously calmly, the girl whimpering in his arms, her whole body frozen.

"Please..please don't hurt her..", June pleaded, rushing around the counter and towards her daughter, but she stopped dead in her tracks when the man's finger slid onto the trigger, looking at her warningly. "You can take me, but don't hurt anyone else!"

"What makes you so sure I want you, sugar tits?", the man asked, his taunting laugh so dark that a shiver ran down June's spine. "You're pretty an all..but nah, not today."

"You want to hurt the club, don't you?" She lifted her chin a little, nodding at his kutte. "You're one of the Argent Devils, you've already made your threat."

"Mhm..smart bitch", the man chuckled, the mockery still evident in his harsh tone. "But then you would also know that we not only threatened you but also your mini-crows."

"Yes, I remember that", June's voice dropped dangerously low, her hands clenched into fists that rested at her sides. "And that was a mistake, a big mistake. But if you really want to hurt the club, then take me. I'm not only Happy Lowman's Old Lady but also SAMCRO's princessᅳ how does that sound, hm?"

"It would be a possibility, no question. And yeah, it probably would hurt them if I'd take you." The man clicked his tongue as he pulled the nine-year-old flush against his chest, sliding the silver steel down her cheek to her neck. "But taking a child brings a lot more pain, doesn't it?"

"You can't do that, you can't really be that cold-hearted." June's breath hitched, her heart breaking as Alanna looked up at her in sheer fear.

"Like I said, you can hurt me, I don't give a shit, but not my children!" June felt the adrenaline pumping through her veins, her legs twitching and ready to rush towards the man. But he was holding a gun to Alanna's neck. One wrong move from her and there was a risk of a bullet landing in the nine-year-old's bodyᅳ so the risk of her daughter getting shot was too great.

What she hadn't noticed, and apparently the guy hadn't either, was that Callie was no longer in the room, which June only noticed when the crying had stopped and only Alanna's soft whimpers could be heard. Her panicked gaze slid to Rat, who just nodded reassuringly.

So he had a plan. But where was Callie?

"Hey! Where's the little girl?!", the man barked.

"Doesn't fuckin' matter, does it?!" Alanna spat, the looks that her mother and Rat had exchanged had not gone unnoticed by her either. She had also seen out of the corner of her eye how Rat had secretly pushed his phone into her little sister's hand after he had done something with it before. "You already have me? So why do you need my little sister then?"

Not only June but even the guy was perplexed, speechless even, at Alanna's sudden outburst. But his smug grin returned fast. "Brave, just like your mother, huh? If that isn't a mistake, little crow.."

"Stop it!" June's eyes filled with horror as the guy practically inhaled the scent of her daughter and buried his face in her hair. "You're so dead, you sick bastard!"

June shot forward, at the same moment Rat ran towards the guy and Alanna, punching the man in the face three times. This gave June the chance to pull the nine-year-old out of the Argent Devil's grip.

"Run! Go check on your sister", she ordered, her voice booming through the room as she pushed Alanna towards the door. "And don't come back in here, no matter what you hear!"

Alanna, the girl now a crying mess, shook her head as she saw the brutal fight between the two men. "But Momᅳ"

"Go, Alanna", June yelled, urgency in her almost pleading yet stern tone, to finally get her daughter to leave the studio to look for Callie.

"June, you too. Get the hell out", Rat hollered, his slender body now lying beneath the man's, but he didn't give upᅳ it was his duty to protect June and the kids, even if it would cost him his life.

That's what he had signed up for when he joined the Sons and he didn't regret it.

"No, no way", the former Teller shook her head stubbornly before throwing herself at the guy who was bringing his fists down on Rat's face repeatedly, drawing groans and screams from the man. "You're not going to kill any of us, asshole!"

Her delicate arms wrapped so tightly around the man's neck that with enough pressure and the right grip she could probably even snap his neckᅳ but she wasn't that experienced when it came to this kind of stuff.

Her move helped Rat to regain his composure, and now it was his fists that hit the man's face, always careful not to hit June, who squeezed her arms tighter and tighter, taking the man's breath away.

"Can't reach the fuckin' gun", Rat yelled in frustration, trying to free himself from under the man's body, but the guy weighed way too much. "Fuck it", he spat, out of breath.

"Hold his head", he told June firmly, giving her an encouraging look when he noticed that her strength was slowly fading. "You can do itᅳ for your kids."

Despite the situation, a smile crept across June's features. Rat was definitely one of the good guys and deserved his patch after that day. And June would definitely put in a good word for him. As Rat had asked, she held the man's head by putting all her strength into her arms and squeezing his throat so hard that he had no chance of moving his head.

Then Rat pushed the pads of his thumbs into the man's eyes, the sound of the painful scream coming from the stranger bouncing off the walls as June could only see blood pouring down on Rat's face, causing her to twist her face in disgust.

"That's..disgusting", she gagged, earning an amused snort from Rat.

"I can imagine doing better things right now too, believe me", he muttered, his slender body still getting crushed by the heavy weight on top of him. "Bastard's fuckin' strong, have to admit that."

Suddenly, just as June relaxed a little, the guy beneath them stirred again, an almost belligerent scream leaving his throat and with a sweeping leap to the side he shook June off his back, throwing himself on top of her.

"Oh shit!" June's eyes doubled in size as the first fist hit her face, then the second before the man's hands wrapped around her throat.

Within seconds her lips parted, desperately gasping for air but her throat was so constricted it was impossible. And then the loud bang of a gunshot rang through the room, deafening her for a short moment.

Her face now painted red with the man's blood, his full weight fell on her, suffocating her just as much as his hands had a moment ago, which were now lifelessly wrapped around her neck.

"Rat, fuck..help me out of here", she gasped for air, her bones unable to support the weight much longer.

"Right, shit." Still a little winded up, Rat dropped the gun and hurried towards June.

With all his strength he tried to roll the guy off her. Pushing him, tugging at his kutte. Nothing. The man was a damn giantᅳ it was a miracle that the two of them had even survived a fight against the guy.

"June!" Happy burst through the door, genuine fear for his wife in his booming voice.

Together with Rat he pushed the guy off his petite wife, letting out a sigh of relief when he saw that she was still alive, that she was only mildly injured and only covered in someone else's blood.

"You scared the hell out of me", he croaked, pulling her to her feet immediately. Holding her face tightly between his hands, he examined her carefully. "Are you okay, little girl?"

"Squashed but fine, yes", she tried to joke, but only received a stern, warning look from her husband. "Okay, sorry", she muttered, lifting her hands. "No, really, I'm fine. But I think my ribs are bruised, that guy was heavy, like, heavy heavy!"

"I'm taking you to the hospital", he said, leaving no room for discussion as he pulled her into his arms, exhaling loudly as he closed his eyes. "You did good, June, I'm so proud of you."

"Without Rat, the situation would've turned out much worse." Which was just the truth. Without Rat, either she or her children would be gone nowᅳ or maybe all three of them. And the thought of losing them drew a heart-wrenching sob from her. "He held a fucking gun to Alanna's head..he..he fuckin' touched her."

She felt Happy's muscles tense, his grip on her suddenly vice-like while only an aggressive sniff left his nose, knowing he would shed blood todayᅳ and she would let him, even stand behind him if she had to.

The bastards have dragged their children into this mess, and she wanted to see every single one of them suffer.

"They're going to die, all of them", he croaked dangerously low, burying a hand in June's disheveled hair. "I'm going to make them piss their pants and beg me to finally kill them."

June pulled her head back a little, resting her forehead against Happy's as well as her hand against his cheek, a few tears rolling down her cheeks. "You do this, baby, and I'll be home to patch you up and take care of you afterwards."

"You're fuckin' perfect, woman", he grunted proudly, pulling her into a quick kiss before slowly pulling away. "The kids are outside with Jax. Give me a minute with Rat, okay?"

June nodded, lowering her voice before she spoke again. "We're only still alive because of him. He would have died for usᅳ he deserves that patch, baby."

And with that, she sent a weak, grateful smile in Rat's direction before heading outside to make sure her children were unharmedᅳ especially Alanna, who was bitterly crying in Jax' arms, completely traumatized.

Her brother, just like Happy, was seething with anger and was craving revenge, wanting to kill them all for hurting his nieces, his family. Something told June that all of the Argent Devils would be history soon and she couldn't wait for it.

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