"How the hell do we approach this?" Hacker asked.

I was pacing around the room, still trying to wrap my mind around the information that we just found out.

"We can't tell him," I said. Hacker looked at me as if I was insane. "If we tell him then he'll go on a man-hunt and that's not what we need right now. These memories are buried deep and bringing them back up right now won't be the best. We'll tell him when we know their move and what they're planning. As soon as they start heading this way, he will know. But for now this needs to stay between us. Understand?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. Keep me posted on anything else that you find out," I ordered. He nodded and left the room, leaving me to my thoughts.

Shit is about to hit the fan. And when it does, chaos will commence.

___________________

I glared at Hacker from across the room as I saw him fidget continuously and glance around. Ever since we left the room he has been nervous, and I honestly don't blame him at all. Keeping a secret this large from one of the most trusted members was huge, but I honestly didn't want one of my men dying today just because they accidentally got in the way of his anger.

Hacker caught my gaze and I mouthed at him to stop it. He flinched and mouthed sorry before walking away and out of sight. I rolled my eyes and looked around at all of my men.

Within the next couple of days I was going to call a church meeting and tell them all of what Hacker found out once we got more information.

I sighed and stood up, walking over to the bar.

"Get me a water will you Smiles?" I asked him once I saw that he was the one working behind the bar.

"Sure thing boss."

As soon as he handed the glass to me I chugged it down, and set it back down into the bar for a refill.

"Are you struggling? You don't have to quit alcohol cold turkey you know," Smiles told me. Still he took the now empty glass and refilled it before handing me the glass again.

"I know that if I have one glass I'll want more and more. So no don't get me any alcohol whatsoever."

"You're really serious about this?"

"Yes," I sighed. "The night that I was thinking about it I thought about Bethany. I thought about how alcohol turned her into the monster that she was and I refuse to be like that. I refuse to turn into someone I know I'm not. That was also the night I had a nightmare about her, and that was when I made my decision. I just want to be able to be a good parent to Lilly after she's spent her whole life with a shitty one," I explained. He listened to me intently and when I was done he nodded.

"I'm thankful that you're cleaning up your act. It was getting a little ridiculous," he laughed. I chuckled along and drank my water in silence once he left to get others their drinks and food.

"Hey dad!" Lilly chirped as she sat down next to me. Ripper, of course, was right behind her.

I smiled. "Hey sweetheart. Any plans for today?"

"No not really. Scarlett and Kali thought that it would be a good idea to stay here for a few days and not go out since we've been out so much," she explained. "Also I've been meaning to ask you about something."

"What is it?"

"Can we get a dog?"

I looked at her shocked. "Why?"

She paused. "Well I've heard that dogs are very therapeutic and I thought that one would help me with getting over everything. Maybe it could help you too."

"Are you still struggling?" I asked her as I sat up more, my water forgotten.

"Sometimes. I've stopped having nightmares every night and only have them about once a week now. But I still have some flinching habits that the guys get really sad about. If you don't want to get one it's fine but that's just why I wanted it," she averted her eyes away from me and looked down at the bar. It didn't take a genius to see that she was now upset and I felt awful.

"Lilly I never said no," she perked up. "However, if I'm going to get a dog for you do you promise you will be the one to potty train it?" She nodded. "And take it for walks, feed it, and give it water?" Another nod. "And promise to get someone to train it to also be a protection dog?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yes dad I promise to do all of that. I've already been looking at supplies and stuff that I would need for it. And I'm sure I could get someone to help me train it too."

I sighed. "You're really not making it easy to say no," I saw a smile start to make its way onto her face. "And I think I would like one too. So how about this, tomorrow we can go check out the animal shelter nearby and see if we can find one that we both love okay?" I asked.

She squealed and practically launched herself at me. The only reason she didn't fall off of the stool was because Ripper thought ahead and had reached out to catch her.

She hugged me tightly, whispering a bunch of thank you's to me. As I held her close, I cherished the moment. It meant the world to me to be able to make her happy. She deserved to be happy after going through so much pain throughout her life.

"What time tomorrow do you think we'll go?" She asked as she pulled away.

"Well it opens at eight in the morning and closes at ten at night. So does 1pm sound good to you?" I asked.

She nodded with a smile. "Thank you so much dad, it means a lot to me."

"If it helps you then I would do it without a second thought."

______________________

Lilly was practically bouncing as we walked into the shelter, the sounds of all of the animals immediately puncturing my ears.

"Hi my name is Amanda what can I do for you two today?" A lady asked as she walked up to us.

"Hi my name is Bryan and we were looking to take a look at the dogs that you have and maybe adapt one today."

"Of course! Right this way please!" She led us to the far side of the building and immediately I saw two rows full of big cages, each of them containing at least one dog. As we walked down the aisle looking at the dogs on each side, none of them popped out to me.

"Dad look!" I turned my head to where Lilly was pointing and it was a cage full of Great Dane puppies.

"These guys are several weeks old, so they are ready for adaption. The area that we normally keep puppies is being cleaned up so they are being housed here for about a day or so. You're free to go in and hang out with them if you want," Amanda told us.

"Yes please," Lilly spoke before I could. Amanda opened the door for us and we both went in. Surprisingly, the cage was big enough for us to walk in comfortably without stepping on one of the puppies.

Immediately they were all over us and I couldn't help but crouch down and smile as I pet them. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Lilly doing the same.

One puppy caught my eye and it was buried in a blanket near the back, looking at us curiously but making no move to go near us like the other ones. I was curious as to why until one of the other puppies went near it and snapped at it, snarling rudely at the poor thing. I was on my feet in the next second and moving over to the pair.

I shooed the second puppy off and took a look at the other one. Was it used to being treated like this by its siblings? I could tell that it was smaller than the rest, indicating that it was a runt. Maybe that was the reason for the mistreatment.

I squatted down in front of it and held out my hand so it could smell me. No matter how much I wanted to pet it I stayed under control so I didn't startle it.

It took a few moments but soon enough the puppy allowed me to pet it. And a few moments after that, it was wagging it's tail and licking my hand, happy that I was giving it attention. When it moved closer to me, I caught sight of another puppy behind it, buried even further under the blankets.

The second puppy was eyeing me and the first one, hesitant to come out.

As if knowing what I was looking at, the first one turned around, letting out a soft yip.

"Oh my gosh," Lilly whispered as she knelt down next to me. She laughed as the one I was petting before licked her too before going back to trying to get the other one out.

"Oh it's smaller!" She exclaimed softly once the second one came out. I had thought that the first one was the runt because of its size, but this one was definitely the runt. It was smaller than the one before but I could tell that it was just as lively as the others.

The pair came up to us and in no time Lilly and I were laughing as we played with the two puppies.

My phone vibrated in my pocket and I pulled it out to see a message from Spider.

Spider: Hey man where are you and Lilly? You guys have been gone for a couple hours.

Checking the time, I was shocked to see that he was right. We got here at around one in the afternoon and it was now 3:30.

Me: We're still at the shelter. Still looking.

Spider: Well hurry up. The girls are bored without her and I don't like listening to their whining.

I laughed and put my phone back in my pocket. Looking at Lilly, I was ecstatic to see the two puppies licking her face as she laughed and held them in her arms. We made eye contact and she nodded with a huge smile.

"Both?" She asked.

I nodded. "Both."

I stood up and walked over to the door where Amanda was talking to another worker.

"Hi! Have you made a decision or would you like to keep looking?" She asked.

"I think we've made our decision. Do you see those two puppies in her arms?" I pointed to Lilly and Amanda nodded. "We want those ones."

"Okay, they are both males and they are not fixed yet so if you plan on doing that you would have to schedule an appointment with a vet to do so. Would you like me to go get the paper work and bring it here or would you like to come with me?" She asked.

I shrugged. "I'll come with you." She opened up the door and I walked out.

We walked down the hall, passing by barking dogs the whole way.

The signing process was a lot quicker than what I thought it would be. She got me everything that we needed for them legal wise.

She grabbed a couple of smaller leashes from a shelf and then we were waking back to where the puppies and Lilly were. Both Amanda and I laughed when we saw Lilly with both puppies in her arms being licked to death by them. As soon as the puppies caught sight of me they were squirming in her arms and didn't stop until I was right next to her petting them.

"There you are! Have a great rest of your day you two!"

"Thank you!" We called back to Amanda as we walked out.

Since I knew that we would most likely be bringing a dog home I had driven my truck to the shelter instead of my bike. We put the dogs in the backseats before we were off to the compound.

"Miranda said that she already got a lot of the stuff that they need while we were out, but we do need to pick up doggie beds and collars tomorrow," Lilly told me as she read the message off of her phone.

I nodded. "We'll get tags for them tomorrow then too since we'll be getting collars."

I waved at Joker as he opened the gates for us and laughed as I could already see the girls waiting out front to see what we picked.

"Do you have any name ideas for them?" I asked.

"Yes."

She didn't elaborate and got out of the truck, going to the back and completely ignored me when I called her name. Rolling my eyes, I got out as well and went to the back to get one of the puppies.

As soon as the girls realized we got two they were ecstatic. Miranda was so happy I thought that she was going to explode.

"Puppies!"

At once, Jessie, Miranda, Kali, and Scarlett all charged towards us as soon as we shut the doors to the truck. Immediately we were swarmed by them and surprisingly the puppies were okay with it considering how timid they were when they first met Lilly and me.

"I thought you were only getting one?" Jessie asked as she pet the one in Lilly's arms.

"Yeah we were originally but then these two were buddies and we didn't want to separate them," I explained. They nodded and went back to petting them.

"Good thing I didn't buy collars and beds considering I thought there would only be one," Miranda laughed.

"What're their names?" Scarlett asked as she pet the one in my arms.

I looked over at Lilly and she grinned.

"This smaller one is Nox."

"And that one is Leo."

The girls smiled and continued to coo and awe at the puppies.

"How do you think they'll react to all of the people?" Kali asked.

Both Lilly and I shrugged. "Only one way to find out."

_______________________

Everyone was smitten.

As soon as we walked into the compound with two puppies every single person inside was like a little kid, wanting to hold and pet them for the rest of the day. And surprisingly the puppies were very excited to meet everyone. Jason, who used to help train dogs, said that since they had trusted Lilly and me and saw that we were calm around the people, they were calm too. It would've been a different story if we were panicking or felt threatened because he said that most dogs have that instinct to protect ones that they trust and love.

Lilly and I agreed that she would take Nox for the night and I would take Leo. From there we would switch and determine who they wanted to be with more and would put their dog beds in the given room.

Throughout the whole night Leo cuddled up to me and never once left my side. It felt very comforting and reassuring to have him that close.

However in the morning I woke up to him licking my face, demanding attention. While it was entertaining, it was slightly annoying considering it was only 8.

"Wanna go outside and go pee little dude?" I muttered while sitting up. Not bothering with a shirt, I picked up Leo and walked him downstairs and outside to the backyard, while saying hi to those who were awake on the way.

When I got into the backyard I was surprised to see Lilly already up and playing with Nox. As soon as Leo saw his brother he immediately was squirming in my arms to be let down.

As the puppies played, Lilly walked over to me.

"Did Leo wake you up too?"

I rolled my eyes. "I was tempted to go back to sleep but I didn't want to risk him pissing on my bed."

She laughed. "Yeah that's how I felt about Nox. Ripper wasn't too happy that Nox wanted to share the bed, but he dealt with it. When I woke up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night they were even cuddling each other."

"Next time take a picture and send it to me," I chuckled. She laughed.

"Sure thing pops."