The Phoenix Society

Chapter 6

"Monroe wishes to see you." A faint female voice called from outside my door. I sighed. It was only a matter of time before my peaceful morning was ruined by him. I glanced over at my brother still laying soundlessly asleep. When he slept, curled in a ball, he looked so small, so innocent to the world. I wanted to keep it that way. I wanted to keep him safe here, asleep, where he didn't have to worry about this cruel life we were living.

"Thank you, Jules." I called back to the women. Reluctantly, I rolled out of bed. I knew I couldn't keep Monroe waiting on me or he would get angry. I walked quickly out of my room making my way to the dinning room, which just happened to be a long wooden table surrounded by an assortment of whatever chairs we could find. We had taken base here in an abandoned paper mill, which just happened to be perfect. There were many escape routes, if someone happened to find us, and plenty of room for us to work. Monroe sat at the head of the table; his head was bent down looking at a tablet. His short, curly black, military cut hair was slicked back showing off his bushy eyebrows and the one thin scar across his forehead. He looked up, his dark almost black eyes staring me down. Around the table sat the six Phoenix's, the people Monroe trusted the most. I took a seat next to Jonah, who gave me a small, warm smile.

"Careful," He warned. "He's on a rampage this morning."

I rolled my eyes. What was new. There was always something going wrong. While it seemed small and trivial to me, for Monroe, it was like the world was ending.

"Good morning my sweet Kya." He said, his voice was soft and smooth like butter. "Nice of you to join us. Sleep well?"

I nodded as my hand reached for a piece of bread, sliding butter on top of it.

"Great, well now that everyone is here, we can begin." Monroe took a sip of water before standing in front of us. "Where are we at with our friend in the other room?"

"We were able to recover him quickly." Thomas spoke, his voice was a low rumble. Thomas was a burly man with long, shoulder length blond hair. He reminded me of a dirtier version of Thor. His face was slender with a long patchy beard, and you could see his body was sculpted neatly through the tank top he never took off. He was proud to work for the Phoenix Society. Always flaunting his brand whenever we went out. Something I could never do...I took a bite of my bread watching as Monroe began pacing. His brow was pushed into a single line. I saw it twitch slightly, telling me that he wasn't pleased with our work.

"And?" Monroe prompted waiting for more information.

"We ran into some trouble when his family came out, but we were able to apprehend them quickly. They won't be a problem." Jonah said before taking a bite of bread.

"Why weren't they taken care of beforehand?" Monroe asked. His eyes scanned us. I looked down at my half eaten bread, hoping his eyes would move past me. His footsteps moved as he walked behind each of us. My heart pounded as they moved closer to me. He knew it was my fault. "Does someone care to explain to me what happened?" He footsteps stopped behind me. "Ah, Kya. I believe you were supposed to clear the area, weren't you?"

"Yes sir." I told him quietly. Monroe had this way of making you question everything you have ever done. Any confidence I had, completely vanished around him.

"Care to explain to me what happened!" Monroe's voice boomed, causing me to jump back.

"They had a child sir. I couldn't find her." I told him. My eyes were facing forward. They locked onto a large metal beam across the room as I did everything I could to avoid the eye contact of those around me.