Walking over to the paid men, I said, “More of our men are coming to collect the women, our van is full.”
I caught them frown, and one stepped forward to say, “You got the cash? Deal was you’d pay on delivery.”
Knowing we needed to get the hell out of this place right now, I prayed to God to forgive me for what I was about to do. “The men coming will be bringing it. You’ll get the cash when they take the girls.” A sudden image of Flame came into my head. If Mae’s sister was his bitch, these men were in for a horrific death.
The men nodded their heads, believing my every word. I jumped into the van. The driver’s seat was left empty for me.
I didn’t look back as I pulled out onto the dark road. I didn’t look back at the men I’d most certainly just sentenced to death. And I didn’t speak to Judah, Brother Luke or the child all the way back to commune.
It was the first time I’d hated Judah in twenty-four years.
Chapter Twenty-One
Flame
I knew there was something wrong.
I sat at the window Maddie always sat at and I knew something was wrong. Two hours had come and gone, then three, then four. And when night had fallen, making it impossible for me to stare at her sketch of us embracing, clutched in my hands, I knew something was seriously fucking wrong.
Unable to sit in this cabin for one more fucking minute, I threw on my cut, grabbed my knives and hightailed it out the door. Heading into my shed, I started up my bike, then ate dust until I arrived at the compound.
The place was quiet. There was no music blaring through the front doors and no sluts were hanging around outside. Jumping off my bike I smashed through the front doors, only to see my brothers all standing around real fucking quiet. My eyes slammed on AK, Viking, Hush and Cowboy and I frowned. They were meant to be out on a run. They shouldn’t have been back yet.
Then I saw the Prez and VP standing at the head of the room. Their expressions were different to normal. And Ky began to pace back and forth, cussing, smoking smoke after smoke. His long blond hair was sticking out all over the place.
The flames were beginning to surge. Lapping up my blood, making it impossible to stand. The room was too quiet. It was all too fucking quiet.
Ripping out my blade, I then looked up, only to see all of the brothers noticing me.
“Fuck!” Ky spat. Styx silently got to his feet.
My eyes darted from brother to brother—Tank, Smiler, Bull, Prez, Ky, Hush, Cowboy, then AK and Viking last.
AK ran is hand through his dark hair and took a step forward. Tank gripped his arm and shook his head. AK ripped it back. “I gotta fuckin’ tell him,” he said.
AK walked four steps toward me. I counted each one, then I snapped. “What the fuck’s wrong?”
AK’s chest deflated and he said, “It’s your little one, brother. Maddie and her sisters have disappeared from that church they were at. Ky went back to check it out when his old lady never called for a pick up, and it was deserted. Pastor, bitches, young kid, all of them gone. We think they’ve been taken. That’s why we’ve been called back from our run early. We burned road just to get the fuck back, in case we all need to pay someone a fucking visit. And we fucking know who it’ll have been. Klan or Bible freaks.”
“No,” I whispered, feeling my heart pumping the hellfire faster in my body. My muscles tensed as I thought of what he’d said. Maddie. My Maddie. The church. That fucking church. They’d hurt her. They’d hurt her, like I knew they would.
“They’ll hurt her,” I hissed, and felt my body shaking. “They took her from me. And they’ll hurt her.”
AK stepped back, and I saw all the brothers watching me. I could feel all eyes watching me. Mocking me.
But the anger, the anger was taking hold. Clenching my hands into fists, my body filled with rage, then I snapped my head back and released a loud roar. But it wasn’t enough, the flames were burning hotter still, my blood like lava, thick and hot.
Stabbing my knife into my belt, I jumped forward and gripped the table in front. I threw it over, hearing it crash to the floor, but it wasn’t enough. A chair came next. Lifting it into the air, I launched it at the wall, the wood splintering into pieces. But the rage was still fucking there. I took another chair, then another, smashing them one by one. But no relief came. All I could see in my head was Maddie’s hand in mine. Her lips pressed against mine. Her arms wrapped around mine. And it was all I could see. As I paced, as I treaded the wooden floor, her face was all I could see.
Then I could see her tied down at that church. At that motherfucking church! I could see her screaming in my head. I could see her in pain. And I couldn’t take it. I couldn’t fucking take it!
Then I thought of her gone, gone from my side, and stopped dead. No Maddie in my cabin. No Maddie laying beside me, helping me sleep. And no Maddie holding my hand, stroking my face, singing to me…
Unable to take the feeling gutting my body, I dropped to my knees, and all the fire drained out from my blood.
I rocked back and forth on my knees, my heart aching at the fact that she’d gone. I reached for the knife, but this feeling inside of me was new and I couldn’t cut it out. It wasn’t the flames. It wasn’t something that could be freed by my blade. It was my heart, without her. My heart was dark and empty, without her. And nothing I could do would take this feeling away.
My chest tightened so hard that I felt I couldn’t breathe, then sounds came from my mouth. Sounds I didn’t know.