Souls Unfractured (Hades Hangmen 3)

“It’s a long fucking ride,” I replied.

“To your fucking past, it seems,” AK quickly added. I watched his brown eyes narrow. “Your old man, Flame? West fucking Virginia? How the fuck you end up in Texas, from West bumfuck nowhere?”

I stared at the table and said, “Specialists for my head were in Austin, I think. I don’t know. It’s not real clear. Too many fucking drugs were in my veins. But they sent me here sometime between eight and seventeen, clearly.”

AK nodded, then asked another question. “So we gonna be slicing up your old man? This that kinda run?”

My teeth gritted and I breathed through my nose. “Yeah,” was all I could manage. “Of the worst fucking kind.”

Viking caught my eye and ran his hand down his beard. “He the reason for the…” He pointed at the blade clutched in my hand, then to the scars on my arm. I nodded my head and he sat back. “Then when the fuck do we go? I suddenly have a huge fucking hard on for West Virginia.”

“Today,” I announced.

“And your little bitch...?” Vike asked.

“Is fucking coming with,” I growled.

AK shook his head. “That’s a hard road and a long fucking ride. And from what I’m gathering, meeting Daddy Dearest ain’t gonna be a fucking picnic. You okay with her timid ass seeing you like that? Seeing you in full fucking Flame mode?”

I thought of Maddie and my chest swelled with pride. “She understands me. She understands what I gotta do. She’s stronger than she looks. She can take it.” My finger traced over a knot in the tabletop. “She knows who I am… both sides of me. She’s plenty strong enough.”

AK shook his head and huffed out a laugh. “That she fucking is, brother. A fucking pint-sized warrior.”

“Yeah, with perfect tits and ass. Fucking lottery win with that one, brother,” Viking added, his eyebrows dancing. “Who’d have thought the fucked up scarred one among us would get the hottest bitch? Life’s so fucking unfair.”

I dropped my head thinking of Maddie’s soft green eyes, and admitted, “I have to have her with me, all the time. All the fucking time.” I pounded my fist over my chest. “Can’t fucking breathe without her nearby. Need her to sleep with me. Need her to keep the flames away.” I ran my nails over the scars on my arm. “She ain’t ever leaving me again. For life, brothers. She’s mine for fucking life.”

“Fuck,” Viking whispered, “Psycho down.”

My head snapped up, but the cunt was actually smiling. AK got to his feet, dragging Viking with him. “So, Flame, we off to the land of mountains and broken dreams?”

Jumping to my feet, I hightailed it out of the clubhouse. My head twitching and hands fisting all the way to my cabin.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Maddie

“I feel strange,” I whispered as I looked at myself in the mirror.

“You look fucking hot, darlin’! Flame is gonna flip his shit when he sees you all leathered up.”

I stared at the girl in the mirror. The girl wearing tight leather pants, a black sweater and a snug leather jacket, complemented with black boots. My hair was tied back in a French braid. I could not stop staring.

“Long fucking ride to West V, Madds. You need all the damn protection you can get.” I turned to see Letti loafing on Mae’s sofa.

Beauty handed me a saddlebag filled with more leathers and clean clothes. “Should be more than enough for you there, sweetie. I got you hooked up real good.”

“Thank you,” I replied, and moved back to the opposite sofa where Lilah and Mae were sitting. Lilah was smiling up at me, but I could detect concern in Mae's frown.

“I will be fine, Mae,” I hushed. Mae got to her feet. She was pale with morning sickness, but she forced a smile.

“I know you will. I just feel… you know. I guess I have always felt protective of you, Maddie. And seeing you go off with Flame to the other side of the country, fills me with too many nerves to control.”

My stomach tightened on seeing her worry, but with more emphasis I said, “I have to go, Mae. He needs this. He needs this to move on. Just as we all have. And I will do anything to make that happen. You would do it for Styx.” In turn, I looked to Lilah, Beauty and Letti. “And you would do it for Ky, and Tank, and Bull. Yes?”

All of them chorused, “Yes.”

Mae put her hands on my arms and I looked into her blue eyes. “Mae. You and Bella always treated me more like a daughter than a sister. Which is strange, because you are not much older than I.”

Mae teared up, but managed to say, “It was because you were so young when you were awakened. Moses was… he was…”

I gripped Mae’s hands in mine and said, “I know, sister.  I know my lack of affection, and my constant silence, gave you cause to worry.” I looked down and tried to remember the girl I was, in the commune. My heart clenched and I confessed, “And I know I was broken. I now know that.” A flutter of butterflies filled my chest, but I managed to assert, “I am broken no more. I am strong… strong with Flame by my side.”

Mae stared at me, then whispered, “I can see that, sister.”

Lilah joined us, and her blue eyes glimmered, “You were always strong, Maddie. We always saw it. But now you do too.”

Lilah pressed a kiss to my cheek. Just then we heard sniffing behind us. We turned as one to witness Beauty wiping her eyes. When she saw us staring, she cast a look of incredulity. “What?” she asked, evidently exasperated. “Because of you fuckers I’m gonna have to take in stocks of waterproof mascara. I never fucking cried so much in my friggin’ life!”