Darkness Embraced (Hades Hangmen 7)

But Beau was following the rules now. Like a good little Nazi soldier.

Styx and Ky got off their bikes and stood at the front of us all. Everyone else took that as their cue and got off their bikes too. They filed in behind the prez and VP, their guns and weapons ready.

Styx looked back at me and nodded. Taking a deep breath, I turned to Adelita. Her eyes were wide as she took in the scene. “Stay here.” Adelita was a damn statue. “I’ll come and get you soon.” I opened the truck’s door slightly. “Remember the plan, baby. Swerve to the left.” Adelita nodded. I didn’t want to leave her here alone, but I had to show my face. My old brotherhood knew I was a Hangman now. There was no sense in hiding.

The plan was simple. AK was one of the best snipers we had. When the exchange was made, and the prospects were safe, Adelita would swerve to the left beside Diego, and AK would put bullet right through Diego’s skull. I would get Adelita to safety, then the battle would start.

I pushed through Viking and Flame. Flame was like a fucking Rottweiler as he paced, breathing heavy, waiting for his brother to be delivered. Waiting for the go-ahead to tear every one of the Klan and cartel fuckers apart with the knives that were in his hands.

I pushed past all my brothers until I stopped beside Tank. I scoured the clearing and one by one saw my old brotherhood notice me. Their faces morphed from hatred to full fucking rage. Confirmation that the heir now belonged to Hades.

“Fucking betrayer!” Uncle Landry shouted. Some of the other Klan echoed his slight. But there was only one person out of these fuckers I’d ever given a shit about. When I found Beau, he was glaring at me, arms over his wide chest. And when my eyes fixed on his, his lip lifted in disgust and he spat on the ground at his feet.

And that was it. Proof that my brother hated me too. And I was just gonna have to be okay with that fact.

“Keep strong, brother,” Tank said under his breath. “Those fuckers ain’t your family no more.” I breathed deeply and let his words sink in. He was right. They weren’t my family. He was. Beauty was. These brothers were my fucking family . . . and that was my woman in the truck. My bitch who these cunts were trying to take away.

Movement caught my eye and led me to Diego. The minute I saw him, my veins flooded with the need to kill. To tear him apart limb from limb for even touching one hair on Adelita’s head. For having the audacity to believe that he was good enough for her. That he would ever be her motherfucking husband.

“I’d heard the rumors,” Diego said, addressing me and completely ignoring Styx and Ky, who were leading the Hangmen. Diego walked toward us. My brothers clicked the safeties off their guns. “I’d heard the great White Prince of the Ku Klux Klan had abdicated and fled to the enemy.” His head cocked to the side, and I wanted to knock his teeth from his fucking mouth.

“Give us the kids, prick. And cut the fucking theatrics,” Ky drawled and folded his arms, waiting for Diego to speak.

Diego, even to this exchange, was wearing an expensive black suit and tie. His brown eyes went ice cold. “I want to see her first.” He pointed to the van Landry guarded. “Only then will the exchange take place.”

Styx eventually looked back at me and nodded. I passed by Smiler, who was watching that van like a hawk. Slash was in there. This all had to go to plan. I approached the truck and saw Adelita sit up straight. I opened the passenger-side door. “You ready, baby?”

Adelita climbed from the truck. I led her through the Hangmen. I held my hand back. Adelita slipped her hand in mine and fucking squeezed it tight. As we broke through the final few brothers, we stood beside Styx and Ky. Adelita released my hand and walked forward toward Diego.

I saw fire light in Diego’s eyes on seeing Adelita . . . until he saw what she was wearing. Then that fire lit into a fucking inferno. The cartel princess stood in biker bitch clothes. “Adelita . . .” Diego said, softly.

“Diego.” No one would ever know my bitch was scared. She stood like a fucking warrior queen, staring down her ex-fiancé.

“You’ve seen her,” Ky said. “Now show us our prospects.”

Diego nodded, but he was wearing a sadistic kind of smile. I braced myself, wondering what the fuck it was for, when Landry opened the van. I couldn’t see inside. Then a Klansman came out of the dark cabin, pulling a beaten woman with blond hair to the ground.

At first I didn’t know what the fuck was happening, who the hell she was, until Adelita whispered, “No . . .” The woman lifted her swollen eyes at the sound of Adelita’s voice, and a pained sound ripped from her throat. “No!” Adelita cried again, and this time tried to run toward the woman. The beaten bitch had a rope around her throat, the binds rubbing her skin raw. I grabbed Adelita before she could gain any ground. “Charley!” she cried, and my head snapped to the woman. Charley . . . Adelita’s best friend. The bitch from California.

“I thought I’d better bring some insurance,” Diego said coldly.

Adelita shook in my arms. “My father will kill you when he finds out you have taken her.”

Diego’s head tipped to the side. “Cariño . . . it was his idea.”

Adelita froze. She gasped. But she didn’t argue back. After what she had discovered about her father, I figured she believed he was capable of anything.

“The prospects, cuntface,” Ky growled. “I’m getting real tired of your bullshit.”

Without taking his suspicious eyes off me and Adelita, he signaled with the click of his fingers for Landry to bring out the captives. In seconds they were being pushed from the van and into the clearing. Flame snarled behind us, and I felt the tension rise among the brothers as the prospects came closer. They were beaten, their faces covered in blood. A Klansmen led them to the center of the clearing and kicked each of them to their knees. I rocked on the spot, ready to just fucking storm these fuckers and take as many out as I could. But Adelita turned to look at me.

Diego walked to the prospects and pulled out a knife. Styx held out his gun, the Hangmen Mute ready to shoot Diego through the skull. Diego moved beside Slash, reached down and cut the rope that bound him. He next moved to Zane, and finally to Lil’ Ash.

“Adelita,” Diego said, and jerked his head—a command for Adelita to go to him. Adelita’s eyes moved from the prospects to Charley, who was being held at knifepoint by a Klan solider. And finally to Diego. Adelita moved from my arms, and it took everything I had not to wrench her back to me and take her the fuck away. With a sad smile, Adelita walked away from me and toward Diego. My blood ran cold. I didn’t like that look in her eyes. Like she was saying goodbye for real

.

Only the sound of Diego’s voice took my attention away from her. “Get to your fucking feet.” The prospects did as he said. Adelita got closer and closer to Diego.

The relief I saw on the prospects’ faces as she approached was obvious. They were fucking kids. They’d be scared shitless. Adelita stopped next to Diego. He smiled at her. Tank laid his hand on my arm to stop me from going over there and taking her the fuck back. I breathed, trying to calm down.

“The kids,” Ky barked.

Diego nodded, but then said, “Oh, just one more thing.” One second he stood beside Adelita, and the next he had his arm around Lil’ Ash’s throat, a gun to his head. Looking directly at Ky and Styx, Diego said, “You took something of mine, now I’ll take something of yours.”

Lil’ Ash’s eyes widened as he realized what was happening. Flame roared in rage from behind us and plowed through the men to get to his brother. Diego released his safety, just as Slash rushed at Ash from the side and knocked Ash to the ground and out of Diego’s hold. Diego didn’t falter; instead he turned the gun on Slash and shot a bullet straight through the kid’s eyes. The world moved to slow motion as Lil’ Ash’s scream ripped into the air, followed by Smiler’s, who ran from the men toward his cousin lying on the ground. Blood seeped from his head. Slash’s eyes were open, staring at nothing.

The world slammed back into real time as Ash pushed off the ground and ran toward us. Grabbing a couple of guns from Ferg, one of the Florida chapter’s brothers, he turned back into the clearing and started firing. Fucking roaring and firing bullet after bullet into Klan and cartel flesh. Flame was beside him in seconds, guns aimed at the Klan who had started firing back.

“Zane!” Viking’s voice rang out to the youngest prospect, who was watching the scene like he didn’t know what the fuck to do. One of the cartel rushed at Zane, knife ready to stab the kid. A shot rang out in the distance, and the cartel fucker hit the ground—bullet to the heart. AK. Zane only took a second to lean down and pick up the cartel prick’s gun. He followed Ash. I watched as the little fucker started firing slugs at the cartel and Klan. Two men immediately went down. I was sure the kid had never killed before . . . He had now.