by Tillie Cole
She was close. And so was Rider’s death.
Holding up my fist, the brothers came to a sudden halt behind me.
Mae.
Mae was at some kinda holding cell and the elders were closing in on her as she knelt on a patch of grass. She had a fuckin’ terrified expression on her face and that bastard Gabriel was pointing a gun right at Mae’s head. The other two bearded fuckers stood beside him, smirking.
Where the fuck’s Rider? I signed. My brothers scoured around, but he was long gone.
Fuck!
Then I heard Gabriel speak aloud. “Say hello to Jezebel, Satan’s whore.”
My blood boiled and I fuckin’ broke.
I’m done dealing with this cunt.
Lifting my 9mm, I open fired at the sadistic bastard; two bullets, one through each of his knees. Screaming like a fuckin’ baby, Gabriel hit the deck as Flame and Ky ripped outta the forest cover to tackle Noah and Moses to the ground. The Hangmen easily took control. Ky held Noah by the neck; Flame held Moses by the hair, his switchblade braced at Moses’s throat.
I pounded out into the clearing and kicked Gabriel’s AK47 outta his reach. Mae had curled up on the ground, her hands protecting her head, eyes down. I walked straight to Gabriel, lifted the fucker by his long hair, took my Bowie knife from my boot and sliced open his throat, watching him flop to the ground and choke on his own blood.
I spat on his shocked face and signed, Burn in Hell, asshole.
Mae was still on the grass so I bent down beside her, gently running my hand down her back. She stiffened and scrambled to the side, wolf eyes huge; until she caught sight of me. Her big blues instantly filled with tears. I stood and jerked my chin. I needed my woman back in my arms.
“Styx?” she whispered in disbelief. Standing up on shaky legs, Mae suddenly ran right at me and jumped, wrapping her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist. Her nose tucked into my neck and she sobbed, her tears dripping onto my skin.
I clutched her to me as tight as I could, breathing her in. Mae reared back, wiped her cheeks, and met my eyes. A huge fuckin’ watery smile spread on her lips and she crushed her mouth to mine, her tongue plunging into my mouth, frantic, desperate… relieved.
Breaking the kiss, Mae pressed her forehead to mine and placed her palms to my cheeks. “I knew you would find me. I knew you would come. I love you so much.”
I nodded in agreement, unable to find my voice and squeezed her closer.
With a knowing smile, Mae whispered, “I understand, baby…you love me too.”
I groaned at the sight of her fuckin’ beautiful face and crashed my mouth to hers.
“I am going to take that as a yes.” She giggled against my mouth as I pulled back. She could take that as a huge fuckin’ yes.
“Err… Mae?” Mae turned her attention to Ky. Brother Noah lay at his feet, a knife sticking up from his heart. I looked next to Flame who was walking back from the edge of the forest, blood spatter on his leathers, his black eyes crazy fuckin’ wild. He gave me a curt nod and smirked. Moses was with the boatman. I dipped my head to see the clear path to a large tree set a few yards inside the forest. Moses was staked to the trunk, four knives in his torso to keep him off the ground.
Flame: fucker always got inventive.
“They friends of yours?” Ky’s question to Mae caused my woman to gasp. She shimmied down my legs and ran to the low stone cell.
“Lilah, Maddie!” she shouted. “Are you okay?”
We all watched, fascinated, as four hands reached outta the cell toward Mae.
Ky moved next to me. “Who the fuck’s in there?”
I went to answer, when Mae turned to face us. “Can you get them out? They are trapped! I do not have the key!”
Bull stepped forward, holding the wire cutters he’d used to rip through the perimeter fence. “These’ll cut through the lock.”
Mae moved outta the way as Bull snapped open the lock. His eyes widened and when he walked back toward us, a look of approval spread across his face. Tank, Smiler and the psycho trio moved in to join me and Ky—we were all watching the cell like fuckin’ hawks.
Mae yanked open the stiff gate. “Come,” she coaxed soothingly.
Nothing happened.
Mae cast a nervous look at us and crouched to kneel. The brothers and I were completely silent.
“They will not harm you. You have my word. You need not be afraid. They look different from us, but they are good men.” Mae shuffled back, then stood, holding out her hands.
Nothing happened for several more seconds. Then a small hand was planted on the dried mud, then another, and a cult bitch came into view. Mae bent down and helped her stand. The bitch immediately turned to face us.
“Fuck. Me…” Ky hissed from my left. I looked at my best friend. The brother’s mouth was hanging wide open as he stared at the blonde. She was one stunning bitch: blue eyes, long blond hair, though not a patch on Mae—in my eyes.
Then the blonde glanced down and screamed, pushing back into Mae, horrified at the sight of the elders slaughtered and bleeding out, on the ground.
Mae caught her in her arms. “Hush, Lilah.”
“The elders,” she whispered, the same fuckin’ strange accent as Mae tripping from her lips.
“They had to be killed, Lilah. That or they would have killed us. The Hangmen saved our lives.”
“My cock just got real fuckin’ hard,” Ky informed me, his voice sounding like he was in pain. I rolled my eyes. Of course the horny bastard was feeling Lilah. She was exactly his type: damn supermodel looks and stacked tits.
Lilah stared us down like she was looking at the devil, but her eyes flared and her lips parted as they landed on Ky.
“Shit. I’m in love,” he rasped out again. I slapped the fucker upside his head.
Mae crouched down again and Viking moaned out loud. “You telling me there’s more in there? What is this place? A fuckin’ breeding farm for Victoria’s Secret? First Mae turns up, looking all kinds’a hot, then the big titted blond playmate, and now someone else?”
I flew at the redheaded fucker and gripped him by the collar, snarling.
“Chill, Prez. I ain’t making a play for your old lady, but you can’t deny she’s one hot bitch. Fuck, and when she’s in those leathers—” I planted the dickhead on his ass and moved back next to Ky, leaving Viking smirking on the floor. AK shook his head in exasperation.
My VP was still transfixed on the blonde and she on him. Great.
Mae took another hand from the small cell and a flash of black hair, the same shade as my woman’s, was seen first. Mae immediately bundled a tiny bitch in her arms. She was wrapped so tight in Mae’s arms I couldn’t even see her face. Mae ran her hands down her hair and lay kiss after kiss on her head.
“Lilah?” Mae called to the blonde. Lilah looked up from Ky and took Mae’s outstretched hand. As one, the three of them made their way to us, Mae smiling so fuckin’ big at me. We’d gotten her sisters out. My chest tightened and my cock twitched. She was so damn beautiful. And all fuckin’ mine.
“Styx, Ky, Tank, Bull, Viking, AK, Flame, Smiler; these are my sisters.”
Mae pushed the blonde to step farther forward and her big blue eyes met Ky’s again. The brother actually groaned out loud, causing the bitch to frown. Mae immediately looked pissed and her eyes narrowed at my VP.
“This is Lilah.” Mae smiled wide. “Lilah, these are the Hangmen.”
“The Hangmen?” Lilah questioned. Shit, she reminded me of Mae when she first came to the club. Completely fuckin’ clueless.
Mae let out a giggle. “It is a club of sorts, Lilah. They ride motorbikes.”
Lilah’s hand ran nervously over her tied-back hair. “What is a motorbike?”
Mae’s eyes caught mine and she giggled again, then looked to her friend, rubbing along her back. “All will be explained in time.”
Mae then turned to the dark-haired bitch in her arms and whispered something in her ea
r. She flinched as Mae pulled back her hair, revealing the side of her face. She slowly lifted her head.
Holy. Fuck. It was Mae. Mae with green eyes instead of ice-blue.
“Jesus Christ! Please tell me there’s more hot bitches in that cell, Mae. One for each of us,” AK said. Mae humored the brother by flashing him a shy smile, then shook her head.
“This is my sister, Maddie. She is my blood sister.”
Maddie straightened at that, almost proud, darting her doe eyes along each of the brothers and then to the dead elders on the floor. With a pained sob, she clung to Mae’s hand.
“Shh, it is okay,” Mae said soothingly.
Maddie began to tremble and shook her head. Lilah flanked her and ran her hand across Maddie’s hair. “What is it, Maddie?”
Maddie seemed to pull herself round. She turned to face the Hangmen. Mae and Lilah’s mouths dropped open in shock. I took by their reactions that the move from their sister weren’t normal.
Maddie stepped forward and the brothers sucked in sharp breaths. She was hot. Hot but fuckin’ young.
“You are Mae’s love? Styx?” she asked in that same weird accent.
Glancing at my woman, I smirked. Her love? Shit. I nodded my head. Mae blushed and smiled.
“Did you kill anyone else out here?” Maddie asked, her tiny voice shaking, but her stern green eyes were anything but.
I nodded.
She took a deep breath. “Where is he?”
I stilled. A bitch like her shouldn’t be seeing what Flame had done. It weren’t pretty.
“Please! I need to see him!” she shouted, surprising me with her anger.
I pointed my finger to the forest. She turned ’round and jogged across the clearing and into the trees.
I stepped up to Mae and signed, You’re gonna need to get your girl, babe. She ain’t gonna cope seeing that shit.
Mae closed her eyes and rubbed them. She was tired. I needed to get her fuck home.
Maddie chose that second to re-enter the clearing. Her face was blank and she’d stopped shaking. In fact, color had returned to her face. Mae rushed over, but Maddie thrust out her hand. Mae stopped in response.
“Sister?” Mae questioned, but Maddie ignored her, heading instead to the brothers.
“Who killed him?” she asked tightly, her green eyes running down the line.
On the end of the line, Flame began to twitch his head, his hands balling into fists. Fuck. It had to be Flame, didn’t it? This weren’t gonna end well if she started shooting off her mouth.
Maddie fixed her gaze on Flame. “Was it you?” she asked frankly.
Flame nodded once and his mouth tightened. “Yeah, I killed the fucker.” His tattooed orange flames danced on his tense neck as his crazy black eyes fixed on Maddie. A fuckin’ murderous glare.
Maddie stood right in front of him—brass balls, I thought—as Flame’s chest jerked erratically. Then, suddenly, she released a choked sob and threw her arms around Flame’s waist.
Flame froze and his black eyes widened to the size of plates. His hands shot up in the air clenching into fists. Fuck! The brother couldn’t be touched. He was about to go nuclear.
“Thank you,” Maddie whispered and pressed her cheek flat to his cut. “Thank you so very much…”
Flame’s eyebrows pulled down in confusion and his black eyes glared down at her wrapped ’round his waist. Then we all froze as his hands lowered and flattened awkwardly on her back. His nostrils flared as Maddie released another sob and cried, “You freed me. You freed me from him.”
Flames eyes squeezed shut and his teeth clenched. But he didn’t push her off, didn’t scream, jerk, or hit out. The fucked-up brother just let it happen.
Ky turned to me, shock clear on his expression. I shrugged. I could never get a read on the brother. Never knew what the fuck he was thinking.
Maddie pulled back with a small smile and Flame’s eyes bored into hers. She began walking back to Mae, but not before glancing over her shoulder. “What is your name?” she asked Flame nervously.
Flame’s lips parted and he released a hiss of a breath before muttering, “Flame.”
Maddie smiled a wide, stunning smile. “You have my eternal gratitude, Flame. I am forever in your debt.”
Flame stared and stared at Maddie, a fuckin’ hungry expression on his face. I cleared my throat to break the tension and Mae tore her worried eyes off the brother to focus back on me.
Where’s Rider? I signed.
Mae’s eyes widened and the pulse in her throat started racing.
“Gone,” she whispered and stared at the ground.
I clicked my fingers to get her attention. My jaw tensed as she looked up and I signed, Gone the fuck where?
Mae began fidgeting with her hands. She weren’t telling me something.
“He got away…” Her eyes filled with tears. “He saved my life, Styx. He killed Brother Jacob.”
All the brothers tensed.
Explain, I signed, my fingers stiff.
“He was running away. He tried to get me to go with him.” I knew my face looked like that of Hades himself. “I said no, of course.” She assured me quickly. “But then Jacob came at us with a gun.” Her bottom lip began to tremble. “Cain, that is, Rider, killed him… He snapped Jacob’s neck, right in front of me. He killed, Styx… for me. You must understand, for him, due to his faith, this was a mortal sin; he killed one of his own, a chosen one, an elder… He damned his soul for me. I was right to give him his freedom.”
I threw my head back and squeezed my eyes shut. Rider, Cain, whatever the fuck his name was. The bastard was always getting in my fuckin’ way. Why couldn’t the cunt just fuck off, out of our lives for good?
A small, gentle hand gripped mine. I opened my eyes to see Mae staring up at me, her wolf eyes huge and apologetic. “He left once and for all because I chose you, Styx. I told him I loved you, only you. That I would only ever be with you,” she whispered for my ears only.
My anger faded a little, and gripping Mae’s nape, I crushed her to my chest, my mouth at her ear. “H-Home. I n-need to have you h-home. And away f-from this fuckin’ p-place.”
Her chin lifted and she smiled in relief. “And my sisters?”
“They come too.” I snapped my head to the left, to Ky, who had answered Mae’s question. Ky, who was still staring at Lilah. And Flame who was boring fuckin’ holes into Maddie, his black eyes bordering on possessed.
Jesus. H. Christ. This weren’t gonna be easy. These cock-twitchin’ bitches were sure as shit gonna stir things up at the club.
Great. More fuckin’ drama.
***
“Prez! Where the fuck you going?” Viking shouted from the sofa, his newest lay sprawled on his lap, hand down his jeans, jerking the brother off.
Out, I signed and headed for the yard, beer in hand, heading to my usual bench opposite the mural.
“What the fuck’s up his ass?” I heard Viking shout, but I ignored the dick. I had plenty pissing me off already, didn’t need no more.
Mae had been with her sisters in the apartment since we got back, trying to calm them the fuck down. Getting ’em back to the compound had been a fuckin’ riot. The bitches rocking, hands on knees, in the corner of the van like we were trafficking them across the border or some shit. Never seen anything like it.
Complete mindfuck.
As I sat down, I stared at the painting of Persephone and thought of Mae. Thought of that bastard commune, what she’d been through. A wave of nausea rolled in my stomach, and I pulled out a smoke, lighting up. As I took a drag, I tipped my head back and exhaled. Loved that bitch more than I ever thought possible, but her coming from that place to this… fuck… I was starting to think it weren’t such a good idea. She deserved more. More than outlaw life.
Hearing the door from the bar click open, I glanced over the yard.
Mae.
Seeing me on the bench, she headed over to me. She’d changed, white wedding dre
ss gone, tight black jeans and tank in its place. She was so fuckin’ beautiful, the brothers from the other chapters all gawking when they saw her on my arm. Fuckers knew with one look why I went to war to get her back.
Standing before me, she tilted her head and ran her hand through my hair. I closed my eyes and groaned. Focusing on Mae again, I tapped my knee, telling her to sit. Smiling, she did as I asked and wrapped her arms round my neck.
“H-how’s your sisters?” I asked, watching her smile fade.
“They are afraid. Fearful of the outside, fearful of the brothers. They have cried, fought against being here, but thankfully they have fallen asleep. I just hope some rest will help them calm down.” She shrugged and glanced up at the apartment’s bedroom window. “They will adjust. They just need to relearn… well, everything. It will be a long road for them… and me.”
Nodding, I took another drag of my smoke and Mae’s hand ran across my cheek. “Why are you out here all alone?” I didn’t answer, just stared at the ground, picturing that fuckin’ prison cell at the commune, that fence, that cunt’s gun to Mae’s head, say hello to Jezebel Satan’s whore… fuck!
“Styx!” Mae jerked upright and held my face in both her hands. “What is wrong? You are worrying me.”
Finishing my smoke, I threw it to the ground and met Mae’s wide eyes. “Th-that fuckin’ commune.” I shook my head and she stooped breathing. “It was f-fucked up, a goddamn c-cage.”
“Styx… do not do this to yourself. It is over. My life is with you now… here. The Order is no more.” Her eyes started filling with water and her hands were shaking in fear.
Fuck, she was gonna cry.
“C-can’t help but think you’re s-swapping one c-cage for another b-being with me in this c-club. That I-I’m a fuckin’ asshole for k-keeping you h-here.” I took her right hand from my cheek and laced my fingers through hers. “I w-want you, Mae, so fuckin’ b-bad, but we l-live different in th-this life. Protected. Cast o-out… f-fenced in. You n-need to l-live, taste real f-freedom.”