“Hey,” Zane said softly, placing a hand on my lower back. “You good?”

  I swallowed and nodded, flashing him a small smile.

  “Here, use this. It has two fresh bullets, and there’s more in the bag.” I passed the gun up to Ace, and then shells.

  I didn’t want to leave him completely defenseless.

  “Fucking sweet,” he grinned. “Thanks.”

  “Do you know how to use that?” Maliki asked him.

  “Yeah, my mom used to hunt with something similar.”

  I walked to the front of the van as Zane moved to the hatch for something, filing that information away for a rainy day. We all had so much to learn about one another; I was almost looking forward to it.

  Nyx pulled off her leather jacket, pulled her long locks into a ponytail, and then announced she was ready.

  “Here we go then,” Zane said, coming back to the front.

  And he hadn’t come unprepared. He handed Maliki a rifle. Kindly returned my Glock, and passed Cam a pump action, keeping a Wesson for himself.

  “So you just had an arsenal of guns with us this entire time?” Nyx questioned.

  “Yup. And since guns are loud, messy, and require ammunition that isn’t always to come by unless you can make it, these only get to be played with during times like these. Now mind your bullets and let’s go.” He strode forward, leaving us to follow after.

  Windmill was just as empty as Copperfield, but I got the sense this place hadn’t been freely abandoned.

  A few corpses were scattered on the sidewalks, freshly killed. In an alley between two buildings a man had his head bashed in; his one good eye watched us pass.

  Lots of trash had gathered in the gutters, some stuck in old drains while a few streets were like obstacle courses from the cars, random objects, and trash a few waifs were sorting through.

  “They don’t seem very concerned that everyone around them is being killed off,” Cam pointed out.

  “They’re gonna die out here regardless, why would they be?” Nyx replied.

  We kept walking; guns slightly as a precautionary measure. It felt as if it took an hour to reach the mall. Between here and there were plazas, stores, and Victorian type homes on a few corners.

  “The place is huge,” Maliki pointed out when we came upon the mall.

  Huge was an understatement.

  The place looked like it wrapped around in both directions. I had just begun to wonder where the Stags were supposed to be and how we were expected to find them when a lone figure caught my attention.

  He was moving towards us.

  Only when the sun took a break from assaulting my eyes could I tell it was Luce.

  “He’s alone,” Cam pointed out the obvious.

  I was already wondering why that was and I knew it couldn’t mean anything good. What the fuck had he done now?

  When we nearly right in front of another I cut off whatever he was going to say.

  “Don’t bullshit or beat around the bush. Tell us what the hell is going on.”

  Zane stepped up behind me, fixing his gaze on my brother. “She beat me to it. Where are our people?”

  “There was a complication,” Luce began. I didn’t realize how different he looked until he opened his mouth and even his voice sounded different. He seemed colder, meaner, and pissed.

  “We were run off the road before I could reach the compound. Tobias is dead. Your man, Grizz knows to expect your arrival soon,” he directed at Zane. “Dad knows everything,” he said to me, eyes subtly shifting between Zane and me before going to Cam.

  They lingered there for a few seconds, and then he was abruptly turning away and walking off.

  What thee fuck?

  I don’t think any of us expected him to be that upfront.

  “So where is everyone?” Maliki called after him, beginning to follow.

  “I’ll show you,” Luce answered over his shoulder.

  “I don’t like this,” Cam quietly said.

  I agreed. This felt all wrong, but we didn’t have many options, so we had to follow him.

  In silence, our group made its way to the back of the mall.

  We didn’t yet reach it when I heard the loud idling of a truck.

  “Whatever you do, don’t shoot,” Luce warned as took the last few steps around the side.

  My heart tripped up at the sight we were met with. Twelve Stags, three vehicles, and a small girl who looked just like our mother covered in blood.

  Her hands were bound in front of her, where there wasn’t blood there were bruises on her pale skin.

  “That your sister?” Zane asked from behind me.

  “Yes,” I managed to reply.

  As we got closer, I saw the black around her sky blue eyes.

  “It’s not her blood,” Luce assured me.

  That wasn’t of much comfort when it looked like she’d gone swimming it. She gave me a smile to pretend she was okay, but I knew better.

  “Where are the other three?” Nyx questioned, including Zane and Maliki’s brother.

  “There are no others. They said they would trade me for one and if I didn’t accept they’d kill that one anyway. I wasn’t sure who it was they were talking about. I wasn’t willing to sacrifice any of them.”

  I knew the last part was meant for Maliki and Zane, but that did very little to soothe away the rising tension.

  All of the Stags watched us approach, none making a single move.

  In the center, just behind my sister was one taller than the rest. His antlers were bigger, and he was shirtless, revealing a body just as toned as Luce’s.

  “There they are,” his gravelly voice seemed to boom across the clearing.

  “What the hell is going on?” I demanded to know, fingers tightening around my gun.

  “Stay calm, little queen,” the man laughed. “My name is Creed. The Stags are my faction.”

  “We didn’t ask you for your life story or an introduction. Where is my brother?” Nyx cleanly interjected.

  “Lucifuge would you like to do the honors of telling her the boy is thriving? And then there’s that sweet friend of his…Lilith? She’s very giving. And the other boy. If we can bring him to heel he shows great promise.”

  Zane tensed beside me; I could feel the hostility beginning to rise off his shoulders. My stomach turned at this assholes words. What did he mean she was giving?

  “This one…this one is a lost cause.” He gestured to Bella.

  I bit my tongue to tell this asshole she wasn’t lost, she would never reform to his bullshit.

  “Why just one?” Maliki was the one to ask.

  “They’re using her for an initiation,” Luce finally spoke up. “To fully join them you have to show your loyalty. They’ve requested two of us for Bella.”

  No. Fuck no this could not be happening!

  “One of them is Cameron,” he added so softly I almost didn’t hear him. “I tried everything I could think of that wouldn’t risk the kids, but they’re hiding them somewhere. No one can find them.”

  “Luce, it’s cool. I know you didn’t offer me up as one of the sacrificial lambs,” Cam joked humorlessly.

  “What? No! We are not—.”

  “That’s crazy. We can’t—.”

  Cam passed his gun to Zane and stepped forward, cutting both Nyx and me off. “It’s okay; you’ll both be okay.”

  I shook my head refuting that bullshit statement. He said it like he intended to walk over there and die.

  “No the fuck we won’t,” Nyx snapped, her voice breaking on the last word.

  “It’s for Bella,” he said as if he needed to hear it himself too.

  He didn’t hug us goodbye, even now still following our Savage code, never show weakness.

  I didn’t give a damn. A calloused hand grabbing mine was the only thing that stopped me from firing at all these masked deer bastards.

  “Hang in there, princess,” Zane murmured.

  And I felt like a selfish bitch.

  His brother was still gone, and he was standing beside me trying to offer as much comfort as I imagined Zane could.

  With no debate, argument, or last minute deal we watched Cam walk over to the Stags.

  “My sister,” Luce grit out.

  Creed nodded his head, skull bobbing up and down, and nudged Bella towards us.

  She didn’t look back once, coming at us like a bullet. Code aside, I hugged her as soon as she slammed into my chest with a muffled sob.

  “You’re alright,” I told her, knowing she wasn’t, smoothing a hand down her tangled hair.

  I looked over, thanking Zane silently as he immediately went to unbinding her wrists.

  “What happens now?”

  I was talking to Luce, but it was Creed who answered.

  “Now the prospects come do their diligence.” He slightly raised his voice on the word, prospects.

  It must have been a signal. Six Stags on either side parted like the damn red sea and out stepped a bottle blonde, and…Butcher?

  I waited for the shock to hit me, but the only thing I felt was bitter foolishness and rage because the signs were there, and none of us saw them. His behavior the last few months, few weeks especially were all leading him to this epic fucking betrayal.

  “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Nyx snarled.

  He smiled at her, not remotely fazed by the murderous look on her face.

  Beside me, Maliki had gone statue still. I hugged Bella to me tighter when she turned her head to see what was happening.

  “He’s been telling them everything,” she mumbled, eyes trained on Butcher. “He stole the phone Dad gave you. He told them you were coming.”

  “He’s the reason Annie’s dead,” Nyx stated, her tone now disturbingly calm.

  “I tried too many times to get you on board Nyx. You can’t see what’s in front of you. I got tired of fucking a corpse, and then came, Gwen.”

  “Motherfucker,” Zane silently seethed.

  I shared his sentiments. The few snickers from the Stags around him didn’t outwardly affect Nyx, but I know that hurt deeply.

  “Take her for me,” I said to Trix who hadn’t uttered so much as a peep during this whole thing.

  The frown on her face and anger directed at the group in front of us was apparent, though.

  She did her best to smooth it away, wrapping an arm around my baby sister. “You’re good, girl. Auntie Trix got you.”

  I paid no attention to the title.

  I was trying to piece together who the fucking blonde was, realizing I didn’t give a shit.

  “What do you want with Cam?” I shoved my way to the front and stared the man behind the mask down.

  “He’s mine, my diligence,” Butcher answered.

  Luce grabbed the gun from me before I could squeeze the trigger and put a bullet between his eyes.

  “Addy, you can’t,” he stressed, pulling me into his arms.

  I couldn’t not.

  “Let’s get on the road, friends. My Lilith is cooking possum tonight,” Creed called, eliciting cheers from those around him.

  “She isn’t his, none of them are,” Nyx darkly muttered, speaking to herself.

  Cameron swallowed, throat bobbing. I could see he was beginning to struggle with his temper.

  Butcher stepped forward taking some rope from, Gwen, and then began wrapping it around his brother’s wrists, binding them together.

  “No hard feelings, Cam. I just chose the better side. If you all were smart, you’d do the same. I wouldn’t want to be a Savage when the new queen goes down in flames.”

  “He doesn’t know,” Luce whispered to me only. “He doesn’t know about the Alliance. He thinks it’s something else.”

  I wouldn’t have been dumb enough to spit that out of my mouth regardless, but it briefly made me wonder if Luce knew something was coming that the rest of us didn’t.

  I felt Zane’s presence a second later, standing beside me but not revealing our relationship.

  Everything after that seemed to happen in slow motion, and all at once.

  I didn’t notice the hook on the back of the large truck until Butcher attached the end of Cam’s rope to it.

  “See if you can keep up, bro.”

  My pulse spiked, understanding too late what he was saying.

  “Cam!” I tried to run towards him, breaking free from Luce just to be grabbed by Zane.

  “You can’t,” I heard from the other side of me where Maliki had moved to restrain Nyx.

  Luce helped him, shielding Bella’s view with his body.

  The Stags piled into the vehicles, Gwen giving Maliki one sad, pathetic fucking smile before going with Butcher.

  I internally screamed until my voice gave out, begging my satanic god not to let him be hurt. He didn’t deserve this.

  But that wasn’t how things worked. Fair or unfair, life could hit hard.

  I watched Cam expel one large breath before his body was dragged forward.

  We followed the screeching tires through the streets, moving as quickly as we could on foot.

  Trix was going for the van with Bella, each equipped with a gun.

  I kept seeing the acceptance on his face as his brother openly betrayed him, tied him up like a piece of bait and let them drag him.

  It didn’t take long for the blood to appear on the pavement, the scraps of denim from his jeans—one of his shoes.

  I didn’t want to keep moving, but I knew we had to. For once I was terrified. I didn’t want to lose him too.

  Zane and Maliki proved to be pillars, lending as much support as they could, even to Luce who looked distraught for once.

  I knew he blamed himself, I knew Nyx would blame herself, and honestly, it was no one’s fault but Butcher’s and that goddamn blonde.

  We found him when we turned the next corner. Only it looked nothing like our Cameron. Someone must have felt taken pity because the rope had been severed cleanly through.

  His face was bloodied. Large portions of skin had been completely torn away.

  Both his arms were twisted at unnatural angles. His clothes were merely tattered rags clinging to his lean frame.

  My heart cracked open inside my chest.

  I didn’t realize I was crying until Zane pulled me into him, not bothering with trying to soothe me with words.

  Nyx got down on one side of him, Luce the other.

  “He’s alive,” she implored. “He’s alive, and he needs to stay that way,” she looked up at me with tears shining in her honey eyes.

  He was alive, but I couldn’t fathom the pain he had to be in. His eyes were shut. His breathing seemed shallow, but even. I wanted him to live as much as she did, but I couldn’t get my hopes up.

  “We take him to our place,” Zane suddenly said. “We do the best we can for him until then and get him there. We can have our guys start treating him.”

  Maliki was nodding in agreement.

  As if the universe had given a small mercy, the van came spinning around the corner, rubber burning as Trix hit the brakes.

  Bella was out; using one arm to slide open the rear door as the Luce, Maliki, and Zane lifted Cam as gently as they could.

  “How did you find us so fast?” Nyx asked, climbing into the van.

  “I followed the same trail you did,” Trix quietly replied.

  We piled into the van, none of us sure how to feel or what was going to happen next as we dug out every first aid kit we had.

  Bumping Annie’s gun with my knee, I was the first to realize someone else was missing.

  “Where is Ace?”

  If possible, the van got even quieter.

  Trix glanced at me in the rearview mirror and shook her head.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Viginti Duo

  The man who claimed he had medical training said the first forty-eight hours would be the hardest.

  I don’t think I breathed until I heard the words, “He’s stable.”

  Had it not been for a gentle older woman named, Meg, I wouldn’t have eaten. Her exact threat was, “Either you eat, or I shove the food from your throat to your stomach myself.”

  All I’d done was sleep and consume after that, and yet I felt drained and exhausted.

  Stepping into Zane’s cozy room in just a towel, I gave him a small smile.

  He wordlessly spread his legs so I would sit between them.

  I crawled up onto the bed he’d insisted he had to put clean sheets on when I first arrived, letting the towel drop away as I settled my back against his chest.

  “You feel better.” A statement, not a question.

  I nodded, leaning back into his embrace as he put his arms around my waist. “I love the smell of me all over your skin,” he murmured, breathing in the scent of his soap.

  “Me too.” I turned my head and kissed his cheek.

  While we were blissful at this moment, and he had been a whole new person over the past four days, he was still a giant asshole.

  I laughed remembering his statement about my pussy being sad too.

  It hadn’t been as amusing at that moment.

  “What’s so funny?” he asked, sliding a hand down my stomach.

  “You. You’re an asshole.”

  “I know. Get used to it. When you come back, you’ll be dealing with it for the rest of your life.”

  When I…?

  “What do you mean when I come back?”

  “I have some things to handle, and I think it would be best if you weren’t here then.”

  “Oh,” was all I could think to say. That was ominous as hell, and it bothered me.

  “It’s not what you’re thinking,” he stated as if he plucked my brain again.

  “Mmm,” I hummed, settling back further against him.

  “Don’t start that shit, Addy. I’m not trying to get rid of you, fuck I’m never getting rid of you.”

  I turned my head to look at him again. “Never?”

  He regarded me silently for a few seconds before leaning in and kissing me, slipping his hand the rest of the way down my stomach to cup my pussy.

  My legs spread on their own accord, need already blossoming between them. He hadn’t attempted to fuck me once, even with his pussy statement. The last time he was inside me was nearly five days ago, and felt far too long.