Ky turned his head away. I caught a flicker of movement from my left. I braced myself, expecting someone to try to get to Rider amid the distraction. Instead I saw Maddie push out of her husband’s arms. Flame dove forward to pull his wife back. Maddie turned and, with a strength I’d never heard from her before, shouted, “No!” Flame staggered back in shock as he watched Maddie come toward me. She nodded her head at me and took hold of Lilah’s hand.
A wall. We had created a protective wall around my husband.
Maddie straightened her shoulders.
“Maddie,” Flame whispered in a sad, guttural voice.
Maddie met her husband’s eyes. “I love you, Flame, but I will not lose my sister. I will not let Rider be killed. I am sick and tired of all the hurt and pain.”
“He hurt you. He took you from me,” Flame snarled.
Maddie shook her head. “No. He let me go. His brother took me from you. His brother, whom he killed to save us.” She placed her hand over her chest. “Flame. By hurting Rider, you will hurt me. Deep in my heart.”
Flame’s black eyes flared. “No,” he said. “I don’t want you to be fuckin’ hurt. It’s not gonna fuckin’ happen.”
“I know you don’t,” she said and smiled, nothing but love in her eyes.
Flame looked around at his brothers, then threw his blades to the ground. He turned to the redheaded man beside him and took the bar from his hand. The dark-haired man on his other side shook his head, but threw his bloodied blade down too. Flame faced the men and screamed, “Throw down your fuckin’ weapons or I’ll kill you all where you stand! None of you will touch Maddie. Not a single one!”
A flicker of hope built within me as the brothers began looking at one another uncertainly. Then my heart almost burst as Mae stepped out from behind Styx’s shadow. Styx didn’t move as he watched his fiancée walk toward me. “Mae,” I said softly.
Mae stopped in front of me, and looked up at Rider hanging from the chains. “A man who sacrifices everything for the woman he loves deserves to be saved. I wholeheartedly agree. But more than that”—Mae smiled at me and kissed my cheek—“he deserves someone brave to fight for him, to show him he is good when he believes he is not. He deserves you . . . just as much as you deserve him.” Turning to Styx, she said, “To get to Rider, you must go through Bella.” She inhaled, then said firmly, “And to get to Bella, you will have to go through all of us.”
Mae took hold of my hand. As one linked unit, we faced the so-called devil’s men. The Cursed Sisters of Eve, protecting the fallen false prophet of The Order . . . and I had never felt so free.
“Prez?” Someone finally spoke. “Are you just gonna stand here and let this fuckin’ happen? These bitches ain’t got no place here. They got no fuckin’ say.” But Styx did not answer. He stayed fixed on Mae, his arms crossed over his chest and his jaw as rigid as his tense body.
Rider let out a low groan, and I spun my head around. “Help me,” I said to my sisters urgently. I rushed to Rider and tried to reach his chains. Mae moved to the wall and I saw her pull down on a lever. The chains groaned loudly as they began lowering him down. I reached out and caught his broken body in my arms.
“The keys,” Lilah said to Mae. Mae retrieved them from a hook on the wall and brought them to Rider’s wrists. My sisters undid the cuffs as I leaned over his swelling, injured face. His one open eye tracked me deliriously. He groaned when one of his arms fell free from the chain. I rubbed the muscles with my hand, trying to get the blood to flow back to his limbs. “Bella,” Rider said huskily. “You should . . . have let me . . . die . . . ”I shook my head. “Never, baby . . . never.”
A tear seeped from his eye. I wiped it away with my thumb. “Help me move him,” I said to Maddie. She moved to Rider’s other side, and we tried to lift him off the floor. Rider hissed in pain. “He is too heavy,” Maddie said sadly. Lilah and Mae looked on hopelessly. But one was injured and the other pregnant. I would not let them harm themselves.
“It is okay,” I said. I stroked back Rider’s long hair from sticking to the wound on his chest. “I will stay here with him. Bring me water and bandages.” I took hold of his hand. “I will stay here with him until he can walk again . . . until he can walk away from this hell of a place.”
“Bella,” Mae said and I could hear the sadness in her voice. I loved my sisters, but she knew I was not going to live here without Rider. I would not live in a place of hate.
Never again.
I looked up, about to plead my sisters to do as I asked, when someone began pushing through from the back of the crowd of men. Low murmurs came from the brothers. A long-haired man stepped toward us. I crouched over Rider, to shield him from whatever this man was about to do. The man held up his hands.
“Smiler?” Mae said. My head snapped up. Smiler. Rider’s old best friend.
He inched forward. “Can I?” he asked.
Lilah smiled at me and nodded her head. I trusted her completely.
Still holding Rider’s hand, I leaned back and let Smiler in. He crouched down and wrapped his arms around Rider’s back. He pulled him up; I helped hold up Rider’s other side. I looked across at Smiler, and my heart ached. His clothes were clean. He had no weapon. He had no bloodstains on his chest.
He had not taken part in the punishment.
“We need to get him to my room,” Smiler said, taking the brunt of Rider’s weight as we carried him forward. I felt my sisters walking strong behind me, and the feeling that washed over me almost brought me to my knees. As lost as I had felt in this outside world, as distant as I felt from the women they were now, this blew all those worries away.
We left the barn, and Smiler flicked his head at a vehicle close by. “Get him in the truck, I’ll drive him up to the clubhouse.”
Rider’s feet dragged on the muddy ground as we struggled to support his weight. But we got him into the truck, his head cradled in my lap. As Smiler pulled away, I stared down at Rider and stroked his wet hair. His one open eye was once more fixed on me. The white of that eye was red raw. Even in his fractured stare, I could see his love for me shining through . . . but to my sadness, I could also see regret.
He had wanted to die.
Still wanted to die.