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Dread settles in my stomach. While we sat across from those bastards, they sent men to Polson. A blazing inferno of red-hot rage blooms throughout my body, burning me from the inside out.
I will find the motherfuckers who dared to lay hands on my woman. When I do, their deaths will be slow and painful.
Austin is waiting at the gate as we approach the compound. Ember is weaker than before, so I carry her inside, taking her straight to her room with Doc and Emerson close behind. I lay her on the bed and step off to the side, giving Doc plenty of room to look her over. After a few minutes, Doc allows Emerson to take over. She sits on the side of the bed, holding Ember's hand. They're talking, but I can't hear what is said. Doc stands in front of me. "Let's take a walk, son."
"Why?"
"Emerson needs to examine Ember." It doesn't take long for me to realize why. I reluctantly walk out of the bedroom. I stare at the closed door, and my fists ball at my sides. "Her injuries are mainly isolated to her face and left rib cage, and nothing appears to be broken. I suspect she has a slight concussion, from her dizziness and nausea. Those bastards worked her over good." Doc sighs, and I can tell by how his expression changes that I won't like what he says next. "She doesn't recall any sexual assault, but she is aware that she was unconscious for an unknown amount of time, which is why Emerson wants to check her out."
The thought of her being…I can't even think of the word with my stomach coiling and my mouth going dry. Pacing the hall, my chest rising and falling with rapid breaths, I try tamping my emotions with no success. A few feet away, Doc keeps his distance. Several minutes pass, and the anger inside festers into a murderous rage.
The door opens, and Emerson steps into the hall. She looks at me. "Everything is okay." Relief washes over me, and I let out a heavy sigh. "She's asking for you."
I breeze past her and rush to Ember's side. She opens her swollen eyes when I take her hand in mine, and I swallow hard past the lump of emotions in my throat. Silence hangs between us as we stare at one another. Sometimes saying nothing at all is more powerful than words. Not letting loose of her hand, I slide into the bed and tuck her close to my side. Her hand rests on my chest over my heart, and she lays her head on my shoulder. Sometimes all we need is someone not to let go, and that's exactly what I give my woman while she quietly cries in my arms.
A short time later, Ember has fallen asleep, and there's a light rapping against the bedroom door just before it slowly opens. Quinn is standing in the doorway. "Prez is callin' Church." he says, his voice low.
"I'll stay with my sister." Scarlett squeezes past Quinn, stepping into the bedroom. She approaches the bed, her eyes landing on Ember. Tears pool in her eyes and her lower lip quivers as she tries to keep her emotions at bay.
I kiss Ember's forehead, slip from beneath her, and stop in front of Scarlett. "How you holdin' up?" She may have come out of this situation physically unscathed, but emotionally it's a lot to handle.
Scarlett closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. "I need my sister."
I nod in understanding, and Scarlett steps around me, slides in facing her sister, and holds her hand. Knowing my woman isn't alone helps me to leave the room, and I follow Quinn downstairs.
The rest of my brothers are in Church waiting when we walk inside. Too pent-up to sit still, I remain standing as the others sit.
"How's Ember?" Jake looks at me.
“Sleepin’.”
"Good." He nods and adds, "How are you holdin' up?"
"I'll be better when I get my hands on the motherfuckers who hurt my woman." My tone is malicious with the desire to make them suffer.
Jake's phone rings, and he glances down at the table where it lies. He usually wouldn't take a call during Church, but he answers this time. "Yeah." He's silent for a beat. "Take him to the shed." Jake ends the call and cuts his eyes to me. "Looks like you're gettin' your wish."
Church is cut short, and we file out of the room. Most of the families are gathered in the common room, where the women have the kids gathered at tables eating an early dinner. The women eye us with concern but say nothing. "Doc, Austin, Sam, and Grey." Jake marches across the room. "Hold the fort down. No one comes in or out unless it's one of us or Demetri's men. The rest of you are with me," he barks, charging out the front door, and the rest of us follow him outside. "That was Demetri. Reid called in the favor after hearing about Satan's Hounds being involved with the kidnapping and assault on Ember and her sister. His men hit the roads, spotting the enemy heading south out of town. One of the men crashed his bike, and the others got away. Demetri should be arriving any minute with the remaining Satan's Hounds member," Jake explains as we trek across the property, making our way to the shed.
Moments later, we're standing around waiting for Demetri's arrival. I light a cigarette, inhale, feel the smoke enter my lungs, and hold it until my chest burns. Exhaling, I expel the smoke and nicotine my body didn't absorb, then repeat. No one talks, which is fine with me. I don't need anything else taking up my headspace. Right now, all I'm thinking about is inflicting unimaginable pain. A familiar black SUV approaches us, and behind it, a black sedan follows. They roll to a stop and the back door of the SUV opens. Demetri steps out, dressed in a tailored black suit, looking like he just walked out of a business meeting. Sasha walks to the back of the sedan as the men inside remain.
"Gentlemen." Demetri's steady gaze meets ours.
Jake approaches him and extends his hand, and the two shake. "Brother. Appreciate your help. Sticking around?"
"Wouldn't miss it." Demetri gets a familiar gleam in his eyes, and his pupils dilate. Death is looming, and he knows. Sasha drags a man from the car's trunk and shoves a gun to the back of the bastard's head. He says something to the asshole, but I don't understand Russian. He ushers a gagged Satan's Hounds member with his hands behind his back in our direction. He's older than I expected, maybe mid-fifties. The biker's stare connects with mine as he marches past. His eyes widen as if he's seen a ghost.
We file inside and close the barn doors. Gabriel shoves the cocksucker onto an empty high-back chair in the middle of the barn, securing his ankles to the chair legs and buckling a leather strap attached to the headrest across his forehead. My brothers and I form a semi-circle around our guest of honor. Gabriel rips away the gray tape covering the biker's lips and roughly pulls the cloth from inside his mouth, then backs away.
The man's lip curls, his eyes slit, sneering, "Do what you will, motherfuckers. I ain't talkin'." He spits on the ground.
"Whether you talk or not means nothin'." Jake crosses his arms over his chest. "You and your men kidnapped two of ours and put hands on my man's woman."
The dirty fucking Hound's head turns, his eyes latching onto mine. "She's a sweet piece of ass, too, for a whore. I should have shoved my cock down her throat and shown her what a real man tastes like." I clench my fists, and the cocksucker laughs. "Fucking coward. You may look like your old man but you are nothing like him."
That explains the way he looked at me before. I cut my eyes to Jake, who nods. I leave the semi-circle and tower over the bastard, producing a bone-handled hunting knife with a five-inch serrated blade. "You're right. I'm nothing like my father." I raise my hand and thrust the blade into his thigh. His screams feed my vengeful hunger, and I drag the embedded blade from the top of his thigh down to his knee, slicing his leg open.
"Goddamn. Fuck!" Spittle flies from the bastard's mouth. I don't give him time to take another gasping breath before repeating the same process on his other leg. "Argh! You. Mother. Fucking. Cock. Sucking. Bastard!" Blood soaks his lap, pooling in the seat and dripping onto the dirt floor.
