Motherfucker!

“Noah, Moses, send the Hangmen a message,” Rider hissed as he grabbed Mae and dragged her from the room. All I saw was a red misty tunnel.

“Styx! I love you… I love you!” Mae cried, tears pouring down her cheeks.

Rider is taking her from me!

Mae! I wanted to scream, but the words wouldn’t come. The words were a cluster, a f**kin’ lump in my throat, choking me, lodged in place, refusing to move.

The door to the hallway closed and two of the bearded f**ks approached. I bared my teeth, fought against the restraints, but the f**kers kept coming. I promised myself if they got any closer I’d head butt the bastards, crush their noses, fracture their jaws… anything.

“So. You’re the famous Hangmen Mute?” The first one taunted.

I just stared, trying to goad them into coming closer.

They looked at each other and laughed. “I’m thinking, by his silence, we got it right. Funny, he doesn’t seem so tough on his knees, begging like a bitch.”

Movement up ahead caught my eye and I spotted Jacob pacing. He was glaring at me, snarling. So this is the pedo, I thought. This was the sick f**k who’d raped my woman. Raped her at the age of eight.

His lip lifted in a knowing smirk, his jaw clicking at the movement. He stepped forward, crouching right in front of me, and started to taunt me.

“She was so tight all those years ago.”

I tensed, my muscles feeling as though they were ripping apart.

“She fought me at first. Struggled to get free, but the trap kept her in her place. She squealed at first, you know, when I ripped through her virginity. But, she soon learned to enjoy me.” His head lowered, as did his voice. “I f**ked her in every hole, in every way humanly possible… and she was always dripping wet for more.”

Fury boiled my blood. I lunged forward, sinking my teeth into the side of his neck, ripping off a chunk of his flesh and spitting it on the floor at his feet. The taste of copper filled my mouth. He roared in pain, and I smiled as his blood trickled down my chin.

The other two brothers attacked, punching, hitting, kicking me in the ribs. I held Jacob in a stare, smiling as the bothers’ blows down rained on me.

“Moses, Noah, take him outside,” Gabriel ordered as Jacob held his neck, still glaring at me in shock.

Moses and Noah gripped me by my arms and dragged me through the door.

Mae.

Mae was held up against the wall by Rider. His face far too close to hers. She looked so damn scared.

Our entrance to the hallway caught her attention and her wary wolf eyes snapped to mine. “Styx!” she screamed. “STYX!”

Work. Speak. Come on. Just talk. Anything. One word. Only one word. A sound. Something… FUCK! I tensed my chest as I tried to push the words up my throat. I could feel them lurking, mocking me, but they just wouldn’t come.

The two shits holding me were towing me past Mae so quickly I couldn’t get the words out in time. I couldn’t speak to my woman. Reassure her. I couldn’t help her. I was choking.

Choking.

“Jacob. Do it!” I heard Rider order. Planting my feet to the ground, I managed to turn just in time to see Jacob plunge a huge needle into Mae’s arm.

“Never… never… forgive you,” Mae mumbled as she fell unconscious, the pain of her tone mirrored in Rider’s face. Within a few short seconds, Mae was gone and I was being pushed down the stairs and out the door into the yard, the summer night sticky and too humid to f**kin’ breathe.

“Gate!” Moses commanded. Noah nodded and we halted at the front gate. One of the bastards reached behind me to cut my hand ties. Taking advantage of this brief freedom, I swung my fists into their ugly faces, one by one, only to be tackled to the ground from behind.

“Stay the f**k down,” a deep voice threatened.

Rider.

“Tie him up,” Rider ordered. I was lifted off the ground and spread out against the metal bars of the gate. My wrists were bound to the sides and my muscles burned with the movement. Finally, my feet were tied together at the ankles with cable.

I laughed internally at the messed-up position they had me in. Nice touch… Jesus-lovin’ pricks.

My fingers stretched and curled, but I couldn’t get free. And then Jacob arrived, holding a towel to his neck, blood drenching the cloth. I smiled until Rider looked my way.

“She secure?” He checked.

Mae.

“She’s secure,” Jacob replied, glowering my way.

Rider stared just a touch too long at Jacob. His eyes tightened just a second too long. If Brother Cain loved Mae as much as he claimed he did, he’d scalp that sadistic f**ker for raping her… for years and years of sadistic abuse. If Rider didn’t come through, I’d make sure I got my f**kin’ revenge someday. This time nothing on Earth would stop me from finding Mae. She was f**kin’ everything to me. Some messed-up cult weren’t taking her away.

“All of you go wait in the van,” Rider demanded. The men slipped on their balaclavas and left us the hell alone.

I stretched my neck back to the yard and caught sight of a blacked-out Ford van. No plates. No distinguishing features. Nothing for me to locate it with.

Mae was in the back, unconscious, and I couldn’t move. I couldn’t move to save my woman.

“Styx.”

Hearing my name, I turned my attention back to Rider, who had moved ’round and now stood before me. The f**ker looked relieved… like he’d finally won.

“She caused this by choosing you, y’know.” My jaw clenched and I tasted my own blood as my gums began to bleed with the pressure. “I mean, what the hell does she see in you? The way she watches you. The way she’s obsessed with you. It’s completely alien to me.”

I almost couldn’t breathe as he talked about my woman. Shit. She did want me. Hell, she loved me, and this ass**le couldn’t take it.

Rider punched me in the face, my head blowing to the side as a result. The brother had one hell of a right hook. “It’s time for you to listen, brother.” My eyes narrowed.

“For years I’ve had to put up with a shitload of sinful acts and the pure evil poison of this brotherhood: the brothers f**king anything that moved, killing for kicks, drinking, turning against the Lord. I earned your friendship, your trust. All the time, I despised you and the rest of the sinners in this chapter. What you didn’t see is that The Order acquired a lucrative contract several years ago. A contract for a whole lotta guns, guns to give us revenue to expand our… commune. It was gonna take a few years to set up. But that was good. We needed a few years to scope the market, get to know our competitors. We shipped weapons in from Gaza, top-grade shit. But someone was already on our turf: you.