Chapter 26 Bane
Bane
I’ve arrived at one of our strip malls that houses a mix of our businesses and plus those of our tenants. Around the city, we have many legal businesses that each of us Council members take a lead on to manage our multi-million-dollar empire, and this is one of mine.
I’m swinging my leg over the seat of my bike when Ash calls, telling me that Slade has spiraled and they can’t pull her out. Without hesitation, I’m back on my bike and flying toward the compound.
I drive like the hounds of hell have been unleashed and are coming for my soul, weaving and darting through traffic at breakneck speeds and full throttle on the straightaways.
It doesn’t matter that I was at our mall investigating the break-ins of three of our tenants. It doesn’t matter that Ash and I suspect it was Cutt. His betrayal right now will have to wait, as will finding any evidence it was him so we can finally put the motherfucker in the ground.
None of that matters at the moment. Nothing matters except the small woman with short, choppy brown hair and beautiful green eyes. Haunted eyes that tell of the hell she survived, and have started to glow with life again as I help her rediscover her strength.
The cool morning air stings my face and hands as I fly home, going full throttle for the last two miles of the road that leads to the clubhouse.
The Prospects working the gate have it open for me, and I barrel through and head straight for the clubhouse.
Once I’m off my bike, I race inside, my boots thundering as I take the stairs three at a time to Slade’s bedroom, where Pix and Ash had taken Slade.
The small room is crowded with her brothers and the full Council. I push through, and my heart stalls.
Slade lies on her bed, so fucking still, eyes open, staring at the ceiling.
I’d think she was dead except for her ragged pants of breath.
“I called Trinity.” Army turns to me from where he sits on the bed. Trinity is Mauler’s Old Lady, who is an emergency and trauma nurse.
Tyr is pulling his hair, staring at his sister. “Make her snap out of it.” His words are harsh, but I hear the plea in them.
“She won’t respond to any of us, Bane.” Ash’s message is heavy and clear: help her.
I push through the crowd to her bed, and Army moves out of the way. Then I scoop Slade into my arms, my heart leaping into my throat as her body shakes and trembles as she’s trapped within her mental prison of hell.
“I’m here. I’ve got you, Slade,” I say quietly into her ear. With her cradled in my arms, I turn to leave.
“What are you doing?” Breaker stops me.
I’m not entirely sure, but I’m going with my gut instinct. “You want me to help her, and I’m helping her.”
My words make it sound like I’m doing them a favor; like Slade is nothing to me and that I’m helping them out of the kindness of my heart.
My heart may not be black, but it’s definitely fifty shades of gray, and I’m no one’s version of a white knight.
But somehow this small but fierce warrior has my dark heart in her hands, and truth be told, there’s nothing short of a bullet to my skull that would stop me from helping Slade.
Ash’s hand, braced on my shoulder, stops me momentarily. He looks down at Slade cradled in my arms, then back at me. “Where are you taking her?”
“Someplace where there’s room so she can breathe.” I look at him and Slade’s brothers. “I need two things from you: stop fucking hovering and crowding her—I know you’re concerned, but she needs space—and two, don’t interfere with what I’m going to do.”
They all have a thousand questions, but at Army’s nod to Ash, they part like the Red Sea to let me through. Pix falls into step with me as I walk with Slade in my arms to my bedroom.
“Come back to me, baby,” I murmur into Slade’s hair.
Then, because I need to know what the hell happened since it might help pull Slade out of the damn-near catatonic state—and I need to know who the fuck is going to pay—I demand Pix tells me everything.
I frown as she explains, not understanding how her version of things resulted in Slade trembling in my arms and unable to speak.
When we reach the stairs, I stop and see there are people standing below, including Destiny and the other Bunnies that Pix said were with Slade.
Destiny looks pleased until she sees Slade cradled in my arms. To all gathered below, it’d look like Slade is just sleeping in my arms since they can’t see her vacantly staring with her face tucked into my chest.
Staring hard at the Bunnies, I lower my head and kiss Slade’s forehead.
Lingering, I brush my lips over her skin again, giving her a tender caress before lifting my head.
“This woman is mine,” I announce, and I feel Ash go rigid beside me.
I am amending my previous warning to the Bunnies about disrespecting Slade, as well as expanding upon it.
“If anyone touches her, you’re not only out of the club, but you die. ”
I have just announced the punishment that applies if anyone hurts an Old Lady.
Destiny and the other Bunnies go white.
Tats, Toxic, and Liam are there, along with a few others. They all nod without question.
Tats dips his chin at me. “We’ll spread the word, Bane.”
“Go do something useful besides standing around and fucking gawking and gossiping,” Ash barks.
When I turn on my heel and stride to my bedroom, Ash hisses in my ear, “What the fuck was that?”
“Not now,” I growl. Thinking of Destiny’s look of satisfaction before she saw Slade in my arms, I glance at Pix, “Are you sure the Bunnies didn’t touch her?”
“They didn’t when I was in there.”
“I reviewed the camera footage, Bane, and they didn’t,” Digits confirms. “They didn’t even really say anything to Slade.”
Then what the fuck set her off?
When we take a turn, and it’s clear now that I’m going to the Council’s area of the clubhouse where our bedrooms are, Sten pushes past and tries to stop me. “Why are you taking Slade to your bedroom, Bane?” he demands. “She needs medical attention.”
I turn my body, protecting Slade, and knock my shoulder against Sten, pushing him out of my way. “Trinity is coming.”
I don’t linger or explain myself, or ask anyone’s permission for how I’m helping Slade; we’ve wasted enough time as it is.
Reaching my bedroom, I step inside with her in my arms, like I’m carrying my bride over the threshold. My heart hammers rapidly at that thought; however, not only is my ‘bride’ trapped in a catatonic prison of hell, but she’s someone else’s bride.
I walk over to my king-sized bed, and holding her tight to me with one arm, I throw back the blankets and sheets so I can easily pull them over her. Then I lie Slade down on my bed. When I shift to stand, she grips my cut.
Startled, I look down at her. In the time it took to walk with her from her bedroom to mine, something had shifted in her. Her eyes are still tortured and unseeing, her breathing still harsh and ragged, but her grip on me is strong.
Don’t leave me. I can hear her silent screams.
I cup her cheek—her pale, pale cheek. “I’m here, baby.”
She blinks.
Leave it to her to respond to the nickname she hates, but the one I love to call her.
A smile curls one side of my mouth. “That’s it, baby,” I rumble low. “Come back to me and tell me how much you hate me calling you that.”
“She’s married, Bane,” Tyr grits, standing at the foot of my bed.
I glare at him. I don’t need the fucking reminder. Even though I just announced my claim on her to the club, I know she can never be mine, but I will protect her however needed.
“I’m not your father.” I look at Tyr, Breaker, and Sten. “I would never make Slade dishonor her vows. But you’re disobeying rule number two, so if you’re staying, then back the fuck off,” I say with clenched teeth.
Army pushes them back. “Slade responds to Bane for whatever reason; let him help her.”
“She’s responding now,” Pix says.
I turn back to Slade and see more lucidity in her gaze as she blinks up at me. Her face is turned toward my body, and she’s taking deep breaths, like my scent is allowing her to calm.
With her lying in my bed—right where I usually lie, tossing and turning after my nightly ritual of sitting in the chair in her room, hidden in the shadows, watching her sleep until sunrise—my scent would still linger on the pillow.
I pull my blanket over her body to fully envelop her in my scent.
It acts like one of those weighted blankets used for comfort and to combat anxiety, and her shaking body melts under it.
I want nothing more than to wrap myself around her, to act as that weighted blanket, but that would be pushing it too far.
Not only would Slade’s brothers and Ash would lose their shit if I crawled into bed with her and wrapped her in my arms, burying my face into her neck, but it would also cross a trust boundary with Slade, which I would never do.
So, my pillows and blankets will have to do.
I sit on the side of the bed, brushing her hair off her forehead. Her skin feels less clammy and cold. “You can fight whatever battle is waging inside your mind, Slade. Fight and come back to me.”
She blinks again, and in those tortured green eyes, I can see her returning.
“That’s it, baby. Listen to my voice. Feel my hand on your face.”
“You’re grounding her, Bane,” Army encourages. “Keep going.”
I speak in a low, soothing voice, telling her how strong she is, that she’s safe, repeating my vow that I’ll help her fight, in whatever way she needs, to beat her demons.
All the while keeping physical contact with her; because it helps her, but also because I can’t let her go.