65. Chapter 65
Making sure Mary’s stable, I glance over toward the kids, but both Elvira and Drae give me a nod. They’ve got the kids and will keep them safe. I press a kiss to Mary’s forehead and then run over to Timber, taking a fire extinguisher from them and get to work with the others.
After a few minutes, a commotion has me looking over my shoulder and I realize that Timber has ran some hose from inside the clubhouse and out a nearby window. Running forward, I grab on it and start pulling, helping him untangle it as we go.
Soon, we’ve got a stream of water hitting further up the wall where we can’t reach with our fire extinguishers.
Sirens blare in the distance and I turn, checking on Mary and the kids again, but freeze.
Where’s Mary?
My gaze goes over to Elvira and Drae, but she’s not over by them. Frantically, I look around, but I can’t see her.
“Mary?” I yell, and after a few times of yelling, my brothers notice she’s missing and start looking as well.
Bastion’s barking has me running toward him and I curse when I come to a stop by Sasha’s body, laying in the snow. Behind me, someone runs up and with the light from his phone, I curse as I feel for her pulse. It’s weak, but it’s there. That’s when I see a tranq dart sticking out of her arm. Plucking it out, I hand it over to Thor.
“Smoke!” he bellows and a beat behind him, I’m yelling out as well.
“Cowboy!”
I turn Sasha over and scan her for any other injuries. Not seeing any, I lift her in my arms and turn just as Cowboy runs over to us. “They tranq’d her but I don’t see any other injuries. Call Allison and have her come here. They took Mary. I’m going hunting.”
A murderous look crosses Cowboy’s face, and he gives me a curt nod. After transferring Sasha into his arms, I’m about to head into the woods when Thor grasps my shoulder. Turning, he nods toward the gate and I curse when I see the fire trucks are here.
“Find Smoke and go. Take two others with you. We’ll do our best to keep them out of the woods.”
Giving him a chin lift, I look through the crowd and spot Smoke. As I walk toward him, he spots me and heads my way, Punisher and Dragon following close behind him. It’s then that I notice Smoke has a backpack and I hope like fuck his tablet or computer’s in it. A moment later, Ethan is at my side with a gun bag slung over his shoulder.
“Patch, there are footsteps heading southeast toward the forest,” he says and I pause, blinking at him. How did he find the tracks so quickly?
“Perfect,” Dragon says as he clutches Ethan’s shoulder. “Lead the way, tracker,” he says with a grin as he presses a flashlight into my hands.
Taking off at a jog at first, so as not to raise alarm to the firefighters and fuck knows who else that just showed up, we follow Ethan as he heads toward the forest. Then he surprises me when he starts weaving almost effortlessly through the forest. Coming up next to Smoke, I realize he’s got a small screen in his hand and is also following the dot of Mary’s tracker, but Ethan has yet to look at the screen.
I give Dragon a questioning look, to which his grin darkens as well as widens.
“He hunts and tracks with his dad and Roy.”
A flicker of hope flares in my chest.
We’re coming, Mary.
Hold on tight.
We’ve been following Mary’s trail for ten minutes when we come to a little clearing with the snow freshly stomped and anger blooms in my chest when I see a few red dots on the snow.
“He hurt her,” I seethe.
Ethan bends down and picks up something brown and examines it. “They tied her up. These are rope fibers.
Noise in the underbrush behind us has me turning and I let out a harsh breath of relief when Bastion comes into view.
“Good boy,” Ethan says as he pets his head. “ Suchen (Search),” he commands as he lets Bastion sniff the few rope fibers and then he starts sniffing around the ground.
I raise my eyebrow in question at him.
“Levi’s been teaching me his commands and she’s been letting me work with him.” He turns toward Bastion and gives a low whistle. “Let’s go, boy.”
They both take off into the forest and I look at Smoke as we follow.
“We’re on the right trail, but—”
Smoke’s cut off by the sound of an engine starting up and we all take off at a run toward the sound.
When we get to another clearing, I pause as I see Ethan scaling a tree with his gun slung over his shoulder, the bag discarded on the ground next to the tree. Bastion is sitting at the base of the tree and I know he’s commanded him to stay. Probably so that he doesn’t accidentally shoot him.
After a few moments, he settles himself on a thick limb and looks out into the night before quickly raising his gun, which I realize is similar to the twins’ sniper rifles. I hadn’t realized he’d been training with them, but this might be our best bet to stop the assholes before they break free of the forest.
Ethan fires two shots in quick succession and I grin darkly when we hear curses soon filling the air. He looks down at us and I realize he also has a pair of night vision goggles on.
“Go, I’ll keep an eye on them from here,” he says as he points a bit to the west.
I give a low whistle for Bastion, and he takes off with us as we run in the direction Ethan pointed in, careful not to make too much noise that will alert them to our presence.
As we get closer, I pull out my gun and creep through the darkness, making sure to keep out of their line of sight as they argue.
“What the fuck did you do this time, Hayes? Can’t you do anything right?” the larger one snarls as he reaches in around Mary and unbuckles her before throwing her over his shoulder.
A ‘ooof’ sound escapes her and I barely bite back my own snarl. Her clothes are mostly soaked through, especially her thin leggings and socks, and I know she has to be freezing. At least she threw on my hoodie, so that part of her body was warmer, but even that looks like it’s pretty wet. Probably from when they tied her up.
“I didn’t do a God damn thing, Derrick. Both the tires are flat. That’s not my fucking fault. It was your boss that supplied this derelict rig. Maybe he wanted us to fucking fail. Did you ever think of that?”
Dragon gives a hand signal and we creep forward. Dragon moves toward Stephan since he’s closer to him while Punisher and I move toward Derrick.
Punisher and I share a glance and at the same time that Punisher pushes his gun into Derrick’s back, I rip Mary off of his shoulder.
She squirms in my grasp, and I realize she can’t see me through her thick blanket of hair. In the distance, I can hear Dragon and Stephan shuffling around.
“It’s me, Siren. Calm down,” I whisper in her ear and she immediately stops struggling.
I push her hair out of her face, and the relief in her eyes when she sees me damn near has my knees buckling. Pulling out my knife, I get to work cutting her free.
I hear a shuffle, and I glance up just in time to see Derrick swinging his fist at Punisher. He ducks, and Derrick doesn’t even see the punch coming that lands him on his ass. Punisher puts the barrel of the gun right on Derrick’s forehead, and he finally stops trying to get up.
“Who the fuck are you?” Derrick seethes.
Punisher chuckles darkly as he digs his gun harder into Derrick’s forehead. “You are in no position to be asking the questions. Just know, you tried to steal someone that didn’t belong to you.”
I lean Mary against a tree as I continue untying her. Slicing off a portion of the rope, I’m about to toss it to him when Ethan comes up behind us and instead, I toss it to him. He wrestles Derrick onto his back and then wrenches his arms behind him, tying his hands together.
Cutting off another portion, I guide Mary over toward Dragon and Smoke just in time to see Dragon punching Stephan in the face, sending him barreling face first into the snow. Dragon yanks his arms behind his back and Smoke takes the rope I toss him, tying his hands together.
Punisher and Dragon force them to sit side by side on the wet ground and Smoke and I use the remaining rope to tie them up further.
Stepping back, I frown as I look over at Mary, seeing her shivering violently as she and Stephan stare at each other. Walking over to her, I turn her into my chest. She doesn’t need to see him ever again. I’ll make sure of it.
Smoke walks over to us, frowning as he takes in the state she’s in.
“We need to get out of here and back to the clubhouse,” I say as I clutch Mary closer to me, trying to warm her with my body heat, which unfortunately isn’t much since I’m only in a t-shirt and jeans. I wish I would have grabbed my other hoodie, but I was focused on getting Mary and the kids out.
“I already sent Thor a message and he’s got a couple of guys heading our way with some ATVs. They’ve got blankets for her. The fire’s out and there isn’t much damage thanks to Elvira quickly raising the alarm. They found a smoldering pile of rags that were drenched in accelerant outside of where Elvira was sleeping.
“Fuck, she’s lucky as fuck she woke up when she did.”
“Agreed,” he growls through gritted teeth. “Lex accessed our security footage, but you couldn’t see who it was that started the fire. Since there were no identifying features, Thor gave him permission to show the firefighters and cops.” He pauses as he looks at me. “Your uncle was there, but I don’t know if he’s still there.”
Digging out my phone, I check to see if there are any messages, but there are none.
Mary’s shivering increases and I turn, guiding her to the ATV. Dragon, Punisher, and Smoke all take off their hoodies and give them to her. I help her get out of her drenched zipped hoodie, frowning when I see that her thin t-shirt is also drenched.
“Form a line, will ya?” I ask as I jerk my head toward Derrick and Stephan who are glaring at us but thankfully can’t say anything due to their gags.
My brothers form a line with their backs to us, effectively blocking the assholes view of Mary.
She shivers even more as I help her peel her t-shirt off and my cock twitches when her bare skin comes into view before rage fills me at seeing the shoe-print bruises already forming on her stomach.
Tossing her wet shirt on the floor of the ATV, I slip a dry hoodie over her head and then drape the other two over her legs. It’s the best I can do until we get her back to the clubhouse and I can get her in a warm shower.
“Thank you.” Her voice is small and weak, and I curse myself for not watching over her better.
“I’m so sorry, Siren,” I tell her as I cup her cheeks and she shakes her head.
“It was my decision. Derrick, well, I didn’t know that’s who it was at the time since his face was obscured by a hood, but he had a gun to the back of Cassie’s head. Stephan said I either went with him willingly or he was going to take Cassie, mold her and then sell her off. I couldn’t let that happen. Then they darted Sasha and I don’t know what was in it. Please say they’re all okay?” Tears fall down her cheeks and I wipe them with my thumb.
“The kids are safe. I found Sasha and told Cowboy to call Alli in to look at her. I think they just gave her a sedative, but Alli will get the tranq and her blood tested to be sure.”
The sound of engines reaches us and Mary’s body tenses even more. “It’s probably the club, Siren,” I tell her, but as a precaution, I slip my gun out of my cut and click off the safety as I stand in front of her.
A minute or so later, my body relaxes when I see Timber approaching in the lead in one of our ATVs with two others behind him.
“It’s the club, Siren. You’re okay.”
Her body slumps against the seat, but her shaking worsens.
“Fuck,” I curse as I scoop her up and her discarded shirt, making my way toward Timber. I sit in the backseat with Mary on my lap and Timber helps me cover her with blankets. Warm blankets. Mae or Alli must have used the blanket warmer in the medical room before sending the guys out for us.
“Go,” Dragon calls out to us. “We’ll handle these fuckers. Get her warm and safe.”
Timber climbs back behind the wheel and I hold Mary tight against me and hang onto the ‘oh shit’ bar to steady us. Mary buries her head in the crook of my neck, and I hold her tighter when I feel her tears against my skin.
“I’ve got you, Siren. You’re okay now,” I tell her repeatedly as Timber drives as fast as he safely can with these conditions.
His worried gaze meets mine in the mirror, and I know he’s thinking the same thing I am.
How hurt is she and how is this going to set her back? I’d witnessed a lot of Mae’s battles after each time she was kidnapped and did my best to help her, along with the others. I worry if Mary’s nightmares will return and how she’ll fare both physically and mentally after all this bullshit.
About five minutes later, we pull up to the back of the clubhouse, and thanks to the lights from the ATV, I’m shocked the damage isn’t worse.
Timber sees me looking as he gets out and gestures toward the clubhouse. “It shouldn’t be too bad, but I’ll know more about the extent when daylight hits. Firefighters advised against staying in the clubhouse till we can air out all the smoke and clean everything up.
Standing, I keep as many blankets as I can around Mary as I carry her inside.
My chest warms when I see the rest of the club waiting for us in the main room and there seems to be a collective sigh of relief when they see her with their own eyes. I’d already texted Thor that we’d found her and that the guys were coming back with two “guests”.
Giving them a chin lift, I head straight to the med room and am thankful that Alli’s there.
“How’s Sasha? Is she okay?” Mary blurts out and Alli nods.
“She’s sleeping off the sedative and I found no other injuries. I put her and Cowboy in the condo next to you guys’ so that it’d be easier for you to check on her tomorrow. I took blood and Thor had someone drive it to the hospital for Tim to test. He’ll text us the results as usual. Now,” she says as she pauses. “Let’s get you looked over, missy.”
“There’s already bruising on her stomach and the cut on her face, which is also starting to bruise. Are you hurt anywhere else, Mary? Did they drug you at all?” I ask and she nods.
“They didn’t drug me, but there are a few other things. Besides freezing, my wrists really hurt from the ropes and I think my tailbone could be bruised from when Derrick dropped me on the ground like a sack of potatoes before he started tying me up.”
We work quickly, checking her over, but thankfully we don’t find anything else concerning. Rummaging through the cupboards, I find some sweatpants, a t-shirt, and new hoodie for her and help her into them. I wrap some more warm blankets around her and put some fresh ones in the warmer just in case she needs more.
Alli slips out to give us some privacy and Mary’s eyes fill with tears. Stepping closer to the table, I hold her in my arms as she sobs.
“I was so scared and I’m sorry. I worried they’d still end up taking Cassie, even if I went with them. And the look Stephan gave me promised that he was going to dole out one of his worst punishments if you hadn’t gotten to me when you did.”
Kissing the top of her head, I tighten my arms around her. “I’m so sorry that I didn’t stay with you.” I’ll forever be kicking myself for that and vow to be a better protector for her and the kids.
She shakes her head. “Then you would probably have ended up being darted as well. I don’t know if the phone call Sasha had was real or if it was a distraction.”
Frowning, I make a mental note to talk to Smoke and Cowboy about that when I see them next.
“How are you feeling? Warmer?” I ask her as I rub my hands up and down her back.
She nods and then pulls back, wiping her cheeks. I reach for the tissues nearby and she blows her nose. “I hope I don’t get a cold from being out there soaking wet for so long.”
“Come on, Siren. Let’s get you home, into a bath and then bed. I can help you take another bath in the morning as well.”
Her body sags. “God, that sounds like heaven. I haven’t had a bath in years.”
Suddenly, I remember a promise I made to her a few weeks ago. “Then that’s what we’ll do. You’re going to rest and relax while you recover, and if you get sick from this, don’t worry. I’ll take care of the kids. You just focus on feeling better.”
She looks up at me with such love in her eyes that it’s almost overwhelming. Cupping her cheek, I dip my head and kiss her. My cock thickens in my jeans, but I don’t press for more. I need to get her home and finish taking care of her. Her health is more important than my needs.
Pulling back, I kiss her forehead. “Come on, Siren. Let’s get you home.”