11. Natty
ELEVEN
NATTY
PRESENT
Something had changed.
It was as if the air in the room had suddenly been sucked out…it started with the low rumble outside, which had me quickly sitting up in bed and searching for the source. Alec was asleep next to me, his hand still cuffed to mine.
For what felt like the thousandth time, I tried squeezing out of the metal restraint. My wrist was raw and red from how many times I’d tried to slide it free; it wasn’t budging but with him asleep, I had to keep trying. I had to do something…maybe I could try suffocating him, or hit him so hard in the dick, he couldn’t breathe.
But it all still left me with the issue of being chained to a man that easily weighed two hundred pounds with his height and all that stacked muscle. There was no universe in which I could drag his dead weight around with me.
The rumble came again, this time there were shouts going off outside. Then gunfire.
Hope soared as I searched the clouded windows for any indication on what might be happening, because opposition could mean a rescue. Alec finally woke up and realized his little hiding place was under attack, so he pulled me off the bed and briskly walked to the door. I trailed him, still in just his shirt, nothing under it, my feet bare and my hair wild.
“What the fuck is happening?” he bellowed as he thundered down the hall. With his bare chest, his boxers and all the ink on his skin, he looked like an angry god. It was early enough that light flooded the halls and the dining room.
The rumble of motorcycles echoed louder than before outside, which had me turning toward the windows but Alec yanked me into the kitchen.
“Fuck, who’s attacking us?” Alec murmured under his breath, scanning the counters for something. I saw Rachel huddling down on the ground, near the pantry with a wild look of terror in her eyes. She looked up as we entered, and then slowly stood.
“It started ten minutes ago, but Fable isn’t here. I have no idea where he went…he was just gone when I woke up, and now we’re being attacked.”
Alec slammed another drawer closed, cursing. I was close enough that I could slide a knife free from the drying rack. I had to be slow about it, as to not alert him. I waited until his head was turned and reached, but I must have overestimated his peripheral vision because once he realized what I was doing, he pulled me close, so my free hand was now locked in his.
“We need to get out of here.”
I wouldn’t slip through the cracks and be held hostage again. I couldn’t. Whoever was attacking had to mean my freedom. Somehow, someway.
I tried to push against Alec again. “Let me go!”
He held tighter.
“Rachel, help me. Please, we can take him if we both just…” Tears burned my eyes, and I must have looked wild and unhinged because I began tearing at Alec’s skin, scratching and marking as I screamed for him to let me go.
Rachel moved toward me, but with one look from Alec, she closed her eyes and began rubbing at her wrists until her back was against the wall. She obviously had endured some sort of torture or abuse. My heart was a wounded, panicked thing. I knew she was struggling but I needed her help. I was desperate for her to use this one chance to free us both.
A loud scream came from outside the exterior kitchen door, accompanied by a gunshot. I jolted with how close it came, making my footing slip and my back land into Alec’s chest. It allowed him to get a more secure hold on my hips, but before I could even try to start fighting him again, the door slammed open.
Brightness flooded the kitchen; I couldn’t make out who had stepped in, but I heard their voice, and it was a familiar echo, a soothing, dark caress over my heart.
“Caelum,” was rasped and broken, like he’d finally found the one thing on this planet that was precious to him.
You could only fight monsters with bigger monsters; my heart belonged to the worst one I knew of.
I gave a tiny sob as Alec pulled me backward, making my feet slip out from under me, but my eyes had finally adjusted as they landed on Silas. He was tall and so perfectly outlined by all the darkness in his heart that I nearly choked on my tears. He wore his leather cut, his hair a slash of black across his forehead, and his arms were swathed in dusky tattoos, all the way down to his fingers.
Trapped pieces of the moon stared back at me, a flicker of relief glimmering in them. Time seemed to stand still as we stared at each other, and I wondered what he saw as I stood in his brother’s arms, wearing his shirt. How I must look with my hair wild, frizzed and my bare legs on display as Alec tugged me farther into the kitchen. From Silas’s expression, it wasn’t good, and it worsened when his gaze dropped to my hand.
It was as though all the sound and sight had suddenly stilled and bled into one vibrant dark stroke of black. His eyes narrowed, and his jaw clenched so tight I thought it might break. He took a measured step forward, the gun dangling in his right hand, then it was tossed to the counter with a loud echo. Which told me that Silas had a much more violent punishment in mind for Alec than a simple bullet to the head.
“Brother, please do explain to me why the fuck you’ve cuffed yourself to my wife?”
Alec froze behind me .
I heard his small intake of breath and noticed mine had stalled in my chest too. Silas had never claimed me in such a manner, especially not in front of anyone. A fluttering sensation mixed with relief swelled inside me, even as I was being held by a monster. Even as I knew this was dangerous. Silas had swept it all away with one word.
Wife .
“Silas,” Alec stammered while we both watched the man known as The Roman procure a meat cleaver that was magnetized against the back wall.
“I’m going to allow you the chance to choose, Alec. I’ll either cut high enough so that tattoo of Artemis, which we all know you got for Natty, is removed from your body completely. Or you can lose your hand. Personally, I think you should choose the arm, make a big statement since that’s what you originally intended by getting this fucking piece, right?”
There was shuffling from near the back, and Rachel darted out of the room through the open door. I watched her go, wondering if Killian would find her.
Alec was slightly shaking, and I wasn’t even sure he noticed that his hold on me had gone slack. I left his arms and moved as far from him as possible, while our hands remained connected by the cuffs. I saw him eye the firearm that had been discarded on the counter, just a few feet from where I was standing.
There were veins protruding from Alec’s neck and forehead as he watched his brother slowly move around the counter in our direction. “Silas, let me expl?—”
“Choose!” Silas roared his eyes going wide, his lips twisting angrily. “Your hand or the tattoo you had created because of your obsession with my fucking wife!”
“I didn’t know you were married,” Alec stammered back.
Silas laughed. “You knew she was mine, Alec. She’s been mine from the first moment you saw her. Don’t pretend you didn’t know. Hand or arm?”
“Just fucking wait, let me talk to you about what Dad is doing. I can help you.” Alec tried to get Silas’s attention, but he was already in front of me, blocking my view, facing his brother. Nowhere for him to go .
“I’m losing my patience and the longer you’re cuffed to my wife, the more violent my thoughts are becoming.”
“Just wait…Silas, no…Fuckkkkkkkkk.”
Alec’s words faded into a soul-shattering scream along with a loud thump and the sound of metal clattering to the counter.
There was so much screaming.
I knew Silas had removed Alec’s hand, and with there no longer being any resistance when I tried to pull my arm, I covered my chest and took a few steps back. Alec continued to scream obscenities behind me, but I refused to look.
I heard Silas speak over the yelling, “Do not ever touch her again. She does not belong to you; she is not your toy, and she certainly will never be your girl. Next time, I’ll take your heart.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alec holding his bleeding stub to his side, seething in anger.
“Fuck you, brother.”
I felt numb as I watched, completely detached from the moment. I knew Alec had lost a hand, and that should have bothered me, but all I could think about was leaving this house. I wanted to go home, back to my room in the Stone Riders club. I wanted to wake up, have this all be a dream, and go back to how things were.
Silas tossed something and bent down into a squat in front of Alec. With his finger, he pushed against the tattoo on Alec’s arm, making him seethe in pain. “She was never a huntress or a goddess. She was none of those things.”
Alec tried to stand; his teeth were clenched so tight, and he was starting to grow pale. His gaze clashed with mine and I wanted to cry. Not for him, or what had been done to him, but because of the friend he used to be to me.
“She is to me.”
Silas turned toward me, his focus on where I was watching. I couldn’t seem to tear my eyes from Alec or push out what he’d said. I wanted to scream all the pain that was locked in my chest. All the agony and anger, but nothing would come out. Instead, Silas stood and his hand came to my hip, guiding me away from the scene and toward the open door .
Giving one last glance to his brother, he said. “You locked her up, thinking you could make her love you…but you can’t force the sun to shine, just like you can’t stop it from setting. I hope betraying her trust was worth it, Alec.”
A void seemed to catch me on the cusp of his words, and the word betrayal seemed to stick around my heart like a thick stone. Swinging, hitting my sternum with each pass.
Alec had betrayed me. He’d hurt me.
Silas pulled my hand, and I realized we were walking out of the house.
We stepped outside, my bare feet pressed into the dirt right as Silas pulled me into his arms, bridal style. I winced as the light hit my eyes, my days inside making it nearly impossible not to recoil. Instead, I allowed my head to be tucked under Silas’s chin as he walked us to safety.
I felt dazed as we hiked, the bright sun making my eyes slide shut, but my heart hadn’t stopped hammering in my chest. I had no concept of time, of how long we walked, only the loud pounding in my head that seemed to go on and on and on.
“You need to wear these.”
I was set back on my feet, which had my eyes cracking. Suddenly a pair of sunglasses landed on my face, and I saw Silas standing next to his bike, holding his leather jacket out to me. I lifted my hand to accept it and saw the blood-stained manacle dangling from my wrist. My stomach tilted, but I pushed past it so that I could get the hell away from this place.
Slipping into his jacket, there was a comfort that came seeing his name cover my chest. His coat was too big for me, so it covered the oversized t-shirt I was in, and most of my upper thighs. I inspected the bike with a recoil tightening in my chest.
I did not want to get on that. As often as I had hoped for Silas to come for me, now with the bloodied cuff, and not wearing any pants, I just wanted to curl into one of the bushes and sleep until the pain around this entire situation lessened.
Kidnapped .
I’d been abducted by someone I thought cared for me.
Someone I once sought as a refuge.
“We’re going to ride like we used to, Caelum…come crawl into my lap.” That deep voice was a rope catching around my frayed mind, pulling me back to shore.
He straddled the leather seat of his bike, one hand going to the handle, as the other was held out for me. I approached him, my hands still shaking. My mind going back to bullfrogs and peaceful creeks. I wanted to go back in time and erase.
Erase.
Erase.
Erase.
“He refused to give you clothes?”
My focus went back to those eyes that were foundation stones for me, and nodded. My voice would get caught around the explanation of the dried cum currently coating my stomach.
Silas met my gaze. “You’re safe now, that’s all that matters.”
Was it? I’d been hiding behind the walls of another club for two years, waiting for Silas to come and get me and I still didn’t feel safe. I felt hunted.
I felt disposable.
I felt forgotten.
“We have to go.” Silas flicked a quick look over my shoulder and I knew he was right. This rescue is what I had been waiting for but my limbs locked up.
He watched, wary and seemingly confused, until finally he reached for me and pulled me over his lap.
I adjusted so my legs went around his waist, my hands tight around his neck. Our faces were inches apart, my hair blew in the wind, acting as a shield as Silas held me to him, his gaze lowering to my lips.
“You called me your wife,” I whispered, my voice shaking.
The space next to his eyes crinkled as he pushed a piece of my hair behind my ear. “It’s still true, isn’t it?”
Was it?
I didn’t answer him as I buried my face in his shoulder and closed my eyes .
Silas lifted his other hand and started the bike. The familiar roar soared through me like a set of wings, lifting my hopes as I wrapped my body around his and he sped off, leaving my captors and the cage I was kept in.
We rode for only half an hour or so before Silas pulled off near a gas station. The air was still crisp and the sky still a stark blue overhead, but I remained oblivious to what day or time it actually was.
“We need to get you some clothes. It’s three hours back to Rose Ridge.”
Silas helped me off his lap, the separation already feeling too cold, too far. Fears that he’d walk away again slithered into my chest, creating a poisonous condition.
“Pyle is closer, just take me there, we’ll be protected by your club.”
There was a calculated look in his gaze, but there was also fear. Rejection stabbed at my gut, a reminder that two years had divided us and perhaps he had a new life now. Maybe he had a person back there waiting for him.
Silas loved me in his own way, and was protective of me but he’d also stayed away from me for two years. The distance spoke louder to me than any attempts at safe keeping.
I was standing there, next to Silas’s bike while his jaw worked back and forth, and I knew what he was thinking. I knew it so well because it was the only thing he had been doing for the past two years.
Running. From me.
My emotions were raw; my body chilled and exhausted. I wouldn’t survive his rejection, so I just turned away, clutching the leather of his jacket.
“I can’t go in like this.” I looked down at my bare feet, wishing I had grabbed the go-bag that Rachel had prepared for me.
“I’m not leaving you alone out here.”
A large semi-truck drove by, causing a gust of wind to blow my hair up and ruffle Silas’s. We stared at one another, his glowing blue eyes that always felt so unnatural and perfect. He was trying to work something out, that or wait me out.
“Didn’t you have people with you when you invaded Fable’s safe house?”
Silas raised a dark brow at me in question.
“Your club…or the Stone Riders, did anyone help you?”
His shoulders lifted right as his phone rang.
“You didn’t tell whoever it was that you were leaving?” I asked, completely exasperated.
“Didn’t realize I had to.” He lifted the phone to his ear. He began listing off directions to the gas station we were at and then within the next few minutes, two bikes rumbled down the road, followed by a double cab pick-up.
Wes Ryan and Killian Quinn slowed their bikes until they stopped in front of us. My heart lifted at the sight of them, but it nearly shot through my chest as I registered who was in the truck. Penelope’s dark hair was visible through the window, and I launched myself forward as Jameson parked.
Pen opened her door, jumped down and began running at me. Tears streamed down her beautiful face as she hiccupped and pulled me into a tight hug.
“I’m so sorry. It was all my fault,” she murmured into my hair.
I held her so tight I worried I might break her. I’d never had any friends outside of Sasha and Silas that cared enough about me that they’d cry over my absence or go with their husband to pick me up during a raid.
“No, it wasn’t. Don’t put that on yourself, Pen. I got that text and left the club because of it.”
We separated, both of us crying as the men began talking to each other behind us.
“You came with Jameson?”
Penelope nodded. She had hair dark as a raven, it was long, nearly brushing her waist. With blue eyes, perpetually pink lips and thick lashes, she was a stunning bombshell. I’d met her when she’d arrived with Jameson King’s previous club, the Chaos Kings. She was pregnant when we met, which reminded me .
“Where’s Connor?”
Surely, they didn’t bring him with them.
Pen smiled. “Staying with Callie and Laura. They wanted to be here, but everyone agreed that it was too dangerous.”
“They’re right; I can’t believe you even came.” I flicked a quick gaze over to Silas who was watching me.
Penelope did the same, her gaze landing on her husband. “We didn’t know what sort of condition you’d be in. I suggested having a vehicle you could travel back in that didn’t put you at the mercy of the weather or being on the back of a bike.”
My best friend was a genius.
Her happy countenance fell when she saw the handcuff still connected to my wrist.
“Oh my god, Natty.”
Her whisper might as well have been a thunder crack. I wanted to go home. To my bed, my clothes, my safe room, protected by a club I knew. Besides, I already knew Silas wasn’t going to take me to Pyle. Fuck, he likely was never planning to come back and claim me in the first place.
“Let’s go home. I don’t want to be here anymore,” I muttered, pulling on Penelope’s arm.
She was about to guide me back when suddenly someone scooped me off the ground. I looked up and saw Silas, his expression grim and miserable as he carried me to the truck.
“You aren’t walking over all this asphalt and loose gravel without shoes.” His voice was all grit, holding just a thread of fear. His arms were so familiar and yet they weren’t because he’d opened them and let me go.
“Are you coming back with us?” I didn’t want to ask it for fear of his answer, but it would drive me crazy not knowing the whole way back.
Once we got to the truck, he set me in the back seat, letting his hands linger on my waist.
“I’ll be right behind you.”
With the click of the door, I watched through the glass as he stayed put, watching me. I wanted to scream that I wanted him beside me, not behind me but I was too tired. Emotions cracked and bruised my insides, forcing me into a tiny ball on the seat. I felt Penelope crawl in on the other side and her soothing voice tell me it was okay. My hair was moved from my face, but all I felt were the tears still streaming down my face.