Axton (Creed’s Lake MC #3)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Belle

“F or the last time, Koty. I got scared and sneaked into his bed. He probably didn’t even know I was there until he woke up. What you saw was him tickling me because I made fun of him.”

Michael went to work, and Koty was on me like glue. I had to lock him out of my bedroom so I could get dressed. We were waiting for Heidi, and he was laying into me. I had seen Koty mad the night that truck was trying to run us off the road, but I never saw him angry with me.

“The birthmark is just a coincidence, Belle. Do not mistake papa’s prophecies for real life. Those prophecies were all manipulation and it’s nothing more than a coincidence. Do not let Mike into your bed just because of that mark. I can’t stress that enough, the prophecies came from papas’ imagination.”

We were in the kitchen and Koty was pouring us both a glass of milk to go with the packaged breakfast bars we found in the pantry. I was sitting on a stool trying to read the ingredients on the package without much luck. Why did they have to write the most important information so tiny?

“I know that, Koty. But what I feel when I’m around Michael has nothing to do with papa. Before I even opened my eyes I knew someone trustworthy, and brave was near me. I don’t know, it’s like…well it’s hard to explain. I know he’s the only one that makes me feel safe. I’ve never been so happy to know someone. He makes my heart race and my palms sweaty. Like I’m nervous but calm at the same time.” I drifted off into my own imagination. “Like I’ve known him forever. It has nothing to do with papa and everything to do with how I feel around him. I feel…free. For the first time in my life, I feel free. He makes me laugh, and I love the way he can calm my fears. His smile lights up my entire world. He showed me how to dance last night, and it’s now my favorite memory out of all my memories. We like each other.”

He leaned against the counter. “You have no other life experiences. He saved your life and it’s understandable that you have a crush. That’s all it is, Belle, it’s a crush.”

“I think you forget that I have an education. I’m not as na?ve as you think. Maybe about some things, but I was always suspicious of papa. I wanted to believe his prophecy for me, but I do not believe he spoke of Michael. He is a soldier, but he’s not the kind of soldier papa expected. Papa saw a man of God, a man that lived a religious life and fought for God and the beliefs of Christian people. That’s not Michael. I’ll confess something to you, though. When I was in college I had a crush. The boy’s name was Cooper, and he was very handsome. I had that crush for months until I found out he had a girlfriend and announced during some down time in class that he was going to be a father. That was a crush, and it’s not what I feel around Michael. It hurt but it didn’t last long. It was over as fast as it started. Michael makes me want the life you speak of, and the idea of freedom doesn’t scare me so much when I’m near him. I can teach, Koty. I can have dreams and it’s not a sin. I can someday have a life where I wouldn’t have to share the man I love. You were right to take me away, and I might grieve for papa more once we get confirmation of his passing, but I’m happy to be away from it all. I have you to thank. You loved me enough to hang in there and wait for me. I’ll always remember what you did for me, Koty. I didn’t want to believe everything about papa, especially when he was dying. I think I wanted to believe him more than ever at that point. I was scared and didn’t want to marry Jeremy. Now I feel free to believe what my gut was telling me for all those years.”

He blushed over the praise I gave him. Koty was humble and it showed. “Fine, but don’t get ahead of yourself. You need to learn more about this world before you do things you’ll regret later. The fact that you were playing in his bed this morning tells me it’s leading somewhere you’re not ready to go.”

I smiled as my thoughts drifted off to the movie Pearl Harbor and the scene where Danny was so gentle and loving with Evelyn when they made their baby.

“No! You stop it right now!” Koty scorned me. “I saw the look on your face. Nope, not happening.”

What I saw sure didn’t look like the way mama said it would be, and I liked what I saw. It was what I thought about in bed that morning with Michael. I wanted to feel closer to him and that definitely didn’t seem like it would have been a dirty chore.

“Belle.” Koty warned me.

I looked up at him. “Have you ever taken a woman to bed?”

His face turned bright red. “We’re not talking about me.”

“You’ve been faithful to your spiritual vows to Maggie and God?” I asked.

He rolled his eyes. “Those vows don’t even exist, Belle. I didn’t mean a word of it, and I asked God for forgiveness for lying. I’m not going to expect you to wait for marriage if I’m not going to do the same myself. I have a lot to think about right now. I don’t have the first clue what I’m going to do for the rest of my life.” His face was blood red.

I giggled. “So, you’re shyer about this topic than me? That’s unexpected, and if you are going to give me strict orders after promising me a life of freedom, then I get to ask about you.”

He pointed at me. “I did not do everything I did just so you could sin within the first month of being free. If Mike respects you, he will wait for you. If he doesn’t, then he wasn’t meant to be yours. Just because he let us stay here it doesn’t mean you owe him your innocence. If you do, then why would he buy the cow of he can get the milk for free?”

I gasped. “Did you just call me a cow?” I took my last bite of the breakfast bar just so I wouldn’t laugh. He threw his wrapper at me, and I still laughed.

Heidi came and took us to the miniature hospital where she introduced us to Zoey. Koty met with her first, and oddly, he walked out with a very red face. I wasn’t sure what that was about. Koty squeezed my hand and said everything was going to be okay, but judging by the look on his bright red face, it wasn’t going to be a comfortable visit.

“I’m very pleased to meet you, Belle. I’m guessing neither Axton or Heidi prepared you for today’s visit? Your brother was a little shocked to say the least.” Zoey patted the examination table for me to hop up and take a seat.

That scared me. “What are you going to do to me?” I was hesitant to sit on that table. Maybe run? Maybe Michael didn’t know?

She put her hand on my shoulder. “I should have thought that out a little better. I’m so sorry. Today you will be receiving a full physical exam. You agreed to it when you signed the intake paperwork.”

I felt better. “Yes, I did, but why was Koty upset?”

She almost laughed but tried not to. “I don’t think he expected a female doctor, or the type of exam a man gets with a full exam.”

I snickered. “I think I may know why he was so red when he walked out. Michael and Heidi mentioned nothing, but I presumed a pelvic exam for me?” I thought maybe Koty was touched down there for the first time by a woman.

She nodded. “And a pap smear. Is that okay? We do test for sexually transmitted diseases and your initial visit is always a pap smear.”

I hopped up on the exam table. “Never had a pap smear, but I was given a pelvic exam every year since I got my first period.”

She tilted her head and seemed very confused. “Excuse me? Did you just say you’ve had pelvic exams since you were a child?”

“Is that not normal?” All girls had to have it done until their wedding day.

“Absolutely not, only if the child is experiencing symptoms of disease. Most insurance companies won’t even pay for one until the woman is twenty two. What kind of doctor did you see?”

I shrugged. “It was a midwife, and I thought it was normal. A girls first menstruation was a sign from God that it was time to marry. She would be married within a year, so I guess I was the only one to have so many, but the girls had babies within a year of marriage.”

She crossed her arms in front of her. “What exactly were these midwives looking for in these exams?”

I shrugged. “Purity, I guess. I was never married and was saved for marriage to someone my father believed was meant to be my husband, but he hadn’t come to us yet.”

She blinked at me a few times. “Okay, umm…well…I don’t check for that, it’s not an exact science because the hymen changes with growth. I just want to know about your overall health. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?”

She asked some very personal questions, then did the exam. I wasn’t fond of the blood draw, then she addressed my wounds. She said I would have to return in about a week for some radiology to look at the bruise in my head.

Axton

“What?” There were six pairs of eyes blinking at me, but nobody was speaking.

“She was scared, that’s it.” I looked at Creed. “Thanks to your wife who puts Clark Griswold to shame, the apartment was too bright for her to sleep.”

Six sets of eyes continued to blink at me while we were supposed to be in our daily Originals meeting.

“Is she the first female to sleep in that house?” Drakos asked.

I turned to him. “Shut the fuck up.”

Creed was tapping his fingers on the table as he stared me down.

“Boys, layoff.” Bolton spoke up. “I was with them for the trip and Belle did find comfort in Axton. Honestly, I’m impressed, and I think if he keeps it up, we’ll have to take that framed photo down soon. He might lose his title of biggest asshole. He did great with her and I’m very proud of him, but let’s get into what we’ve found in the Ashford case before Koty arrives.”

“But he doesn’t like the nice girls.” Drakos said.

I turned to him again. “Shut the fuck up, little dick. Maybe we should have a little talk about calling any of us to remove dildos stuck up your ass and to untie you. Also, what the fuck were you thinking? Children touch that Santa suit. Fucking weirdo.”

Sasquatch rolled his eyes. “Creed made me buy a new suit and I don’t have a little dick. The Santa hat just made it appear that way.”

“Don’t even talk about it. Some things should be forgotten and never spoken of again.” Magnus gagged then shuttered.

I nodded. “I think I just figured out who really is the best friend at this table.” I knew they made Magnus take care of it. I looked at Irons. “You just lost your title as the nicest guy on Creed’s Lake.”

Irons smiled from ear to ear. “Totally worth it. I ignored the distress call, I knew better than to leave my nice warm bed for a call to the Drakos household.”

It was because his girlfriend stayed overnight. Wrenly was hot, so I couldn’t really blame him.

“So, what have we found?” Bolton again changed the subject.

Irons sat forward. “Henry Ashford has passed away, the clerk’s office had the filing of the will as soon as the death certificate was filed. You wouldn’t believe what his will said. The man was loaded, and when I say loaded, I mean extremely loaded. We were right about the land and the minerals, but they refused to allow any drilling. It seems the old man came from very old English money, I mean like related to some royals or some shit. The founder of the cult left London in 1870 and settled out west. Take a wild guess what I found in some old documents at the courthouse.” He waited for us to answer but nobody had a clue. “He doesn’t just own land here in the US. He owns ten acres of prime real estate in Monaco. That in itself is valued at a half a billion dollars.”

“No way.” I challenged him. “All that for just ten acres?”

“Yes, way. Monaco is only around five hundred acres in total and the land is limited. It’s on the French Riviera and highly sought after.”

“Damn, Creed’s Lake is bigger than an entire country?” Creed asked.

“Yes, its smaller than Creed’s Lake. You could fit Monaco in our lake alone. I had our resident genealogist do some research on the Ashford family. Patrick didn’t have DNA for any tests yet since the lab still have the siblings DNA, but he knew how to follow a family tree. The original Ashford was an only child and inherited quite a bit of money when his father died. There is a book written about lost heirs of Europe, and Ashford was mentioned. He was a recluse, then disappeared one day. He was known as a crazy man with strange ideas. He came to America with a fortune, and that’s how he attracted the first of his followers. He gave his most faithful followers young wives and money if they dedicated their lives to him. As time went on he reinforced his grip on these people by making up an entire religion. It made them fear sin, and never ask where money came from or where theirs went. His insane ideas and behavior made him an outcast in high society, so he created his own society. It evolved into the very large cult you see today.”

“This just keeps getting weirder and weirder.” Creed said. “First it was child wives and now we learn it was just one man with insane ideas that thought up an entire new religion?”

“He has land in Dubai, England, France, and Canada as well. Guess who gets to inherit this insane estate.” Irons prompted us.

“Jeremiah Brown?” I asked.

“Maybe, and this explains why Belle has to be his legal wife and not just a spiritual wife. It’s to be left to Belle’s legal husband who is expected to be the next bishop. If she passes away before marriage, it’ll be passed down to the church. The estate is currently worth eight hundred million dollars, but that doesn’t include what could be made if they let the oil companies dig. So far, the oil companies haven’t tried eminent domain, but I’m sure that’s coming sooner than later. All Jeremiah Brown has to do is become Bellamy’s legal husband.”

“What about spiritual marriage?” Drakos asked.

“It’s not listed as a stipulation. The brother may know more than I’ve found to answer that question.” Irons said.

There was a knock on the door and Magnus walked over to open it. On the other side was Wrenly holding her laptop. “Yeah?” Magnus asked.

“I think I found something important.” She walked in and set her laptop down. “Sorry to disturb, but I think I figured out something huge.” She started setting up her laptop to show on the big screen television. I glanced at Irons, and he was looking at her like she was his entire world.

“So, what do you have?” Creed asked as her screen popped up.

“I think you were right about human trafficking, and I’m sure there’s people that have crossed the border, but something else is very strange in that area.” She scrolled through one news article at a time. “These are fifteen cases in Arizona, and they all have a few things in common. The major one is they’re all missing indigenous women from several different reservations. Second is various families inside the reservation have all bought tiny homes from Jeremiah Brown. The reservations have all reported run ins with Satan’s Disciples. But that’s not all. This man is a common link to the last six women that have come up missing.” She put a mugshot up of one man. “His name is Jacob Brown, Jeremiah’s half-brother who left the cult many years ago, and you’d never guess where this Jacob lives now. He is a member of Satan’s Disciples MC. He is registered as a sexual predator and did five years for sexual assault. It’s both heartbreaking and shocking when researching these missing indigenous women cases. There’s nearly sixty in Arizona alone, and there’s little to no effort by our government to find them. Most were off the reservation when they disappeared, but the authorities push the cases back on the tribal police who have very limited resources.” She explained.

“But where would they be taking these women?” Magnus asked. “It’s not like they are crossing the border and don’t have an identity here in the states, these are missing women that have missing persons reports on them.”

Wrenly shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know, but it’s not just happening here but in Canada too. When I was with the FBI, I became aware of this issue, but nobody seems to be all that interested in these cases. The numbers are astounding but not many people here in the US are even aware this is happening. I don’t think the cult is solely responsible for all these missing women, but I do think they are involved with some of the cases. If the missing persons reports didn’t mention Jacob Brown being a common denominator, I’d lean toward these cases being coincidence.”

“Add the Satan’s Disciples and it makes sense that they’re linked, but what happens to them? Our operatives didn’t report finding any missing women when they raided the gangs compound.” Magnus said.

Wrenly moved to a different screen and showed a very old brick building. “Jeremiah seems to have a lot of friends, none of which are part of the cult. Some are just regular people that own small businesses and some are wealthier. I did find this warehouse that Jeremiah owns in San Francisco, and I hacked into a few security cameras in the nearby area. It looks like there’s parties here twice a month.”

“San Francisco?” I wasn’t expecting that at all.

She nodded. “From what I can tell, there’s a very large party on these premises on the first and third Saturday of the month. I’m not sure if it’s anything, but I don’t think it would take more than a few operatives to do some recon.”

Creed sat back in his chair. “After the New Year. I want all operatives free to spend the holidays with their families. I would like a full list of all the MC’s Jeremiah Brown is associated with so we can plant an undercover in each one. I don’t want to rush anything, if there’s a way to learn what’s happening to these indigenous women then we need to do it, but very carefully. They obviously need our attention.”

I spoke up. “That’s law enforcement’s job. We are a private company with bills to pay. That’s a very large and time-consuming case. You can’t use DV funds for it either. It’ll come straight out of Creed’s Lake's pocket.”

Creed glared at me. “We can afford it.”

“Raise some funds. We can’t afford to support the DV division and take the kind of cases that could take years to solve. Plus, what will silently investigating do? This is a huge problem that the news isn’t reporting on, and our government isn’t doing shit to help them. It needs awareness and the best way to help would be to put the heat on the government.”

Creed shook his head. “We will vote on it when we gather more information. It seems to me these people don’t have time to wait for awareness. They need help now.”

I imagined sex parties and sick ones at that, but then Belle came to mind, and I was seeing red. If she would have been forced to marry that asshole, what would have happened once he inherited that estate? My mouth opened before my brain caught up. “I’ll marry her, get the estate and donate it to the cause. Every dime will be spent on those women and their families and helping the women and children in the cult.” What the fuck? Stop talking, Mike! “Legal marriage isn’t what will count to Belle, and there won’t be a spiritual marriage. We can divorce once its settled. It’ll end Jeremiah’s pursuit of her, and help gain the trust of the women in the cult.”

Wrenly took a step back and tripped over her laptop cord, Irons elbowed Magnus as he about jumped over the table toward her, Creed choked on his coffee, Bolton checked me for a fever because suddenly I almost puked, Drakos fell out of his chair laughing which spilled Creed’s coffee, and Jennings jumped back to miss the hot coffee and his chair went flying from under him and hit the wall.

Belle

“I dated a guy once that had one.” Kayla said as I blinked at my mirrored image. I wasn’t sure how to plug my ears so I wouldn’t have to listen anymore.

“What was that like?” Morgan asked.

Kayla smiled. “Perfect. It was bent in just the right spot for a scream out loud orgasm to never forget.”

My heart was pounding as I sat in the chair at the salon. The woman doing my hair said I needed a trim and some lessons on how to style my hair. I couldn’t focus on what the woman was doing to my hair as she trimmed it because Morgan, Kayla, Heidi, and Melissa were talking about the most sinful things, but were they really sins? They were painting sexual relations as something very important and pleasurable in their lives. Did all women speak that way?

“Hmm…so when you sucked it, how did that work?” Melissa asked.

Suck it?

Kayla shrugged. “It was a little tricky, but he still got off.”

Morgan snorted. “Creed could get off just by me looking at it. I can’t believe he still wants sex with this bloated and lethal body.” She laughed. “I accidently farted last week when he bent me over, and he was crying when he came, but still got the job done.”

Ewe…

Everyone else laughed, but I was still at the bent over and fart part.

Kayla gasped then laughed. “Raise your hand if you ever silent farted when a guy was going down on you, then denied it when he gagged.” Kayla was the only one raising her hand.

“I love my husband too much to do that to him.” Morgan said.

“At least you have some boundaries with that stank ass.” Melissa said, and all the girls laughed.

Going down on you? I wasn’t even capable of understanding the conversation. So far that day, I woke up in bed with a man, had a very uncomfortable sex talk with a doctor, an in depth physical exam, men whistled at me when Heidi stopped at the mess hall to pick up the pizza we brought with us to the salon, and then I was listening to things I couldn’t begin to understand.

“My freshman year of high school, I was having a threesome with a gay couple I met at the little people conference in St. Louis.” Melissa said. “And one of them farted when I was sucking him off. You should have heard the girly scream the other guy made while he was fucking my pussy. It was hilarious.” Melissa laughed but all the girls just stared at her.

“You did what?” Morgan blinked at her. “How old were you?”

Wait…homosexual little people? I was frozen and couldn’t move or form a rational thought. Maybe papa was right about the outside world. A pussy cat? I might not have understood a lot, but I knew sex with animals was wrong, even for little people.

Melissa shrugged. “Fifteen.”

“Okay, wait a minute.” Morgan held one finger up. “I’ve known you since grade school. You were quiet and really smart. Yeah, you had a lot of friends, and I thought you were fun, but never that much fun. You seemed so innocent.”

“I did the whole football team and a lot of guys in high school, and even broke a few hearts, except not Tristan of course. I’ve never been into the brainy types.”

Heidi laughed. “That explains a lot. How are the wedding plans coming along?”

“Fine, but Scott has been a stingy little bitch since the Santa costume incident. He wouldn’t shut up about the baby while I was trying to get off.” Melissa rolled her eyes. “There won’t be a wedding if he doesn’t learn to act his part during role play. He knows who’s in charge and his tears don’t make me feel sorry for him.” She was filing her nails and the other girls had blank expressions on their faces. “He can cry all he wants, but it doesn’t work on me. I don’t care if he thinks he’s giving the baby brain damage because I’m so small. I have a normal torso, so he can kiss my tiny ass. The tears aren’t cute, but at least he knows how to eat pussy.”

I gulped. I really wished I was with Michael instead of sitting in that house of sin. I was afraid to eat the food because they kept talking about animals and sex.

I heard something behind me and looked up in the mirror to see a red head standing in shock. It looked like she dropped her covered bowl. She must have brought even more food.

“Hey, welcome back, Steph. I’d get up but...” Morgan pointed at her belly.

“I think maybe I should go check to see if Ryan made it to work.” The woman tried to leave but Heidi rushed over to catch her. “It’s okay, we needed a fresh new conversation.”

Oh, thank Goodness, I wasn’t the only one uncomfortable.

“Steph, this is Belle. Belle, this is Stephanie Granger, her husband is an Original and Steph helped build Creed’s Lake.” Heidi introduced us.

I gave her a faint smile and a wave. “Hi.”

“Oh no, Heidi, you did not…oh boy.” She bent over to get her bowl. “Why is she here for this conversation?” The woman whispered then turned and smiled. “Welcome to Creed’s Lake. I’m the intake coordinator and typically I would be the one assisting you. I apologize for not being here. Um…we don’t typically bring new people to the weekly salon visit with these ladies. Are you okay? I know…I mean I’ve heard about your case. Sorry, I just feel so bad that you had to hear that conversation.” She seemed nervous.

“I’m okay.” I just lied and sinned. Great!

“She’s going to hear it all sooner or later.” Melissa said.

Steph glared at her. “She’s probably traumatized just like the rest of us with your stories.” She set her bowl down. “I’m so happy you made it here and I heard Axton has moved you in with him?”

Everyone gasped, except Heidi. She just didn’t announce it to everyone.

“Wait, Axton is allowing a sweet and innocent girl into his home?” Morgan tilted her head. “He doesn’t like nice girls.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

Morgan looked away from me. “I shouldn’t have said anything. Sorry, it was just a shock.”

I looked at Heidi. “What does that mean?”

Heidi shrugged. “We really don’t know. He’s not exactly warm and fuzzy and he doesn’t ever see any women. Not even Felicity’s girls.”

“Felicity’s girls?”

“Girls.” Steph sounded like she was going to correct them. “He is just being kind because he has a soft spot for Belle. Do not judge his intentions, he likes her a lot from what I hear. Don’t put any pressure on him.” Steph smiled down at me. “I will explain who Felicity is and what her role here at Creed’s Lake is when it’s time.” She looked at Melissa. “Please keep the talk a little more vanilla for Belle.”

Vanilla?

“Okay fine. Back to the crooked cock stories.” Kayla changed the subject, but it did not make me feel any better. What did a rooster have to do with being crooked? And why did the rooster like that cat so much?

Axton

I rubbed my temples as they all stared at me. “I don’t know why I said it, okay? It just came out.”

“I’m going to have a black eye.” Magnus growled.

“Wrenly has a hell of a bump on her head.” Irons complained.

“It might solve some problems.” Creed sat back in his chair and thought about it. “Then create a new one because the girl is vulnerable and may not want the divorce.”

“Please just forget that came out of my mouth. I’m not marrying anyone.” I had enough problems as it was, and still needed to deal with my problems in West Virginia. Not to mention my mom and sister were temporarily moved into the apartments and needed operatives with them to go to work.

There was a knock on the door, and I knew I was about to face even more hell.

“That’s the brother.” Creed said as Magnus got up to open it.

Koty looked up at him and his eyes grew.

“Come on in.” Magnus said.

Koty was probably looking at his damn eye.

“Have a seat. I don’t think you’ve met everyone, Koty. You already met Axton and Bolton, but that’s Magnus, then Irons, Jennings, Granger just joined us, and last but not least, our resident sasquatch, Drakos.”

Within a minute of introductions, they were asking questions. “Let’s start with Belle. Why exactly wasn’t she made into a child bride? Don’t leave out any details.” Creed asked.

“Okay, as you can imagine by looking at me, we are mostly all small men in my family. The women usually top out at around 5’5” and Belle's mother is pretty short too. When she was born she was the longest baby my father had, and she already had that auburn hair. She also has blue eyes and her parents both have dark brown eyes. Her mother is a blond. Our father saw that as a sign and had a prophecy her entire life. There was a war coming with a false profit and God would send one of his soldiers to earth to defeat the false profit. Belle was meant to be this soldier’s first wife. He said he would have the birthmark on his arm that would match Belle’s birthmark. She wasn’t to be married to anyone until the soldier arrived. She was only meant for him. What my papa didn’t understand was that we had ancestors that were tall and had red hair. She simply inherited it from a forgotten ancestor.”

“What do you think of your fathers’ prophecies?” Creed asked.

He looked between all of us. “I thought they were all bullshit my entire life. Every coincidence was seen as a prophecy in my father’s eyes. Take Axton’s birthmark for example. I saw it this morning when he was tickling my sister in his bed.” Koty looked at me and growled.

Fuck!

All heads whipped around and looked at me.

“Shut up, it was totally innocent. Don’t even try it.”

“Birthmark?” Bolton asked.

“Yeah, they both have the birthmark. Same place, same color, exact same shape.”

Drakos snorted. “Axton is a soldier. Well, it looks like more wedding bells are soon to be ringing.”

“Fuck off, Drakos.” I growled.

“Wait.” Irons leaned forward. “Are you telling us your father, who claims to be a prophet, said for all those years that she would meet a soldier with the birthmark Axton has?”

Koty nodded. “Yes, but do not fall for anything my father said. Especially around Belle. I want her to forget all that and start a fresh new life. I don’t want her weighed down by that prophecy any longer.”

Creed was listening to every bit of that shit, and I knew he was going to be all over it. Dammit!

“Did your community have much to do with any of the reservations out west?” Magnus asked.

Koty quickly looked at him. “Not the community but definitely Jeremy. He liked their women, and I followed him several times. I knew it was risky, but I had to find something on him to present to my father. I needed to prove he was a bad man just so he could talk to my older brothers about Belle. My oldest brother, John Henry, was to become her guardian when my father passed away. Since Jeremy couldn’t get my father’s blessing, he got it from my brother before my father even passed. That’s why father helped us escape.”

“Hypothetical question here.” Creed sat forward. “Let’s say Axton here marries your sister and shows his birthmark. Will the cult know what it means, and your brother will take back his blessing?”

Fuck you, Creed.

Koty looked at me, growled a little mousy growl then looked back at Creed. “Why?”

“Because Jeremy has at least thirty men here ready to take your sister. We learned today that your father had a vast estate, and her husband is to inherit it. Would a marriage between them cost Jeremy the support of your father’s cult?”

Koty looked at me and tapped his finger on the table. “They are looking for their next bishop. Someone to lead them, but yes, that would convince them she’s not meant for Jeremy.”

Creed sat back in his chair. “That could buy us some time, at least to get us through the holidays. We’ve neutralized Satan’s Disciples, at least most of them, but I still want to get my hands on Jeremiah. We think he could be a link to a much larger case. How does your sister feel about divorce if it’s not a spiritual marriage?”

“Wait, are you trying to get my father’s inheritance?” Koty was playing it smart.

“If Axton were to get the inheritance, he would use it to help members of your cult to establish new lives, and what’s left will finance a much larger case of missing Indigenous women.”

Koty crossed his arms and sat back in his chair as he thought. “He could make everyone think he’s the next bishop, end child marriage, and essentially end the cult.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “That frees my mom and Belle’s from being forced into another marriage. But Belle…I don’t know.” He looked at me. “She likes you, I don’t mean that as just a friend. She’s questioning our religion, and of course a legal marriage doesn’t mean much to our people, but she would be dependent on you. You’ve lived as a normal man and I’m not even sure how she would take the news that you’ve shared a bed with other women out of wedlock. I don’t know about this plan. I like it as far as how it will benefit our family, but I worry for Belle.”

Creed was a fucker, dammit!

Irons spoke up as he looked at me. “Think about it, Axton. Not only would this help the children being forced to marry old men, you’d be helping all those missing women. Think of Kayla, what if she was missing, and nobody would help you find her? Imagine her at thirteen and being forced to fuck an old man. That’s what your sacrifice would be doing, ending all that shit.”

Fuck Irons for laying all that on me.

“We wouldn’t be going after her brothers, men she loves, in order to stop this. You’d show them your birthmark and the marriage certificate, and they would abandon Jeremiah and listen to you about starting new lives. Maybe we could avoid sending her brothers to prison for doing what they were raised to think was right.”

I snarled. “They fucked little girls. That’s not forgivable and there’s a price to pay.”

“You will end it, not just in Arizona but in all their communities.” Irons reminded me.

I looked at Koty. “Has Jeremiah ever slept with a child?”

“I don’t know, he does a lot with women. All I know is he would go to the bars and visit the motorcycle compound to meet the women. He really likes Indigenous women and so does his brother.” Koty answered.

“Will any of this hurt Belle?” That was my main concern.

“I think that’s up to you.” Koty said.

“Are you on board with this?” I asked him.

“Let’s just say I’m coming around to it. It makes sense.”

“She would be my wife on paper only.” I warned him.

“I understand that, but the question is if Belle will understand that.” He answered.

Granger spoke up. “They’re going to make a move on us, not that they would get through our barriers, but it’s coming. We get them married, send the women and children to the bunker and allow them in the gates. Make them think we’re putting up a good fight, but we’ll trap them inside. Separate Jeremiah from his flock and hold him until we get our answers. That way Axton can address the men from the cult. He will show them proof of marriage and the birthmarks. You’ll get the inheritance and set all of the cult members up with new lives. Then we can focus on the missing women, but this has to happen very quickly.”