Chapter Twenty-Nine
Kyllian
The moonlight peeked through the curtains when I heard Karter whimper.
Jolting straight up, I looked over at the sleeping little girl, who cried in her sleep for her daddy.
Rushing over to her, I kneeled down beside the couch and tried to soothe the small child as I looked about the room.
Everything felt unfamiliar—the room filled with old porcelain figurines watching from shadowy corners and the faint scent of chamomile drifting from the kitchen as I listened to the hum of Mrs. Butler’s voice speaking softly into the phone, her words distinct but her concern unmistakable.
The warmth of Mrs. Butler’s hospitality wrapped around me, fragile but real, and for the first time in days, I let myself believe that maybe, just maybe, I might make it through this nightmare after all.
Then the hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I distinctly heard Mrs. Butler say, “Yes, she’s here and she has the child. Just get here fast.”
I didn’t think.
I gathered Karter in my arms, her whimpers now cries for a man who was her only hope.
My heart hammered against my ribs, a frantic drumbeat of dread.
The warmth of Mrs. Butler’s concern, the fragile hope she offered, evaporated in an instant, replaced by the icy uncertainty of betrayal.
Had she been offering sanctuary, or had she been setting a trap?
With Karter clutched tightly in my arms, a small, whimpering weight of innocence, I saw Mrs. Butler’s car keys hanging by the front door. Grabbing them, I bolted. The familiar comfort of Mrs. Butler’s house vanished behind me as I burst out the front door, the night air a cold slap against my face.
Aunt Karen’s words, “Take Karter to the Brotherhood. They will protect you both,” flashed through my mind, a desperate, terrifying instruction.
The Brotherhood—the place that had broken me, the place that held the ghosts of every mistake I’d ever made—was now my only hope.
The thought was a bitter pill, a surrender to the very darkness I’d fought so hard to escape.
But Karter’s soft cries, her trusting weight against my chest, left me no choice.
Running for Mrs. Butler’s car, I jumped in. The engine sputtered to life just as Mrs. Butler appeared in the doorway. Flipping her the one-finger bird, I put her car in reverse and backed out of the driveway, her frantic calls becoming a distant memory as I gunned the engine.
Rapid City blurred behind me, a city that had offered a false promise of escape and delivered only deeper entanglement. Karter slept soundly in the passenger seat, oblivious to the danger I was hurtling toward, and I prayed I was doing the right thing.
The Brotherhood. A bitter reminder of the broken promises and brutal lessons—the very things I’d sworn I’d never return to. But Aunt Karen’s desperate plea, her terrified eyes, and Karter’s trusting whimpers were a chain that bound me to a path I couldn’t, wouldn’t, abandon.
The lights of the Brotherhood’s compound, a sprawling, dark fortress against the star-dusted South Dakota sky, appeared on the horizon. Each mile closer was a step deeper into the abyss, a surrender to the inevitable.
Inferno. The name whispered in my aunt’s terrified plea.
He was my only hope, my last resort. As I pulled into the gravel drive, the roar of the engine was a defiant challenge, a guttural declaration of my unwilling return.
The air crackled with an unseen energy, the very ground vibrating with the presence of the men I’d tried so desperately to escape.
Gathering Karter in my arms, I got out of the vehicle, her small hand tightening around my neck as the darkness of the compound loomed before us, a terrifying, yet necessary haven.
Even from where I stood, I could hear the loud ruckus of the brothers, the music vibrating beneath the ground as a tremor of unease washed through me.
He was in there. I knew it. I didn’t know how long I stood out there, but when Karter whimpered again, curling herself deeper into me, I knew the second I walked into that clubhouse, he would never let me leave again.
With one foot in front of the other, I sealed my fate and walked through the door.
Standing in the doorway, my eyes immediately found his. A cold knot tightened in my stomach, unsettling anguish warring with a desperate, sickening curiosity. He stood behind a club whore, pumping his dick into her fiercely.
The second recognition hit him, a cruel smirk stretched his lips—a predator catching sight of his prey.
He grabbed the slut’s hair, pulling her back toward him with a brutal grace, his hands wrapping around her neck like a vise.
He thrust harder, ignoring her muffled cries, his gaze locked onto mine.
Every pounding movement felt like a deliberate insult, a taunt meant to shatter my resolve.
He was displaying his power, his utter disregard for anything but his own gratification, and I, his kitten, was supposed to just stand there and witness it.
A wave of nausea washed over me, a bitter taste of helplessness and self-loathing.
Was this who I was becoming? Someone who could watch this and not recoil, not act.
He licked his lips, his eyes never leaving mine, as he pummeled her relentlessly until he roared, yelling my pet name—a sound that was both a claim and a curse—before covering her back with his cum and shoving her to the ground, as if she were nothing more than discarded refuse.
Reaching for a bottle of whiskey on the table next to him, he shouted, his voice rough and demanding, “Who’s next?”
He didn’t have to wait long before another club whore dropped to her knees, shoving his cock into her mouth.
My breath hitched.
This was it. The moment I had to make a choice—the choice I had been dreading since the moment I stepped through this door.
My instincts screamed at me to turn and run, to pretend I hadn’t seen, to preserve the last shred of my integrity.
But that was a coward’s path, and a coward’s path would lead me nowhere, except being forever beholden to this. .. this darkness.
He narrowed his eyes, daring me to say anything, to do anything.
Part of me wanted to lash out, to scream, to run away from this humiliation, but another, colder part recognized the futility.
Any act of defiance now would only lead to more pain, more embarrassment, for me and likely for him.
It would be a futile gesture, a childish tantrum that would only serve his amusement.
And yet, inaction felt like complicity, like a betrayal of everything I thought I stood for.
“Kitten?” A familiar voice, laced with a dangerous amusement, sliced through my internal torment. Turning, I blinked and looked up to see a hulking biker standing before me.
“Cerberus.” I gulped. “I need to see Inferno.”
“Is that?” the big guy asked, staring at who I held in my arms.
“Yes.”
Looking around the room, Cerberus whistled loudly, getting a brother’s attention.
A beautiful black man with light green eyes walked over, then stopped dead in his tracks when he laid eyes on me.
“Go find Inferno. Tell him to meet me in Morpheus’ office.
Then go peel Lollie off Morpheus’ dick and tell him we have company. ”
Wrapping an arm around my shoulder, Cerberus, his expression unreadable, guided us through the cacophony of the clubhouse. Brothers, their faces a mixture of hardened indifference and predatory curiosity, turned to stare. Their leers were palpable, their unspoken judgment a heavy weight.
I kept my gaze fixed on Karter, her small hand clutching my shirt, a silent plea that mirrored my own desperate need for protection.
A brother emerged from the smoky haze, his imposing presence cutting through the din.
His gaze, when it landed on me, held a flicker of recognition, a dark spark that ignited a fresh wave of dread.
He saw Karter, the child I carried, and then his eyes, cold and assessing, met mine.
“What the fuck is my daughter doing here?”
“Aunt Karen said to bring Karter to you,” I managed, my voice a strained whisper, my words tasting of a surrender I’d sworn I’d never make. “She said you would protect us.”
“Where is Karen?
“I don’t know.” My voice trembled under his scrutiny. “Someone tried to break in. There were gunshots. A police officer is dead. She told me to bring her here. To you.”
“Wanderer, take Carver and go check it out,” a familiar booming voice said from the doorway as his eyes bored into mine. “Inferno, get your daughter out of here.”
Inferno moved fast, taking Karter from me before quickly disappearing from the small room.
“You have a lot of balls coming back here, Kitten,” Morpheus growled, his voice a low rumble that vibrated with menace.
He was a mountain of a man, his presence filling the doorway, his eyes like chips of obsidian, hard and unyielding.
The air in the room thickened with his unspoken threat, a palpable weight that pressed down on me.
I stood my ground, my gaze locked with his, refusing to let the fear that clawed at my throat show.
“It wasn’t my first choice,” I choked out, my voice rough with exhaustion and a lingering dread.
The once suffocating reminder of Firestride’s dominance now seemed to emanate from Morpheus himself, a constant, cloying presence.
He smirked, a predator savoring its prey, his eyes raking over my disheveled appearance, the lingering bruises on my skin, a stark testament to the violence I’d endured.
He saw my fear, my desperation, and he reveled in it.
“No,” he agreed, his voice a low drawl that sent a shiver down my spine. “I don’t suspect it was.”
“You’re not going to let me leave, are you?”
Morpheus slowly shook his head. “You are the first old lady of this club. Honestly, I have no idea what to do with you.”
I stiffened.
Old lady?
“I’m not anyone’s anything.”
“You sure about that? There is a brother in this club who might think differently.”
“Yeah,” I scoffed. “I saw what he thinks of me with my own eyes.”
His lips curled into a mocking smile. “Perception is a fickle thing. What you saw and what’s actually in his heart might not be the same.
” He stepped closer, the air between us thickening.
“But here’s the thing, Kitten: around here, what matters is what I decide.
And I’ve decided you’re not going anywhere. ”