“Motherfucker,” Cowboy spat. “It’s that fucking symbol.”
“Engraved on his motherfucking hand.” Tanner passed the picture around. “I keep thinking of that bitch in the woods. Since Charley was taken, we’ve never found a single fucking trace of her, anywhere. Lita has nightmares about it.” He shrugged. “I’m thinking, whoever the fuck these fuckers are, might have been the ones to take her.”
“The bitch who punched me,” Viking said, nodding his head. “Remember that bitch well. Motherfuckers!”
“Traffickers?” AK suggested.
“Possibly,” Tanner said. “But Traffickers normally aren’t hidden this good. They leave a trace—money, travel, something. These assholes? Clean as a fucking disinfected whistle.”
“And they have a target on us? Fucking perfect,” Ky said. He looked to Styx. “Where the fuck do we go from here?”
Styx stared down at the table. A knock sounded on the door just as he lifted his hands to speak. Ash opened the door, and Rider was on the other side. I sat up straight. Maddie? Beatrix? Were they hurt? I got to my feet. Rider faced me. “It’s not Maddie or Beatrix, Flame. They’re fine.”
My heart was fucking pounding in my chest. It wasn’t them. They weren’t hurt. I sat back down in my seat.
“Then what?” Ky asked.
Rider looked behind him, and Ruth walked through the door. Her head was lowered, and her face seemed pale. “Mama?” Rider said and Ruth lifted her head to look around the table. She then looked at Styx. “Mama came to me last night,” Rider said. Beside me, Viking became tense. His hands gripped the arms of the chair.
“Calm down,” AK said to him quietly. “Let her speak.”
“You good?” Ky asked.
“Go on,” Rider said, and nodded to his mama.
Ruth stepped forward. Her hands were joined in front of her, fingers moving around each other. I knew that meant she was nervous. “I did not say anything at the time. I…” She paused, then swallowed. “I have never known what it was or what it meant.” She stopped, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “In The Order… life was not great. I know you know this. I…” Ruth reached out and took hold of Rider’s hand. “I was young when I had my boys. Too young, barely a teenager.” She pushed her hair behind her ears. “I have no memory of what came before, and very little in the immediate aftermath of having my boys taken from me.” She swallowed. “I was broken by my brother, Prophet David. I… I believe now I had some kind of breakdown.”
“I get it, Ruth, but what does this have to do with us?” Ky asked slowly.
Rider nodded at Ruth when she met his eyes. Ruth untucked her shirt and pulled down the waistband of her jeans at one side. I saw Ky fucking freeze.
“Fuck,” Viking spat. Ruth moved to the side. Then I saw it. The symbol, the symbol that Tanner had just shown to us. It was a scar, not a tattoo. A white scar that looked like it had been burned onto her skin.
“When we saw the girl in the cage in the woods, something inside of me made me go to her, some instinct to protect her.” Ruth lifted the waistband of her jeans back up and her shirt fell to cover it. “I never knew what the scar on my hip was. For years I thought I was born with it. Or my brother had branded me somehow when I was mentally unstable. I simply had no memory of it.
“But when I saw the girl in the woods kill herself, blankness in her eyes, mouth sewn shut, it destroyed me. It left a scar in my heart, more than I thought it should have. I remembered the scar on my hip, but I was so afraid of what it meant that I kept it to myself.” Rider put his arm around his mother. My fucking chest squeezed. Ruth looked at Rider like Maddie looked at Beatrix. I shifted in my seat. Did my mama ever look at me that way?
“Then the nightmares started. They are not much. Glimpses into something I do not understand.” Ruth went quiet. “But there is pain. There is fear and helplessness… and there are symbols. This symbol.” She put her hand over her hip. “I cannot offer anymore than that, but whoever is doing this was somehow linked to my brother, the prophet. They were in a partnership of some kind with The Order.”
“Mae, Bella, Lilah, Maddie, Phebe,” Tank asked. “Do they have these scars?” I shook my head. I knew every inch of Maddie. She didn’t have one.
Styx shook his head. “Lil doesn’t,” Ky added.
“Neither does Phebe…” AK said finally. Then his voice trailed off. “Sapphira?” he questioned; his face went white. “I don’t know about Sapphira.”
Ash suddenly moved from the wall he leaned against, and his hand started fucking twitching.
“The cult, the cartel, the Klan…” Tanner said. “Who the fuck are these people to have deals with so many organizations?”
“The women,” Hush said, and lifted his gaze from the picture he had in his hands. “Are they trying to get the sisters, the cult girls? Is that why they’re fucking attacking?” My blood started to boil, and my muscles grew so tight in my neck I thought they would snap. Maddie… they wouldn’t get close to her. I’d kill any fucker who tried. If they touched her... My veins fucking exploded into fire. “Beatrix! They won’t even get to fucking touch Beatrix.” I jumped to my feet and started to pace. They wouldn’t get my family. They couldn’t get them.
“They won’t get fucking near them, Flame,” Ky promised. Styx got to his feet. His hands started moving so fast I couldn’t read him. Ky spoke for him, I listened. “The women are never alone. They are always protected. From this fucking day on they are never fucking alone.” Brothers nodded approval.
“If Charley was taken, is Adelita a risk too?” Beau asked.
Tanner leaned his head back. “FUCK!”
“Sia,” Cowboy said to Hush. “She had ties to the cartel too.”
“Everyone on compound now,” Ky ordered and got to his feet. “Until these fuckers are caught, no one lives off compound.” He pointed at Hush and Cowboy. “I don’t give a fuck how much of a protest my sister gives about her horses and shit, get her here. Sedate her if y’all have to. She can bring the motherfucking horses here. We have enough fucking land.” He faced Styx. “We’ll get more cabins put out here.” Styx nodded his agreement.
Styx turned to Rider. Styx’s jaw clenched but he raised his hands. “You and Bella will move in closer to the compound.” The fucking room went quiet. Rider nodded. Styx looked at Ruth. “You and Stephen.” He then looked to Samson and Solomon. “All of y’all need to move in. We ain’t on lockdown yet, but any sign from these fuckers that it’s our bitches they want, and we’ll fucking bring the wrath of Hades to their motherfucking door.”
“Shit,” Rudge cursed, sitting next to Edge, who had moved to our chapter permanently. “We’ll be like Little House of the motherfucking Biker Prairie.” He laughed and Edge joined in.
“Ruth can live with me,” Viking volunteered. Rider turned his head to him.