Chapter Nineteen

Void

After showering and getting ourselves warm, we’re all snuggled up on the sofa. Ivy has her legs over mine and her body draped against me. I swear I’ve never been the type of man who was into affection. It was drilled into me from an early age that tenderness wasn’t even a thing. It was all about sex, doing what had to be done, then leaving. So, needless to say, cuddling with a woman is new territory for me. I might have been a lot of Ivy’s firsts, but fuck if she isn’t getting a few of mine as well.

My fingers play with her hair as I release a contented sigh.

Ivy glances up at me. “That sounded contemplative.”

“I was thinking about how you’re changing me.”

Raising her brow, she smiles. “In a good way, I hope.”

“I’ve never been the type of guy to admit when I like someone. Hell, I’ve never been the type of guy to even like someone, so this…” I wave my hand around to encompass us, “… is all new to me.”

“In case you’ve forgotten, this is kind of new to me too, but I’m glad we’re experiencing it together.”

Leaning in, I kiss her, and my hand runs through her hair, holding her to me.

For so long—actually, most of my life—I’ve been a void. Completely empty inside, lacking empathy and emotion for anyone or anything. Until Ivy.

I had no clue how the world could change, how colors could seem brighter, how sounds could be clearer. Everything is simply better with someone in your life who means fucking everything to you.

The problem with that is… it also means you have something to lose.

And that makes you weak.

Ivy gives me strength, but she’s also my greatest weakness.

Three Days Later

It’s nice to be back in Ivy’s good graces. For a second, I thought we were going to be spending the rest of our stay here with her angry at me, but with us fucking on the bank of the bayou, it pulled us back to each other. It’s what we needed. We have got to be united in this. We work better as a team.

Today, though, has me on edge. I’ve had no word from Nycto. For all I know, the club could be fending off an attack right now. So, I’m doing my best to keep Ivy occupied. We’re on the sofa, watching television. I’m wrapped around her, trying to keep her as calm as possible, when the floorboards on the porch outside creek.

Our eyes shoot to the front door.

I ease Ivy off me slowly, not making any sudden movements. “Go to the panic room,” I whisper. “Don’t come out until I come get you.” We both stand silently, and I draw out my gun as she turns with nothing but fear in her eyes. “Go!” I mouth.

Ivy grimaces, then starts running.

Before I even make it to the front door, it bursts open. Men wearing the same white slacks and white shirts my father used to make us wear surge inside, all with guns aimed directly at me. I point mine back, but there’s nothing I can do. There’s way too fucking many of them.

A disciple signals to the others, and they rush me. I grit my teeth as one of them surges forward. I clench my fist and punch him in the face while another yanks my gun from my hand. The others jump me, pulling me over to the kitchen chair. I struggle, trying like hell to fend them off, but they slam me down. I try to fight, but they pull wire ties out of their pockets. I manage to yank one hand free and sock another guy in the face, but he doesn’t even budge—he simply grips my hand, wrenches it behind my back, and ties my wrists together while I growl low.

“Whatever you want, you won’t find it here!” I grunt.

The ringleader chuckles. “We already have.” He waves his hand through the air, and another disciple comes from down the hall, dragging a gagged and bound Ivy behind him. Her eyes are fraught with fear as she tries to fight them off. I thrash about on the chair in an attempt to get to her, but the disciple holds me in place.

She didn’t make it to the panic room.

“Ivy! Get your fucking hands off me. Ivy! Let her go, you fucking brainwashed pieces of shit.” I pummel about, fighting harder than ever, but all it does is make my wrists burn against the tension of the ties. Two men hold me down with every ounce of strength they have, while the disciples laugh.

But everyone stops as a man walks into the bungalow.

All eyes turn.

And I take in the tall figure.

He hasn’t changed at all.

Maybe his hair’s a little grayer.

His wavy hair is to his shoulders. The pronounced mustache over a slightly smaller beard makes him seem like a guy from an old seventies porno movie, but I’m sure the gray hair would make ladies view him as a silver fox. He’s not some ugly fuck, that’s for sure. He has an aura about him that draws people in, and that’s why he’s so fucking deadly.

“Hello, son.”

Scowling, I shake my head. “You stopped being my father the day you tried to turn me into you.”

He walks inside and views the bungalow, his gaze taking everything in. “You mean the day I freed you from your virtue… from your innocence. You need to see, Cade… life is made up of moments, of choices. They define us. You chose that day to be a man. You chose to become… like me. Like all of us. It helped shape who you are now—”

“I’m nothing like you.”

“Nothing? You don’t think women should submit to us? Let me get this straight, son. Out there, in the woods… you didn’t make Ivy submit to you?”

My eyes shift to Ivy. Tears well, then slowly fall over her bottom lids.

Hell. Maybe I am just like him?

“What Ivy and I do is none of your damn business!”

“What Ivy and you had might be none of my business, but it’s over now. Ivy belongs to me. I’m taking her as my offering. She’s young, virile, hardly broken in. Her children will be part of the next generation, seeing as the last was useless at keeping the family tradition going.”

Anger blooms inside me so strong I can barely contain it. I wrestle in my chair again. It moves from side to side on its legs so much that it almost topples over as they start to drag Ivy outside.

“Ivy!” My chest squeezes tight as panic rips through me. “Ivy!”

She tries to fight them too, but there’s too fucking many of them as they drag her out, kicking and screaming under her gag.

“Fuck!” I scream out as I struggle in my restraints.

They exit the bungalow, causing my anxiety to reach a critical level.

Get to Ivy.

I must get to Ivy.

So, I jump on the seat, trying to break it, but all it does is topple to the side, and I slam to the floor with a massive thud, a deep pain rippling through me. My ribs cause my breath to catch as my nose crinkles and my eyes burn from a strange smell. My gaze shoots up as smoke begins to waft in under the front door.

“Shit!” I spin my head around to see it’s coming in the back door too.

The haze wafts in, heading directly for me as I wrestle with the fucking chair. Smoke floods the floor of the bungalow, making me cough. My eyes sting as I fight harder to free myself, but they have me tied up pretty fucking tight. Adrenaline spikes through my veins as orange and yellow flickers through the living room window. That sight kicks me up a notch, but I am still not making any headway. Coughing and spluttering, I start to become dizzy. All I’m really doing is turning in fucking circles.

I’m not getting anywhere.

Shifting, I attempt to sit up. My plan is to drop onto the chair and break it, but my body is weakening with all the strenuous effort I’ve put in so far. I manage to stand and drop to the floor, but the chair doesn’t budge.

Not knowing what to do next, I lie still, taking a couple of shallow breaths while trying not to breathe in too much smoke. Right in the nick of fucking time, someone breaks down the front door, woodgrain splintering off in all directions. I lift my head as a vision of Dash enters the flaming bungalow.

What the fuck!

Am I hallucinating?

Dash rushes to me, pulls out a knife, and cuts me free. “C’mon, fucker, up you get,” he urges, then lifts me from the chair, half carrying me toward the entry of the house. As we get out onto the front porch, a section of roof slams down in front of us, completely alight.

Dash grabs the rocking chair to the right of us and uses it to push the debris out of the way enough for us to pass through. We rush out to the front area and both fall onto the freshly cut grass, gasping and coughing frantically. Dash pats my back, trying to help me breathe as we both watch the quaint little bungalow go up in a fiery inferno, and with it, the last of my strength.

I move to stand, but instantly fall back to the ground, panting for breath. “We need to find Ivy,” I croak out.

“No, we need to call for help. We’re too far away from either club to get backup in time, but Ivy did tell me of someone nearby who might be able to help.”

I cough, narrowing my eyes in on him. “Back the fuck up. Why are you even here? Weren’t you supposed to be off taking a break or some shit?”

Another section of the roof caves in with a giant thud, which makes us both jump, but Dash shakes his head in confusion.

“Is that what Nycto told you?”

I shrug, clearing my throat, trying to take in a deep, centering breath, but I can’t seem to get one.

“No. He sent me out here in secret as surveillance. I was told to be your backup, but to keep my distance. Said I needed to learn to respect my VP again… and your relationship with Ivy. I’m sorry, man. Ivy’s amazing, we both know that. Watching you guys together hasn’t been easy, but I get it. I get what Nycto was laying down. As long as you make her happy, which, from what I have seen over the last few days, you do, then I’m happy.”

“So Nycto punished you by making you watch us together, huh? Clever, sadistic man. I appreciate you taking a step back, brother. But this is all shit talk, ’cause we gotta get her back.”

“Let’s make a call and go get your girl.”