Chapter 38

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

TAVISH

Realization goes off in my head like lightning, and I gasp, "He's on the ship."

I drop to my knees next to Maeve and ask, "Is he here? Is that why? Is that how Samuel forced you to do those things?"

With barely a dip of her chin, she nods, then whispers, "I'm sorry. Take care of them."

Her voice fades to a whisper, and a rush of air follows as she exhales. The light in her eyes dims until one minute it's there, and the next, it's gone.

"Maeve!" Draven cries out, leaning over her, his lips pressed to her forehead. Sobs rack his body as he gasps through the tears.

I look away, giving him some privacy. My eyes land on the guy sitting on the opposite side of her body. Her blood paints his hands red. He removes his tactical gear, then his shirt, handing it to me, and I pull it over my head. It's covered in Maeve's blood, but I'm covered in Samuel's, so it doesn't matter.

A roar comes from Draven as he surges to his feet. The sound morphs from his wailing sobs into a deafening sound that bounces off the metal surrounding us. My eyes fly back to him and I watch on as he grabs up an axe and begins swinging it. The roaring cries continue as he hacks into everything in his path.

When he stumbles over Samuel's dead body, Draven jerks the body up off the floor. His axe whistles through the air, cutting through Samuel's neck like it's nothing more than hot butter. The body drops to the floor with a thud, followed by the sound of an axe hitting the metal floor. The sight turns my stomach so violently, I hardly have time to turn to the side before I'm puking.

"Guiding Light, this is North Star One. Do you copy?"

"Lima Charlie, One."

"We need an exit plan, for I don't know how many, living and dead, and a boat that looks like a bloodbath."

"Boss, we got a problem. Or problems, I should say."

Spinning around, my hands and knees slipping in the blood under me, I turn toward the voice coming from the stairs. I don't know this guy. He's not a member of the Society. Come to think of it, neither is the guy whose shirt I'm wearing.

"Who are you?" I ask.

"A friend of a friend," the guy next to Maeve says while the other guy says, "Cato says to say hi."

Turning to look at Draven, I ask, "Where's the Society members? Are Everly and the others here?"

"Nae. I dinnae call them." Draven rasps, his voice rough from the tears he's shed.

"What? Why? This is what we do! It's the only reason there is a Society. This is our mission!" I yell at him.

He snarls at me, his nostrils flaring. "Why? Because I dinnae trust them to protect ye or to put yer safety and wellbeing first."

"They saved me!"

"Nae! Ye saved them. And I wasnae putting yer safety in their hands again. I trusted them once, and they left ye sitting in a van alone with Samuel breathing down yer neck while they went running off to do fuck all. Yer mine. Mine to care for. Mine to protect. They proved incapable the first time. I willnae give them a second."

I stare at him, my mouth open and eyes so wide they feel close to splitting at the corners. Everything drains from me, leaving me feeling like an empty shell as all the air in me escapes in a soft huff.

Standing, I fold my arms across my chest and walk away.

He's wrong.

They saved me. They're my friends, and they saved me.

Right?

I pace back and forth, questioning everything. My friendship with Everly, and her guys, and with Zayn.

"Umm…boss? About that problem?"

"What is it?" the guy next to Maeve asks, the frustration with the situation plainly clear in his voice.

"There're a couple of types upstairs."

"And a senator," I add, shivering with revulsion. Scrubbing my hands over my face to push away, I wince in pain as I hit the sore spots and the cut on my head.

The two guys who refuse to tell me their names turn and look at me, and I shrug. "I recognized him and the one movie star when they, umm…" I pause, struggling to voice what they'd done to me.

Draven stands and walks to me. I look up at him with tears in my eyes and he hesitates. He's covered in Maeve's blood, but I don't care. I need my daddy. I step toward him and he wraps his arms around me, pulling me into his body, but the tactical vest keeps me from the comforting warmth I usually find. Huffing, I slide my hands under the vest and the shirt he's wearing.

"Can we go home?" I ask.

I feel his lips press against my forehead as he nods. "Soon, lilla du."

He pulls away and looks at the wound on the side of my head, tsking under his breath. "Is there a medic in the group with ye, Ghost?"

"We're all trained. Why?"

"Tavish needs checked over, and then I'd like to get him cleaned up."

The guy at the stairs walks in and opens a compartment on the wall I hadn't noticed. He comes toward Draven and me, stopping in front of us. "We need to get some photos and then call the authorities."

A gasp rushes through me. The thought of what calling the cops means for not only me but for all the others chills me to the bone. The members of Societas Exspiravit, as well as all the people the Order of Death trafficked.

"Draven…"

He sighs. "I ken, Tavish. I'll take care of it."

Draven turns back to the others, putting himself between them and me.

"The ship's gotta go down."

"Up. It's gotta go up and with all the people on the boat that were here of their own accord."

"You're suggesting we kill a US Senator and several high-profile celebrities."

I step from behind Draven and pull myself up to my full height. Looking these two big ass military types dead in their eyes would normally have me cowering in the corner without my screens and tech to buffer the interaction, but not today. I'm fucking done cowering.

"Yes. That's exactly what I'm saying. Y'all can do it or Draven and I can, but the boat has to be obliterated, along with any evidence left on it."

"What about the guy's protection detail?"

I chuckle. "They're going to need a new job after this, because he slipped his detail two days ago. I'm sure they're frantically trying to find him. I'm willing to vet them for you, but since you know Cato, I doubt you need my help."

"Since ya'll've been outta touch for a while, I tapped into your mics. Little Bird and the Viking are right. This baby's gotta blow. As for the detail, I can and will vet the guys. We need more personal protection guys at Holt. As for our friends who need to disappear, we won't miss one corrupt politician in Washington when there're at least ten others waiting to take his place. Same with the pretty Hollywood boys."

Ghost and the other dude shake their heads as I chuckle at the looks on their faces. Draven's hands come to rest on my shoulders, and he leans down, whispering in my ear, "He's a fucking menace."

I agree with a hum in my throat and remember that there's a baby we need to find.

"I'd really love to get off this fucking ship, but there's something we need to do first."

"Yeah, like figure out who the fuck the baby we found belongs to."