Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The rotors of the helicopter propelled Julian and the team through the night. Once they’d determined that it was indeed Micah who’d taken Lilith, he’d been wanting to get in the air.

Through the tracker, Cass was able to get an exact location on Lilith and found that the property had recently been purchased by Micah Livingstone. She’d also traced back the origins of the job advert, and it was placed from a computer recently purchased by Micah.

Somehow, the man had got his hands on an inordinately large amount of cash to enable all these transactions to be made. Cass would get to the bottom of it, but that was the least of Julian’s concerns. The longer Lilith was with Micah, the more dangerous it would be for her.

Normally, Julian had time to do some background research on the cult and the people who ran them. With his background of growing up in one, he usually had an idea of how the leaders thought, and what they believed themselves to be. How they operated. Most of the time, they were all similar, but Micah was an unknown quantity, because he hadn’t been on anyone’s radar. Cass was doing everything she could to find out about him. What his motivations were, but there just wasn’t enough time to nail it all down. They were going into this blind, but he trusted the men in the helicopter with him. Knew that they wouldn’t do anything that would endanger Lilith.

The tracker was still showing her at the property, so Julian had to hope they hadn’t taken the necklace off her and moved her somewhere else. Most cult leaders delighted in taking every possession, personal or otherwise, from the people they recruited in a show of power, disguised as a generous contribution to the success of the organization. As a way of thanking the followers for believing in them and their ultimate goal.

“We’ll be landing in five. We’ll be two miles out and making the rest of the way on foot. Even going into silent mode, it’s so quiet out here, and we don’t want to risk our presence being noticed.” Ox’s voice sounded in his ear, and he nodded along with the rest of the guys.

Julian understood why they couldn’t land next to the house, but he wished that they could. His fingers curled into a fist and he tapped it on his knee, the need to get on the ground and get running overwhelming him. He had to play it cool. Had to keep his impulses controlled so nothing happened to Lilith.

The copter landed with a gentle bump. In seconds, he had his safety harness off and was out of the machine.

“We all know what we have to do.” Ox directed a look at the group of men. “Julian, you’re with me. Fox and Deal are in the lead, and once they get to the house, they’ll tell us what to expect. Remember, we get Lilith and subdue the men in time for the Feds to come and deal with them.”

Julian had informed Mac of what was happening with Lilith, and what Alliez had come up with. As this wasn’t officially an FBI investigation into the cult, Mac had had to work quickly to get some guys ready. They were arriving by car, and as the property was just over an hour out of LA. They should arrive in the next fifteen minutes, as they’d left before Julian and the others had.

Choruses of “copy that” sounded, and they made their way to the property. It took a couple of minutes for Julian to get used to wearing the night vision goggles, but he managed to keep up with the guys, and soon they reached the border of the property. Ox held up his fist, and they all stopped.

Seconds later, Fox and Deal headed to the main house, and Hound and Jag went to the smaller structure on the property. There were lights coming from both places, so whoever had helped Micah kidnap Lilith was still on the property.

“How long before we know what’s happening?” Julian asked Growler, who was bouncing on his heels, looking eager to get to the action as well.

“Shouldn’t be long. Don’t worry, no one will know that they’re there.”

“I know. How do you deal with the waiting?” Julian looked at the three men with him. All of them looked relaxed. Growler had stopped his bouncing, as if he just needed to expel a little excess energy before focusing on the task at hand.

“You get used to it,” Ox said with a shrug.

“Small structure is clear,” Jag reported over the comms. “Heading to main house.”

“That’s our cue. We’ll make our way to where Jag and Hound are, and then, once the others are in place, we’ll take our position at the main house too,” Ox instructed.

Julian nodded, glad that it shouldn’t be too much longer before he got to see Lilith. “Hang on, Lil. We’re almost there,” he whispered into the night.

Lilith didn’t know how much longer she’d be able to stay still and not race out the front door of the property. Richard and Stella had turned up to the main house. There were bruises on Stella’s arms that hadn’t been there before. It didn’t take a degree in rocket science to know how her flesh had gotten marred. If Lilith expected Stella to be downtrodden by the treatment, she was wrong. The other woman kept her eyes downcast, but she didn’t show any signs that she’d been crying or was traumatized by what she’d endured. In fact, it looked like she was perfectly fine with being treated like a chattel.

Maybe she was. Maybe Stella was perfectly happy with where she was and who she was with. She certainly hadn’t shown Lilith any compassion, only contempt.

Micah and Richard were sitting on the couch in the area that had been designated as a sitting area. Of course, she and Stella weren’t allowed to sit, but that was fine with Lilith.

“I need a drink. Get me one,” Richard demanded of Stella, and for half a second, Lilith thought the other woman was going to object to his demand, but she gave a short nod and then headed to the kitchen.

“Lilith, here, please,” Micah commanded, as he pointed to the cushion between his legs.

A sense of dread filled Lilith. She didn’t miss the way his pants were tenting. He could only want one thing, and it was something she didn’t want to give him but had no choice.

She flicked her attention to the door, willing it to burst open with Julian standing on the other side of it, but it remained shut. The night was so quiet, but she’d thought she’d heard a helicopter. No one else reacted to the sound, so she figured she must have imagined it.

“Get over there, wench.” Stella shoved her in the back, and Lilith stumbled forward. “It’s your duty. Do it.”

“Stella!” Micah roared. “Do not touch her. She is not yours to command!”

Anger burned in Stella’s eyes, and Lilith took a step back from her. The woman was a loose cannon, and what Micah said to her appeared to be the trigger as she let out an almighty scream before she lunged for Lilith with a knife Lilith hadn’t seen in the other woman’s possession.

A sharp burning sensation registered, and she stumbled as pain threatened to bring her to her knees. Lilith looked down to see blood marring her shirt. Her hand automatically went to the wound, and she lifted to eyes in time to see Stella lifting the knife again, a manic look on her face.

“I will be queen! Not you! Micah is mine!” she screeched, at the same time as the sound of wood splintering filled the air.

People shouted, but Lilith’s focus was on the woman in front of her and the gleaming metal which had blood dripping from the tip—her blood.

Lilith waited for the impact. Waited for that sharp tip to pierce her skin again. This time, she knew she wouldn’t survive. Wouldn’t get to see Julian again to tell him that she loved him. Wouldn’t get to spend time with Cass and the other women and their children. Wouldn’t get to have children of her own—something she didn’t think she’d ever get to have, but now wanted.

No, I’m not going to take this.

Finding the well of courage deep in her soul, Lilith moved. She swung her arm to hit Stella’s, but only met fresh air. The motion of her movement caused more pain to swell in her belly, and she would’ve collapsed to the floor if strong arms hadn’t caught her.

She fought against the hold. She wouldn’t give Micah the satisfaction of complying with his wishes. It had to have been him who had grabbed her. There had been no one else in the room before Stella went on her rampage. “Get away!” she screamed and fought even harder, ignoring the way her body screamed in agony.

“Lilith! Stop! I’ve got you. You’re safe.”

Through the haze of the pain, Lilith recognized the voice—Julian. Was it him? Or was she imagining it? He couldn’t be here, could he?

“Julian?” His name a whisper as she grew weaker and weaker with every passing second.

“Yeah, Lil. It’s me.”

“Hurts,” she muttered. Her body turned strange, almost boneless. Her legs numb.

“I know. Hang on. Please hang on. Help will be here soon. Don’t leave me, Lil. I love you.” Lips pressed against her forehead as she absorbed what Julian said, but it was like he was talking in a tunnel. Everything echoed around her.

Lilith wanted to answer him. Wanted to tell Julian the same, but dark spots were gathering behind her eyes, and, again, she didn’t know if she’d heard him correctly. In the end, words were impossible as she sank behind the dark veil of her consciousness.