Chapter 13

Moira

Hearing a thunderous knock at the door, I shut the shower off before ever getting into it, and walk over, swinging it open saying with a humorous giggle, "I can't believe you forgot the key." Apparently, the virtual card Hawg sent him didn't open after the first time, so we picked a physical one up when we went to the check-in desk.

My face drops when it triggers in my brain who's on the other side. As my father and mother push their way through, slamming the door shut behind them, I can't stop the tremors that begin coursing through my body. Never in my life did I ever expect to see either of them again. In fact, it wasn't even on my radar to do so.

Kracken, where are you?I silently plea for him to hear me and come rescue me from my life's tormentors, again.

Panic claws at my throat, making me momentarily mute until I remember I'm not that scared rabbit anymore. My voice and what I have to say matters. I matter. I may still have broken pieces that need to be repaired, but I will not allow them to take me.

My father grabs me, his fingers firm and his face mottled with undiluted fury, through a tight jaw says, "You little bitch, you've caused enough trouble for me. It's time for you to take your place and do what you were born for. Now, let's go." My body begins to tremble, not only from fear but from anger as well.

He starts dragging me toward the door as I claw at his arm while my mother shoves me forward from behind. My feet stumble but I manage to keep myself upright. If we were in a no-tell motel, I'd be screaming as loud as my lungs permit, but Hawg put us in a nicer hotel, one with doors that are on the inside of the building. I want to scream, kick at the walls, yell at the top of my lungs, but every time I open my mouth, there's an invisible but almost visceral barrier keeping me from doing so and I know where it's coming from. My father. There's no way I can cause a scene; even in college while living with Belle, I was only able to go so far against the invisible boundaries built since my childhood.

I'm still trying to figure out what to do when I hear Hannah's sweet voice echo in my mind.

"It's okay, Moira. Uncle Wrecker and Uncle Dragon are here. You're going to be just fine," she says.

I can see her in my head as if she's literally standing beside me, and suddenly, she's nestled in my arms, her hands touching my face in wonder.

"Faye and Amelia told Mama what was going to happen," she whispers, her forehead now resting against mine. "Mama told Daddy Butcher who let Uncle Dragon and Uncle Wrecker know. Since we have to go to Virginia, they decided we were going on a road trip to help you and Mr. Kracken."

There's so much to unpack there, I can't even begin to figure it out. The one thing I do know is I'm saved beforehand, so if Hannah's little sisters are like Hannah, right now, they saved my life. Everything else can wait until later.

We open the exit to take the stairs and I'm suddenly grateful that we're only on the second floor. I've only had a few good meals since being rescued, plus I was living on the streets, so I haven't even begun to rebuild my strength. With my father tightly gripping my arm, we start down the stairs, each step sounding loud through the cavernous stairwell. When we reach the bottom and step onto the platform, Hannah grins at me in a satisfactory manner inside of my head, as if we just fell into the guy"s trap, and I brace for whatever's about to happen. Father pushes through the door only to stop so suddenly, my mother slams into his back, jostling me to the point I'm able to break free.

"Going somewhere?" Wrecker asks, Dragon at his side. Their voices startle my captors, but I was somewhat expecting it thanks to Hannah, so I don't react.

Both are glaring at my parents. It's then I realize their smile was for me, and something switched inside of them when they turned toward the man who sired me and the woman who was my incubator for nine months. Their stances are identical, feet widely braced and powerfully built, muscular arms, crossed over their chests.

"W-who the… get out of our way," my father snarls, attempting to grab me again, only, I dance out of his path. Unfortunately, that doesn't stop him from trying again.

Wrecker foils his attempts, quickly placing his body in front of mine as Dragon moves closer. The rage pouring off of him has me shivering slightly, although it's not totally in fear. No, there's something else emanating from him and I recognize it as what I felt back when he and Wrecker tried to help me. Hannah has a bit of both of them inside of her, which has me pondering if she'll be stronger than they are as she learns and begins understanding her gifts further. Somehow, Dragon is messing with either my father's mind or my mother's. Or both.

Hopefully, both if I'm being truthful. Because even with the small kindnesses my mother showed me while growing up, she still didn't protect me against him, so that puts her in the same category as him. Useless.

As I watch the scene unfold, Kracken comes through the exit door, the look on his face one of controlled rage with a little bit of fear. When he sees me stationed behind Wrecker, I watch relief wash over him as he moves to stand behind my parents, his arms now crossed over his chest.

"Guess you were right, roisin," he says, his eyes never leaving mine. "But what I wanna know is, what were you two fucks thinking of doing with my woman? Because whatever plot you had in mind, it's not happening."

"No, it's not," Dragon decrees, a smirk now settled on his face.

"What's going on?"I ask Hannah as we watch it all unfold.

"Uncle Dragon's messing with their heads,"she replies, sounding nonchalant as if this is a normal day"s event.

As Kracken comes toward me, Wrecker moves me closer to him and I find myself in Kracken's arms as he leans in and whispers in my ear, "Babe, heart's still in my fucking throat. I was dealing with getting the trailer and truck after I swapped the laundry because I got a text they were here. Never meant to leave you alone for that long. This is on me."

Cupping his face, I shake my head. He isn't psychic, and he can't blame himself for others" actions. It's unfeasible. "No, this is on them, Kracken. Thankfully, it didn't end the way they wanted. Their plans were thwarted thanks to your brothers." They may be from another chapter, but they're family, nonetheless.

"Yes, sir, show us where we need to go," my father says to Dragon in a robotic tone. His demeanor is far different than I've ever seen it be before and I watch with great interest as he and my mother follow Dragon over to an enclosed trailer. The two of them calmly and without complaint allow themselves to be gagged and bound before Kracken's bike is put in there with them.

"We're going to let them stay in there while we head to Georgia?" I ask.

"Yeah, babe. We'll give them some food and water shortly, but right now, we need to hear what's going on," he replies, politely shushing me.

I look around and notice that the parking lot is full of other Cedar Creek members. It's confusing because I thought they'd headed back to their clubhouse because of some sort of emergency. "What's going on?" I ask.

"They're going to head out and find another hotel because this one is kinda rich for our blood, but me and Wrecker need to talk to y'all," Dragon decrees.

As a unit, we head back inside; Kracken holding my hand while Wrecker and Dragon follow closely behind. When we reach our room, I figure my laundry is finally finished so I say, "I need to grab my clothes."

"Running to get them now, Moira, so you can take a shower since your first attempt was interrupted," Kracken says, scanning my body only to see me still wearing the clothes I was when he went down to switch my laundry around. "Probably goes without saying, but whatever you hear today is club business. You can't repeat anything you hear to anyone, and normally it wouldn't be an issue, but it appears we have a serious situation going on."

While he runs to get my laundry, Wrecker gets close and tells me, "I'm glad to see you're talking, Moira."

My smile is shy as I nod. "Seems it was up to me, and Hannah told me that I'd talk when it was important."

"We can still go in and do what we tried to do in Roanoke if you want, make it easier on you to deal with those memories," Dragon adds. "Totally up to you."

I have a question. Well, a million of them at this point, if I'm being totally honest. "I think right now, I'm good. Hannah helped a lot."

I watch the two men talk without voicing words out loud, and figure that there's more going on than I thought with respect to what's going on. These fundamentalist jerks have done something. When Kracken returns, my duffel bag full of my folded clothes, I find myself blushing as it dawns on me he folded my panties, but I take it from him and head into the bathroom. I had already put my personal hygiene items in there, so once I've closed the door, I start the shower and as the water heats, I pull out some clothes to put on afterward.

I glance at Kracken's sweats and smile. I would've liked to have had them on when my parents got here, even though I would've swam in them since he's so much bigger in them. Of course, with the way my father was jerking around, I probably would've stumbled far more than I did since the pants legs are so long. But I'd have felt like he was surrounding me, and I'd have had another layer of armor on when facing my parents.

When I finally get done with my shower, and I'm clean, dressed, and have brushed my teeth, I put everything into the bottom of my duffel bag, and head back out to see what's going on.