Chapter Twenty-Five

"Tell me more about this Beaufort guy." Everyone here is fucking exhausted, me included, except that my need to find Mackenzie is my fuel and I won't rest until she's safe in my arms. Until they're both safe at home.

"Just fucking kill us, man. We don't know shit." Isaac's mouth is so cut up and swollen that his words are garbled and barely understandable. If he thinks I'm going to have an iota of mercy on him, he's more delusional than I thought.

"Nah, I like to play with my food first." The blood from their cuts starts to dry up and the letters spelling out "rapist" are barely visible so I make sure to go deeper this time. I want the truth of who they are to be visible to anyone who sees them down here.

"You're fucking sick. No wonder Mac fucked you." Brick spits blood onto the floor and before he even finishes his thought, I've got the biggest hammer I can find in my hand. "She liked getting her tight little pussy destroyed by the worst of ‘em." Bear doesn't have time to stop me. I don't have time to stop myself, even though I know Brick's goading me, forcing me to end his life so he can escape the pain.

I know all this but my body acts beyond my mind's control.

The sound of bone cracking at the side of Brick's skull is the most satisfying of them all. The force of the hit has his head bouncing left, right, then back to the left before he just slouches forward with his eyes closed. Better than anything, his fucking mouth is closed.

"Fuck, man! Did you kill him? Brick! Brick!" Blood is pouring from the wound and seeping down his neck into his filthy shirt. The shape of the hammer left a perfect indent that brings my heart rate back down and soothes my soul for just a second.

Bear steps up and places two fingers to Brick's jugular before rolling his eyes.

"Quit ya cryin', he's still breathing." I can almost taste the disappointment in my best friend's words. Same, brother. Same.

Until, that is, I remember that I still don't fucking know where she is.

Some of the brothers are out canvassing the town, searching for the truck or for them or for any fucking thing. Everyone knows that the first few hours are critical and it's been over sixteen of them.

She could be… fuck. I can't think of that. I won't think of that because if I do, I'll go on a rampage, and right now, I need to stay as clear-headed as I possibly can.

The slamming of a door upstairs has both Bear and I whipping our heads around and waiting to see who's running down the stairs.

"They're here! We've called the doc but they're here. Come on, brother." Crow's announcement takes a second to sink in before I'm running up those wooden stairs like I've got a blue flame lighting up my ass.

"Why the doc? Who's hurt?" I'm screaming as I'm running but that motherfucker doesn't answer me. "Who the fuck is hurt, Crow?"

When we get outside, the scene in front of me catches me off guard. It's impossible to identify any single emotion coursing through me. Fear and worry burn the hottest in my chest but the anger and the soul-searing need for revenge are a close second.

When my eyes land on my Cherry Pie, she's throwing her head back in pain, crying that she wants to know about Grinder and Kincaid.

"I'm fine! Fuck, ouch! Fuck! Take care of Grinder!"

My legs spring to life without me consciously ordering them, running straight for her and grabbing her out of Hoops's arms.

"I got her, I got her." Oh God, she's alive, she's… "Why are you bleeding, Cherry baby? Where are you hurt?" My eyes are darting everywhere, trying to find the source of the blood, and it doesn't take long to land on the homemade tourniquet wrapped around her thigh. "What happened? Who did this to you?" With every question, my voice gets louder, and with every moment of panic, my legs move faster.

"Hey, handsome!" Fuck, she's losing too much blood, it's making her sound drunk and I'm pretty sure she's two strides away from passing out.

"Hey, baby, I need you to stay awake, okay? Just stay with me, baby. That's a fucking order." The smile that graces her lips and the love that sparks in her beautiful blues almost brings me to my knees, but I'm too busy running up the stairs and looking around the rec room for the first available flat surface.

A pool table will have to do.

"Get me blankets and towels and warm water." The girls around scatter away and I have no doubts that they're doing my bidding.

"Oh my god, what happened?" Vanessa's panicked voice cracks a piece of my armor but I shake it off. Mackenzie needs me alert and strong, not losing my shit.

"I don't know. She's got a tourniquet around her thigh so I'm gue—"

"Bullet. Through and through. Just need to stop…" Mackenzie grits her teeth and squeezes her eyes shut, and I imagine a wave of pain is hitting every one of her nerves.

"Shhh, baby. The doc is on his way." The Khunts come running back in as Vanessa grabs the towels and presses against the entry and exit wounds of Mackenzie's thigh to make sure she loses the least amount of blood possible.

I'm no doctor but it doesn't take a genius to know loss of blood, this much of it, isn't good for the baby.

Mackenzie's hand grabs mine, her nails digging deep into my skin, forcing me to stop what I'm doing and focus on her eyes, mouth, eyes, and back to her mouth.

"The baby. I need an ultrasound. Tell the doc to bring the ultrasound. Got it? We need an ultrasound." She repeats her words like she knows my brain needs the time to register the gravity of the situation.

Nodding, I whip out my phone and search for the doc's number. His voice echoes through the space and my panic hitches up a notch hearing that he's already on the road.

"Yeah?"

"Doc, we need an ultrasound." My eyes never leave Mackenzie's as Vanessa places a small towel in the bowl filled with warm water before wringing it out and placing it on her forehead. My girl just stares back and it feels like she's forcing her eyes open by the sheer will of needing to know it's going to be alright.

"One step ahead of you, Psycho. Be there in four minutes." He hangs up and I throw my phone to my left, hoping it'll land somewhere without breaking.

"He's got it, baby. You're going to be fine. Baby will be fine. We're fine, okay? You just stay awake, okay?" She nods but it's like my words reassure her to the point of relaxing, like she can rest for a minute before he shows up.

Then she goes limp and my entire fucking world comes to a halt.

"Mackenzie!" My eyes dart from my girl to Vanessa, whose face just lost two shades of coloring, and back to Mackenzie before I start slapping her cheek and calling out to her. "Don't you fucking sleep, baby. This is not the time for a nap!"

Snapping back to awake, Mackenzie's unfocused gaze searches around her until she finds me and smiles. "Hey." Fuck, I love her so much it's ripping my heart into a thousand jagged shards.

"Hey to you, baby. You can't do that to me, okay? You need to stay awake for me. We need you." Mackenzie nods, takes a deep breath, then looks to Vanessa.

"Grinder? Kincaid?" Fuck, even in this state, she only thinks of others. I don't deserve this woman but that doesn't mean I'm giving her up. Fuck that and fuck the universe if it thinks I'd even consider it.

"Prez and Crow are with Grinder. Boner and Bear, too. Kincaid is giving Hoops and Bash a hard time wanting to know how you're both doing." Apparently, while I was worried about Mackenzie, Jonesy came and whispered an update to Vanessa.

"Okay. Good. Internal bleed… Grinder. Make sure they check." Just as she tries to inhale, the doc's car comes to a screeching halt outside and it takes him another three minutes before he's running inside. Behind him, there's a commotion and Vanessa's truck passes in front of the open door like a bullet.

"What's going on?" My question is directed to the doc as he's running our way.

"Grinder needs the hospital, probably surgery and I can't do anything from here." Panic makes my blood pump at dangerous speeds, but I have to believe he's in good hands because there's no fucking way I'm leaving Mackenzie's side.

"Hey, Mac, I hear you were a hero out there." My head snaps from the doc to Mackenzie and I swear to fuck if she…

"Pfft." My eyes narrow at her one sound answer.

"What did you do, Cherry?" Keeping my voice calm and even is almost torture.

"She jumped in front of a bullet and saved Kincaid from certain death." Now, I don't know what the normal reaction to this news should be, but I can say, without a doubt, that jerking back and yelling at the love of my life is probably the wrong move.

"You did fucking what?" Anyone else would have recoiled at my tone. Hell, Doc and Vanessa froze for a second with what I'm guessing was fear. But Mackenzie? Oh no, that little brat rolls her eyes and smiles.

"You would have done the same." My mouth hangs open with the shock of her words. She's not even denying it or making excuses.

"Yeah, but I'm not fucking pregnant."

"All right, Psycho. I need you to back away so I can work." My narrowed eyes are on Doc now, promising a whole lot of hurt if he utters those words again.

"I'm not going anywhere." Contrary to earlier, my tone is now low. Calm. Deadly.

"Well, instead of stressing us all out, then maybe… shut the fuck up?" I raise a brow at his sudden growth of big balls and almost laugh as he adds, "Please. I'm just going to check on the baby before I take the tourniquet off."

He's right though. I'm not helping. So I move around and stand behind Mackenzie, my palms on both sides of her face, and lean in to place a soft, lingering, kiss on her forehead. "I love you, baby."

Vanessa assists the doc and we all hold our breaths as she plugs in the machine and lifts Mackenzie's shirt before squirting a dollop of gel on her belly.

"Okay, let's see what's going on." The doc's murmur is soft yet it feels like he's yelling at us.

The wand starts at the base of her belly. Nothing. No sound. No heartbeat. Slowly, with his head turned to the monitor, he moves his hand up, then back down, then across to the other side. Still, nothing.

Holy fuck, I'm going to go on a murdering rampage if our baby doesn't survive this.

Mackenzie's hand flies to grab mine resting against her cheek, squeezing the blood flow to a stop. It's impossible to ignore the tears running down the corners of her eyes and I don't even try to hide the ones building in mine.

Then it happens. It's like a herd of horses running through our rec room, but instead of making us jump with surprise and fear, it elicits a collective whoosh of relief.

"There's baby Kastellanos, back turned and balled up into that little corner." When I look up at the screen, my heart swells into a balloon of pride and love. The ball on the screen is tiny, still, but our baby's there and fighting and… living.

"Hey, Peanut." I squeeze Mackenzie's hand, letting her know we're all going to be okay.

"Cherry and Peanut. Perfect combo." My words are whispers against her mouth and no matter what, I know we'll be okay.

"Okay, time to close up this wound. There's no internal damage from what I can tell, but you do need to rest it and I'll leave you with some spare bandages. They will need changing regularly. I'll have my secretary arrange to send some crutches over for you too. Also, your blood pressure is a little high, but that's to be expected considering the circumstances."

I don't know what the doc does because the entirety of my attention is on my Cherry Pie and every single moment I marvel at the strength of her.

"Hey, got an update for Grinder." I didn't bother closing the door to my suite, knowing the doc and Vanessa would be in and out checking on her vitals. As soon as Mackenzie was stable and the doc had taken care of her leg, we made her comfortable in our bed. Ninja hasn't left her side, curling up around her neck and purring every once in a while like he knows the sound is soothing.

Darlene left her room, despite her fear, and hasn't left her daughter's side for the last six hours. Me? Well, my hand is cramping from being in the same position all this time. The thing is, my Cherry's fingers are curled around mine and there's no fucking way I'm pulling away.

Bear's words shake me from the worry and allow me to think of something else.

"How's he doing?" I ask, looking up at my best friend.

"He's touch and go. Broken bones, I can't even list them all. They had to take out his spleen and fix something with his kidney. He's not awake yet but he's stable according to the docs at the hospital. Kincaid is there, too. She got fixed up but her injuries were minor compared to his." I nod at Bear's update but my fury at the fact that someone hurt my people like this is growing exponentially.

"Retaliation is a given." I say the words because I need to hear them. They reassure me, give me purpose.

"Fucking right." We fist bump and both snap our heads to the side at the sound of Mackenzie's scratchy voice.

"No. You need to be smart about this."

I'm on my feet in half a second, peppering her face and lips and hairline and neck with quick, relieved kisses.

"Hey, baby. How are you feeling?" I'm not even pretending to ignore her words because she needs to think about healing, not about bloodshed.

"Listen to me. We overheard so much." She coughs then sighs, her eyes opening and immediately finding mine. "The guards were from New York, Irish fuckers with no moral compass." Visible shivers run down her body, and for a second my mind goes to the deepest, darkest, recesses of my fears.

"Did they…" I can't even finish that phrase because Mackenzie needs me here, calm and sane, not losing my fucking shit.

"No. No, baby. I'm good, I promise." I smile but it doesn't reach my eyes. I'm still going to maim then kill whoever did this. "But they're moving the pills and there's a shipment happening tonight." Her sigh is loud as her shoulders slump. "But I don't know where."

"We'll figure it out, Mac. I'll go see Prez now." Patting her foot with two fingers, Bear winks at my girl then gives me a head lift, letting me know he'll be in touch.

Mackenzie startles when her eyes land on Darlene, who's been quiet this whole time.

"Mom, are you okay?" Fucking hell, she's the one laid out in a bed and she's worried about everyone but herself.

"Oh, sweetheart, I'm fine. Just worried about you, of course." Tears fall down both their cheeks as the reality of what almost happened hits us all like a two-by-four. "But you're fine and the baby is fine so we need to take the win here." Darlene gets to her feet and gives me a wobbly and watery smile. "I'll go grab us something to eat."

I nod, and although I should be the one to bring us food, I can't deny my need to have a few minutes alone with my Cherry pie.

Alone at last, I sit on the bed, careful not to jostle her too much.

"Hey." I bathe in her whisper.

"Hey."

"I love you." And now I drown willingly in her confession.

"I love you more but, Cherry baby, don't you ever fucking do that again."

"Hmm, no way. Getting a real bullet hurts like a motherfucker."

"Yeah, baby, it really does." The back of my fingers run, whisper-soft, from her temple to her jaw and I'm pretty sure she's asleep before I even finish my sentence.

Darlene won't be leaving her side all night which means it's safe for me to join my brothers to church so we can make sense of all the shit we've learned in the last twelve hours.

One thing is clear, I'm not liking the picture this fucking jigsaw puzzle is painting, considering we've got a rich pharmaceutical fucker trying to pull one over on our entire fucking town.

But that's not what has me chomping at the bit. No, my ire comes from knowing that Beaufort and his cronies almost killed the two most important people in my universe and I can't let that go unpunished.

"Considering the circumstances, there's only one thing to do here."

Everyone nods at my words.

"All in favor?" Prez is the first to raise his hand as he asks the question.

"Aye." The decision is unanimous, collective. It's a death warrant and we're about to deliver it on a bloody platter.