Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 121153 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 606(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121153 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 606(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
My head dropped and I sagged in defeat. But I meant what I had said. I had not come this far to live without him. “He deserves to live,” I whispered. “A man who would risk everything to atone for his sins to such a degree . . . a man who would sacrifice himself so others could live deserves to be saved. How”—my breath hitched—“How can you not see that? How can you be so cold?”
I stepped back until I was at Rider’s legs. I stood my ground. I would not move unless they either freed him . . . or killed me first.
The brothers all stared at me, then looked to one another. Ky eventually inched forward, an unforgiving harshness in his stare. And my stomach plummeted. I could see his answer.
Rider would die.
Then I would die too.
“Bella,” Ky said sternly. “Move the fuck—”
Ky’s words cut off when Lilah moved from his protection, walked forward and joined me at my side. I stared at my sister in astonishment. Lilah cast me a watery smile and threaded her hand through mine.
Lilah looked directly at her husband, who was staring at her, open-mouthed. “Li!” He moved toward her, but she held out her hand and shook her head.
“After what that prick let happen to you?” Ky asked. “After all the shit we’ve been through since you came back from that hell?”
“He tried to save Phebe. She trusted him. Believed in him. And he saved Grace so that our lives could be blessed with a child of our own.”
Ky gripped onto his hair and shouted, “And he let you get gang fuckin’ raped! Burned, lashed and raped!” I flinched as he shouted those words. But Lilah stayed calm.
“It happened to me,” she said softly, and my chest bloomed with pride. Lilah met her husband’s tortured gaze. “It all happened to me. And I choose to forgive him. I choose to see his life spared. I will not see any more blood spilled in my honor.” Lilah sniffed lightly. “The commune is gone because of him. He killed so that we would have life. He saved Grace from Judah so we could have her as our own.”
Ky turned his head away. I caught a flicker of movement from my left. I braced myself, expecting someone to try to get to Rider amid the distraction. Instead I saw Maddie push out of her husband’s arms. Flame dove forward to pull his wife back. Maddie turned and, with a strength I’d never heard from her before, shouted, “No!” Flame staggered back in shock as he watched Maddie come toward me. She nodded her head at me and took hold of Lilah’s hand.
A wall. We had created a protective wall around my husband.
Maddie straightened her shoulders.
“Maddie,” Flame whispered in a sad, guttural voice.
Maddie met her husband’s eyes. “I love you, Flame, but I will not lose my sister. I will not let Rider be killed. I am sick and tired of all the hurt and pain.”
“He hurt you. He took you from me,” Flame snarled.
Maddie shook her head. “No. He let me go. His brother took me from you. His brother, whom he killed to save us.” She placed her hand over her chest. “Flame. By hurting Rider, you will hurt me. Deep in my heart.”
Flame’s black eyes flared. “No,” he said. “I don’t want you to be fuckin’ hurt. It’s not gonna fuckin’ happen.”
“I know you don’t,” she said and smiled, nothing but love in her eyes.
Flame looked around at his brothers, then threw his blades to the ground. He turned to the redheaded man beside him and took the bar from his hand. The dark-haired man on his other side shook his head, but threw his bloodied blade down too. Flame faced the men and screamed, “Throw down your fuckin’ weapons or I’ll kill you all where you stand! None of you will touch Maddie. Not a single one!”
A flicker of hope built within me as the brothers began looking at one another uncertainly. Then my heart almost burst as Mae stepped out from behind Styx’s shadow. Styx didn’t move as he watched his fiancée walk toward me. “Mae,” I said softly.
Mae stopped in front of me, and looked up at Rider hanging from the chains. “A man who sacrifices everything for the woman he loves deserves to be saved. I wholeheartedly agree. But more than that”—Mae smiled at me and kissed my cheek—“he deserves someone brave to fight for him, to show him he is good when he believes he is not. He deserves you . . . just as much as you deserve him.” Turning to Styx, she said, “To get to Rider, you must go through Bella.” She inhaled, then said firmly, “And to get to Bella, you will have to go through all of us.”