"Blade, please!" Hammer called desperately. "Brotherhood! We swore an oath!"
"You broke it first," Blade reminded him, pausing at the door. "Remember that while you're paying the price."
He left without looking back, Hammer's pleas echoing behind him. In the yard, he broke into a run toward his truck, pulling out his phone as he went.
No signal. Of course. They were in the mountains, a cellular dead zone.
Fuck.
He'd have to wait until he got closer to civilization to warn Lily. Or use the satellite phone in his truck. Either way, precious minutes would be lost.
As he reached his vehicle, a single silenced gunshot echoed from the cabin. Hammer, then. True to his word, Blade had ensured Savage gave the traitor a quick death. Zeb would not be so fortunate.
Blade started the engine and roared down the dirt road, pushing the truck to its limits. The twenty miles back to his cabin stretched before him like an eternity, each minute another opportunity for Reynolds to find Lily.
The thought of her alone, trapped in the safe room while armed men surrounded the cabin, sent a spike of fear through his chest. Fear was an unfamiliar emotion for Blade. He'd faced death countless times, both in the SEALs and with the club. Had never flinched, never hesitated.
But the thought of failing Lily, of returning to find her gone, or worse, awakened a terror unlike anything he'd ever known.
He pushed the truck faster, tires skidding on the loose gravel of mountain roads. If Reynolds was as good as Hammer claimed, every second counted.
"Hold on, baby girl," he muttered, as if she could somehow hear him across the miles separating them. "I'm coming."
He just hoped he wouldn't be too late.
CHAPTER 6
Lily checked the tablet screen for the hundredth time. Still no alerts from the perimeter sensors. Still no message from Blade.
The safe room felt smaller with each passing hour. The walls closer. The air thicker. She'd tried coloring to distract herself, but the cheerful images in the book seemed absurd given the circumstances. Tim was being tortured. Blade was in danger. And she was trapped in a metal box, waiting.
Useless. Helpless. Again.
She paced the small space, five steps one way, five steps back. Mr. Flopsy watched from the cot, his button eyes offering no comfort now.
Three hours had passed since Blade left. Three hours of silence broken only by her own breathing, the cats purring and the occasional hum of the ventilation system.
He's fine,she told herself.He knows what he's doing. He'll be back soon.
But another voice, darker and more persistent, whispered other possibilities.What if he's hurt? What if he's dead? What if he never comes back?
The thought made her stomach clench painfully. She'd known him only from a few playdates at The Citadel and being together the last three days, yet the idea of never seeing him again was unbearable. How had that happened? How had he become so important so quickly?
Trauma bonding,she reminded herself.Not real feelings. Just a survival mechanism. Like a person trapped in a fire falling for the firefighter who rescued her or a patient falling for his nurse.
But it didn't feel like survival. It felt like... something else. Something that terrified her more than any physical threat.
She checked the tablet again. Still nothing.
With a frustrated sigh, she sat on the cot and buried her face in her hands. She hated this. Hated being the one left behind. Hated being the cause of so much pain and danger.
Tim's broken body flashed in her mind, an imagined horror based on Blade's grim description. Three fingers missing. Tortured for helping her escape. And for what? So she could hide in a safe room while others fought her battles?
No.
That wasn't fair. She hadn't asked for any of this. Hadn't asked to be blackmailed, to be hunted, to be protected. But here she was all the same.
A sudden beep from the tablet jolted her upright. An alert from the perimeter sensors. Someone was approaching the cabin.
