“Forget about the Mustang Mountain Riders, Red.” Snake Eyes put a possessive palm on my thigh. “We’re going to go somewhere they’ll never find us.”
I waited until Six disappeared from sight before turning around to face forward. My heart had shattered, and my whole body was numb. I didn’t know if he was even alive. It all happened so fast. He had to be okay, or all of this would be for nothing.
“Did you kill him?” I could barely force the words past my lips.
“I wish. Those pricks are like cockroaches. Just when you think you’ve stamped them out, more come crawling out from under the rocks where they’ve been hiding.” His thin upper lip curled into a sneer. “Don’t worry. We’ve got plans to exterminate them.”
I met my brother’s gaze in the rearview mirror and immediately had to look away. All along he’d been feeding me lies about the Mustang Mountain Riders. And I’d been naïve enough to believe them. It was too late to change what happened to Six, but maybe I could save the rest of them. The people I’d met over the past few days drifted through my head. Everly and Ace… Bear… Priest… Ruby… I had to do what I could to keep them safe.
“What kind of plans?” I wanted to claw his eyes out, but I forced the rage deep down inside for now.
“Don’t you worry your pretty little head about that. You’re going to be busy with other things.” He dug his fingers into my thigh. “I’ve got big plans for you, Red.”
An icy chill raced down my spine. “What do you mean?”
“You think you can run and not be punished?” His eyes burned with hate. “Once I’m done breaking you in, I’m going to turn you over to the rest of the boys. They all deserve to have a little fun.”
Bile rose up the back of my throat. He was evil incarnate, and I believed he’d do exactly what he said. The urge to fight swelled, but I wasn’t sure I had anything left to fight for. Then I looked out the window and saw a wolf running through the woods, parallel to the truck. It couldn’t be Hades. Even if it was, what kind of chance would a wolf stand against guns?
The next moment, my body flew forward, slamming against the back of the front seat.
“What the fuck?” Snake Eyes whipped around to look behind us. “I told those assholes to take care of those pricks.”
I clawed my way back up to a seated position to see what happened. Bear sat behind the wheel of Six’s truck. The look on his face made me glad I wasn’t the target of his anger. Six was in the passenger seat, his hand over his shoulder. The truck backed off then sped forward again. I braced myself for the impact.
Snake Eyes shoved a few bullets into his gun and rolled down the window. “Lose these motherfuckers, Grim.”
“On it.” My brother swerved to the right to avoid being rammed from behind again.
My body was thrown against the door. Pain shot through my shoulder, but I didn’t care. Nothing else mattered except that Six was alive. I kicked at Snake Eyes, catching him off guard as he hung out of the window and causing him to drop the gun.
“You fucking bitch!” Within seconds, he was on me, his hands closing around my throat.
“Hey, get off her.” My brother swerved again. The wheel caught the edge of the road and the truck tipped.
I pushed my thumbs into Snake Eyes’s eye sockets as I tried to suck precious air into my lungs. The truck landed back on all four tires, and the impact was enough to cause him to loosen his grip.
Grim slammed on the brakes as darkness closed in. Six was alive. That was all that mattered.
* * *
Six
Nothing could stopme from getting to Ginger, not even the bullet lodged deep in my shoulder. As soon as Bear came to a stop, I bolted from the front seat and ripped open the back door of the truck in front of us.
Ginger tumbled into my arms. I slid my hands under her and carried her back to my truck. Bear and Hades could take care of Snake Eyes. I needed to make sure my woman was okay.
“Little Deer, are you with me?” Being as gentle as I could, I laid her on the backseat and brushed the hair away from her face. She had to be okay.
“Six.” Her voice came out barely above a whisper and her fingers touched her throat. Several small bruises were forming on her neck. Finger-sized bruises. When I got my hands on that motherfucker, he was going to wish he’d never been born.
She cracked open her eyelids and my world stopped spinning. All the love I held in my heart reflected back at me in her emerald eyes.
“Are you okay? Where does it hurt?” She looked like she’d been through hell. Thank fuck, he’d only had her for a few minutes before I got her back.
“I’m sorry.”
“You’ve got nothing to be sorry about. I’m the one who failed you.” I lifted her hand to my lips and pressed quick kisses against her fingers. “I should have seen this coming. Should have protected you.”
