Twisted Steel: An MC Anthology: Second Edition by Elizabeth Knox (top 5 ebook reader txt) 📕

Slash after slash of barely healed whip marks mark up her back.

“Oh fuck! We need to get you to the hospital.” Cody takes a step forward but I put a hand out to stop him.

“Dela,” I call out to her and she fixes her shirt and turns around to see me. “Who are these people? Are you hurt like this anywhere else? Why are they keeping you there? Why wouldn’t anyone else leave?” I bite my bottom lip between my teeth. I have to stop asking her questions or she’ll never have a chance to answer me.

“They believe they are servants of the goddess. They believe they are chosen. They will never leave.”

“Servants of the goddess?” Brendan asks.

“Yes, the great goddess Gaia. Emerson said he will be the one to father the savior.”

“Oh, what the fuck? That’s why they won’t fucking leave,” Cody says.

“Why?” Winnie asks.

“Because it’s a fucking cult. She’s part of a god damn cult,” Cody replies.

“I don’t want to be.” Dela comes to her own defense right away.

“It’s a cult?” I ask her, just wanting to get verification. If it is then this just became much fucking worse than I thought.

“Yes. It is.” She nods and looks at me. “When I first found Emerson, he was talking at a coffee shop over in Canada. He’s so smart, so charming, so perfect. I had just gotten out of a shitty relationship so when he told me he could give me the world, part of me thought this was Karma’s way of repaying me for all my suffering. I didn’t even think to question him when he asked me to move in with him, or when he started talking about the goddess Gaia. I mean, I have met loads of tree huggers and people who are all for a green environment.” She let out a sigh and wraps her arms around her midsection. “It took him three months to make sure that I was indeed a carrier as he calls us.”

“Who is us?” Brendan interjects.

“The women he chooses to bear his children. Luckily, he has never been successful with me but there were a few that he managed to get pregnant. He told us that none of those women had enough faith, the child was impure. He said he let the mother leave with the child after they gave birth. Part of me wished I could just get pregnant so he would let me go. At least they got to be free.”

“So they had children but never came back to the compound?” Spark asks.

“Yes.”

“How many times has Emerson been successful?” Cody asks.

The FBI agent in both of them pushing to the front. They are sniffing a lead.

“Seven the last time I counted. Though two are still there waiting to give birth.”

“Do you know what they look like?” Brendan asks.

“The women who were set free? Yes? Why do you know them?”

Brendan looks to me and I pull out one of the photos of the woman that was found missing. I fold it over so she can’t see the bottom half of her body. I had it in my wallet in case I ran into anyone in the area that would be able to tell me if they knew her.

“Is she one of the women?”

She looks at the picture and just from the way her face crumbles in sadness lets me know that she knows her.

“Is it?” Brendan asks a little more forcefully than he should have. I hit him slightly to get him to back off.

“Yes. What happened to the baby? Where is the baby?” she asks through her tears.

“I don’t know,” I reply.

“Well fuck, we can’t take out all those people, Wyatt. I think we need to get back to the clubhouse and figure out exactly what we are going to do about this,” Cody suggests as he makes his way to the door. His hand’s on his gun just in case he needs to pull and shoot.

Cody would never shoot as an aggressor but you better believe if it were to save himself or one of us Cody would shoot anything that moved.

They were right, there is nothing that we can do here. We aren’t prepared to handle an attack here in my small cabin. All we are are sitting ducks. “Yeah, I’m with that.” I turn to look at Dela. I promised her that I wouldn’t force her anywhere. I need to get her on board with this move.

“Dela, I don’t want to take you anywhere you don’t want to go but I can’t keep you safe here. We have a clubhouse a little bit away from here. We would be away from this place, it’s fortified so no one would be able to get in unless we wanted them to get in. I don’t want you to feel like you are stuck there. There is food and more clothes. You think you want to come with us?”

She stands up, her knees still a little weak. “Yes, I want to get out of here. I’ll come with you.”

The boys go out and jump on their bikes. I feel like an ass. I should have told them to bring one of the trucks. Now she would have to ride on the back of one of our bikes the entire trip. Not everyone took to motorcycles.

“You two stay in the middle of us. If they come for her, they will have to go through all of us.” Brendan put his helmet on and waited for me to get Dela situated.

“Are these safe?” She looks at the bike, a twinge of fear in her voice. I give her my jacket again.

“Yes, the bikes are as safe as any other vehicle on the street. It’s all about the operator,” I speak softly, trying to put her at ease.

“You’ve handled these bikes for a long time I’m assuming?” She hitches an eyebrow at me.

“Yes, ma’am.” I smile slightly at her.

“Okay then, I guess you better teach me