Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 36564 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 146(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36564 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 146(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
The same guy I’d pegged to watch earlier leaned in and whispered something to his leader. The man smiled at me, apparently assuming I was the one in charge. “Forgive me. I should introduce myself.” He had a slightly Asian look but appeared to be more of an ethnic blend. A couple of the men with him were similar. I could tell they were speaking to each other softly. Since I could read lips, I knew they weren’t speaking English. “I’m the Divine One, leader of Grace of the Divine. You have one of our family in your midst. In fact, she’s my wife. I must insist you return her to me.” His accent was slight, but still there. It was definitely some relation to an Asian dialect, but I couldn’t place it.
I glanced at Rocket who stood with the other men in Grim between the cult and our women. Lemon approached from behind the men with Annie in tow. Lemon refused to let the younger woman past her but didn’t try to keep her away from our visitors as I’d have liked. I saw Annie say something to Lemon and the VP gave her a crisp nod in acknowledgement.
“Ah, my wayward bride.” The creep smiled at Annie. She flinched, but held her ground, putting her chin up. “Come then. Tell your new friends goodbye and we’ll go home.”
Annie found and held my gaze for a moment. I gave her a nod. “I am home.” Her voice was clear and strong. I could tell she was nervous, but she was facing her nightmare. I was incredibly proud of her.
“Don’t be silly, child. You don’t belong here.”
“Yes, I do.”
The Divine One smiled, then spoke to his guard. “Dāng wǒmen líkāi shí, bǎ tāmen dōu shā diào.” The guard nodded and stepped away from the Divine One, to the center of the eleven-man group.
Annie’s eyes widened and she found my gaze. Her breathing quickened, the pulse fluttering at her neck. I narrowed my eyes and tilted my head slightly, not understanding what I’d missed.
“Is there anything I can do or give you to make you give her to me?” He still addressed me but I wasn’t saying anything. Something felt off. Maybe I was hypersensitive to Annie’s obvious distress or maybe there was something I wasn’t seeing.
Annie’s gaze darted to Venus. “Oni sobirayutsya ubit’ vsekh!” she yelled in what I assume was Russian across the gathering. Venus immediately pulled a knife and charged the group…
And that’s how the fight started.
Chapter Thirteen
Annie
I wanted in this fight. Rage erupted inside me. Surprisingly, it was Lemon who kept me back. She was backing me and Apple away to relative safety where the other women were. I thought it odd Lemon didn’t jump in the fray, but figured she had her reasons. I was glad that yelling to Venus in Russian what they’d whispered to each other in Mandarin threw them off just enough to let Grim Road get a jump on them.
“Where’s Elena and Tito?” I thought Elena was close by, but Tito had been with Piston and Dom not long before the Divine One and his deacons arrived. The beach erupted into a cacophony of shouts and sounds of struggle. Dust and sand flew up as bodies collided. Venus was a blur of movement, her knife flashing in the sun as she engaged one of the Divine One’s guards. Spike and Bear had teamed up against two other men, their large forms towering over their opponents as they used brute force to subdue them. Dominic wasn’t trying to kill his enemy. They wanted these men alive. At least, for now.
Rocket and Leather cut off potential escape and Dominic fought by his president’s side. I looked for Lemon. Though Lemon was still urging everyone back down the beach to the clubhouse, I caught her glancing over her shoulder occasionally. Where before she’d been completely focused on getting everyone to safety, now that we were all moving in the direction she wanted, I could tell she wanted to be in the fight with her husband.
Tito hurried Elena to our group before kissing her briefly and heading back to the men. More of the Divine One’s men came down an embankment above the beach.
“There are more coming,” Elena gasped out, winded from the short run. “From the trees.”
Lemon immediately pulled out her phone and tapped out a message. “Reinforcements on the way,” she muttered to herself. “Now, Elena, will you please make sure everyone gets back to the clubhouse?”
“You should come too.” Elena gripped Lemon’s hand, pleading with the younger woman to come with her.
Lemon patted her hand kindly. “You know I have to keep Rocket out of trouble. Besides, my sister will want to get back to help her man and I can’t let her go alone.”