Total pages in book: 174
Estimated words: 172061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 574(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 172061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 574(@300wpm)
But I wouldn’t.
I refused.
I didn’t know it was possible to ride any harder than I was, but I was in front of that cabin in a flash. Without fully stopping, I let go of the handlebars, jumping off, body in the air for an elongated instant, before I landed on my feet at a sprint.
My bike toppled and rolled as it met the dirt, sliding across the ground behind me and into a bush.
While I ran toward the mayhem happening in front of my cabin.
A group of motorcycles and panicked souls piled in behind me, their spirits lashing and flailing as they, too, took in the scene.
Flames licked from the roof and the noxious smell of smoke filled the air. Trevan and the other guys were on the porch, trying to rip at the steel that covered the windows.
“We can’t get in,” Trevan shouted in torment, his knuckles blanching as he dug at the metal. “The code isn’t working. Your system is fuckin’ jammed.”
No.
Chaos spun my brain, and I paused for a beat, looking around, trying to figure out what to do as the rest of my brothers hustled up beside me.
“Security is down. They can’t get in.” I ripped at my hair, fear saturating me through.
The cabin was a fortress.
No way in if those coverings were locked.
“Oh, fuck. Moonflower.” Otto looked like he’d been shot.
Kane bowed in two, and River and Theo looked like they were going to black out. Blood draining from their faces into a pool of anguish at their feet.
It all happened in one incandescent second, our gazes clashing in questions, before we burst into action.
I ran for the massive detached garage, hands frantic as I plugged in the code. The hinges groaned as the big door began to ascend. I ducked below it, my heart beating so loud it was the only thing I could hear as I ran for the row of tools hanging on the wall.
My brothers were right beside me, each of us grabbing whatever we could find.
Crowbars and sledgehammers.
A chainsaw.
Conviction hardened every muscle in our beings. An obstinacy seeping from us on overpowering waves.
Yeah, my cabin might have been fortified.
A stronghold.
But I doubted a thousand tanks could stop us right then.
We went running back for the cabin.
Blips of memories played on repeat.
The flames.
The smoke.
The pain.
“Are there any weaknesses?” River shouted over the roar that filled our ears.
I didn’t design it for weaknesses, and that desire to make it completely impenetrable had made it a trap.
But I knew there had to be. Somehow, someway, there had to be a way to the girls.
My mind calculated every entry point. Sifted through every gap and crevice and seam.
“The roof,” I rasped as it hit me. “We go through the roof.”
I started to run for where a ladder was stored on the side of the house while I hollered at Trevan, “Go to the back of the house where the flames are coming from and start soaking it with the hose.”
I didn’t take the time for him to respond. I tossed my sledgehammer to the ground so I could grab the ladder and lean it against the roofline.
River and Theo were up it before I even had it stabilized, Otto and Kane right behind them, me on their tail, the sledgehammer in both hands as I basically scaled it on two feet.
We piled out on top.
Eyes and hearts frantic.
From near the kitchen window on the backside of the house, flames licked up and climbed for the sky. Heat gusted with the wind, sparks snapping and twirling into the air.
“Here,” I shouted, going for the spot over the kitchen where there were two exposed exhaust pipes.
They all knew exactly what I was aiming for, and Otto drove the end of his crowbar into the joint where the roof and the metal pipe met. Grunting a wild sound, he pried up the first layer of roofing—shingles and tar.
The rest of us immediately dug into it.
I lifted my sledgehammer over my head and slammed it down with all the strength I possessed. It shook the structure beneath our feet.
I could almost feel the fracturing of spirits. Daisy’s on the inside calling out for me.
Her fear.
Her belief.
The trust she’d placed in me.
I lifted it and did it again.
Again and again, while my brothers worked with the same fervency.
River and Otto with crowbars, the teeth of the saw Theo held eating into the surface, Kane and I pounding holes through each layer.
Splintering the wood below.
Sweat lifted on my flesh, a river of it pouring from my face and down my chest and back.
The shouts of Silas’s men rose from below. The hoses turned to high as they tried to battle back the flames that continued to grow.
“We have to hurry,” I rasped through the clawing in my lungs.
Our muscles burned as we fought to get to the women we could feel inside.