My Maddie (Hades Hangmen #8)(76)

“Stay with me,” I asked Bella, suddenly feeling a panic at Flame being delayed.

“You know I will stay here until they arrive. Then I shall assist Ruth. Mae and Lilah will be coming for support too.” Bella wiped back loose hair from my forehead. It was warm in the truck and my hair stuck to my skin. “Like it always used to be,” Bella reminisced. I closed my eyes to see the Cursed housing in The Order. “Always there for each other,” Bella confirmed. I nodded. It was always us four—Jezebel, Salome, Delilah and Magdalene—The Cursed Sisters of Eve. Bella’s hand holding mine was as familiar as my own reflection.

How many nights had I returned to our quarters, bloodied and bruised, unable to walk from being so aggressively taken by Brother Moses, only then to have Bella hold my hand as I rested in the aftermath? To have Mae bathe my skin with a washcloth, erasing Brother Moses’ touch from my skin. Lilah would sing softly in my ear—she also whispered prayers of strength and salvation, as she tried to rebuild my broken spirit.

“Although we were prisoners, we were lucky,” I sought to convince Bella. I faced my sister and I saw sadness etched on her beautiful face. “Although we were going through hell, we were together. Still, are together.”

Bella placed her head against mine. “Always, Maddie. Our children, present and future, will grow up with that same love for each other. No more pain.”

“No more pain,” I echoed as the truck came to a halt. Asher opened the door to the cabin and then the truck. Sister Ruth pulled up behind us. My father drove her. Bella helped me from my car.

“Are you ready?” Sister Ruth asked, a wide smile on her face.

“Yes,” I said. My father took my other hand.

“Maddie. You can do this. You are one of the strongest people I know.”

“Thank you,” I accepted his compliment and squeezed his hand. The relationship with our father, for me and my sisters, was slow building. He was a good man but had been a stranger to us all of our lives. We spoke. He visited us. And I knew, someday, my sisters and I would love him for the father I knew he was desperate to be. Once I was in the cabin, my father left, and Asher hovered near the door.

“Wait outside for Flame,” Bella called to Asher. “Let us know when he arrives.”

“Okay.” Asher said, exhaling in relief and went outside to the porch. I smiled at Bella, knowing that she was offering him the excuse he needed to leave the house.

“Let us get you out of this soiled dress and into a freshly laundered nightgown.” Sister Ruth fussed. I walked to the bathroom, clutching the sink when another wave of pain swept through my body. “Breathe,” Sister Ruth instructed, and I followed her slow outtake of breath. Once changed, I paced the living room, watching the door. I listened for tiniest sign of Flame and the arrival of his motorcycle.

“Let me examine you,” Sister Ruth offered and led me to the bed. I lay down and winced as Ruth examined me. Her eyebrows were pulled down. “Have you been feeling pain for a while, Maddie?”

“My back has ached all day and last night.” I rubbed my hands over my stomach. “I had quite a lot of pain, but I assumed it was Braxton Hicks.”

“You are five centimeters dilated, Maddie. You are in active labor.” I swallowed. I felt my hands begin to tremble. “How is your pain now?” Ruth asked. On cue, a sharp pain shot through my body and I closed my eyes, trying to breathe through the agony. I squeezed Bella’s hand tightly, waiting for the pain to subside. I lay back down on the bed when the pain passed. Bella brought a glass of iced water to my lips.

The door opened and I lifted my head, needing it to be Flame. Mae and Lilah came through. “Active labor, five centimeters,” Bella called to them, as they stood around the bed.

“Maddie,” Mae said and held my other hand. “That is good. Your baby will be here soon enough.” She pressed a washcloth over my brow. “It is worth it, I promise. All of the pain is worth it.”

“Flame?” I asked.

“He is on his way,” Lilah confirmed. “Ky is with him, and AK and Viking. He said they are almost home.” Lilah held up her cell. I squeezed my eyes shut. “I need him here. I need him to be here.” I moved my legs from the bed. “I need to get up. I need to walk.” I insisted as Ruth helped me rise. I gripped onto the bed frame, groaning when the pressure in my back became too great. Bella rubbed my back. I breathed in time with Ruth.

I closed my eyes and thought about Flame. My mind took me back to The Order. Took me back to the day the Hangmen came for Mae. When the prison cell, in which we were held was opened, I stood before them, the men in leather. They looked nothing like anyone I had ever seen before. And they had killed the disciples. They had killed Brother Moses, my tormentor. Someone had saved me from him. I stared at Brother Moses, stabbed to death and impaled on a tree. In that moment I felt all of my years of pain and suffering melt away. A sense of euphoria infused my body. The cage around my lungs had snapped open.

“Who killed him?” I had asked when I again faced the devil’s men. “Was it you?” I asked Flame. He was stunning to me—dark hair, dark eyes, tattoos of flames decorating his skin. My savior, the man who freed me from my shackles of bondage. He was not a devil’s man to me. He was my liberator. He was my angel.

“Yeah, I killed the fucker,” he said.