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CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

TARGET

If this wasn’t a mission to bring my woman home, it would be fucking funny.

The prospect drives a fucking truck into the house.

He did not go all the way through, just making a gaping hole in the front.

We all laugh, then charge, following behind him. As we get closer to the house, which now has a fucking truck lodged halfway into the front of it, we see members of the cunt-brigade running out to see what the noise is about.

Then the bullets fly.

My Army instincts kick in and I dodge and duck out of the way of flying bullets. My woman is inside and I need to get to her. Gunfire echoes, and screams follow as me and my brothers charge the fucking cunts who thought it would be a good idea to take my woman.

Determination fuels my every step as I narrow my focus, ignoring the fight around me. I get closer to the house, the smell of gunfire, blood, and the material of the house hanging in the air.

I just fucking hope that she was not anywhere near the front when the truck came through. That she is not badly hurt, or worse. The Death Dwellers are fucking known for their bad, sick, and twisted shit that they do to women.

Inching up onto the wrecked porch, the brothers behind me fight with the pricks who came outside, but my gut tells me that Crypt is in there, and has men protecting him.

I slip inside, stepping over wood, and broken furniture.

Looking down, I see a man’s mangled body half under the truck, stepping over it, I scan the room. I find another man laying unmoving but one starts to come around so I scan the room, my gaze landing on three young girls, huddled in the corner, almost naked.

They flinch when I inch closer, so I lower my gun not to scare them anymore.

“Go out the back. Stay there until I come to get you. Me and my brothers will get you home. Go,” I say more forcefully.

They scurry off, and I turn back to the room.

“Fuck, what the hell happened?” I hear someone moan.

With my gun raised, I see a man leaning against a wall, blood dripping down his face. I do not hesitate, I fire, putting a bullet between his eyes. His body slumps, then two more look to me but I rapid-fire, taking them to ground also.

“KOHEN.”

I hear my name being called.

My heart is in my throat seeing my woman being used as a human shield. He is a fucking coward using her like that. Rage boils within me, but I have to keep calm. One wrong move, and she could be hurt.

"Kohen," she cries out, voice trembling.

“Let her go,” I snarl, aiming my gun at him.

“I don’t think I will. You see, me and my woman here are going on a ride and you are going to let us go,” he says.

“If you think I will let you take my woman out of here then you are beyond fucked up on that shit that you snort up your nose.”

He laughs, then licks my woman’s face, making her flinch back from his touch, which only fuels his laughter. I hate the way he is looking at me, it is a look that says that he has no issues with hurting her.

He presses the gun to her side harder, making her cry out.

I take her in, seeing that her cheek is shining red from being slapped, blood coats the corner of her mouth and streaks down the side of her face, mixed with her hair.

“You and your men are done. They are dead or dying right now by the hands of my men. So give it up, hand over my woman, and we can end this.”

Anger flashes in his eyes, and he grips Mads tighter, making her whimper and it fucking guts me. I can’t push him too far, otherwise he will hurt her or worse.

“She has something that belongs to me and I want it back. You get me that and I will maybe let her go after we have some fun.” He steps back toward the door, dragging Madalyn with him.

“I don’t have what you want,” my woman cries, tears rolling down her face.

I inch forward, ready to end this fuck once and for all.

“Stop. I will bury a bullet in her gut if you stop me.”

“Bullshit; you said that you need her to get what she took from you,” I call his bluff, which he fucking hates.

“Fuck you.”

Snarling, he aims his gun at me and fires, but I duck out of the way. Madalyn elbows him in the gut and he stumbles from the hit. She falls to the floor and quickly scrambles away to get clear.

I take aim, but a gun is fired before I pull the trigger and Crypt screams, his hand and gaze dropping to his thigh, as blood seeps into his jeans.

Looking to my right, I see Racer with his gun up; he nods to me.

“You’re welcome.”

While Crypt whines, I go to Madalyn and let my brothers deal with the cunt who took her from me.

“I got you, baby. Fuck, I was scared shitless that I would never see you again.” I pull her to her feet, wrapping her up in my arms where she belongs.

“I thought I would never see you again. I love you, Kohen.”

God, it so fucking good to hear her say that, to feel what I have been feeling but too chickenshit to tell her. My heart races in my chest, at how much I love this woman.

I cup her face, ready to return my declaration to her but a shot goes off and she screams, falling against me.

“NO!” I bellow.

More shots go off as I gather Mads in my arms, seeing her crying and clutching at her bicep. I look down to where she is holding, seeing blood seeping through her fingers.

“Fuck, baby, you’ve been shot.”

“It hurts.” She weeps.

“I know, baby.” I look over, seeing Crypt slumped against a wall, his shirt soaked in blood, from all the bullet holes my brothers gave him.

His death may bring backlash onto the club. He was the VP of this club and fuck knows what other patched members died here tonight, but they fucking deserved their deaths for what they did to my woman and the other women before her.

“Get her to the truck; the prospect will take her to the club and I will make sure Ice is at the club to patch her up,” Pres orders.

Standing with the help of Racer. Madalyn looks to him, her eyes red with tears and it fucking tears at my heart.

“You will be fine, sweetheart. Your man will take you to the club to get fixed up; Ice will be waiting to take care of you, alright?”

“Okay, Racer.” Her voice is slow and soft, and it fucking breaks my heart.

I see Pres’ eyes soften hearing her say his name. He sighs, leaning in to kiss the side of her head.

“We take care of our own, darlin.’ No one stands alone in the Rugged Skulls MC.”

My woman nods, then presses more into my body. With a nod from Pres, I leave my brothers to clean up the mess, and even with the need to end every fucker of this shitty club, my woman needs to be my priority right now.

I carry her to the truck, where Logan is standing.

“Is she okay?” His brow is dipped, as he looks her over.

“Took a bullet to the arm.” I sit her in the back seat, then inspect the wound.

She hisses in pain and I wince.

“Sorry, baby, I need to see if it went through.” I pull my knife out of its sheath and cut through the thin material of her blouse, peeling the material from her blood-soaked skin.

“Did I hurt her, when I crashed through the house?” Logan nods to her face, a pained expression clear on his.

Before I can answer, my woman opens her eyes, looking at him with a soft smile on her lips even though she is in pain.

“You helped save us, Logan. When you crashed into the house, some bad things were going to happen to me and the other girls. Your timing was perfect.” She lets out a little giggle, making me smile but also frown at her.

“What’s funny, baby?”

Her gaze meets mine, and fuck me I see love staring back at me. This woman was kidnapped, slapped around, and then got shot and she still looks at me like I am her fucking air.

“I think Logan just got his road name,” she whispers.

“Baby, prospects do not get road names until they are patched in,” I inform her, making her frown.

“Well, I think after today, he deserves a patch and his road name should be ‘Crash’.” Her eyes close again, her head lulling against the seat.

She does have a point, Logan did good today; he used his head and what he knows to save Madalyn and the other girls. I glance at Logan, who seems stunned, his eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. He’s still processing her words, the weight of her praise sinking in.

I laugh, gaining his attention.

“I just did what I had to do,” Logan mutters, a hint of humility in his voice.

I nod, acknowledging his modesty. “Yeah, but you did it damn well, kid. You showed guts and quick thinking, but it’s not only about today, man.

You have done good with using your resources to find the cunts in there and the crew they were fucking with.

Without you and your hacker friend, we could still be in the dark about a lot of things. That will go far with me and the club.”

He gives a small nod, accepting my words. This day will be a day to remember with how fucking crazy he was to crash into the house with a fucking Hummer.

As Madalyn's breathing steadies, I can't help but feel fucking grateful that she is okay. Today could have gone very differently, and it’s because of Logan it didn’t. Maybe ‘Crash’ is the perfect road name for him after all. I smirk, keeping that in mind for when it gets brought up in church next.

“Do you think you can get us to the club in one piece, prospect?” He grins. nodding.

“Sure can, VP.”

I slap him on the shoulder, then climb in the back with my woman. Lifting her and sitting her on my lap, being careful of her wound, I hold her, trying to push down the thoughts of losing her today.

Logan drives off and I see my brothers walking toward their bikes as smoke starts to bellow out of the cracked windows and doors.

Savage winks at me, tucking his lighter back into his pocket. Fucker loves a good fire.

I hold Mads tighter to me, her hand gripping my cut in a death grip, like she is afraid to let go of me.

“I love you, Kohan Riggins.” Her voice is low but I heard it.

My heart skips a beat hearing her say she loves me. I feel it too; she is mine and will be for years to come. She belongs in my heart with my kids; they make me whole and want to be a better man.

Pressing my lips to the top of her head, I breathe her in. Even after all the shit she has gone through, her strawberry scent still hits my senses.

“I love you too, Madalyn Sanders. Fuck, I almost lost you today without telling you how I feel. So from today on we talk, we express what we are feeling, and we fuck like rabbits until I plant a baby inside of you.”

She sighs, and snuggles closer gingerly, not to hurt her arm any more.

“I am on board with that.”

“Thank fuck for that.” I sigh against her hair.

“I want to see the twins, Kohen,” she states quietly.

Smiling against her head, I brush my thumb up and down her thigh. I love that she wants to see my kids. Well, from today they will be classed as ours, just like Andrey sees them as his but he never takes over my role. He knows his place and I know that Mads will too.

“Let’s get you to the club, cleaned up and fixed, then we will see, okay.” She nods. “I know they will want to see you, baby; they love you like I do.”

“I love them, too.”

The rest of the drive to the club is quiet; Logan takes extra care driving so not to cause Mads any more pain. She drifts off to sleep, her body giving in to the exhaustion of what has happened.

She was only gone a few hours, but it felt like a lifetime to me. Every second she was gone, it felt like I would die without her.

I loved Ruth but never in the way that I do Madalyn— it was like she was fucking made for me. My heart and soul call to her and thank fuck, she called back.