Sacred by Caitlyn Dare

1

Sadie

“They’re here,” Rosita calls from the window, and I’m up and out of my seat, racing across the clubhouse and through the door.

The familiar sight of Rhett’s and my dad’s bikes fills me with relief, but the second their faces come into view, the icy claws of dread wrap around my throat.

“W-what happened?” I choke out.

Rhett glances away from me. It’s only a split second but it’s enough.

“Tell me what happened,” I demand. “Where’s Dane? Where is—”

“Sadie Ray, sweetheart, let’s just—”

“No, Daddy, tell me,” I shriek. “Tell me where Dane is.”

“Princess.” Rhett pulls me into his arms. “I’m so fucking sorry.”

“W-what? What are you saying?” I pull back roughly to look at him, my chest heaving.

“We split up… they were… fuck, they were ambushed. Ritz is dead. They got Kenny, too. Dane—”

“No.” Stepping backward, I come up against his strong arms as he bands them around me. “Dane isn’t… you’re wrong.” Pain slices through me, my heart stuttering in my chest. “He’s fine. He has to be fine.”

“We think Darren took him.”

Took him.

Rhett’s words slam into me.

He’s alive.

Dane’s alive.

But if Darren has him… oh God. Bile rushes up my throat and I place a hand over my mouth.

“I’m sorry.” Rhett’s expression shutters. “I’m so fucking sorry.”

“He… he has him. That piece of shit has Dane?”

No. This can’t be happening.

“That isn’t all—”

“Rhett, son. Not here,” Dad says, giving a small shake of his head.

“What are you—”

“Not. Here,” he grinds out, storming toward the clubhouse.

“Rhett,” I hiss, “what the hell is going on?” My eyes narrow as he slowly lowers his hard gaze to mine.

“Come on, we need to talk.”

“But—”

“Please,” he begs, and something inside me cracks.

Rhett Savage never begs, for nothing or no one. So the fact that he looks so… so broken only adds to the dread already heavy in my stomach.

Whatever is going on doesn’t end with the fact that Darren Creed has Dane.

Tucking me under his arm, Rhett guides me back inside. Wes greets us. “Where’s Stray?” He glances over Rhett’s shoulder.

“Something happened,” I whisper, my heart breaking all over again.

“Fuck. What do you need?” he asks.

“Right now, I need you to take her.” Rhett hands me off to him. “While I go and talk to Prez.”

My eyes widen. “No, I’m coming.”

“Prin—”

“Don’t,” I yell a little too loudly. A couple of people glance over, and I lower my voice. “Don’t act like this doesn’t concern me. Dane is missing and I… I’m not just going to sit by and do nothing.”

Rhett scrubs a hand down his face, letting out an exasperated breath.

“Rhett, let’s go,” Dad booms, disappearing down the hall.

I arch a brow, refusing to back down.

“Fuck’s sake,” Rhett grumbles, grabbing my hand. “Let’s go. You too, Pretty.”

“Sadie,” Quinn tries to intercept us, “what happened? Where’s my dad and the rest of the guys?”

“I… uh, I don’t know what’s happening.”

“Quinn, sweetheart.” Aunt Dee appears with tears in her eyes.

“Mom?”

“Come here, baby.”

Oh God. Uncle Micky? Is he… I shut down that line of thought, clutching Rhett’s hand tighter as we make our way down the hall. But we don’t stop at Dad’s office. Instead, we go all the way to the room at the end.

Rhett pushes the door open to Church and the room falls silent.

“I thought I told you—”

“She deserves to hear this,” he says. “They both do.” Rhett pulls me inside, Wes coming up behind.

“Prez?” Pacman asks.

“It’s okay, Rhett’s right.”

Rhett pulls out a chair for me and I slip onto it. Pacman closes the door and takes his seat. I haven’t been in here since I was just a girl, wreaking havoc among my dad and his friends, trying to sneak into places where I shouldn’t be. It’s the beating heart of the MC, the inner sanctum. But I hate that I’m sitting here under these circumstances.

After a beat of painful silence, Pacman asks, “How bad is it?”

“It’s bad. Really fucking bad.” Dad inhales a shuddering breath. “We split up. Micky and Stray went to check out an address with Ritz and a few of our guys and theirs. We headed to another location where we got a call from Nolan Creed that he needed to speak with me, in person. Ritz is dead. So are three of the other Reapers.”

“Micky, Stray, and our guys?” Pacman asks.

“Kenny is dead. Micky and Munster are at Red Ridge General. We haven’t got word on Stray yet.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean? You haven’t got word on him? He’s either dead or he’s—”

“Pac,” Rhett warns.

Dad blows out a long breath. “We think Darren Creed might have taken him.”

“Taken him? But why the fuck would Creed take—”

“Because he’s Nolan Creed’s nephew and Darren Creed’s younger brother.”

Silence ripples around the room as my dad’s words land their blow.

Dane isn’t a Stray at all.

He’s a Creed.

He’s a… Reaper.

“B-but how?” I barely recognize my own voice as I try to process what this means.

“It’s a long story,” Dad releases a heavy sigh, “one I don’t feel comfortable sharing until Stray hears it first. So right now, we need to figure out what the hell we’re going to do.”

“We should call on the Reno Chapter and go after the crazy motherfucker before he—”

“Believe me, brother,” Dad says, “I want nothing more than to hunt Creed down and put a bullet through his skull, but we have to be smart here. No way Chief Statham will be able to cover up what went down today. Which means he’ll have to play good cop and keep a watchful eye on us going forward.”

Pacman snorts.

Dad scrubs his beard. “Nolan is on his deathbed. Ritz is gone. The Reapers are in chaos. We’ve lost men, good men, and have two of our best in the fucking hospital. I will not lose anyone else over this. I can’t.” He clenches his fist on the table. “So we sit tight. Let the dust settle—”

“Settle?” I leap up, the chair scraping across the tiles. “Let the dust settle? Dane is out there… Darren might have him, and you just want to—”

“Sadie.” Wes reaches for me, but I swat his hand away.

“No, no! We can’t just leave him. You need to get him back. You need to get him back right now.”

“Sadie Ray,” Dad scowls, “I suggest you sit—”

Rhett stands and grabs my arm. “Princess—”

“No.” I shirk him off and head for the door, indignation burning through me.

They can’t just leave Dane out there. Alone. At Darren’s mercy.

“Oh God,” I breathe as the missing pieces finally fall into place.

Dane’s past. His nightmares… The scars.

Without thinking, I stumble out of there, running toward Dane’s room. Rhett calls after me, Wes and my dad too. But I don’t stop, I can’t, fueled only by the desperate need to do something—anything—to stop the tsunami of emotion battering me from all directions.

This is why they targeted me and Dane. Because I’m the prez’s daughter and Dane is…

He’s a Reaper.

And now his psycho brother has him.

I find Dane’s door unlocked and burst inside, immediately assaulted with his scent. Tears burn the backs of my eyes as I frantically run my gaze around the room.

“Sadie,” Rhett appears seconds later, “what the fuck?”

“Darren knows,” I cry. “He knows Dane is his brother. How is this even possible?”

“You need to—”

“I swear to God, if you tell me to calm down, I will cut you.” His brow lifts at that, and I glower. “I’m serious, Rhett. Darren has Dane, and we’re just going to sit around and—”

“It’s the smart play.”

“How can you even say that?”

“You think I like this? I don’t.” His eyes flicker with uncertainty, giving me a glimpse behind the stone mask he’s so good at wearing. “But Prez is right. We need to regroup.”

“What if Darren hurts—”

Big hands land on my shoulders and Rhett dips his face to mine. “Stray is strong, Princess. He’s a fighter. And he has plenty of reasons to make it out of this thing alive.”

“But—”

“No buts.” He presses his brow to mine. “I love him too.” Rhett trembles as he says the words. “It’s not the same, I know. But he’s my best friend, my fucking brother, and I hate this. I do. But we need to take your old man’s lead.”

“He’s… he’s not a Stray, Rhett. He’s a Creed. What does that even mean?”

For us. For the club. For Dane.

“It doesn’t change anything. He’s still ours.”

The way he says ours makes my heart ratchet.

“Savage is right,” Wes says from somewhere behind me, and I glance back to find him leaning against the doorjamb.

I half expect Rhett to protest, but he doesn’t, despite the tic in his jaw.

“If this is what it takes to get the two of you to call a truce, maybe Dane should get taken more often.”

“Princess…”

“Poor timing, I know.” I sniffle, drying my eyes with the back of my hand. “But humor and sarcasm are my coping mechanisms. I hate this.”

“You and me both.” Rhett slides his hand up the back of my neck and drops a kiss on my forehead. “We’ll get him back, I promise.”

I twist my hand into his black tank top. “I’ll hold you to that.”

“I need to go smooth things over with Prez. Pretty, stay with her. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Rhett reluctantly lets me go, the intensity in his ice blue eyes sending a shiver down my spine. “Stay here.”

I give him a small nod. Wes steps into the room and comes to me, sliding his arm around my waist, and I lean my head on his shoulder.

Rhett lingers in the door, and for a second, I think he might say something else, but he doesn’t, slipping out of the room instead.

“You okay?” Wes asks.

I turn into him and shake my head. “No, I’m really not.”

Dane is out there somewhere. Some of our guys are dead, others are injured. Ritz Creed is dead. The Reapers are in disarray, and I’m supposed to just sit here and do nothing.

“I need to do something,” I murmur, restless energy coursing through me.

“You heard what Rhett and your dad said. You need to—”

“Yeah,” I snap, “I know. Crap, sorry… it’s not your fault. I’m just frustrated.” I glance away.

“Sadie, look at me.” Wes grips my chin gently and tips my face up to his. “There aren’t any rules for this kind of thing. It’s okay to feel angry and upset and frustrated. Just promise me you won’t do anything reckless.”

“I can’t do nothing. Dane needs us. He needs—”

“Dane is a big boy. He can look after himself. And something tells me it won’t be long until your dad and Rhett ride out looking for him. But they need to make sure the club, make sure you, are safe too.”

“You’re good at this,” I say, gazing up at him.

“Good at what?”

“The whole calming me down in a crisis thing.”

“I care about you, Sadie.” Wes brushes the stray hairs from my face. “I care about you a lot.”

“Thank you.” I sling my arms around his neck and bury my face in his shoulder. “Thank you for being here.”

“Always,” he whispers against my cheek. “Always.”