Sacred by Caitlyn Dare
Sadie
Dane’s eyes flicker open as I gently squeeze his hand, and he smiles. “Hey.”
“Hey, how are you feeling?”
“Like I got hit by a truck.” He tries to sit up but winces in agony.
“Here, let me.” I help him lean forward while I fluff his pillows for extra support. “Better?”
“Yeah, thanks.” He takes my hand and brings it to his lips, kissing my knuckles. My eyes flutter as my heart does little somersaults.
We came so close to losing him. I’ll never take him or our time together for granted ever again.
“God, I’m so relieved you’re okay,” I breathe.
“I’m not going anywhere, Sadie, girl. You’re kind of stuck with me now.” He uncurls my fingers and kisses each one. “I meant what I said, you know. I love you, princess.”
“Dane…”
“It’s okay, I don’t need to hear it yet. I know how you feel about me, Sadie Ray Dalton.”
“Oh yeah?” I smile.
“Yeah.” He grips my chin lightly and brings my face down to his. “I see it every time you look at me.”
Dane kisses me, slow and hesitant, as if he’s relearning the shape of my mouth. It sends heat rippling through me and my mind instantly goes to all the ways I could make him feel better. But I force those thoughts down, because I didn’t come here for that.
“Dane,” I murmur. “We need to talk.”
His brows furrow as he pulls away. “What now?” I swear I see a flash of fear in his eyes, and I don’t blame him. Darren is still out there. Biding his time. Getting ready for his final play.
“My dad… he saw Nolan Creed. He told him some things.”
A knock at the door stops me and it cracks open. “Hey, can I join the party?” Rhett smirks. He was coming with me until we passed Pike and Jax, and he stopped him to talk about going to check out Wes’s house.
“Everything okay?” I ask, and he nods. “You didn’t miss much, I was just getting to the good part.” My expression slips and he comes inside, closing the door.
“Jesus, it must be serious if Savage is cracking jokes.”
Rhett takes the chair beside Dane’s bed, his big muscular body eating up the space as he stretches his legs.
“I’m guessing Nolan had nothing good to say to Ray.”
I glance at Rhett and he nods, silently reassuring me.
“Nolan…” I clear my throat, my palms slick with sweat. Gently pulling my hand away, I brush the curls from my face and force a smile.
“Jesus, princess, you’re killing me. Whatever it is, we can figure it out…”
“Nolan knows about you, Dane. He knows where you came from.”
“W-what?” He shoots upright, crying out in pain.
“Dane, relax.” I try to steady him, but he knocks my hand away.
“What the fuck do you mean, Nolan fucking Creed knows where I came from? How is that—”
“Because you’re one of them, brother. You’re a Reaper.”
Rhett’s words hit their target, and Dane falls back with a grunt as if the air is knocked clean from his lungs.
“Fuck no. No!” He glances between me and Rhett, his eyes wide with disbelief. “I don’t… no way. No fucking way. I’m not one of them. I can’t be… it isn’t—”
I grab his hand, swallowing the emotion rushing up my throat. “It’s true,” I say calmly. “Think about it. The way they targeted you… the fact that you recognized Justin. The nightmares…” The scars. I swallow the words. I don’t want to believe it either, but Nolan has no reason to lie to my dad.
“But how… how is this even possible?” He pulls away from me, retreating into himself.
“You’re Nolan’s nephew, Dane,” I say, reaching for his hand again, relieved when he lets me take it.
“I’m his… I’m a Creed.”
I nod, tears rolling down my cheeks. His pain is palpable, a living, breathing thing circling us.
“I’m sorry, Dane. I’m so fucking sorry.”
“But Nolan only had one brother…” Dane’s eyes fill with tears. “If what he’s saying is true, that means…” He inhales a shuddering breath, looking at us, pleading with us to deny what he’s figured out.
“Darren is your brother, Stray. Your half-brother,” Rhett says, and I’m grateful he’s stepping in to explain things. “Your old man had an affair with one of the club whores. She got pregnant and things went south between them, but he wanted to keep you. Lilian, his wife, was already at home looking after Darren, but Nolan said she wasn’t happy about raising another woman’s kid. Things were rocky. But your old man was determined to make it work.”
“I… I remember… she was always shouting, yelling at me for being… P—Paula’s. Paula?”
Rhett nods. “Your mom’s name.”
“Fuck.”
“I know it’s a lot to process.” I squeeze his hand.
“That doesn’t really cover what I’m feeling right now, princess,” he says coolly, sending a chill through me. “How the fuck did I end up here, with the club, if I was a Reaper?”
Rhett lets out a steady breath. “That’s where it gets really messed up. There was a fire, a house fire… Nolan got there first and managed to get Darren out. Lilian was already dead. Suspected overdose. Nolan found you… in a cupboard. They kept you in a fucking cupboard, brother. Nolan realized then that things were much worse than he anticipated. He didn’t know what to do, but he knew he had to get you out of there. So he called his cousin. She’d long left the Reapers behind, and he knew you’d be safe with her.”
“That’s who you remember. The kind lady,” I say, but Dane only stares at me with vacant eyes.
“They… they abused me. Darren and his mom. They locked me in that fucking cupboard and…” He starts trembling. Snatching his hand away, he jams his fingers into his hair and starts pulling. “They did this. They fucking did this to me…”
Throwing back the sheets, he manages to clamber off the bed.
“Dane, you shouldn’t—”
“I can’t sit here and listen to this. I need… I don’t know what the fuck I need, but this… this isn’t it.”
“Please.” My heart cracks open as he grabs a Sinners zip-up hoodie and pulls it awkwardly onto his body.
“Let me at least come with you. We can go for a walk down to the river, get some air…”
“I need to ride. I need… fuck.” His hand shoots out, his fist driving into the drywall. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuuuck.”
“Easy, brother.” Rhett is there in a second, restraining Dane in a bone-crushing hug. But Dane doesn’t hug him back. He doesn’t do anything.
“I need to go. I need to get the fuck out of here before I do something I’ll regret.”
“You can’t go after him,” Rhett urges. “Think, brother. Think this through. It isn’t safe. We almost lost you once. I won’t lose you again.” Rhett grips his shoulder as Dane tries to back away. “You need to calm the fuck down,” he growls.
“No, what I need is to get the fuck out of here.”
“It isn’t safe,” I argue, silently pleading with him to stay.
“I won’t do anything reckless, but I can’t be here right now. I can’t…”
“Dane, brother—” Rhett tries to reach for him again, but Dane flinches. The skittish look in his eyes breaks something inside me.
I expected him to react badly, but I hadn’t expected this.
“Don’t call me that,” he grits out. “Just don’t fucking call me that.”
“Please… let Rhett or me go with you.”
“I can’t. I can’t fucking think straight with you looking at me like that.”
I rear back, his words slicing into me like barbs. “Dane, I’m not—”
“I’m outta here.” He turns away and blows out of the room. I go to take off after him, but Rhett catches me around the waist.
“Leave him.”
“But it isn’t safe.” I glance back at him, incredulously.
“He won’t do anything stupid.”
“You can’t know that. Darren could be out there, waiting.”
“Fuck,” Rhett hisses. Releasing me, he pulls out his cell and dials someone. “You got eyes on Stray? Good. Stay with him. Don’t get too close and don’t intervene unless he tries to do something stupid… Yeah, okay. Thanks.”
Rhett hangs up and shoves his cell back into his pocket. “Pacman is going to follow him. Keep an eye out.”
“It isn’t enough.”
“It’ll have to be, because we’re thin on the ground right now and half our guys are a mess after yesterday’s shitshow.”
“Maybe we handled that the wrong way,” I stare at the door, silently praying Dane will appear at any second. But I know he won’t.
He’s hurting.
Worse than that, he finally knows where he came from.
He knows the truth, and it will only bring him more torment.
“Come here.” Rhett tugs me into his chest, banding his arms around my waist. “He just needs some time to deal with it.” He presses a kiss to my head.
“I’m worried. I knew it would be hard… but what if he goes after Darren?” I won’t blame him if he does. I want to kill Darren for what he’s done to Dane. To my family.
But we have to be smart.
Or more people will get hurt.
“I can’t lose him, Rhett.” I fist his tank. “I can’t—”
“Shh, you’re not going to lose him. His head is all messed up right now, but you heard him. He loves you, princess. You think he’s going to risk that, risk you, all because he found out his childhood wasn’t all sunshine and roses? Newsflash, we all have shit to deal with.”
“Rhett, it’s not the same…”
“Yeah, I know.” His lips set into a grim line. “But I have to believe he knows what he’s doing. Because you’re not the only one who can’t lose him. He gets a couple of hours to cool off, and then he’ll come back to us. And if he doesn’t, we’ll go get him.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” He nudges his nose against mine, breathing deeply. “We need you. I need you. Both of you.”
“I need you too. All of you.” I wind my hands around the back of his neck and kiss him. “I’ll always need you.”
“Always?” Rhett’s brow lifts. “Sounds kind of permanent.”
“Didn’t you get the memo, Savage? You’re mine now. And I plan on keeping you.”
“Fuck.” He inhales a shuddering breath, gazing at me with awe. As if he can’t quite believe I’m standing here. “I like the sound of that.”
“Two hours,” I repeat, because I’m not sure I can stand the thought of Dane out there, alone and hurting.
“Two hours and then we go get our guy.”
“Two hours is a long time.” I drag his bottom lip between my teeth. “You should probably find a way to distract me.”
“Now?”
I nod. “I need out of my head,” I say, a little breathless. “I need you to distract me.”
Rhett picks me up and forces my legs around his waist. “That, princess, can definitely be arranged.”
