Devoted to Love

by Shayla Black

  “You’re right. And I can’t take any more of creepy Coleman. He talks as if he intends to tie me to his bed until I get pregnant.”

  “Oh, my god. Really?”

  “Yes. So send help. Hurry!”

  “You have to keep calm. Take deep breaths. You’re going to be fine,” Dixie advised. “Sharing the sire’s bed is an honor. Carrying his seed is an even greater one. Congratulations! Don’t waste time talking to me. Embrace your future, my friend.”

  Then the line went dead.

  Maggie stared in horror at the device in her hand. What the hell? Dixie was one of them?

  Dwelling on that wouldn’t help her out of this bind, so Maggie tried to dial her sister. Cutter would be with her. He would know what to do.

  Before the call connected, Coleman burst into the room with a regretful shake of his head and wrestled the device from her hand. “Magnolia, I’m disappointed. I would rather have started our conscious awakening together with love, not punishment. But you made that choice of your own free will. And you will regret it.”

  Then he—and her phone—were gone. The door locked behind him again.

  One thing rolled over and over in her head: No one was coming to save them.

  CHAPTER 19

  It shouldn’t have come to this. I told you what I wanted. I explained how life would be.” Mercy pointed an accusing finger in Josiah’s direction. “And you chose that slut. You did this.”

  Duct-taped to a chair, he glared. She seriously believed that, because he hadn’t given her what she wanted, it was his fault she’d resorted to force and violence. It was official; she was from Crazytown.

  “You’re going to kill me because I didn’t jump at the chance to give up my existence and breed innocent babies into this freak show with you?”

  Her face drew up tight, eyes narrowed. “You shouldn’t cross me. Ben Haney learned that the hard way. All I wanted was his land. He was too old and infirm to work it. I was nice. I smiled. I offered him money. I even assured him I’d take care of every acre he’d ever tended. The stubborn fool refused.”

  “So you shoved a pitchfork through his chest?”

  “That got his attention, didn’t it? And he finally came around to my way of thinking.” The batshit bitch looked smug.

  Mercy might have Josiah duct-taped to a chair right now, but she was deluding herself if she thought he couldn’t get out of this scrape. He’d been in worse. One small female without a weapon wasn’t going to hold him for long—especially since he still had a knife strapped to the inside of his thigh.

  Once he got free, he would subdue her and have her begging for forgiveness in seconds. Then he’d find a way to destroy this whole backward-ass place.

  But what about Maggie? She was somewhere on this compound. Could she handle Coleman and live through whatever he dished out?

  “Still not interested in being your devoted stud,” Josiah tossed back.

  Fury flared across Mercy’s face, mottling her cheeks. She came at him, claws bared, and ripped his shirt open, sinking her nails into his flesh. She yanked down, scratching away skin, drawing blood. The gashes stung like a bitch.

  “Maybe I don’t want you anymore.” Though she snarled the words, Mercy straddled his lap and grabbed his face, glaring into his eyes. Her lips hovered breathless inches above his.

  “Liar.” For whatever reason, she wanted him bad. “If that were true, you wouldn’t be rubbing up against me right now. I’ll reconsider if you let Maggie go.”

  “That’s up to Adam. She’s with him, and I’m sure they’re very busy.” Mercy cocked a suggestive brow his way.

  Since there was no way Maggie would voluntarily have sex with Coleman, dread twisted Josiah’s chest. He couldn’t stand the thought of that asshole touching her against her will. Even the idea of Maggie hurting physically pained him.

  “If you want me, I need to see her. I have to be convinced she’s alive and that she’ll leave here that way.”

  Mercy cocked her head, obviously weighing her anger against her desire, when a knock interrupted her ruminations. “What?”

  Coleman stepped into the barren room, tugging Maggie in behind him. Josiah breathed a sigh of relief. Thank god, she was alive.

  Their eyes met. He ignored the aching need to comfort her and cataloged her demeanor instead, assessing the damage so he’d know how painfully to kill Coleman later. But Maggie looked only slightly mussed. Her elegant twist was gone, her hair now rumpled. Dirt smudged her cheek and dusted the hem of her dress. Her wide eyes glittered with fear of the unknown, but not the horror of brutality.

  “Why did you bring her here?” Mercy screeched.

  “She promised cooperation once she saw proof that we have Josiah and—”

  “She’s seen him.” Mercy gave an exasperated huff, then snapped at Maggie. “He’s with me. Sire will keep you busy. I plan to do the same with Josiah. Go!”

  “Child, we’ve spoken more than once about your self-serving ways. And your petulance. Already, you’ve scratched him. Physical abuse is no way to heal your bruised consciousness. It still sobs with the sins of the outside world. And it’s certainly no way to treat your fellow human beings. Perhaps I have misjudged your readiness to bring more Chosen into our flock.”

  “No.” She scrambled to approach Coleman. “I’m ready. I’ve been ready. I’ve waited, just as you asked. My womb wails for children to help us grow our future.”

  “Someday . . .” Coleman shook his head regretfully. “But not now, I think. Magnolia can provide the additional land we seek. She’s agreed to come to me willingly if I release Josiah. I’ll arrange her First Enlightenment tonight. Once she’s embraced the purpose of her future under my tutelage, he will be free to go.”

  Josiah stared at the other man. So Coleman would let him walk once he’d coerced Maggie into joining his cult and spreading her legs? That was what his words said, but his eyes conveyed something else entirely. The Chosen’s “sire” understood perfectly that if Josiah ever got free, he would rain down fire and hell the moment anyone touched his woman. Coleman would have to kill him first, and they both knew it.

  “What?” Mercy screeched. “You have women everywhere, at least six children on the way, and—”

  “Eight,” Coleman corrected. “Fate and fertility have blessed us.”

  “I asked for this one man. Just one.” She stabbed a finger in Josiah’s direction. “And you plan to let him go so you can have another piece of ass someone else has already tapped?”

  “Mind your tongue,” he snapped, teeth clenched. “Unlike him, she brings land we need. And you forget, yet again, my teachings if your first concerns are about satisfying your own desires.”

  Mercy huffed. “Your first concern is always your own desires. Josiah stays with me or I tell everyone they’re being used as guinea pigs to test new strains of our nectar of Rapture before you sell it to shady dealers who spread it to unsuspecting people outside our walls.”

  “I seek neither harm nor profit. I give the Chosen our nectar so they can celebrate their conscious awakening together. As for those outside, it is my hope that, as nectar crosses the lips of the unclean, they will chose to become one with Enlightenment Fields.”

  “You make your motives sound so pure. But that’s not why you give nectar to girls like Susannah and Lilah. What did you do with them after they were under the influence?”

  “Neither had elected to join of their own free will, but came to us as children with their parents. Both recently entered their fertile years, and I felt they required special attention to fully understand their own conscious awakening.”

  “Naked?” she challenged. “Overnight in your quarters?”

  That ruffled red-faced Coleman even more. “Your insubordination disappoints me deeply. You imply the worst and willfully misunderstand because you’re not getting your
way.”

  Mercy jerked free. “Are you forgetting how you took my virginity at fourteen? And I’m hardly the only one. Should I tell the Chosen that?”

  Josiah was hardly surprised that Coleman was a sick fuck. But beside him, Maggie gasped.

  “I awakened your body and spirit, and you made that something dirty.” Coleman shook his head and wrapped vise-tight fingers around Mercy’s arm. “Come with me. Now!”

  As he dragged the shrieking woman from the room and locked the door behind them, Maggie gaped. “Oh, my god . . .”

  Josiah didn’t waste a moment on surprise. “Come here, baby. Hurry! Unzip my pants.”

  “What?” She blinked. “We don’t have time for that.”

  “I have a knife strapped to my thigh.”

  Instantly, she attacked the button of his jeans, then yanked down his zipper. The feeling of her hands brushing his cock, coupled with the adrenaline surging through his veins, roused a predictable response.

  “Seriously? Now?”

  “Can’t help it. You’ve always gotten to me.” He lifted from the chair as much as his bindings allowed. “You okay? Has Coleman hurt you at all?”

  She shook her head as she shoved his jeans down. “He’s said some creepy shit disguised as enlightenment for my soul or whatever. Sounds like it’s not the first time. But he hasn’t actually touched me. Yet.”

  “Good. Pull the knife free—gently. It’s retractable. You’ll have to grip the backside of the blade with the indentations . . . yeah. That’s it. Good.” He praised her as she managed to extend the blade. His heart chugged as urgency rode him. “Fasten my pants again in case they come back, then work on my hands.”

  She managed to redress him, then scurried behind the chair to saw at the tape. “Are you okay, other than that bitch’s scratches? I’d like to do the same to her face.”

  “Fine. Use the serrated side of the knife.”

  “I am. The tape is thick.”

  “They won’t be gone long.”

  “I know. What should we do next?”

  Josiah wished he knew where on the ranch he’d been taken, but Mercy’s brute, Newt, had shoved a hood over his head before leading him wherever here was. He didn’t know how deep in the compound they were. He didn’t know what they’d be up against if they busted their way out. But he knew they had to try.

  “I’m winging this one. But if you can work me free, I’ve seen guns stashed around this place. If we can get a couple, we have a chance. Any idea where we are?”

  “In a house. Coleman led me from one location on the property, which looked like an armory or a bunker, to here. They weren’t far apart.”

  An armory or bunker was bound to have weapons. “Could you get me back there if we busted free from this room?”

  “Yeah.”

  God, he wanted to hug her right now, not only because she was keeping calm and could actually help them escape but because he was so fucking relieved to see her in one piece.

  “Good. Sawyer is dead. Mercy had him shot.”

  Maggie nodded, her fine tremor a vibration against the tape. “I know. He got me into this mess, but I didn’t wish him dead.”

  Josiah didn’t feel the same. “Almost done?”

  “Nearly. The tape is hanging by a thread. I’d be faster, but my palms are sweating and my hands are shaking.”

  “Adrenaline. It’s hard to control when you’re not used to having stress hormones chugging through your system. Take a breath and—”

  Suddenly, the flick of the lock filled the room. Maggie shoved the hilt of the blade into his hand, acknowledging silently that he’d have a better chance of forcing their way out of the situation, and jumped beside him as Coleman came through the door again, this time alone.

  He studied them, gaze bouncing back and forth suspiciously. “Mercy is now in the company of her brother Marcus. He has a knack for dealing with her . . . difficult moods. Since she’s being selfish today, she’s earned a period of readjustment and reflection.”

  Josiah didn’t want to imagine how Marcus was recalibrating her behavior. The big, scarred brute looked short on conversation and long on violence. But having her out of the way meant fewer obstacles between him and Maggie and their exit.

  “So”—Coleman turned to Maggie and extended his hand to her—“Josiah is very much alive. He’ll be set free as soon as you’ve embraced your First Enlightenment and my teachings. Come with me so we may begin.”

  She shook her head and stepped back. “He goes free first.”

  “Maggie . . .” Josiah warned, pushing against the tape with his biceps and shoulders.

  It wasn’t giving.

  Fuck. They needed to stay together for this escape plan to work. She needed to have faith, to trust him.

  Something she’d struggled with all her life.

  “That isn’t possible,” Coleman insisted. “Once I’ve had time to develop your enlightenment and you’ve embraced the cleansing of your consciousness, along with our mission, he’ll be set free.”

  The stubborn set of Maggie’s jaw told him she intended to argue. But Mercy’s example had already proven what not to do, so instead of demanding she cajoled, walking toward Coleman with swaying hips. Behind his glasses, the cult leader’s eyes flared with interest.

  Yeah, she had his number.

  “I won’t be able to concentrate.” Maggie trailed a finger up his arm, and as much as it killed Josiah to watch her seduce this asshole, Coleman’s focus on her was utterly intent. “Or, you know, relax until Josiah is safe. Do this one thing for me and—”

  “He won’t understand you choosing to remain here. Nor will the outside world.” The shyster gripped her wrist hard enough to make Maggie tense. “Unless he sees your happiness with his own eyes and relates it to others, they’ll view it as coercion. We wait to let him go until you’re mine.”

  It was all Josiah could do not to come out of his chair. He flexed against the duct tape again, felt it stretching, straining to hold him. But with his blood flow restricted and his arms half asleep, he couldn’t muster his usual strength.

  Maggie cast him a quick glance over her shoulder, toward his arms. A silent question.

  He sent back a clandestine lift of his head. Yeah, he’d get free. He’d do whatever necessary to keep her safe.

  “Let him go now.” She nuzzled Coleman’s neck, exhaling hot breaths onto his neck. “Or I’m afraid you’ll find me less than cooperative.”

  Displeasure darkened the con man’s face. “Threats are no way to begin your conscious enlightenment. Surrender yourself to a higher cause, an existence bigger than your own.” He glared Josiah’s way. “Leave your worldly pursuits behind.”

  Josiah forced back his gag reflex and waited for Maggie to lure Coleman’s attention again.

  “It’ll be much easier to forget about all the worldly things he showed me over the last few weeks if he’s not here,” she argued again, this time rubbing her cheek against Coleman’s, their lips inches apart.

  The perverted fuck began breathing hard. Beneath his black jeans and shiny silver belt buckle emblazoned with the cult’s symbol, his cock was hard. Not seeing it was impossible since it was mere feet away, in Josiah’s line of sight.

  Seeing the two of them so close filled him with rage. He gathered his strength again, flexing his shoulders and biceps, and swallowed a grunt as he shoved against the tape.

  The bindings finally gave way.

  Granted, his legs were still secured to the chair, but he could work with that. He might even be able to make it an advantage.

  Coleman gripped Maggie’s nape. “You’ll find I can be very persuasive.”

  “So can I.” Josiah rose with the chair still strapped to his legs and whirled around, sideswiping Coleman with the metal legs.

  As the bastard stumbled, Josiah g
rabbed his man bun with one hand and yanked. With the other, he dragged the cult leader against his chest and held the blade to his throat. “You’re going to let us both out of here. Right now.”

  “My nature is peace, and I will not fight you.”

  Maggie sagged in relief. She thought it was over, but he knew better. Assholes like Coleman always had something up their sleeve.

  Right on cue, Enlightenment Fields’ sire delivered. “I can’t say the same for my devout followers. They will not take kindly to your violent threats and they’ll shoot. They have trained for such a possibility.”

  Unfortunately, Josiah believed him. Using Coleman as a human shield wouldn’t work. He might be able to protect his front, but his back would be exposed—as would Maggie—with enemies all around them. Time for plan B.

  With a snarl, he brought the hilt of his knife down on Coleman’s skull with enough force to render him unconscious. As the man crumpled in his grip, Josiah let the scam artist fall. Then he bent and cut away the rest of his own bindings.

  Finally, he had his mobility. Along with his training, he had to believe it would be enough to save them. “Help me restrain him to the chair.”

  Maggie snapped into action, assisting as he lifted Coleman’s dead weight with a grunt. “What now?”

  “We’re surrounded.” Josiah tried to remember the layout of the compound, but without knowing where he was, he didn’t know what direction to run. “Have you seen anything that would help us get out?”

  “We passed a barn. It held a red Mercedes. It’s not far . . .”

  “That’s Mercy’s car. I can hot-wire it. But it’s a fucking convertible. Even with the top up, driving it out of here makes us awfully vulnerable.”

  “That’s better than not getting out at all.”

  True. He just didn’t know if they’d make it to the property line alive. Hell, would the flock of crazies stop chasing them when they reached civilization? Probably not. He’d put money on them doing anything necessary to maintain their sect and keep their secrets.