Chapter 46: Double-Cross

Harlow

I was relieved when we drove back into Gnaw Bone. All I wanted was to go back home with Cyrus, take a hot shower, and crash. I still couldn’t believe the crazy stunt I’d pulled to get my car back, but I was pretty proud of it.

I parked my car outside the garage, and everyone else got off their bikes. Remy and Leon stepped out of the SUV parked around the back and came to watch us unload.

But instead, Butch and Shorty quickly took both of Madoc’s familiars into chokeholds.

“What are you doing?!” I asked, confused.

“I’m sorry,” Cyrus said. “I couldn’t tell you in case Madoc forced you to spill information.”

“You couldn’t tell me what?”

“We’re not handing the smack over to Madoc,” Bonnie said as everyone else began unloading a small mountain of heroin behind the garage. “We’ve gotta show Sunrise Corp that we won’t be their foot soldiers.”

I didn’t know what to say. I got why everyone thought they had to keep it from me, but it didn’t make me feel any better, being left in the dark.

Soon, all of the drugs had been removed from my car, and Remy and Leon were tied together, unconscious, with their mouths duct-taped shut.

I looked on as Blayze doused the heroin in gasoline and lit a match. It went up in flames, and we all watched as it burned.

“I understand why you’re doing this, but these are vampires we’re dealing with!” I said. “When Madoc goes back and tells Sunrise Corp, what do you think they’ll do?”

Cyrus looked deeply into my eyes. “I’m sorry,” he said again. “I really am.”

Before I could ask what he was sorry for, Red, Wyatt, and Goldie pulled open the cellar door.

“No!” I called to them. “The sun! It’ll—” I stopped when I realized what was happening. They were gonna do something to Madoc. I lurched forward to run to the cellar, but Cyrus held me back.

He pulled me into a tight hug. “I’m so sorry, baby,” Cyrus said.

Moments later, Red, Goldie, and Wyatt reemerged with Madoc. He was weakened by the sunlight and screamed as he was pulled into the direct rays.

“Madoc!” I yelled to him, “I’m so sorry! I didn’t know!”

Madoc’s skin didn’t burst into flames or anything, but he quickly began to sunburn. As the others held him, I saw Bonnie walk over, wielding a sharpened fence post.

“Please!” I begged. “Don’t!”

“I’m sorry, Harlow,” Bonnie said as she thrust the post into Madoc’s heart. He screamed in agony, but he didn’t die. Bonnie looked shocked.

Everything I knew about vampires was based on old books and movies. But none of it seemed to be accurate as far as killing one.

I fought against Cyrus’s grasp as he looked down into my tearful eyes. “Please make them stop!” I said. “He’s gonna help me get my dad out of jail. He’s… He’s my friend.”

Cyrus held me tight as I sobbed. “Harlow, I know you think that, but he’s the mouthpiece for Sunrise Corp. He’s here to control us, and he’s using your dad to get you to do what he wants.”

By now, Madoc had second-degree burns forming all over his exposed skin, but he was very much alive. He fought against those holding him. Eventually, Red gave his arm a hard yank, and the entire limb came off. I screamed.

Red looked up with surprise, and Bonnie yelled, “Tear him apart!”

Several MC members shifted and began to tear Madoc to pieces. His arms and legs all came off before his torso was pulled from his lower half. Finally, his head was ripped from his shoulders, and he lay motionless in pieces under the sun.

I tearfully broke away from Cyrus and ran toward my trailer.

Cyrus

I wanted to follow Harlow, but I had to see everything through to the end.

Leon regained consciousness, and Bonnie kneeled down to him. “We’re not going to kill you because we need you to tell Sunrise Corp what happened today. You tell them that if they don’t want any more trouble, they’ll leave Gnaw Bone and its citizens alone forever. You understand me?”

Leon nodded, and Butch cut him loose. Shorty picked up a still unconscious Remy and carried him to the SUV. Leon got in the driver’s seat and quickly drove off.

Blayze then poured gasoline over Madoc’s remains and tried throwing an arm onto the fire, but Madoc’s flesh seemed to be flameproof.

“I think he’s dead, man,” I said, standing over his disembodied head.

“Take him to the desert,” Bonnie instructed Red, Shorty, and Gunner. “Bury the pieces deep, miles apart.”

“Yes, Alpha,” Red replied, and the three of them worked to get his body into trash bags and onto their bikes.

When my presence was no longer required, I announced, “I’m gonna go find Harlow.”

I made my way down to her trailer, but when I got there, she wasn’t home. Her bike was also gone. I racked my brain for where she might have been. One place came to mind, so I ran to get my bike and headed west.

Harlow

I sat hugging my knees at the top of the plateau overlooking Gnaw Bone.

I was sorry for Madoc. And seeing him weakened under the sun, screaming in pain while I couldn’t do anything but watch, had been horrible.

Maybe Cyrus was right about him, but I had a hard time believing that was totally true. In the time I’d known him, Madoc had opened up about things I’d never expected. I was sure I’d seen a side to him that no one else knew.

And he’d said he wanted to try to get my dad out. He didn’t have to get me that phone call on my birthday, either. Was it all just to get what he needed from me? Maybe. But maybe not.

I heard the roar of a motorcycle coming up around the curves of the hillside. I didn’t have to look over my shoulder to know it was Cyrus.

After he cut the engine, he came over to where I sat in the dirt and kneeled down behind me.

“Harlow…” Cyrus put his hand on my shoulder. “Will you look at me?” I turned my head to face him, and he put a gentle hand on my cheek. “I love you so much. You know that, right?”

I just stared at the ground.

“We had to do something,” Cyrus said as gently as possible. “We had to take a stand against Sunrise Corp. Who knows how many innocent lives they would have made us help them destroy? I’m sorry you lost a friend, but with Madoc in the way, we would never have been able to get out. It was a necessary evil.”

“I just wish I’d had some warning,” I said in a shaky voice. “Madoc never used mind control on me. He wouldn’t have found out. Maybe we could have even worked something out.”

“I couldn’t tell you,” Cyrus said. “It was a direct order from both Alphas.”

“So much for Bonnie’s ‘honesty holding the pack together,’” I said bitterly.

“Bonnie didn’t keep it from you to hurt you,” Cyrus insisted. “She assessed the risk, knowing what Madoc could make you do, and she made a tough call. As an Alpha, she has an entire pack to think about. Not just her friends.”

Friends. I thought of the secret Bonnie had shared with me just the day before. She’d trusted me with something she hadn’t told anyone else. Yes, I still believed that she was a friend. Even if her methods had resulted in my tears, the bigger picture was about the pack. Not my personal happiness. Not even hers. And Bonnie had done so much to help me.

“I know this might not mean much right now, but keeping that from you was eating away at me,” Cyrus said. “But the job of the MCs is to protect the packs. I did what the Alphas felt was the safest thing for everyone.”

“Well, now I just feel like a selfish a**hole,” I replied.

“You’re a lot of things, Harlow Chase, but that’s not one of ‘em,” Cyrus said. “All I think about most of the time is how I don’t ever want what we have to end... Except for the dirty clothes on the floor.”

That last part got a laugh out of me despite my tears. I let Cyrus take my hands in his.

“I’m so sorry I broke your trust,” he said, looking into my eyes. “I promise I’ll never do anything like that again. I wanna be with you for the rest of my life.”

“You really mean that?”

“I do.” He kissed my hands. “That’s why I’ve decided, if you still want it, I’d like to be the one to turn you. I want you to be my mate.”