Page 47 of Riot

At some point, Link will come for his daughter. It’s inevitable. She’s the one weapon he can use to control me, and we both know it. The surprise is that he hasn’t already.

But when he does, I won’t be quiet. This time, I have something to fight for, and I’ll fight to the bloody bitter end for her.

NINE

RIOT

The plastic chairI’m squashed into is digging into the backs of my thighs, but I can’t move. The bite of pain is all that’s keeping me from losing it completely.

Ivy and Maylie have been shut away in that room for the last half-hour with the baby, and it’s killing me to have that door between us.

Ivy’s panicked call replays through my mind like a horror movie, and the way she looked at me when I walked into the apartment will be etched into my brain for the rest of my fucking days. I never want to see that expression on her face again.

“You think they’re okay?” I ask, my gaze still locked on the door.

I clasp my hands together to stop them shaking.Fuck. I’ve done a lot of bad shit, inflicted a lot of damage on men who stood against the club, even just for the fun of fighting, but ain’t nothing ever affected me the way this has.

Seren’s just a baby, and Ivy’s been through hell already. She doesn’t need any more pain or suffering.

My leg bounces, anxiety buzzing through me. I want to fight, to let out this tightness, but I ain’t leaving the hospital without Ivy and Seren.

“She’ll be okay,” Mace says. “You got them here in time.”

I did, no thanks to him and Maylie. Ivy waited for an ambulance that never came, and she waited for help from Maylie and Mace, which didn’t fucking come either.

“Where were you both?” My words are accusatory.

Mace’s brows raise almost imperceptibly. I’ve pissed him off with the question or my tone, I ain’t sure which, but I don’t care about his feelings. My question is valid. Ivy couldn’t get hold of either of them. I can’t imagine the panic she must have felt listening to that call ring out while she thought her daughter was dying in her arms.

“I’m sorry you had to deal with this.” He dodges the question.

Fuck him.“I don’t care that she came to me, Mace, but I shouldn’t have been the third call she had to make.”

I should’ve been the first.I clamp my teeth together so I don’t say it.

His jaw flexes as he folds his arms over his chest, leaning his head back against the wall. “You’re right, and Maylie ain’t ever gonna forgive herself for that. Me neither,” he murmurs. “So, don’t fuckin’ say this shit to her.”

“Look, if you two were fuckin’—”

“We weren’t.” Mace scowls at me, and I brace in case he takes a swing at me, but the fight drains out of him. “We were here. Upstairs in the maternity unit. We had to turn our phones off.”

The way he says it makes my blood freeze in my veins. I don’t know shit about pregnancy, but I know if Maylie had been at the hospital for anything routine, she would have told us. Her excitement over this pregnancy has been contagious.

I sit forwards. “Are Maylie and the kid okay?”

His eyes become glassy, distant. “I don’t know.” Him admitting that scares me more than anything else he could have said. “She’s constantly sick, and she’s so fucking thin. The doctors don’t seem worried, but I’m fuckin’ scared, Nate.”

That fear I was just letting go of clutches my chest again.

“She’s okay though, right?”

He blows out a breath. “I mean… yeah. It’s me who’s the problem. I can’t fuckin’ stand it. She’s wasting away in front of my eyes.” His breath hitches. I’ve never seen my brother like this. “The hospital’s monitoring them both, which is why we were here this morning. They were doing bloods and giving her some fluids, but this extreme throwing up can lead to other complications for her and the baby.”

Exhaustion crushes his shoulders. His fear is etched into every taut line of his body, and that ice inside me turns fucking glacial.

“Shit,” I mutter. I knew she was throwing up a lot, but Maylie’s a ray of sunshine. I had no idea things were this bad. “You should’ve said something. Do Ivy and Toby know?”

“Maylie didn’t want to worry them.”

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