Gabriel signaled for the ceremony to begin. The waiting witnesses silently turned their heads to look my way, as did Cain. I met his brown eyes and a sadness swept across his face.

He looked like he was in agony, suffering; he looked as miserable as I felt.

A hand prodded my back. “Move, girl.” Sister Eve stood behind me. Her crepe-thin skin gray, as she stared me down.

It took all the will I had to lift my foot one step forward. My hands shook as I gripped my small bouquet of wildflowers as if they were a lifeline. The witnesses watched me make my way slowly down the scattered rose petal aisle. Some were happy, some indifferent, others annoyed—they knew I had escaped once, most probably believing I was evil incarnate. I kept my head high and my back straight.

Screw them all!

The guards surrounded the crowd, their guns visible and ready for any problems. The elders flanked the prophet… and, of course, Brother Cain. Bewitched, he could not stop watching me.

As I approached the altar, I braced for the inevitable. But then a cacophony of gunshots rang out in the near distance, deafening, threatening… welcomed. In a matter of seconds, hundreds of men swarmed into the center of the commune. Hundreds of men, all dressed in black leather… My heart sang. It was the Hangmen.

Styx has come for me.

“Mae!” Cain screamed from the altar. Prophet David was dragged away by the elders. I ignored them, my eyes glued on the Hangmen.

The witnesses jumped to their feet and the place instantly became a seething frenzy of terrified people. Women headed for the children, scooping them up, then ran for shelter. The disciples broke from their positions and charged the Hangmen, firing shot after shot at the black leather wall headed directly toward them.

The war had begun.

I stood firm in the aisle as I was buffeted by scattering witnesses fleeing the gunfire. I scanned the Hangmen for Styx, but I could make out very little. Everything was moving too fast.

“Styx?” I screamed. Somehow I hoped he could hear me. The noise of the battle and the sound of panic was deafening. I stood transfixed as men began falling to the ground, writhing in pain from being shot or, worse, dead. The Hangmen were well equipped and stormed forward, taking out disciple after disciple. It was rapidly turning into a massacre. Most of the Hangmen were ex-armed forces; the disciples did not stand a chance.

And I was glad. Lord, forgive me, but I was glad.

“Styx?” I tried to move, this time with some success and I reached the end of the altar when I saw him, Styx. Dressed all in leather, his dark hair messy and his muscled arms held out, two guns in his hands rapidly firing out bullets—bullets that ripped through the flesh of the disciple guards. He did not stop. He kept on coming, taking out disciple after disciple. Bullets shredded through limbs, stomachs, and heads.

But all I could think through the carnage was, He has come back for me…

“STYX!” I screamed as he scoped the area, I hoped, for me. He stilled, obviously hearing my call, then his hazel eyes connected with mine.

Babe, he mouthed as relief spread across his face. Then he stopped dead and his expression hardened with murderous intensity.

Dropping my flowers, I lifted my dress, ready to run to my man but I was suddenly grabbed around the chest and I yelped as I was aggressively dragged away.

“Mae, calm. It’s me, Cain. I’m getting you outta here.”

“No! Let me go!” I struggled to get free. I could see Styx running like a man possessed toward me and I knew he had seen Cain. Styx’s nostrils flared and he picked up speed but Cain was pulling me back too fast and I was unable to get away. Then I watched in horror as Styx was tackled to the ground by a disciple.

With Styx on the floor, fighting, I then spotted Ky, Tank, Bull, Viking, AK and Flame sprinting out from the cover of the forest. Cain stiffened on seeing his former brothers, then two arms hooked under my legs and Cain lifted me clean off the ground. He began to run for the fence, but not before I heard a roar and Styx scream out, “MAE!”

Cain stilled and turned us around just in time to see the elders trying to stealthily get Prophet David to safety down a secluded trail. “Styx! Over there!” I shouted, pointing to the decrepit old leader.

“Mae! No!” Cain hissed as Styx followed the direction of my finger and his eyes narrowed in rage. Cain and I watched as Styx searched around the Hangmen, fixing his attention on AK. Putting two fingers in his mouth, Styx let out a piercing whistle and AK’s head lifted up. Styx signed something; what, I could not make out. AK nodded in understanding, looked toward the prophet and the elders, propped his rifle into position, and fired a single bullet with perfect precision into the back of Prophet David’s skull.

Stunned, the elders shrank back in horror as the prophet’s body arched and dropped to the ground. Glancing back briefly to Styx, the elders ran into the cover of the forest.

Styx then turned back toward me and I mouthed, thank you.

Prophet David was gone forever. I was freed from being the seventh wife.

“Shit! SHIT!” Cain spat as he held me. His arms tightened around my chest and legs, and with a strong jerk, he carried me from sight until I could no longer see Styx or the Hangmen. I knew exactly where we were heading: the perimeter fence.

“Cain, put me down!” I protested.

“Shut up, Mae! You’ve just helped them kill our f**kin’ prophet!” he snapped, trying to pick up speed. I began thrashing around in his arms, fighting to get free. Cain increased his hold so I dug my nails in his shoulders, but still he kept hold. Finally, I bit into his arm… as hard as I could.

“Fuck!” Cain hissed as he dropped me to the ground.

I scrambled to my feet.

Cain made toward me.

I thrust out my hand. “NO! Cain. You have to stop this!” I said breathlessly.

He darted his gaze around us, the sounds of bullets approaching. “Mae, come with me. I’ll get us out.”

“I don’t want to go with you. I want to go with Styx.”

“Mae, please. I’m begging you. They’ll kill me if they find me here. We must go now.”

“Where are my sisters? They were taken away. Where are they being kept?”

“Mae, forget them—”

“Tell me where they are!” I shouted hysterically. I would not leave them again. I made them a promise.

Cain sighed in exasperation. “In the cell. They were taken to the cell.” The cell… the cell where they had imprisoned Bella… the cell where Bella had died in my arms.