My Maddie (Hades Hangmen #8) - Tillie Cole Page 0,42

brothers are already up on the floor where she is. You’ll be better when you see her.”

I gripped the knife in my hand and opened the door. It was light outside. I stood on the pavement and gripped the door when my head spun. “We had Rider sedate you, remember?” Viking said. “We needed to get Madds here and settled before you woke up. As you blacked out from me choking you, Rider made sure you weren’t injured from the fire before keeping you under.” My jaw clenched. They had kept me from her. They had fucking kept me from her all fucking night.

My hands curled into fists. I felt the flames starting to flood my veins. Taking the knife, I leaned against the truck and sliced it down my arm. The minute the blade split the flesh I felt better. I felt my body heat up and my dick started to get hard. I slammed my hand into my dick to get it the fuck back down.

“Here,” AK said. He handed me a towel. “Cover up the cuts. Stop the blood. Put your knife in your cut so security doesn’t think you’re coming into the hospital to hack someone to death.” I put my knife away. Ripping the towel from his hand, I pressed it on my arm and started walking across the street. My fucking legs felt weak. Vike walked beside me on one side, AK on the other. I didn’t pay attention to anyone in our path. If anyone stopped us, I was gonna rip their fucking heads from their shoulders. AK led us to the stairs, and we climbed and fucking climbed until we finally came to the floor Maddie was on. Samson and Solomon were at the entrance. My whole body shook harder as the bright lights of the hospital stabbed at my eyes. The noises, the fucking beeps and alarms were the same ones I heard when they’d kept me strapped to the bed, trapping the flames in my blood.

Maddie. I had to get to Maddie.

We turned a corner and my brothers were sitting on chairs outside a room. Tank stood up. “You good, brother?”

“Where is she?”

“In there,” Ky said. I stared at the door and felt my heart slam against my ribcage. I reached into my cut and gripped the handle of the knife AK had made me hide. I needed to use it. I needed to free the flames. Maddie… Maddie was on the other side of the door. My Maddie. Our baby. And they were hurt.

“Flame. You can go in, brother,” Viking said. I couldn’t move. All I saw in my head was Maddie dead in my arms. Her fucking dead, gone, the flames finally taking her away. I didn’t deserve her. I was evil. I was damned. Maddie was good. I was going to kill her with my evil. I blinked, my vision clearing when Viking stepped forward and opened the door in front of me. My heart fucking stopped. My legs buckled and I fucking dropped to the floor, my knees smashing on the hard tiles. I could see her. Maddie, my wife. She was in a bed, wires coming from her arms, a small tube running under her nose.

“Maddie…” I whispered, but my fucking legs wouldn’t move so I could stand. Someone moved in my view. Maddie’s sisters. Mae. Bella. Lilah. Phebe.

Mae came bent down. “She has been waiting for you, Flame. She is not yet awake, but I know it is true. She will be stronger with you here.”

“Get up, brother,” AK said from beside me.

“She needs you, Flame,” Vike said from my other side. I didn’t take my eyes from Maddie on the bed. I pushed to my feet and walked forward. The smell of hospital made me wanna fucking run. But I kept my feet moving. I walked until I came to the side of her bed.

“Maddie…” I whispered. But she never opened her eyes. Someone moved on the other side of the room. Ash. Ash was getting up from a chair in the corner. And you’re gonna be an old man… I heard his voice in my head. He’d known. He’d fucking known that I was gonna hurt her, hurt them both. That I was gonna fuck up as a poppa, just like ours had. He’d been right.

“They said she’ll be okay,” Ash said. I stared at Maddie. She wasn’t moving. She had cuts on her face. Her skin was paler than normal. Her