When Dove Cries
A Totally Bound Publication
When Dove Cries
ISBN #
978-1-78430-555-0
©Copyright Beth D. Carter 2015
Cover Art by Posh Gosh ©Copyright April 2015
Edited by Faith Bicknell-Brown
Totally Bound Publishing
This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Totally Bound Publishing.
Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Totally Bound Publishing. Unauthorized or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.
The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.
Published in 2015 by Totally Bound Publishing,
Newland House, The Point, Weaver Road, Lincoln, LN6 3QN
Totally Bound Publishing is a subsidiary of Totally Entwined Group Limited.
Warning:
This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has a
heat rating
of
Totally Sizzling
and a
Sexometer
of
2.
The Red Wolves Motorcycle Club
WHEN DOVE CRIES
Beth D. Carter
Book three in The Red Wolves Motorcycle Cub series
Can two men, who don’t trust each other, protect a woman they both care for?
John Draven is vice president of the Red Wolves Motorcycle Club. While on a special run, he meets FBI Agent Cadence Vanaker again. Cade is the man who killed his cousin five years ago and the person he hates more than anyone. Now John is forced to work with him to take down a human trafficking ring operating in John’s hometown.
Cade wants more than anything to tell Draven he wasn’t the one who really killed his cousin, but he can’t reveal the truth and has to live with Draven’s hate as a result. When the two men find a woman half-dead and bound with zip ties, they both feel a need to protect her—and the need to be her
only
man.
Dove Aldrin is a sensitive young woman who was abducted and held prisoner. When she escapes, she falls into the path of two men determined to help her and to find the man responsible for treating her so cruelly. What she didn’t count on was falling for both John and Cade. How can she pick one over the other, especially when the two men despise each other?
Dedication
As always, my special thanks and appreciation to Shannon Vasquez. Thanks also to CR Moss for her friendship and ear, and for helping me finesse this story. Thanks to my editor, Faith, for always saying LOL through the crazy.
Ek elska þik
,
Eiríkr hinn rauði.
Trademarks Acknowledgement
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:
Harley-Davidson: H-D U.S.A., LLC
Jell-O: Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC
The Odd Couple
: CBS Studios, Inc.
Monopoly: Hasbro, Inc.
Febreze: Procter & Gamble, Inc.
Sportster Nightster: H-D U.S.A., LLC
Craigslist: Craigslist, Inc.
Sleeping Beauty
: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
WITSEC:
United States Department of Justice
Prologue
He’d said he would hurt her if she tried to escape.
And she believed him.
Dove had no idea how long she’d been down there, but when her jar of peanut butter was almost empty, she knew she had to do something or she was going to die in the dark hole where he’d abandoned her. At one point, footsteps had moved across the floor above, and she’d wanted desperately to call out for help. But fear that it might be
him
kept her silent.
She didn’t want to be hurt anymore.
Tears were now a constant fixture in her existence, but then, they always had been. Her father used to tease her that she was too sentimental, too softhearted. He’d pick her up and hug her tightly, then he’d tickle her until her tears dried up. He’d been a giant bear of a man whom she had loved, a great man who had treated everyone fairly. When she’d lost him, she’d lost everything.
Of course, that had made her an easy target, easy prey. She’d been walking to her apartment one night, and the next thing she’d known, excruciating pain had exploded inside her skull before darkness had consumed her. She’d woken up in this dank cave with her hands zip-tied together and a jar of peanut butter with a box of crackers next to her. A trickle of water ran along the stony ground, and when thirst had gotten the best of her, she’d had to lick it up.
He’d visited her once, standing next to another man with a long gray beard and scary, dead eyes. She wasn’t above begging for her freedom, but they’d only laughed at her, and the man had hit her again, causing her to fall on the slick moss-covered rock foundation.
As they’d left, he’d told her that no one was going to find her and that if she wanted to live, she’d better behave or he’d hurt her more. She hadn’t seen him again, but she pictured him upstairs, waiting to see if she disobeyed.
At first, she’d counted days by the sliver of light filtering through a small crack in the wooden ceiling, but when hunger had zapped her strength, she’d given up trying to determine day from night, preferring to sleep and forget about her predicament. And for a while, she’d desperately wanted to join her dad in Heaven. But now… Well, the man had never come back, and if she didn’t get out on her own, she would die alone in the smelly hole with no one being the wiser. While death had sounded easy at one point, she knew that this time she had to take the harder path.
She pushed herself to her feet and stumbled to the wooden door. She laid her cheek upon the wood, listening. When no sound came forth, she tested its sturdiness. A chain rattled on the other side of the door. With her hands still zip-tied together, it was hard to assess it properly. She kicked it with her foot, and some of the wood at the bottom splintered. Surprised, she squatted and investigated.
Rotten. Good
. She kicked more of the wood away. The hole her efforts created wasn’t big, but then she wasn’t big, either. A beam of sunlight hurt her eyes, revealing there was a way out of the darkness.
Terror held her immobile for a moment. Did she dare try to escape?
Was he waiting for her?
If she made it out of this hellhole, would she be free? Or would she be running into something more dangerous?
The unknown and the fear of what he’d do to her if he found out she’d tried to escape made her tremble. He’d warned her it would be a fate worse than death, but something deep within her pushed at her to survive, commanding her to run, to escape. It was now or never. She’d been existing on a finger full of peanut butter and two crackers a day, and now, all her food was gone. Her strength was gone. Just kicking the door had tired her out.
Move it, Little Stuff.
“Daddy?” she whispered, looking around.
He wasn’t there. It was just a dark, empty cave. Or basement. Or wherever the hell she was. But she’d heard him. Clear as day, she’d heard his voice. He’d even called her by the pet name he’d given her because she’d been so small. He’d ordered her to move it, and no one ignored a command by Staff Sergeant Emmett Aldrin. So she took a deep breath, wiped the tears from her cheeks and straightened her shoulders.
Dove reached through the hole with her arms then her head, using her feet to propel herself through, wiggling her hips since she couldn’t grab on to anything to help pull her forward. Her hips scraped along the side of the jagged hole, and she cried out at the pain, which surprised her. She’d thought she had become immune to pain long ago from the zip ties around her wrists.
Then she fell forward through the door and was able to use her knees to push herself up. A set of stairs lay before her, but they looked old and worn. More light flooded the area, blinding her for a minute. Slowly she went up them, not knowing what was waiting for her. Her heart thundered painfully. Close to passing out, she wobbled on her feet. She had to push on. She didn’t have a choice. When she reached the top, she expected the door to be bolted but it pushed open easily. Bright light exploded around her, and she shielded her eyes with her hands. It took a moment for her vision to adjust, but when she could see again, she realized she was in some sort of dilapidated barn. A large, round stone lay in the center of the room, and she could see a water wheel out of the missing windowpane. It turned loudly and she realized that she had to be near a river, which explained the water in her hellhole. Stumbling forward, she made her way to the front door and opened it.
There was no one. She was free. A sense of relief hit her so strong her knees wobbled before anger at herself took over. She’d cowered in fear for God knows how long, and she could have escaped? Tears ran down her face. Sobbing, she stumbled out of the run-down building and ran as fast as she could down the road, praying for someone to find her. Anyone, if only it wasn’t
him
.
She felt the vibration on the road before she heard the roar of the engines. She turned and held out her bound hands in a beseeching gesture. Two motorcycles came roaring around the bend then to a screeching halt. Light smoke drifted behind the bike’s back tires. Burnt rubber wafted into the air. Neither of them were the man who had taken her, and relief poured through her. She was saved. Suddenly, everything twirled and tilted. The world dimmed around the edges as one man jumped from his bike like a superhero swooping toward her. She reached for him and wondered vaguely what had happened to his cape.