Chapter 3

Several of the brothers were sitting there playing cards and they jumped when he barged in.

Breed spotted Cowboy sitting alone, drinking coffee and he bellowed at him, “Cowboy, I need you in your office, like now.”

Cowboy got up and followed him down the hall.

When Breed pushed the door open and went over to the bed with the woman still in his arms, he laid her carefully one the bed.

Cowboy nudged him out of the way and assessed the damage. “Hell Breed, what happened to her?”

“I think she escaped something bad and been on the fucking river for days without food or drinking water. I found her in the underbrush in a small dingy.” Shaking his head he said, “I don’t know if it was her idea or if someone else just pushed her out there, hoping to kill her. Either way, it wasn’t a good decision for her.”

“Ok, let me see what we got here then,” Cowboy mumbled as he grabbed his scissors to cut her clothing away.

“Can’t you just undress her?” Breed asked. “She might want her own clothes to wear when she wakes up.”

Cowboy paused and raised an eyebrow at him. “Are you staying?”

“Yeah, I’m staying. I have a particular interest in this one,” Breed grumbled. When Cowboy paused, Breed ordered, “Just get on with it.”

Cowboy didn’t say anything. Instead, he began peeling her clothing off. He took off her tank top.

Both men just stared at the black bruise on her abdomen. Just below her breasts, it appeared as if someone had stomped on her. The mark resembled the bottom of a man’s boot.

That mark along with the dried blood on her shoulder and the bruises on her face infuriated Breed. He stood there frowning and his hands were curled into fists. His green eyes were cold as he glared at the top of the boot print on her skin. He knew of only one thing that could make that kind of mark. A fucking steel tip. And he knew of only one man that wore decorated steel tip on his boots.

His eyes shifted to her breasts. They were full and firm and enclosed in a satin bra. Overall, she was a pleasant surprise. She was slender and had a great figure. Her belly was taut, and her hips flared out just right. Her legs were long and slender.

When Cowboy pulled her jeans down and removed them, they found another bruise on her upper thigh that resembled the bruise on her abdomen. Cowboy then went to get a basin of warm water and began bathing the sweat and grim off her body.

Breed growled at seeing his hands on her skin.

Cowboy paused then handed him the cloth.

As Breed gently bathed her, he scoured his eyes over her body. When he got to her shoulder, he soaked the blood on her wound for a moment, as he didn’t want to hurt her any more than she was hurt already.

“What the absolute fuck is that?” Cowboy growled when he saw the mark when the blood had been soaked and wiped away.

“That is a brand,” Breed told him while wearing a sneer on his lips.

“You know it?” Cowboy asked him.

“Yeah, I fucking know it.” Breed growled. “It’s the mark of the Hade’s Messenger MC leader. That fucking bastard.”

“Hade’s Messengers huh?” Cowboy snorted, shaking his head. “It figures.” He paused and looked at the girl on the bed again. “What the hell did Blade want with her? She’s not his usual slutty type.”

“I have no fucking clue but he ain’t getting this one back.” Breed scowled. “Why isn’t she awake yet?”

“She needs fluid. She’s severely dehydrated.”

“Can you help her?” Breed wanted to know.

“I can do an IV.”

“Well, don’t just stand there, do it. We need her awake and talking.” Breed growled. ‘And at least put a shirt on her.”

Cowboy snapped his head around to stare at the other man for a moment then grumbled under his breath, “Yes, boss.”

Breed moved back to the wall and leaning against it, he watched carefully everything Cowboy was doing but mostly he watched her. He didn’t even know her name but he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

The questions running through his mind were who was she and why did Blade want to hurt her so badly?