Then my father is undoing Sin’s belt. He wraps it around Sin’s forearm. “This should provide a little extra help. At this point, it can’t hurt.” He then removes his own and does the same thing to Sin’s other arm.
“Why isn’t he awake?” I cry, my now bloody hands shaking while I place my hand on his chest, trying to feel his heartbeat. He can’t be dead. I don’t believe it.
“You don’t want him to be awake. Trust me, it’s better he’s out.” Tyson is the one who answers me.
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
ELLINGTON
WE PULL UP to what I heard my father call a cathedral. I’ve never been here before so I’m not sure why we are here now, but it’s exactly what I expected to be. Old and haunting with its rosette window in the center, two towers on either side. There’s an out-of-place cross that hangs upside down.
The hatch opens and I jump out, stepping to the side so they can get Sin out of the back. I follow them inside because I don’t know where they’re going.
I follow them down a set of stairs to what looks to be a basement where the doctor from our house waits for us. He helps them get Sin onto a hospital bed. It’s like a surgical center down here. Like one of those triage centers you see in a war zone movie.
“What did they do to him?” I finally manage to ask. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know, but now I need to know. I don’t understand. His letter made it sound like he wanted to leave me. Why would he willingly let them do this to him?
“Adrenaline.” Tyson is the one who answers.
“Wh-at?” my voice wavers.
“They gave him a shot of adrenaline. Straight to the heart. They do that so he wouldn’t pass out. It lasts about twenty minutes. They remove the Lords’ crest by cutting it off. And to keep him from bleeding out, they cauterize it with their own. Three sixes. One for each brother.”
My hands come up to cover my face. Fresh tears spill down my cheeks. “Why would they do this to him?”
Tyson’s eyes soften on mine. “They do it to everyone, Elli. It’s their initiation. It may vary from person to person, because not everyone who enters Carnage wears the Lords’ crest, but everyone gets branded.”
My eyes shoot to my dad who stands next to them, and I look at his chest. He had removed his shirt to use it for Sin. Sure enough, I see the three sixes on his chest. They’re healed but you can’t miss the hack job they did.
“Once the adrenaline wears off, they come down and crash pretty hard,” Gavin adds,
My eyes go to him, and I see he’s already started an IV and is administering something into it.
“What is that?”
“I’ve sedated him. I’ve got to clean the wound and do an autograft,” Gavin responds. Tyson hands him a pair of scissors and Gavin starts to cut down Sin’s thigh, shredding his bloody jeans to expose his leg to the room.
My eyes go to Tyson, needing more of an explanation.
“It’s a type of skin graft. He’s going to take a piece of skin from Sin’s thigh, brand it with the Lords’ crest and then reattach it over the brand the brothers gave him.”
“Use mine,” I all but shout, stepping forward, knowing that I can be of help.
They both frown at me. “Elli,” my father starts, but stops when my shaking hands go to my jeans. I undo them and shove the material down my legs. Gripping my inner thigh, I turn my leg the best I can to show them my brand. “Take it.”
All three look at one another and then back at me. “This is what you need, right? Use it.”
Gavin frowns. “Where did you get that?”
Before I can answer, Tyson speaks, “He branded her with his ring.”
“Goddammit.” My father sighs.
“But you can use it, right? Don’t cut him.” I’m trembling. I don’t want to see him suffer anymore. What skin will replace the piece that Gavin removes? It sounds like a vicious cycle that doesn’t have a good ending. They can take it from me, and he’ll be whole. A quicker recovery.
Tyson walks over to me, yanks up my jeans, and catches my shaking hands in his.
“This is important, Elli.” He speaks slowly, calmly.How can he be this calm right now?“The Lords can’t find out that Sin was ever at Carnage.”