Chapter 57
"Taker…" Abigail stopped him from walking out, grabbing his hand, and waited for everyone else to leave until it was just them. "Dean knows the route to the castle, to the DOV grounds. I have a feeling he's going to be there to try to stop you from using me as bait." She had no idea why, but she had this twisting in her gut, telling her Dean had gone rogue for a reason. "We have to be prepared for him, just in case he tries something."
That was not surprising at all, and he nodded his agreement. "We'll keep an eye out, darlin'." Taker reassured her, leading the way out of the medical wing. "You don't think he'd tell them we're coming, do you?" Better question… "Or that we know about the spell and have a counter?" Because if that was the case, he was leaving right now to go snap Dean's neck.
"No, I don't think so. He loves me, he doesn't want me to be put in harm's way. If anything, he'll try to stop it at the actual battle." Abigail didn't know Dean all that long, but their journey together had taught her a few things about him. She knew how his mind worked, not nearly as well as Bray, but nevertheless, she honestly didn't see Dean, Roman, and Seth putting the entire town in jeopardy. "Besides, even if they did that, the DOV would capture them anyway and they'd come here to finish the fight. So either way, it's a win for us because you have twice the amount of magic they do." Which was zero, thanks to her and Dean rescuing Malcolm.
Basically, Dean was going to lurk and be her silent protector waiting in the wings. Fine, Taker could work with that. The more eyes on Abigail the better off they all would be. He didn't have to like Dean Ambrose, but… he could understand where the man was coming from.
"You hungry?" He asked quietly, studying her thoughtfully. Taker had noticed her appetite tapering off the closer they got to crunch time.
"No, but if I don't eat, you're gonna be the worrywart and we can't have that." Abigail half-joked, winking at him, and could tell he was hungry. The man was an eating machine. Then again, being 6'10 and 300 pounds did that to a person. "Come on, let's go get you some food before you waste away, big man." She laughed when he growled and smacked her backside, wiggling it in response. "Thank you, my Lord, may I have another?"
Chuckling under his breath, 'Taker slapped her ass again, palming her cheek when she wiggled again. "You're eating wench, your Lord decrees it." He informed her, scooping Abigail up and tossed her over his shoulder, still palming her backside.
This just made it easier for him to reach and her laughter was sweet music to his ears. If her appetite didn't resume soon, she'd be skin and bones and he'd snap her in half during their lovemaking. Couldn't have that, not when they'd barely scratched the surface of her sexual experiences.
"Whatever my Lord wishes." Abigail remarked teasingly, enjoying his hand on her backside and, the fact he was doing this in front of people, showing PDA, meant a lot to her.
They arrived in the common house and Abigail was carted all around until they sat down with their plates. Mark had made her plate while keeping her over his broad shoulder and she couldn't stop laughing along with Trish and Amy. They were giggling madly at her reddening face. Everything would be fine, she had to believe that, believe in him, and leaned her head against his shoulder while eating, sighing gently.
"You are such an ass." She muttered good-naturedly, accepting a kiss and proceeding to dig into her food.
"You're just now learning this?" Trish teased, dropping off the customary coffee urn just for Taker. "We went and seen Stephanie today."
"Yeah, how'd that go?"
Probably about as well as his visits to the firecracker had. She kept bitching about having to take a full 6 weeks off for recovery. Most women, with natural childbirth, were up and running a few weeks after delivery, though they encouraged them all to take 6 weeks 'off', so to speak. C-sections were a mandatory 6 weeks.
"She's nagging about being bored." Amy chuckled on her way by, shaking her head. "Mind you, she also had her hands full with little Anthony. Said he's just like his dad, wanting her tits all the time."
He snorted, raising a hand to cover the lower half of his face at that one. "That was something I didn't need to hear, darlin'."
Abigail didn't either, nearly choking on the bite of food she'd taken and groaned since it went down the wrong pipe. "Jesus Ames…" The redhead could be blunt when the situation called for it. She nodded when Amy and Trish asked if she was alright, taking a long sip of her tea, and glared at them playfully. "Did she actually say that?"
"Yeah, it was hilarious at the time. Sorry didn't mean to make you choke." Amy laughed, patting Abigail on the back while Taker continued chuckling.
"Don't worry, boss, while you guys are gone taking care of business, we'll make sure Stephanie abides by doctor's orders." In this case, Taker's orders since he WAS the head honcho and the main doctor within Wonderful.
He wasn't a doctor by any stretch of the imagination. When Wonderful had started going, really started getting up off its feet, they hadn't had any medical people, so everyone had to pitch in where they could. Taker had wound up delivering a few babies and, apparently, it had just stuck. Something to do with his calm, deep voice and steady demeanor is what he had been told. Whatever, he supposed. He did have the stomach for the work, he knew that.
"If Stephanie doesn't want to play nice, you have my permission to break her ankle."
"Duly noted."
Abigail knew he really didn't mean it, though she did hope Stephanie stayed on bed rest and didn't push herself too hard. She was a mother now. She needed to focus on that precious baby boy and could always come back to work when he was older. Hopefully, John could persuade her of that fact. Then again, she also knew how much Stephanie enjoyed running the common house along with Trish and Amy.
"How are you feeling anyway, both of you?"
"Tired."
"Sore and tired."
"But also excited because I'm having Steve's baby." Trish gushed, not afraid to show how much she loved her man, and eyeballed Taker, suddenly becoming serious. "Bring him home to me, Taker. Don't let anything happen to him, promise me."
"It'll be okay, Trish." Amy wrapped an arm around her shoulders, knowing it was the hormones, and smiled apologetically at Taker. "They're all coming back, Matt and Jeff too."
"I'm not taking Jeff."
"But you're taking Matt?"
"Jeff is going to be needed here." Jeff was more brains than brawn, and Matt was the opposite: More brawn than brains, even though both men were smart and could hold their own in a fight. "If anything happens, we need him here to help Melina in the medical wing."
Amy wasn't pleased with that, but she did understand it, pursing her lips together and just nodded.
"No pressure, Deadman."
"None at all."
He was feeling lots of pressure, actually.
Once they were out of the common house with full bellies, Abigail stopped Mark on the way to the tower and turned to look up at him with worried midnight blues. "I'm not trying to…step on your toes or anything, but…Steve and Matt, maybe they should stay here." She knew that would NOT set well with Steve since he was Mark's right hand, but… "They both have babies on the way and…I don't want something happening to them to where they don't come back. Melina suffered because of David's death, I don't want that for them." Granted, other women in Wonderful were pregnant besides Amy and Trish, but this was Mark's inner circle. "What do you think?"
"I think they're going because they want to go." Taker said truthfully, then smiled, shaking his head. "Besides, if they, members of the council with pregnant women don't go, what kind of example is that setting for the men who are going with their own families and pregnant women left behind? Are we so much better than them?" He wasn't accusing, or sounding like a jerk, just musing it out loud. "No, they both knew what they were signing up for, and I can't make exceptions, Abbie."
She nodded in understanding, reaching out to stroke his face and brought him down to her level to where she could kiss him. "That's why they look up to you because you treat everyone fairly." Ambrose had been wrong about him and calling these people his 'circle'. Just because he hung out with them more than others didn't mean Mark didn't care about every single person in Wonderful. "I agree with you, I just feel bad for Amy and Trish having to stay behind, wondering if the father of their child is coming home or not. That's all. But like you said, we have a plan and it's going to work and we're all going to survive this."
He didn't feel hot about it either, but that was because he knew Steve and Matt personally. Taker knew everyone in Wonderful, or almost everyone, to some extent or another, but these men were like his brothers. But… he didn't show favoritism, he didn't make exceptions. Hell, his own woman was going right into the thick of it, how could anyone else do any less?
"Damn right, darlin'." He slapped her ass again, laughing at the exasperated look Abigail shot him. "Sorry, it's just begging for attention though."
"Well…" An evil gleam came over her eyes as her hand slid up his tank top-covered chest, stepping closer to him. "We DO have a little bit of time before the meeting…what do you think we should do with that time?" She teased, squealing out when he lifted her over his shoulder to cart her straight to the tower. Sexy times first before the meeting sounded like a perfect way to pass the time. "I love you." Abigail whispered once they were completely naked in bed with him hovering over her and moaned as he slipped home inside of her, both getting lost in each other.
Around 9 PM that night, Abigail dressed in a black long-sleeved top with blue jeans since it was a little chilly outside and walked out of the tower with Mark, wanting to get this meeting done and over with. Leaving the warmth of his body and their bed did NOT sound appealing, but this had to be done. They were using the common house tonight for the meeting. His 'inner circle', as Ambrose had called them, and the leaders of the units. It was amazing how fast people had assembled and he knew soldiers were packed and ready to go, having said their goodbyes to their families and whatnot.
Taker stopped in the doorway, flashing Abigail a smile when she halted to take in all the people. "Each unit has a squad leader." He said by way of explanation.
"Oh okay."
"Hey, boss." A man with heavily tattooed arms, weird colored hair -the top was light like a blonde while the rest of it was dark- and a nose ring greeted them. "We haven't had a chance to meet officially. I'm Mideon."
"Nice to meet you." Abigail shook his hand with a smile, though it was hesitant, and blinked when a HUGE black man walked up next.
"Mideon and I finished the symbol. After the meeting, why don't you take a look at it and make sure it's to your standards, boss."
Abigail wasn't taken aback by the bigger man not introducing himself and watched Mark nod before being guided to their seats.
Their seats were right in the center of the room, the tables and chairs having been moved, so everything was in a sort of circle. He probably should have mentioned that she was going to be at the center, but… it had slipped his mind, they hadn't had a council like this in quite some time. Taker stood in the center and turned in spot, eyeing all the fairly familiar faces.
"Gentlemen," His voice was magically amplified. "And ladies," He acknowledged the female squad leaders with a nod. "We're getting ready to march to that cesspit Bray Wyatt calls a castle and kick his ass."
"Amen to that!"
"Let's make him a breeder!"
"Victoria, that is… gross."
Abigail cringed upon hearing that, though she didn't blame the people for having this amount of hatred for Bray. She could just imagine the type of demon spawn that would be unleashed on Vesperia if Bray ever bore offspring. Come to think of it, he'd never had sex and that meant he would die a virgin. That brought a wicked smile to her face as she folded her arms in front of her chest, remaining silent while Mark proceeded with the meeting.
"So we're gonna string her up on Taker's symbol Mideon and Viscera built and use her as the bait to lure Wyatt out." Steve explained, giving Taker time to catch a breather since he'd talked for the better part of 20 minutes. "Your jobs are simple. Keep the DOV at bay while the handful of us with Taker deal with Bray. He's gonna need our help, along with Malcolm, so can you handle that? Can you shoot first and ask questions later? If so, gimme a hell yeah!"
"HELL YEAH!" Everyone roared in unison.
Taker rolled his eyes at that, leaning down so he could start telling Abigail who was who in their little council here, the people she hadn't met yet anyway. When she asked, very quietly, if they were going to reveal the part about blood magic, he simply shook his head no. There were some things that people did not need to know, and they were already playing this one pretty close to the chest.
Abigail agreed with him because not everyone would be on board with using dark magic. It wasn't called dark magic for the hell of it. Malcolm said it would leave a horrible mark on the world and he wasn't lying. It was best to keep that bit of information to themselves because, once the dark magic happened, there was no turning back. The spell had to be broken, there was no other way to do it and they had all the blood from both Malcolm and Mark they needed.
"I just have one question, Taker," Victoria spoke up, all eyes turning to her. "When do we leave for war?"
Malcolm was present, of course, and smiled at the eager young lady. "In 3 days' time, at dawn." They would be traveling during the day and camping out at night, staying out of the way of the DOV until they arrived on their territory.
"Which means, ya crazy sumbitches, don't be hungover when we march, or else it's going to really suck to be your sad asses."
"So you're saying we should get drunk now?"
"That's Ken Anderson." Taker pointed out quietly, watching as kegs were rolled out and felt himself biting back the urge to both roll his eyes and smile at the same time. "He's cocky, but a good guy."
"Yes, I'm sayin' get drunk now. 'Taker?"
"Just no wenchin'."
"You heard the boss, tap them kegs!"
"One beer with the guys and gals won't hurt you, big guy."
