Out of breath, I wrapped Lilah’s leg loosely around my waist and dropped my chest down to hers, nuzzling into her soft tits.

“Mmm…” I murmured, licking at her damp skin, “now that’s a good fuckin’ way to wake up.”

“Yes,” Lilah said, breathlessly. “Morning’s are most certainly my favorite time of the day.”

Laughing at her attempt at a joke, I raised my head and crushed my lips against hers, only breaking away to say, “Love you, beautiful.”

Lilah blushed, even after all this time and cupped my cheek. “I love you. And you are beautiful too,” she said shyly.

I waggled my eyebrows. “Oh, I fuckin’ know that, baby. This face couldn’t be more perfect. My body’s like a Greek God’s, and my cock is as long—”

Lilah pushed her hand over my mouth, and laughed, one side of her mouth not quite as high as the other due to her scar. But it only made her smile look cuter to me.

Lilah’s blue eyes softened and she let out a sigh.

“What, baby?” I asked, stroking my finger over as much of her body as I could.

“I am just so impossibly happy. Before you I was vacant of love. Now I am replete. Before you I lived without hope. Now I am inspired. Before you I was broken. Now I am whole.”

“Lilah,” I rasped, fighting a fucking lump in my throat at her words. I tapped over my heart with my fist and said, “You’re in here, Li. You’re fuckin’ always in here.”

Lilah reached up for a kiss, and after an age, I finally pulled back. Grinning down at my woman, I pulled out from inside of her, got to my feet and held out my hand. “Let’s go eat.”

Lilah took my hand as I pulled her to stand and I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, leading her into the cabin.

As soon as we entered the kitchen, Lilah moved to the cupboards and set to making food. She still loved to cook, in fact, she did it any chance she got—which got no damn complaints from me.

I sat at the table and just watched her whipping around the kitchen, humming church songs to herself and wondered how the fuck I ever lived without her before?

Within fifteen minutes, Lilah had made pancakes, bacon and coffee for us both—our usual.

My old lady brought it all to the table, sat down right beside me, held my hand in hers and began eating her food…

And never once asked me permission to do so.

*****

New Zion, Texas

Prophet Cain

I paced the floor in the meeting room where Judah, Brother Luke, and I were meeting with the Klan. And not just any Klan. Johnny Landry and Governor Ayers, the Grand and Imperial Wizards of the famed Texas KKK.

It was about fucking time. My depleted council was going crazy over the latest attack.

“We want those devil worshippers wiped out. We want them killed, slain, and their bodies impaled on spikes to warn any other man threatening this commune not to fuck with the Lord’s chosen people!” Judah hissed and I held up my hand to speak.

Weeks had gone by since The Hangmen had taken Delilah and killed two of my council members in the process, hell, not killed, mutilated and marked them with huge fucking H’s! And I was done with it all. The assholes were fucking up everything for me here at the commune. My people had started to doubt my leadership and I had yet to receive a revelation from the Lord. Nothing was going as planned. Nothing that was fated for me was coming true.

And now my people wanted blood.

I needed to regain their faith. I needed to be the prophet I was always destined to be. I had nowhere else to go. Nothing else to do. This was all I had in my life!

Facing the Klan leaders, I said, “I want the Cursed back, from which they will never escape into the outside world again. Then I’m going to marry the prophesized Cursed sister of Eve and fulfill Prophet David’s prophecy. I must marry Salome, and join with her in the Lord’s Sharing. I need her returned no matter the cost. It is essential for my people’s future.”

Slamming my palms down on the table, I stared into the eyes of Landry and Ayers. “Your men fucked up. Someone leaked the location of New Zion. This place was supposed to be off the grid, off all records, it’s meant to be impenetrable for fucks sake! Only an insider could have revealed this information to the Hangmen.”

Landry glanced at Ayers, and Ayers sat forward, resting his chin lightly on steepled hands, looking every inch the politician he had trained himself to be.

“You are correct, Cain—”

“Prophet Cain!” Judah and Brother Luke emphasized in unison, interrupting the governor, admonishing his lack of respect for a Lord’s messenger. Brother Luke’s son Micah had been killed in the most abominable way, a manner that just reeked of Flame. And he was beyond pissed.

Ayers held up his hands and smirked. “Prophet Cain. My apologies.”

Landry grinned at Ayers and crossed his arms, but their humor soon faded.

“We have a suspect, a deserter from our high officers who we believe stole vital information from Landry’s office. And we have reason to believe he hides amongst the Hangmen. He hasn’t been seen since the day of the raid, so it leads us to conclude he has joined forces with them.”

My fists clenched until they ached. “Then he must be caught and dealt with!”

Ayers held up his hands again. “Prophet Cain, I have known of the Hangmen for many years, under quite a few presidents, I might add. And I’ll tell you this now, these men are powerful. You lived with them for five years, so you know this. They have an international reach. They have more connections than me and all of the Klan. Hell, more than the damn president of the United States and I’m guessing more than any of you. So we have to be careful in our planning, meticulous with our attention to detail. We have to leave no page unturned.