by Sabrina Rue
Hope closed her eyes as Justice walked to Harmony. “You’re the best fighter among us, Aunt. A powerful credit to your family, Mates, and Pack. I’m sorry you can’t join us today.”
As Harmony opened her mouth to question him, Ryker shot her with a tranquilizer dart.
Jax caught her before she hit the ground. “She’s going to be really pissed when she wakes up, kid.”
“Harmony is the most feared by Montana Pack. Upon sighting her, Gregor will instruct almost a dozen of his men, hidden in a tower, to shoot her with crossbows. At least one of them will hit their intended target.”
Tears in his eyes, he added, “The iron arrow won’t kill my aunt but it will kill the daughters she carries. They aren’t strong enough to survive it. Every scenario I read ended in the death of her children. When I show her, she’ll forgive me.”
Jax carried her to the plane and returned moments later. Two Weres secured the spy among them and he was darted. The flight crew would dart him every half hour.
“Thank you for helping get my daughter back.” Hope strapped on weapons and ammunition. “Let’s get this done.”
Slipping sunglasses over their eyes to hide the glow in deep darkness, almost two hundred Weres turned to run silently into the thick forest along one side of the landing strip.
They had to cover more than twenty miles to the edge of Gregor’s fortress where Juliette was imprisoned. He could have a thousand men or a dozen.
No one seemed to know for sure.
Hope didn’t give a single fuck. Anyone who stood between her and her child would die.
* * *
As they neared the ridge Ryan had told them marked the edge of Gregor’s property, Justice transitioned away several times.
Slipping over the dark side of the jagged hill, they realized he’d taken down night guards. Each of them had tranquilizers in their necks.
Talon grinned as Justice reappeared beside him. “We should tie them up or something. I’m trying to keep from killing too many. It makes Mommy upset.”
Barely holding back his chuckle, Talon gestured at two of his men and gave them quiet orders.
“Stay here. I’ll create a distraction.”
They waited, watching for a sign from a little boy who was more powerful than all of them but too small to transition in and take his sister out alone.
Hope knelt beside Talon, Ryker and Jax on her other side. Pulling her sniper rifle from her pack, she assembled it and examined the compound through her scope.
On the far side of the compound, opposite where they crouched in darkness, several propane tanks exploded. The noise and flames rocked the ground.
“Pretty sure that’s the sign, Alphas,” Dayden murmured sarcastically. “Yeah, I’m almost positive that is the sign.”
Softly, Hope announced, “There are cameras and trip wires.” She pointed at a joint in the wall. “See the glint of metal?”
“Fuck,” Ryker hissed. “Good spot.”
A few feet away, Denver said, “Those must have been added when we didn’t report back.”
Hope stretched out on her belly, sighted in Weres in the lookout towers at each corner, and shot them.
“Avoid the wire. When you’re close to the wall, I’ll take out the cameras. Too soon and they’ll know we’re on this side.”
Talon kissed her roughly. “See you soon, Mate.”
“Keep your shit together, Talon.” He winked.
Silently, they ran low to the ground toward the compound. Hope started taking out the cameras as they leapt the wall with an additional few feet to account for the trip wire.
Desiree crouched beside her with her protection detail. “It must be hard to let Justice out of your sight.”
“Every fucking time.” Sighting Weres charging to the side of the compound where most of their Pack were located, she took them out long distance.
“Daemon children, they mature a hundred times faster than humans and twenty times faster than Were kind. They have womb memory, birth memory, and develop faster.”
She reloaded her rifle but didn’t take her eyes away from the scope. “Chronologically, my son isn’t quite three.”
Hope shot three Montana Pack Weres in rapid succession as they ran from the main building.
“Physiologically, he’s about six.”
Finding Talon, she watched him slice through lesser-trained rogues. When one moved to jump on him from the roof of one of the outbuildings, Hope shot him and smiled as Talon blew a kiss in her general direction.
“Mentally, he’s a hardened fighter of twenty-five and a big part of that is the life he was forced to live with me.”
Breaking down her weapon, she stored it and shrugged on her pack. “Emotionally, things fluctuate moment by moment because he’s a mix of Daemon, Were, and human. It keeps me on my toes and makes my heart drop into my stomach.”
Addressing the males around Desiree, she said, “You keep her inside the circle. Don’t worry about me or anything else but keeping this woman breathing. She’s crucial to Texas Pack.”
Tilting her head, Harmony’s Second said softly, “I’m not…”
Hope cut her off. “You are. In ways you can’t even begin to imagine. Let’s go introduce ourselves to my daughter.”
Pulling two heavy handguns, clicking off the safety, Hope crested the small hill and shouted, “Clear the trip wire!”
Their group landed on the inside of the compound and stayed in a crouch to assess the situation.
She removed three small metal boxes from her pack and attached them to steel supports along the outside perimeter.
“Stay behind me, Desiree. Move when you’re told.”
“Yes, Alpha.” Hope glanced over her shoulder with a frown and Ryker’s sister grinned. “You are now, you know?”
“It’s…surreal.”
Then they were moving. Desiree stayed below the male Weres protecting her while Hope cleared a path with head shots to Montana Pack who dared to look at her as an enemy.
After everything they’d done to her family, fuck them all.
She emptied two magazines and racked in new ones as she heard the sound that stopped her world.
The sound of her daughter screaming.
It slammed her back to the day in New Mexico when she and Harmony raced to protect their younger siblings but weren’t fast enough to save them.
“Juliette…”
Running, shooting, she prayed the males assigned to Desiree were as good as everyone said because Hope had one goal in her head that drowned out everything else.
Getting her children to safety.
Loading with armor-piercing rounds, she blew the fucking hinges off the metal front door and kicked it down. It landed in a foyer with a crash.
Before entering, she screamed, “My name is Hope Kassis. I’m here to take back the daughter who was stolen from my womb. You get in my way, I’ll slaughter you where you stand.”
Growling, she added, “You have my word as the offspring of Slade Kassis, your Alpha, betrayed by his Second and poisoned in battle by Gregor. The coward who knew he couldn’t win. I’m here to avenge my blood. That’s the only fucking warning you get. Get between me and my child and you will die tonight.”
She inhaled deeply and caught the scent of her little girl.
Running through a long entry, there were growls and screams but she didn’t look anywhere but in front of her. Anyone who came at her was shot down, jumped over, and left behind.
Skidding around a corner, a male body-checked her against the opposite wall. Bringing up her weapon, she shot him in the gut. As he fell, she glimpsed Justice transition away and knew he was checking on Desiree.
Approaching a reinforced metal door at the end of the hall, Hope knocked on it with the butt of her gun. “Open up, Gregor. Give me my daughter and I’ll make your death quick.”
Removing a small device from her pack, she attached it to the door, turned it on, and dialed it up.
“I�
��ll kill Juliette first,” he said calmly on the other side. “It’ll take you a week to get through that door. I’ll wait here with provisions until the rest of my men show up…”
“Do you think they’ll come to defend you? Take on such a large contingent of Texas Pack? Are you willing to sacrifice every rogue you’ve recruited, Gregor?”
“All of them and more! All that matters is Montana Pack!”
“Did you tell them that, false alpha?”
“I am the Alpha of Montana Pack!”
“A title stolen through deception rather than skill.”
“Bullshit! Your parents are dead, your siblings are dead, your son is dead.” He laughed. “This girl is all you have left but she belongs to me, Hope. I should have killed you and your bitch twin the moment I killed your arrogant father.”
The sounds of battle outside gradually slowed to a stop.
Hope smiled. “You know, Gregor, you always thought you were smarter than my father. You called him the brute force to your intelligence. He was so much more cunning than you.”
Leaning against the metal door, she laughed. “Dad never would have admitted to treason and murder through a closed door. I mean, who does that? You have no clue what I’m doing here on my side, after all.”
Justice appeared beside her and she winked.
“Just so you know, I placed speakers outside. When I gave a little knock and told you to open up, I attached a wireless transmitter to this wonderfully conductive steel door.”
“Lying treasonous Kassis whore!”
“Do I lie? Have I committed treason? Am I a whore? Hmm, all questions Parliament will get to the bottom of when they arrive. And they will arrive, Gregor. They were invited.”
Justice closed his eyes and placed his palm on the door. Glancing up at her, he waited.
Kneeling beside him, she whispered, “I love you. Open the door and transition away. They think you’re dead.”
“Love you, Mommy.”
He transitioned away and the screaming of several male Weres came from inside while Hope waited anxiously for the locks to disengage.
When it swung wide, her son was covered in blood. “I thought I’d just take care of things so you could finally meet Juliette.”
“You’re grounded, Justice.”
“Worth it. He talks too much.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“She’s angry, Mommy. They’ve had her tied up for weeks because she kept escaping. Sometimes, they put a muzzle on her. She loves you. She knows you through me. It’ll be okay.”
Nodding, Hope holstered her weapons and lowered to the blood-splattered floor on her knees.
Still, quiet, she watched as Justice gestured behind her to Desiree. The young woman entered alone, putting her hand up to stop the male guards.
She removed the long trench coat, the weapons she’d been given, the knife always strapped to her thigh, and walked across the threshold in form-fitting breeches, riding boots, and a flowing top.
Bright green eyes glowed in the darkest corner of the room and Desiree walked toward them as if she didn’t hear the low growl that vibrated on the air.
“Juliette. My name is Desiree. A friend of your mom’s and your aunt. We’re family.” Taking slow, careful steps, she crossed the room. “No one will hurt you.”
The growls grew louder and Desiree stopped a few feet away, placed her fist over her heart, and bowed her head.
“I’m Desiree Blackwell. Sister to Ryker Blackwell, Alpha of Texas Pack, Second to his Mate Harmony Kassis. Friend to Hope and Justice Kassis…and now friend to you, Juliette.”
Lowering to one knee, she made a small cut on her palm and held out her hand. “I vow to protect you, to lay down my life if need be to keep you safe. To help you adjust to the world you’ve been denied. I make this vow in blood.”
Raising her face, she stared at the girl who’d edged a bit more into the light. “Accept my vow, Juliette.”
Suddenly, Juliette was in front of Desiree and the gasps heard from the hallway were ignored by Hope and the young woman there to bring her little girl literally out of the darkness.
Only her child mattered.
Juliette was filthy, covered in splattered blood and food. Her hair fell in a wild tangle to her waist. Small canines were extended, biting painfully into her lower lip as her eyes glowed.
None of those things would have been unusual for a child kidnapped from her mother at birth, stolen away to an enemy compound, and held as a prisoner and profit-making slave for three years.
Hated by Gregor, like every member of her bloodline, but a necessary presence to keep the Montana Pack coffers full. Her appearance, her wildness, her fury was expected.
The wings…those were a bit of a shock.
She hovered a foot from the floor, just above Desiree, and snarled aggressively at her. The breeze from her wings moved the woman’s black hair. “You lie.”
“I don’t lie. You would know.”
“You don’t know my gifts.”
“I’m an empath. Usually, I need to touch someone else to read them but your rage is like a wave, rippling against the shore. You’ve already shown me many things about you.”
Dropping to her small feet, Juliette folded her wings. Her dress was a halter style and it was too cold in Montana for her to be wearing so little.
Raking her nails over her inner palm, Juliette slapped her hand into Desiree’s. The glow of her eyes brightened.
“If you lie, if you betray me, I will tear out your throat.” She snapped her teeth. “My canines are small but I’m not afraid to rip you open with them.”
Hope’s smile was slow. “You beautiful survivor.”
Juliette’s eyes darted past Desiree and landed on Hope.
“I’ve searched for you, Juliette. I’m sorry it took me so long to get here, to come for you. No one will ever hurt you again.”
“They can’t hurt me. I can kill them all.” Snarling, she hissed, “With my brother’s help, I can kill them all.”
“You don’t have to, darling. You don’t have to fight anymore. You don’t have to be afraid.”
“I am not afraid!” she screamed and the lights of the compound dimmed for a moment. “I am not weak!”
“Even the strongest of us feel fear, daughter. Even the most powerful have moments of vulnerability.”
“Not me. Not me!”
“I’ve been afraid. I’ve been vulnerable.” The girl growled but didn’t answer. “My sister Harmony, the strongest female Were known, has felt fear, shame, grief, regret.”
“I will never be afraid again. I will never be weak.”
Hope nodded. “With Pack around you, you’ll grow strong in safety, with the love of your family.”
Desiree put her other hand over Juliette’s and slowly siphoned off the child’s rage, fear, and humiliation.
“You can be a little girl now, Juliette. My little girl. The way you were meant to be. The way I’ve dreamed…”
“You don’t know me…”
“Since the day you were born, Justice has shared his knowledge of you with me, darling. Every day, we’ve fought to get to you.”
“It took you too long!”
“I know. I’m sorry. We were alone and didn’t know who to trust. We searched Montana Pack but didn’t know about this place. I had to find your sire…”
“Traitorous dog! A liar! A thief! A betrayer!”
“Yes. He is all those things. I took him from Montana Pack. I tortured him until he told me where you were hidden.”
“What did you do?” she asked softly. “How did you make him tell you what you wanted to know?”
“I cut off fingers until he broke from the pain. I wasn’t glad to do it, even with what he did to me, to you. I knew things were getting worse. I…grew desperate.”
In front of her, Desiree’s body tightened with tension and she made a low sound of pain.
“He deserved death for selling his child into slavery!”
>
“I know. I agree.” Hope stayed on her knees despite wanting nothing more than to run to her daughter’s side. “All of that will be behind you now.”
For several minutes, she told Juliette stories of her life on the run with Justice. The people they met, the places they’d been, and how they both wanted nothing more than to find her.
“Having you with me, with your brother, was the driving thought of every day.”
“You’re Mated.”
“Yes. I met him two weeks ago when I stole Ryan from Montana Pack.”
“He’ll never accept another Wolf’s offspring…”
Hope scented Talon before she saw him lower to his knees beside her. He took her hand and smiled at Juliette.
Justice stood at his side with his small arm around Talon’s shoulders. “Juliette. This is Talon Stonehill, Regional Alpha of West Texas. He made a blood vow to our mother to love us and protect us as his own. You can trust him.”
“Hello, Juliette.”
She yelled, “I don’t need your protection!”
Talon said softly, “Perhaps not but everyone needs love.”
Her daughter stared at him for a long moment. “I have more Daemon blood than any living Were. I’m older than my brother, powerful in ways you cannot know. Do you also seek to use my gifts?”
“I’ll help you with anything you need. You’re my daughter, not a source of profit.”
Desiree’s head dropped. The sound of her growl grew louder. Little by little, Juliette’s eyes dimmed, her teeth receded.
“Juliette.” Hope smiled. “Come to me, darling. Let me love you as I was meant to do from the moment I knew of you.”
“Meet our mother, Juliette. You’ll love her as much as I do.”
The girl blinked as if dazed. Tilting her head, she started to walk past Desiree but paused.
Using her other hand, Juliette lifted Desiree’s chin up and stared at the burning rage she was fighting to control. Her canines were fully extended, her eyes a brilliant blue.
Rage taken from the child now resided in the woman.