Electric series- Raven Investigations BoxSet

by Stacey Brutger

  A soldier worked his way toward her. She dodged the fist aimed for her face, grabbed his arm, then wrenched it backward, popping it out of joint. While he was distracted by the excruciating pain, she kicked him behind the knee, dropping him. She grabbed him by his helmet and slammed it into the wall, cracking it like an egg. Blood seeped out, and she watched dispassionately as he crumpled to the ground. Mack gave her a small salute, very subtly guiding soldiers away from her.

  Protecting her.

  She frowned at the random thought and turned away.

  Her attention immediately landed on Tara as she struggled to get to her hands and feet, blood spilling down a nasty gash on her forehead where she’d been slammed into the wall.

  The black device to activate the collars lay two feet away.

  They both spotted it at the same time.

  Raven lunged forward, ignoring the way Durant cursed wildly behind her at her reckless action, trusting him to guard her back as she waded into battle. Just when the device was within reach, a soldier slammed into her. Ignoring the slash of pain against her ribs, she watched in frustration as Tara triumphantly lifted her prize.

  Durant yanked the young soldier away, casually ripping out the man’s spine, the kid’s helmet doing nothing to mute his wild scream of terror and pain.

  “I’m going to enjoy this.” Tara jammed her thumb on the button.

  Nothing happened.

  Raven sagged in relief. Thank you, Felix.

  A scowl tightened Tara’s face, and Raven slowly straightened, her dragon rising to the surface, craving justice for the horror the female had inflicted on others over the years. “Oh, did your little toy break?”

  Tara’s eyes widened, clutching the weapon she so casually used to torture others. With a snarl, she threw the device down. “You did this.”

  Raven smiled, static snapping along her skin at the prospect of a nice, satisfying brawl. “Just leveling the playing field. No more hiding behind the scientists like a little lapdog.”

  Tara bared her fangs, claws flashing as she began to circle her. “I’m going to enjoy killing you.”

  The battle continued around them, more and more bodies piling up, when a siren went off. Raven was stunned when Tara turn without another word, shoving humans out of her way as she ran. A number of humans swore, quickly abandoning the fight, then followed, leaving behind their fallen without a care.

  Understanding slammed into her, and she whirled to find Griffin and Durant swiftly taking care of the last few soldiers who hadn’t yet had time to flee. “They’ve activated their evacuation procedures. We have only a few minutes to locate the others and get out.”

  The doctors had fled their observation bay, willing to sacrifice their soldiers and everything they built.

  One of the injured guards pulled himself to his feet and lifted a gun to her face, when Mack casually stepped up behind him and snapped the human’s neck.

  His movements were silent and deadly.

  Lethal.

  He held his arms up in surrender. “You have less than twenty minutes to make it topside, or they will bury you alive.”

  Rylan bolted after the fleeing guards, lost to bloodlust. Durant swore, gave her a crushing hug, and kissed her forehead before reluctantly pulling away. “Don’t be a hero.”

  Before she could threaten him with a dire fate if he didn’t come back to her alive, he leaped over the heap of limbs and fallen bodies and ran in pursuit. Griffin hastily blocked her when she would have followed. “We need to go.”

  “Follow me.” Mack turned and strode swiftly down the tunnels, expertly guiding them back toward the control room. The place was a hive of activity as doctors and lab techs rushed to finish evacuation procedures.

  “Why are you helping us?” Mack had been silently assisting her ever since she arrived, almost stalking her with his intensity. Maybe the pack custom of guarding females was ingrained in him, but she doubted it.

  Mack cut her a sharp look. “Why are you helping the others? You’re stronger and better than them, yet you take stupid risks to save them.”

  Raven scowled at his comparison.

  Griffin grabbed the door handle, then casually snapped the knob, shoving his way into the room. He grabbed a lab tech seated before the computer by the throat, lifting him clear out of the chair, before tossing him away as if he weighed no more than a paper airplane. The panicked tech scrambled to his feet and staggered for the door.

  Griffin seated himself in front of the computer, and immediately began typing away. “I’m going to download whatever I can access.”

  Raven nodded absently, searching the room. “While you do that, I’m going to search for Felix. He should be here somewhere.”

  Griffin lifted his head to protest, when Mack volunteered, “I’ll keep her safe.”

  Raven bristled at his highhandedness. Griffin glanced up from the computer, then looked at her for any sign of hesitation, raising a brow in query.

  She waved him away. “Stay. We need that information.”

  Mack held out his arm. “This way.”

  When she didn’t take the lead, not trusting him at her back, he gave her a brief nod and took off, weaving through a series of passages in the lab. The farther they traveled, the fewer people they saw. “Where—”

  Then she saw him.

  Frankenstein.

  The doctor spotted her at the same time. Fury roared through her, energy gathering around her until the space between them space felt charged and expectant. She ran full tilt at him, leaping over a desk in her rush to reach him.

  Without any expression, the doctor calmly reached behind him, grabbed Felix by the scuff of his neck…then shot him three times point blank in the chest.

  “No!” The dragon roared in denial, and she skidded across the floor, barely catching Felix as he collapsed. When she glanced up, the doctor slipped behind a metal blast door, locking out his associates, not caring that they would be slaughtered.

  “I did it. I destroyed the machine.” Felix coughed, and his chest rattled ominously.

  “You did good.” She tightened her hold, her stomach curdling with dread when she saw blood trickle out of his mouth and nose.

  “I did good.” He smiled, his body relaxing, his eyes falling shut.

  Raven remained frozen, waiting for him to look up at her again.

  Precious seconds ticked by and hope slowly shattered. Shards of pain slashed her insides to shreds, the agony robbing her of breath as she watched him struggle for air. Tears gathered in her eyes, blurring her vision, and the dragon whimpered, giving a mournful, haunting howl that tightened the back of Raven’s throat.

  “Don’t go.” Raven clutched him closer, forcing energy down her hand and into his chest, ignoring the way her body began to scream in protest, the current tearing open a wound somewhere deep inside her, but no matter how much raw voltage she pushed through the kid, his beast was gone. “Please.”

  She received no response.

  Thanks to her enhanced senses, she heard his heart gradually slow then become erratic, his lungs sloshing with liquid as he began to drown in his own blood. Her fingers were singed, the tips turning dark as she forced more electricity through his body, hoping to keep his heart beating.

  But without being able to reach his beast, she couldn’t heal him. If she pushed any more energy into his body, she risked pulling him back from beyond the grave—forever doomed to live as a rotting corpse.

  For one second, she selfishly contemplated doing just that, despite knowing he wouldn’t be the same.

  “Raven.”

  The impulse vanished, and sanity returned, followed quickly by overwhelming grief.

  She bowed over Felix’s body, refusing to let her tears fall, when she heard his heart beat one last time before it fell ominously silent.

  This was her fault.

  She’d put him in danger, and he paid the ultimate price.

  The loss of his innocent life devastated her, and s
he couldn’t catch her breath. The belief that she could fix anything burned like a tiny spark of a match, then vanished in a small puff of smoke.

  “If you want to rescue anyone else, we need to go.”

  Mack’s voice jarred her back to the present, and she slowly straightened, numbness surrounding her like a fog as she stared blindly down at her bloodied hands. Very gently, she set Felix’s body on the ground. “He deserves better than to be left down here for all eternity.”

  Her scratchy voice barely rose above a whisper.

  She studied the closed metal doors, felt an uncontrollable rage to rip through them and hunt down the doctor.

  But when she raised her hands to tear the metal apart, her blood-encrusted fingers were a harsh reminder that there were others who still needed to be rescued. The insistent blare of the siren increased the urgency of the situation. It took all her strength to pull away from the blast doors, feeling like her heart was being ripped out as she turned to face Mack. “Take me to the cages.”

  Mack nodded and obeyed.

  In less than a minute, she stood in a hall lined with glass cages on both sides. A few of the doors were torn open, while others remained ominously shut. “You take the rooms on the right. I’ll take the ones on the left.”

  He hesitated, giving her a steady look, as if unsure she would be able to function, before he finally conceded to her orders with a bow.

  She entered the first room, and found a man strapped to a gurney. He wasn’t moving. Raven flicked her fingers, and her claws tore free. She slashed the straps holding him immobile, then placed her hand on his mutilated torso. The charge that was so much a part of her life barely created a spark, her concentration shattered as if an army of gremlins had taken up residence in her body, carving her up in an attempt to get out.

  The tiny jolt sent a shock of current through the prisoner.

  The creature lurched upright with a roar, his wild orange eyes darting around the room, and Raven stood back. “You have only minutes to get to the elevator and get out before the bombs detonate.”

  Even before she finished speaking, the man leapt off the table, never taking his attention away from her until he bolted out the door. Another shifter was waiting in the room next door, rocking back and forth to loosen the restraints. When she neared, he stilled, quivering to be free. Like the first shifter, once released, he vanished without a backward glance.

  The third and fourth shifter weren’t as dominant, cowering even as they crowded around her, and she herded them into the hall. “Get the others.”

  They scurried away to do as instructed.

  Once every room was cleared, her small band of shifters turned the corner, and Raven stopped dead.

  Every shifter she had just rescued lay slaughtered, their bodies haphazardly piled up at the end of the hall. The sound of a silencer rang out, and another shifter stumbled backward before falling onto the waiting pile, the dead welcoming him with open arms.

  Everything rational inside her imploded.

  She started walking, then running, catching the corner of the wall with her hand, using her momentum to swing her around into the next hallway.

  Tara leaned against the wall, her arms casually crossed, and she smiled when she spotted Raven. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  The dragon roared in outrage, surging under her skin until her body felt too small. “You killed them for no reason.”

  Tara lifted a brow. “Not true. You wanted to save them. It pleased me to thwart you.”

  A haze of rage descended over her. She spoke over her shoulder, never taking her gaze away from Tara. “Get the other shifters out of here.”

  Mack was obviously reluctant to leave, but the shifters had no such qualms, quickly darting down the hall. Tara’s lips quirked, and she lifted her gun. “Great. More target practice.”

  Raven moved so fast, she blinked out of existence, appearing in front of Tara just as the gun fired. Without conscious thought, the platelets slotted together, and she lifted her hand, closing her fist around the bullet midair. The hall fell silent as she opened her fingers and let the bullet fall to ping against the floor.

  “What the hell kind of freak are you?”

  Taking advantage of her incredulousness, Raven kicked out, knocking the gun out of Tara’s hand, and the remaining shifters used the distraction to escape. Tara retaliated by slamming her fist against the side of Raven’s jaw, instantly numbing the area. If she had been human, her bones would’ve been crushed.

  “You ruined everything.” Tara’s fear transformed to anger. As she advanced, Raven noticed her clothes were ragged, and her body bruised, signs that she hadn’t escaped unscathed.

  “Did you really think it was okay to kill anyone you wanted and that no one would retaliate?” Raven studied the way Tara moved. The woman had years of practice compared to Raven’s handful of months. Tara was strong and fast. If she wanted to beat the woman, she would have to be smarter.

  “It was them or me.” The woman’s face twisted in a snarl, and she lunged at Raven, landing a glancing blow to her already bruised ribs before she could twist out of the way.

  “Yet when given half a chance for freedom, you chose to stay and kill your fellow prisoners.” Raven blocked the next flurry of punches, managing to land a blow that snapped Tara’s head back. “You’re worse than Frankenstein. At least he wants to save his species.”

  Tara gave a shriek of rage, as if the insult hit a little too close to home. She kicked out wildly, and Raven danced backwards, dodging the blow aimed to snap her neck. The movement left Raven a small opening, and she slammed her fist into Tara’s exposed inner thigh. The other woman staggered away, barely catching her balance, murderous rage darkening her face. “I am nothing like that filth.”

  “You’re his puppet, dancing to his tune, whenever he snaps his fingers, no better than a dog obeying her master.” With each insult, Tara’s control unraveled further.

  “I’m no one’s slave.” Tara launched herself through the air, and both women crashed to the floor. Raven ended up on the bottom, Tara straddling her, the impact knocking the air from her lungs. Only endless hours of practice with London kept her moving through the incapacitating pain. She lifted her arms, her forearm catching the claws that were meant to rip out her throat.

  Raven brought up her knee, slamming it into Tara’s ribs, gaining a few inches between them. She bent her arm, then wrenched her elbow upward, catching Tara’s nose in a crushing blow. Not giving up her advantage, Raven twisted her hips, throwing the stunned woman off her, right into the metal wall. Tara’s head broke through the thin sheet metal, revealing a thick power cord that hummed with electricity.

  Tara scrambled backward, groping for the baton at her waist, brandishing it as they both rose to their feet. The wolf wiped the blood from her face with the back of her arm. “I’m going to enjoy taking you apart, bitch.”

  Raven knew she wasn’t strong enough to survive another round unscathed.

  When Tara swung at her head, Raven grabbed the metal baton and yanked. Taken by surprise, Tara stumbled into her, and Raven wrapped her arms and legs around the woman.

  Tara struggled to wrench herself away, then used the opportunity to hammer Raven’s ribs. Even with the tiny scales protecting her, Raven felt the force of the blows throughout her body. The first three punches sent pain radiating out from the impact, the fourth made her bones protest the abuse, while the fifth and six hits made them scream for mercy. On the seventh blow, bones cracked. Raven grunted at the pain, ignoring the urge to retaliate, and reached through the opening in the wall.

  She barely grasped the cable, when Tara’s fingers wrapped around her throat and squeezed. “I’m going to enjoy watching the life drain out of your eyes.”

  Raven gasped for air when Tara’s fingers tightened…just as Raven’s claws sank into the cord.

  Raw energy tore through her ravaged body, sliding seamlessly into Tara.
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br />   The woman jolted, her body going rigid, her fingers spasming on Raven’s throat.

  The emergency lights flickered in warning as the current was re-routed.

  Agony threatened to overwhelm her, but Raven refused to release her hold. Only when the stench of cooked flesh became smothering, smoke beginning to drift up from Tara’s body, did Raven force her charred fingers to let go of the cord. Her bones and muscles creaked at the slightest movement, and she feared that she would shatter if she dared go any faster.

  Tara flopped boneless to the floor, her blind eyes scorched black and stared sightlessly at the ceiling, her mouth open in a silent scream of agony.

  The coppery taste of blood filled Raven’s mouth, and she reached up, wiping away the trickle under her nose.

  Her fingers came away coated with blood.

  The dragon surged forward, then hesitated over the choice of whether to take over and seek vengeance, or the unfamiliar urge to linger and heal her. To her surprise, the dragon wrapped itself around her, focusing every ounce of its energy on keeping her alive when her body felt like week-old roadkill.

  In that instant, Raven knew the dragon would always do whatever was needed to protect her.

  Though they might be different creatures, what they wanted were one and the same.

  Footsteps neared, and Raven barely had enough energy to lift her head, her body so close to burnout, she struggled to stay conscious. “Mack?”

  The alpha carefully slid his arms around her back and under her legs, slinging her over his shoulder. Her head spun, and she swallowed hard to keep from throwing up all over both of them, trying to concentrate on her surroundings instead of the way her body felt like it was being slowly cooked from the inside out.

  Instead of heading for the exit, Mack was carrying her back toward the labs. Carrying her away from her pack. Raven feebly lifted her arm, shoving at his shoulder. “We’re going the wrong way.”

  “As soon as the locks disengaged, the shifters from the dens flooded the halls. Some escaped, but the Charlie Team is stalking and killing anyone they can catch.” His voice was calm, no inflection coloring any of the words.