Force

by Taylor Longford

  "I think it would be ironic—as well as satisfying—to use his blade on you. With any luck, you'll tell me where he is before Olivia gets back from her shopping trip."

  "Wh-whose blade?"

  "Your boyfriend's, of course. When he finds out I used it to strip your hide from your lovely young body, it should drive him crazy, don't you think?"

  But when I busted out my best four letter words and told him what I thought of him, he just laughed.

  Okay, so the situation was pretty dire but I don't want you to think I didn't put up a fight, because I did.

  For one thing, I wasn't going down without a fight.

  For another thing, I needed to buy some time in case Force's family showed up…even though I wasn't sure how they'd be able to help. How would they get inside the building? How would they take down the giant Legolas? He was gargantuan. And once I was locked inside that soundproof cell, they wouldn't be able to reach me because they didn't have the code to open the door.

  Yeah, I kicked and screamed and tried to bite a chunk out of Rafe's hand but it was pretty much a waste of time because the guy was SO strong. Like ridiculously strong. Like he was some kind of mutant demon spawn. He clamped an arm around me, pulled off one of his socks and stuffed it in my mouth. Then ignoring my kicking, he tucked me under his arm, carried me down the stairs and through the basement door.

  He gagged me with his sock! Which was really gross and unnecessary since he could have used his nice silk tie. But I had bigger problems. Because if he skinned me alive, I wouldn't be too worried about that dirty sock in my mouth.

  Inside one of the soundproof rooms, he kicked the door shut behind him and buckled me into the restraints on one of those creepy tables (like the one I'd seen in Force's cell). I strained against the wide leather belts that clamped around my wrists and ankles but, unfortunately, I couldn't break free. So either the restraints were better made on the table I occupied…or Force was a hell of a lot stronger than me.

  Rafe stood back and watched me struggle for a while, seeming to enjoy my helplessness. But as soon as I realized what was going on, I quit fighting because I couldn't stand that smirk on his face. My eyes searched the room for hope, help or escape but the only thing in the room besides the table was a rolling metal cart that carried Force's weapons, and I couldn't reach them. As I watched, Rafe stepped over to the cart and selected the knife, sliding it gently from the sheath as his cold gaze slithered back in my direction.

  The look he gave me was terrifying. So cold. So impersonal. So full of dark anticipation. Again, I thought I was going to vomit and decided that might actually be a good thing since I'd probably choke to death before he could start cutting me up. Not that I thought there was a good way to die, but it might be less painful.

  But before I could throw up, Rafe yanked the gag from my mouth.

  "The room is soundproof," he pointed out casually while I pulled in a hungry breath of air and called him a few names. "So feel free to scream as much as you like. No one will hear you and I certainly don't mind the noise. To me, there's nothing sexier than a girl screaming in pain. Begging for her life. 'Please' is actually one of my favorite words." His tongue flicked over his lower lip and I did a double take when I saw the dark tip, which I swear was pointed. And I started to wonder if there were, indeed, such things as demons.

  By now, you're probably getting an idea of how sick this guy is. But I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of listening to me scream. So, while he ran his thumb along the sharp edge of Force's knife and grinned maliciously, I clamped my lips together, determined not to make a noise.

  "Where to start?" he chuckled, his gaze slipping down over my frame to my feet. "Did you know the ankle is one of the most sensitive parts of the body?"

  I sucked a sharp breath in through my nose and squeezed my eyes shut, jumping when his fingers touched my shin just above the restraint. I gasped as the knife's cold metal slid over my skin and ripped upward through the leg of my jeans, hoping it would take a while to remove my pants before Rafe started cutting.

  But he just opened one leg of my jeans to the knee before he loosened the restraint above my foot. And the blade surprised me when it went to work, skating in a ring around my ankle. He was right; it hurt. It felt like a sliver of ice cutting a burning a path into my skin and ripping through my pain threshold. The sharp pain was followed by a warm wash of blood pouring out over my ankle. And despite my best intentions to keep my mouth shut, I couldn't help but whimper.

  It was only a very small sound and I was locked in a soundproof cell. Nobody would ever hear how I died. Nobody would ever know if I'd died bravely, defiantly. Nobody would know if I'd broken down and screamed for my life. At least, that's what I thought. But I was wrong.

  Because a low whisper came from the direction of the door.

  "I heard that," said a voice in a familiar rasping lilt.

  Chapter Twelve

  The voice was so weak, I wasn't sure I recognized it. But Rafe's fingers were still wrapped around my ankle so I knew the words hadn't come from him. So maybe. Just maybe…

  Clinging to hope, my eyes jerked open just in time to see a wide blade appear in Rafe's chest. Talk about startling. The long length of shining metal just slid into view, like it had been hiding inside him all along and had suddenly decided to make an appearance. The whole thing was hideously surreal. And with a long, horrified scream on my lips, I watched a widening stain of red appear around the blade, soaking into Rafe's white shirt.

  It was Force's sword. The sword I'd called a toy. The sword he'd used against Rafe's gunmen. Somehow, Force had gotten back into the building even though I assumed all of the doors were locked at the end of the workday. Obviously, he'd remembered the security code I'd mentioned earlier and had come back for his weapons. And maybe for me. Once inside the room, he'd grabbed the sword from the rolling cart and used it on Rafe.

  Of course, he was streaming wet having just climbed out of the river, his hair plastered to his head, several long strands hanging in front of his eyes. But he sure looked good to my hungry eyes and would have looked just as good even if the situation hadn't been so desperate.

  Olivia's brother spun to face his attacker, giving me a satisfying view of the sword's hilt buried in his back, hopefully skewering his lungs or something equally mortal. And in a normal world that wasn't populated with giant Elven men, the guy should have been dead. He should have died quietly. Or dramatically. Or messily. Whatever; he should have been dead. But evidently, he hadn't seen the movies I'd seen. Because he was still alive. And fighting.

  With blood dripping from his wound, Rafe launched himself at the pale young man standing weaponless in the center of the room.

  "Force!" I screamed. "Run."

  But Force shook his head and stood his ground. "Can't do that. Can't leave you."

  So I cringed, and screamed some more as Rafe's fist whipped out and crushed into Force's face.

  Amazingly, the young warrior didn't go down. He staggered a few steps backward but managed to keep his feet while I strained against my bonds, desperate to join the fight, help Force, and gouge out that monster's eyes.

  Rafe hit him again and this time Force sagged to his knees. Then Rafe hit him again…and again and it was like I felt every one of those blows battering my soul and destroying me. It was killing me to watch that soulless piece-of-crap beat on the best thing that had ever happened to me. I about screamed myself hoarse before Rafe knotted his fist in Force's T-shirt and dragged him back across the room toward the table where I was a prisoner.

  "Kiss him goodbye," Rafe snarled, fisting his hand in Force's hair and crushing his bleeding mouth against mine, bruising my lips.

  "I'm sorry," Force whispered against my mouth. "Trying to help."

  "I know," I cried. "I know. Don't be sorry."

  His anguished gazed locked on mine as Rafe yanked him away again and gave him a violent shake.

  "Give you anything you want," Force gasped
. "Willingly. Just let her go."

  "You're hardly in a position to negotiate," Rafe snarled. "My sister and I will take what we want. Willing or not. In fact, if it wasn't for Olivia and her plans, I'd kill you right now."

  "Kill myself," Force rasped, peering through the golden strands of hair hanging over his swelling eye. "And if you knew more about my kind, you'd know I'm not lying. I'll kill myself if you hurt her. Then what will Olivia say?"

  "You'll never get a chance," Rafe hissed. "It won't happen. Even if you beg for death."

  "Then I'll kill you," Force panted, his gaze dropping to the blood streaming from Rafe's chest. "If you don't die before I get a chance."

  "I'm not going anywhere," Rafe shouted into Force's face.

  Force's gaze latched on mine with a desperation that was both fierce and hopeless. And in that moment, I saw on his bruised face something I never thought I'd see.

  Tears.

  Questioning my eyesight, I stopped struggling and stared. Because it was difficult to believe that the biggest, bravest, toughest guy I'd ever met…was crying. Crying because he couldn't help me. Because he couldn't save me.

  And what did I do? How did I react? Did I use the occasion to tell him how much he meant to me? Or how much I cared for him? That I freaking loved him? Uh-uh. I missed that little opportunity. Because I was so fixated on how unfair the whole situation was. I just kept screaming. Loud. Calling Rafe every disgusting word I could think of. I've probably never made so much noise before in my life.

  I wasn't screaming for help. I didn't even realize Force had left the door open, which meant the room wasn't exactly soundproof anymore. I didn't know anyone would hear. But someone did.

  And that someone busted into the cell, his short hair standing up in spikes of gold and cream and polished bronze, his aqua eyes burning with a fierce light as he plowed into Rafe and ripped Force from his grip, covering Force with his body and shielding him from further attack as they both hit the ground. I saw just enough of the tattoo on his neck to know he was Victor.

  Force's family had come to help. And following Victor through the door were two more guys wearing the family runes. Reason and Chaos.

  What happened next is a blur of memory, but Chaos and Reason jumped on Rafe, the dark-haired Chaos sinking a long knife into the giant's shoulder while the blond Reason yanked the sword from Rafe's back and swung it at his legs.

  Somehow, the giant sociopath managed to leap out of the way, blood now streaming from the hole in his chest as he ripped Chaos from his back and threw him across the room. Chaos hit the wall and slid down to the floor, looking stunned while Rafe ducked through the doorway and Reason sprinted after him. The sound of banging and crashing and shattering glass suggested they were fighting their way through the lab to the stairs on the other side of the building.

  My round eyes found Force. And were relieved to find Victor helping him to his feet. He was a mess, though. His beautiful face had been pounded into a swelling mass of broken skin while blood dripped from his mouth, down over his chin and onto his white T.

  Leaning on his cousin, Force started staggering toward me. His voice wasn't very strong but he was arguing with the older blond. "I know what we need to do," he gasped. "But I'm going to do this first. Help me get to her."

  And when he reached me, he used his hands to tear off the leather restraints holding me down. So that explained what had happened to the restraints on the table in his room. But it didn't explain how he was strong enough to do it. Anyhow, by the time he'd finished freeing me from my bonds it seemed as if he'd used up the last ounce of his energy reserves.

  Or almost the last ounce. Because the next thing he did was pull me off the table into the crush of his arms and hug me so hard I thought my ribcage was going to explode. But that didn't stop me from hanging on to him just as tightly. I couldn't believe we'd survived this…so far. And couldn't help worrying that Rafe was going to reappear in the doorway to kill us all. I mean, how had he survived that sword wound? And did he have a gun hidden away somewhere in the lab?

  While all of this was going through my head, Force started to sag and I found myself trying to hold him up…until Victor realized what was going on and got his shoulder under his cousin's arm.

  "Are you alright?" he asked his cousin.

  But Force's gaze slid down to my foot. "You're bleeding," he said. Only he didn't just say it. He said it like it was the end of the world. Which was silly because he was way more beat up than I was.

  I looked down at my foot. "Uh-huh," I agreed in a voice that I couldn't stop from shaking. "I'm bleeding. So are you."

  He searched my face with this wounded look in his eyes. "Does it hurt?"

  "Stings a little," I admitted unevenly. "But I'm totally gonna live. I promise."

  "I'd better get that," Victor suggested, tipping his head toward my ankle and lowering Force to sit on the table. Then he ripped his gray T over his head and tore it in half. Kneeling beside me, he started to wrap one of the rags around my bleeding ankle.

  I couldn't believe I had these two blond gods waiting on me hand and foot (literally). I would have considered myself a lucky girl except that I was so worried because we weren't out of the woods yet.

  Force's voice was faint when he asked, "What are you doing?"

  Victor squinted up at him. "Binding the wound to stop the bleeding."

  "Get…your hands off her," Force insisted.

  Victor shot an exasperated look up at his cousin. "She needs help," he argued.

  "Then I'll help her," Force panted.

  "Don't be difficult, Force. You're in no condition to—"

  "I'll help her," Force growled, pulling me down onto the table beside him and reaching for my calf. He pulled my ankle onto his lap and used the gray fabric to wrap the wound that circled the bottom of my leg.

  Shaking his head but smiling, Victor cleared off to the other side of the room, and helped Chaos to his feet. "What about you?" he asked his brother with a wry smirk. "Is it okay if I help you? Are you alright?"

  "All good," Chaos answered even though he looked pretty wobbly to me.

  "If you guys are okay, I'd better see if Reason needs help," Victor decided, his gaze on the doorway.

  But before he could follow through with that plan, Reason reappeared with Force's dripping sword. He propped himself against the doorjamb. "Got away," he announced between gasping breaths. "He was too much for me. I think it would have taken the whole pack to slow him down."

  "What was that thing?" Chaos growled, his shoulder blades propped against the wall. "…Besides big as hell."

  "I'm guessing he's Olivia's brother," Victor suggested, and questioned me with a look.

  "You haven't seen him before?" I asked.

  Victor shook his head. "All of our dealings have been with Olivia."

  "He's her brother," I confirmed. "Rafe Olander."

  Woozily, Chaos shook his head like he was trying to dislodge a few cobwebs. "My knife?" he asked Reason.

  "Sorry," Reason apologized, shaking his head. "He took off with your knife in his shoulder and mine in his thigh."

  "Took off?" Victor questioned him sharply.

  "Aye," Reason answered, returning him a significant look that I didn't understand. "In the parking lot. And he had a jar of blue stuff with him that he grabbed on his way through the lab. But I doubt he'll survive his wounds."

  But Victor didn't look so certain. And I wasn't so sure myself.

  I wanted to ask about the "blue stuff" Reason had mentioned earlier. And also about the way he'd used the word "pack". But I didn't get a chance because Victor started rounding us up saying, "We'd better get out of here before Olander's security force gets here."

  But Force couldn't be hurried, insisting on finishing my makeshift bandage with a tight knot before he would move an inch. I checked out his face and was worried to find he was whiter than ever underneath the grazed skin and purple bruising. Honestly, he looked like he'd go down in a light
wind.

  "Victor's right," Reason agreed, eyeing Force. "We need to get out of here." He motioned everyone toward the door as he grabbed Force's knife and shoved it in his own sheath, handing off Force's sheath to Chaos. Using the other half of Victor's T, he wiped Force's sword clean, returned it to the baldric and slung it over his back.

  "Where are we going?" Force asked as Victor braced his shoulder beneath Force's and they limped across the room together.

  "We have a house nearby," Victor answered while Reason stepped through the door, scanning the hallway and making sure it was safe for us to proceed.

  "My brothers?" he asked on his way through door, his troubled expression still tracking me.

  "Courage is still missing," Victor told him as we made our way up the stairwell, Reason taking the lead and Chaos guarding the rear. "But we've called in Defiance. He should get to the house soon."

  "He's here?" Force murmured, his voice full relief and even a little wonder.

  "He's nearby," Victor assured him.

  Up at the top of the concrete stairwell, I realized I could see a few stars in the evening sky. I could hardly believe it was so late. So much had happened since the morning (about fifteen hours ago) when I found Force sitting outside my apartment door.

  And while I was realizing how much time had passed and how tired I was after staying up the night before with Leo, something unusual happened. (As if everything else that had happened to me that day wasn't unusual.) Reason and Chaos started ripping their T-shirts over their heads like it was a really hot night, when it wasn't that warm. But that's not why they were removing their shirts. They were taking them off so they could open their wings.

  Yeah, they had wings. Big. Black. Leathery wings. The vests they wore under their shirts weren't vests at all. They were wings that folded over their chests and wrapped around their backs. At that point, I probably went into shock because I so wasn't expecting anything like that. I just stared and thought…okay, either I'm going insane or this is what it means to be a gargoyle.

  But before I could recover from my shock, Chaos and Victor picked up Force and glided into the sky.