by Elle Boon
BERSERKER’S RAGE
SmokeJumpers Book 2
ELLE BOON
Copyright © 2015
Smashwords Edition
Berserker’s Rage
SmokeJumpers
Book two
Paranormal Romance
Word Count 58,360
,
By Elle Boon [email protected]
© Copyright June 2015 Elle Boon
ISBN# 9781943280476
All cover art and logos © Copyright June 2015 by Elle Boon
All rights reserved.
Cover art by: Tibbs Designs
DEDICATION
There are so many people I’d like to thank, beginning with my awesome beta readers Debbie Ramos, Trenda London, Karen DiGaetano and my amazing editor Mike Hoffa . Y’all totally rock and without your input I’d still be at square one with this book.
To the best crit partner and truly the greatest lady I’ve met in this industry…Caitly O’leary. You are without a doubt the best partner in crime. Look out world, we are so going to take over. I honestly don’t think I’d be as sane “snort” as I am without your support, friendship, and endless supply of help. I can’t thank you enough for all that you’ve done for me and for all the late night, early morning, phone calls you’ve taken from this erratic gal. You are my “brain” lol. Tell your hubby thanks for sharing you with me (hehehehe). Truly, I LOVE YOU SOOO HARD <3
Many thanks to my hubby for his unwavering support, my oldest, Jaz for being so damn awesome, and to my Goob who is still my baby even though he’s six-foot tall. Without their love and support I’d never be able to do what I love, write.
To the amazingly talented cover artist Valerie Tibbs of Tibbs Design. I love this cover sooo hard.
Last, but certainly not least, I owe a huge thank you to the ladies who have been a great font of help and knowledge, Bryce Evans, Caitlyn O’Leary, Kizzie Jones, Lori King, of the We Wrote Your Book Boyfriends, y’all are the greatest of ladies and I’m proud to say I’m part of this group. Kelley Jefferson, and of course my girls The Bitches. Thank you, love y’all so hard! Nice Girls Rule…
Chapter One
Felicity pinched the bridge of her nose and closed down the computer. “Thank God today is over.” The final rush before prom had moms, and their teenage daughters, coming into the overpriced boutique to buy one of a kind dresses. The boutique, located in a strip mall, was in one of the wealthiest parts of Beverly Hills.
She’d let the other employees, most of whom were teenagers or college students, leave shortly after closing, while she did the end of the month total. Looking at the clock on the wall she grimaced. “Fuck a duck.” Knowing it was going to be dark out, but figuring she was in a well-lit parking lot, not to mention the crime rate was almost non-existent, she grabbed the bank envelope and stuffed it into her purse.
From her office she saw the lights in the front of the store were set to low. After making sure the alarm was turned on she walked out the back, closing and locking the heavy steel door. She took two steps and then stopped at the sight of four figures wearing hoodies.
Felicity hugged the bag closer to her chest, calculating in her head the chances of getting back into the store, or making it to her car. She wished she’d listened to her parents and learned to use a gun, or taken those self-defense classes they’d went on and on about.
“Look at her. She’s thinking about trying to escape, Danny.” One of the thugs sneered.
“Shut up, asshole.” The one she assumed was Danny began moving toward her.
Felicity decided a few thousand dollars wasn’t worth her life, and pulled the bank envelope out. The credit slips and checks could be cancelled, she reconciled in her mind. “Here, just take it and go.” She held it out as the one she assumed was the leader came toward her. They had masks with white skulls painted over their faces, making them appear even more frightening to Felicity. She locked her legs in place as he took, and then opened the envelope pulling the cash out.
He leaned down and sniffed her neck. “You really should’ve locked up and went home earlier. Don’t you know it’s not safe to be out after the sun goes down? Things go bump in the dark, little girl.”
Looking up, she saw the coldest eyes staring down at her, and knew her life was over. No matter how much she wished it otherwise, these men had no plans to take the money and run.
“Why?” Felicity hated the plea in her voice, but couldn’t help but ask the one word question.
The other three had moved closer, somehow maneuvering her into the darkened corner near the dumpsters. A perfect place to do God only knew what to her. Felicity looked around for an escape, or a weapon, but saw nothing but garbage and darkness.
“You want to know why we chose you?” One of the thugs asked, his voice grating. “You are always the last to leave. You may not be much to look at, but your body is kickin, and there is the added bonus of the money. We call that a win-win.” Two of the masked men fist bumped each other.
“Wow, he sure is talkative tonight. I guess that means we get to kill this one, huh?” Felicity nearly fell on her ass hearing the feminine voice behind the mask.
“Awe, what’s the matter, sugar lips? Did you think only men could do these sorts of things? Nah, I enjoy fighting and fucking just as much as these guys. Actually, I think I may get off on it more.”
Thinking back to the string of crimes she’d read about, and how they’d found all the victims, made Felicity’s stomach roll. She placed her hand over her mouth. “I think I’m going to be sick,” she said. Her parents would be horrified that her body would be found naked, the way the other victims had been discovered.
“That’s not going to save you, sugar lips.” Felicity hated the woman.
“Alice, quit being a cunt and scaring our date.” The one she assumed was Danny moved in closer. “Now, we can do this several ways. You can let us have our fun, or you can fight, and we will enjoy that even more. The difference is you won’t enjoy option B nearly as much as us.”
“What the hell, Dan, you got a soft spot for the ugly duckling or what?” Alice asked.
Felicity winced at the words tossed out by the woman. She had always been a plain Jane, and had been fine with it. Hearing that even her attackers thought she was ugly, but still planned…she couldn’t finish the thought of what was coming. What she could do was fight and not let them have it the easy way. She’d rather die fighting than be alive while they did whatever they intended. Since they weren’t expecting her to attack, she would go on the offense. She lifted the cross-body bag from across her chest, knowing it appeared light, when it fact it was heavier than if she had a couple bricks stored inside.
She watched Danny’s eyes widen, like he was expecting her to strip for them. The other two men folded their arms across their chest, preparing to watch the show.
Well, Felicity would do her best to give them a show, even if it killed her.
“This is gonna be great. Look at her tits. More than a handful.” One of the guys said, making Felicity shudder with his raspy voice, sounding like he’d already started anticipating what he was going to do to her.
Near the dumpster, she noticed a broken clothing rack with pieces of the metal pole lying off to the side. If she could ease closer to it she might have a fighting chance. With a yell she swung her heavy purse and knocked Alice in the head, and then hit Danny. Both were stunned, giving her a chance to lunge for the metal pole.
“Looks like our toy has claws.” The last man spoke. His voice hissing, a snake-like sound that slithered along her nerves.
She held the weapon in front of her. “I don’t want to hurt you. Just take my purse, my car, and the money from the store and go. I can’t identify you, so just go.”
/>
Danny sighed. “She went with the hard way, kids. Let’s do this then.”
If she wasn’t the one in their sights, she’d have appreciated their well thought out choreography. The way they fanned out, giving her no chance to escape. Again, she wished she’d learned self-defense or something useful that would’ve saved her. Instead, she held the metal pole like a baseball bat, because she was good at that, and hit the first person to come at her. The sound of metal hitting flesh and bone, followed by the grunt of pain, almost made her drop her it. Only too soon another body came at her, and she swung with all her might, hitting a hard male body, who grabbed her weapon and jerked.
The metal pole was ripped from her, forcing Felicity to cry out in pain as the skin on her palms was ripped open.
“You stupid little bitch. You should’ve went with option A.” One of the men grabbed her, jerking her close to his body, shivers wracked her frame.
She raised her knee and tried to hit the one holding her between his legs, but he threw her away from him. She scrambled on her hands and knees, looking for more pieces of the rack, when her foot was grabbed.
Pieces of dirt and gravel scraped against her hands and arms as she was pulled back. Felicity clawed at the ground, feeling her nails breaking off, screaming, and knowing nobody could hear her.
“Give me something to gag her.” The leader’s voice grated.
Being flipped onto her back, her skirt hiked up to her waist, Felicity felt tears running down her temples and into her dark brown hair. The smell of the trash, and the overwhelming scent of the man’s cologne was forever imprinted on her brain as he straddled her, and shoved a piece of cloth in her mouth. She kicked and punched, trying to get the large man off her.
The feel of several hands grabbing her legs, and then her arms, brought a fresh wave of adrenalin through her. She worked the cloth out of her mouth with her tongue, and with the last bit of her breath, Felicity screamed, and screamed, until a fist came down, and still she screamed. She continued to scream, even when the man kept hitting her, telling her to shut up or else. Felicity heard bones cracking, tasted her own blood filling her mouth, and swallowed in order to continue screaming.
A stranger’s yell broke through the blackness trying to swallow her. Pain wracked every nerve of her body, and then the weight holding her down was gone. She wanted to move, needed to get away, but couldn’t. She let herself go where there was no pain, and prayed her parents knew she loved them. Darkness filled her vision. Broken, Felicity stopped fighting wishing she could see who the new man was.
* * * *
Hal rounded the corner and came to an abrupt stop. He swore he heard a woman scream. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end, and then he heard the sound again. He took off at a run, seeing the empty parking lot, save for one lone car parked under a security light.
The sound of the screaming was cut off, but he realized where it came from. In a darkened corner, he saw four figures surrounding what looked to be a woman’s prone form. Rage filled his vision. The closer he came and saw the damage they’d done, Hal’s grip on his control began to slip, making him see a red haze surrounding the four beings. He gave a yell that he knew was louder than the average man, making the attackers turn to face him, except the one still straddling the body.
He couldn’t control his temper and didn’t attempt to. His inner beast had free reign to do whatever it wanted to the animals responsible for killing the young woman, and Hal would rejoice in their pain. He felt his seams stretching and knew he probably looked like a monster to them. Again, he didn’t care. Let them scream and beg for mercy. They wouldn’t get any.
With another yell he ran, his arms extended, grabbing hold of two of the men. He threw them against the concrete wall and watched them slide down, their screams for mercy falling on deaf ears. The last one standing faced him with a glare, but it was the one bent over the downed woman who held his attention. Hal’s sole focus zeroed in on him. Before he could stop himself he crossed the small space and knocked him off the woman. He landed with a sickening crunch against the trash can, a metal pole skewering him, blood pouring from his stomach. Hal’s gaze went to the woman lying so still, gasping at the bloody pulp her face had become. He promised he’d make them all look just the same before he was done with them.
“Please don’t hurt me. They made me do it.” Hal stared at the outstretched hands, hearing the plea behind the mask.
Hal came to an abrupt halt at the soft feminine voice behind the mask. He shook his head trying to clear thoughts of rage running through his mind. A whimper and the sound of gagging had him turning to the injured female. He took a step toward the masked woman, and then more gagging had him spinning to help. While his back was turned the woman fled. Hal took a few calming breaths before making his way to where the poor abused woman lay. The berserker in him was trying to stay in control, needing to make everyone suffer the way the woman had, but with utter ruthlessness Hal pushed him back. Taking out his cell, he dialed 911, and explained to the dispatcher what had happened as quickly as he could, leaving out the fact he was a berserker, and did his best to save the young woman’s life.
He wasn’t sure how old she was, but from the look of her body she couldn’t be more than early twenties. A connection to the unconscious woman threaded its way through him like the lifeline his nana had spoken about. Mine.
He shrugged out of his jacket, and covered her lower half up as best as he could. Her skirt had been rucked up and her panties had been torn off. Hal hoped she hadn’t been raped, but he couldn’t be sure he’d gotten there in time to save her from that injustice. “Hold on, ma petite. Help is on the way.” The urge to brush her hair off her face was strong, but her injuries were so severe he stopped himself, barely.
In his rage Hal hadn’t thought to check on the two men he’d thrown against the wall, or the one impaled on the pipe. He made a quick call to his team leader, Brax, just in case he needed him to bend some minds. The last thing he needed was anyone to think he was more than a human man.
“What the hell did you do now, Aldridge?” Brax asked.
Hal told him what had happened, hearing the other man swear fluently in several languages, before he settled down. “I’ll be there in a few hours. Don’t say anything more than what you have to. You have PTSD. Do you hear me?” Brax’s tone turned serious.
“I’m a smokejumper, used to stressful situations. Do you really think something like this would cause me to have PTSD?” Hal checked for a pulse on one man then the next, finding they each had one, he relaxed. “I think I only killed one, Brax.”
“Oh, goody. Now, go back to the girl and make sure she lives.” Brax’s voice growled through the connection.
Hal was already heading back to stand guard over her. There was something about her that called to him on an elemental level. Before he’d taken a step away he noticed a bag. Figuring it was hers, he gathered it and the items nearby. Her wallet had fallen open and, seeing her face for the first time, he studied it as he walked back toward her.
“Felicity Evans, I wish I’d gotten here sooner, ma petite.” He liked her name. Liked her dark brown hair and the way it looked long and soft in her picture. Lying in such a disarray, Hal wanted to hurt the men who did this to her, all over again.
Shoving the wallet back inside the overly large bag he crouched down and waited. He’d used his shirts to brace her body on the side to keep her from choking on her own blood, his leather jacket was covering her lower half, leaving him half dressed.
The first responders pulled in with the lights flashing, followed by several police vehicles. Hal held his hands up, still in a crouched position, and shirtless. “My name is Hal Aldridge. I’m a firefighter. I came upon the scene when I heard a young woman screaming.” He went on to explain what had happened, moving aside while they hooked an IV into Felicity’s arm. The fact she never regained consciousness worried him.
“Was she awake when you found her?” One of the of
ficers asked.
“No, other than gagging on her own blood, no.” Hal felt a primal growl rise in his chest as they removed his jacket exposing her lower half. With reflexes too fast for most humans, Hal jerked the jacket back up her legs. “I don’t know what they did to her before I got here, but you can respect her modesty, boy.”
The paramedic mumbled an apology, however his jacket wasn’t removed again.
A lady police officer tapped him on the shoulder. “Did you do that to them?” She pointed at the three men.
“I’m not sure what happened, officer. I think I’m suffering from PTSD.” He watched as they carefully transferred Felicity onto a backboard then into the ambulance. “Can I ride with her?”
“I’m going to need you to come down to the station for more questions, Mr. Aldridge.”
“Am I under arrest?” Hal asked.
She sighed, sympathy in her gaze. “No, we just need to make a report.”
“Then you can follow me to the hospital.” He jogged over to the ambulance. “Can I ride with you?” He asked the paramedic.
“I’m sorry, there isn’t room.” The man said with way too much satisfaction.
Hal took a deep breath. “What hospital are you taking her to?”
He listened as they told him, making a mental note of the man’s name. “Todd, can I tell you a secret?” When the man settled in on the bench, Hal continued. “I make for a really bad enemy. You treat her like she’s the most precious thing in the world. If I think for one second you didn’t, I’ll make what happened to her look like a walk in the park next to what will happen to you. Got it?”
“Excuse me, Mr. Aldridge. You shouldn’t go around threatening people.” The police woman whispered, humor lacing her words.