by Anya Nowlan
Holland had definitely picked the wrong hostage. Arlen would gladly take the shot on Antonio himself, if given the opportunity. But he knew it wasn’t his choice. He sighed.
“Sienna!”
I hope I’m not making a huge mistake.
Thirty-Three
Sienna
“Sienna! You can come inside,” Arlen’s voice called out.
She didn’t waste any time getting out of the car and rushing into the house, gun in hand. Not that she had much of an idea what to do with it. It felt awkward in her grip, while the times she’d seen Arlen hold one had been like it was an extension of his body.
“We’re in the kitchen. But be careful when you come in and stay behind me,” Arlen instructed as she got closer, his voice low.
She stepped into the room and peeked over Arlen’s shoulder at what was going on. What she saw almost made her laugh.
“Holland, what do you think you’re doing?” she asked.
The man looked confused by her lack of concern, while her father was wearing an expression that said he was thoroughly annoyed. Sienna could tell at least some if it was just posturing.
Antonio was scared, she could see it in his eyes.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” he shot back. “I’m holding your father hostage.”
“And your goal is to… win me over?”
Arlen laughed, his gun trained firmly at Holland. The tiger shifter looked thoroughly miffed, looking from Antonio to her and Arlen.
“Look, back away and let me leave, or this man is dead!” Holland declared, but he was sounding a lot less confident than before.
Arlen glanced back at her with an arched brow before taking aim.
“I could probably hit Holland through Antonio,” he remarked, leaving the decision to Sienna.
She hated her father, there was no doubt about it, but did she want him dead? And by Arlen’s hand? She wasn’t so sure about that.
“Okay, what the hell is going on here?” Holland demanded, loosening his grip on Antonio by just a fracture.
“You’ve made the mistake of thinking I care about his life,” Sienna responded, waving her gun in the direction of her father.
“He’s your father!”
“So? He’s also a bastard,” she countered coolly. “Out of all the people I’ve ever met, he probably deserves a bullet to the head the most.”
“How dare you,” Antonio ground out. “After everything I’ve done for you. I sent you to all the best schools, clothed and fed you…”
Sienna couldn’t listen to another second of his bullshit.
“You sent me to those schools because that’s where all the other rich douchebags sent their kids, not because you cared about my education! And I never asked for the clothes or the jewelry. I just wanted a father who loved me.”
Antonio didn’t even look at her when he spoke, smoothing out his fancy suit instead.
“You should have been a better daughter then. Or perhaps a son.”
Sienna could hear a growl start in Arlen’s throat. Even Holland looked taken aback.
“But you were willing to pay so much money to get her back…” Holland muttered, trying to make sense of it all as sweat beaded on his forehead.
He’d stepped into a far bigger mess than he’d banked on and it was becoming clear to him right in front of Sienna’s eyes.
“That wasn’t for me, that was for his own selfish reasons.”
Sienna could tell Arlen was having trouble controlling his anger, from the way his insides rumbled every time her father opened his mouth or looked in their direction. She stepped closer, and placed a hand on his back, hoping her touch would help calm him. He seemed to relax, if only by a hair.
“While we’re being so open here, why don’t you tell us why Antonio came to meet you here in the first place?” Arlen offered, addressing Holland.
Holland considered it for a moment before shrugging. Whatever the plan had been, there was no need to keep it secret now.
“It wasn’t a meeting. He just showed up. He knew a shifter had taken his daughter, and he figured it would take a shifter to get her back. So he turned to me,” Holland said, tapping Antonio’s head with the butt of his gun and smiling mirthlessly. “Your father tells me you’re pregnant, honey. He really wants that bun that you’re cooking. Even more so after I told him an Alpha’s firstborn will always be male.”
That was another new piece of information to Sienna, something which she felt Arlen could have mentioned. She’d have to take it up with him later.
“You will never get your hands on Sienna or our son!” Arlen thundered, all of his composure gone.
“I could give this child a life of wealth and privilege!” Antonio shouted back, seemingly forgetting for a second he had a gun to his head.
“And we can give him unconditional love. I think that’s more important,” Sienna interjected quietly.
“Okay, I’ve had enough of this episode of Jerry Springer. I don’t give two shits about this family drama you have going on here, so why don’t we quit talking about our feelings and settle this, once and for all,” Holland called out, clearly frustrated.
Tossing Antonio to the side, figuring out he was pretty useless as leverage, Holland trained his gun on Arlen instead. Sienna in turn pointed her weapon at Antonio, who was scrambling to get upright in the corner of the room.
She could at least make sure he didn’t interfere in the standoff between Arlen and Holland.
“I got this, you get out of here,” Arlen commanded.
Not feeling entirely comfortable with leaving, she looked around the kitchen. Leaving was the best thing to do. If the men turned into tigers again, this limited space would turn into a bloody battlefield with her caught in the middle.
“You’re coming with me,” Sienna ordered, waving the gun she was holding at her father.
Antonio begrudgingly did as he was told and stalked towards her, eyes narrowed. After their little heart-to-heart, the man probably didn’t doubt she would shoot him, which helped with his cooperation.
“Wait!” Arlen suddenly called out, growing tense as he whiffed the air with deep breaths.
Holland did the same, getting far more serious now.
“We are being surrounded,” Holland said, tilting his head and taking in another deep breath.
For a moment, the two tiger shifters eyed one another. Sienna could only imagine what was going through their heads. This was turning from a shitty situation to a real Mexican standoff. No one could come out of this as the winner.
“Smells like The Firm. Find a safe place in the house and stay there. They won’t hurt you unless you get in the way,” Arlen confirmed.
“What about you?” Sienna demanded as fear turned her insides hollow.
“I’ll be fine, but I can’t fight when I’m busy worrying about you!”
With a frustrated little snarl, Sienna guided her father out of the kitchen and followed after him, gun aimed at the man’s back.
He’s going to be alright, she told herself as his father walked towards the back of the house and into a bedroom located there.
She stepped into the room after Antonio and was shocked to find it wasn’t empty.
Can’t this day just… end?
A middle-aged woman in a nurse’s outfit huddled in a corner with tears in her eyes. On the bed, hooked up to all sorts of machines, lay the wrinkled body of an old woman.
“What the hell…” Sienna mumbled to herself.
“Please don’t hurt me,” the woman in the corner whimpered.
Sienna gestured for his father to sit down on the chair beside the bed, so she could keep an eye on him.
“We’re not going to hurt you,” she assured the woman, trying to make her voice sound calm.
Shots rang out from the kitchen and she couldn’t help but flinch. The woman squeezed her eyes shut and covered her ears. Antonio just smiled as roars filled the house.
“I for one am bett
ing on Holland,” he said, adjusting his tie and settling into the chair, considering Sienna with newfound curiosity.
Sienna resisted the urge to shoot him, even if just barely.
“Really? Well, you are at a disadvantage, since you haven’t seen Arlen wipe the floor with him like I have,” she shot back, though her hand was beginning to tremble.
He’s going to be alright, she repeated again in her mind, willing herself to believe it. He has to be.
Thirty-Four
Arlen
“Put the gun down and let’s settle this like shifters,” Arlen said as soon as Sienna was out of the room.
He was worried about her being alone with Antonio, but it was better than having her here when he and Holland finally went at it. Besides, she was armed. Arlen didn’t doubt she would use the gun if she had to.
On top of that, he needed to finish this fast, before Shadow Squad swarmed the place and he’d be out the one chance he had at handing in Holland.
“I don’t subscribe to your archaic view of honor. Only one of us is leaving here alive and I plan on it being me,” Holland replied, his finger on the trigger.
Arlen managed to jump away a moment before a bullet whizzed by the spot his head would have been if he hadn’t moved. He landed on his side, gun still in hand, and aimed it at Holland. Unfortunately, the man was just as fast as Arlen and the shot he fired missed.
Arlen quickly rolled away as Holland sent another bullet flying his way.
Tumbling to a stop at Holland’s feet, Arlen grabbed onto his knees, pulling the man down before he could get another shot off. Both of their guns clattered on the floor and the real fight was on.
Arlen was crawling up Holland’s body, trying to get his hands around the man’s neck. Struggling beneath him, Holland interlocked his fingers and formed a V-shape with his forearms so he could bring both of his elbows down on Arlen’s shoulders at the same time.
He had to ignore the pain of Holland’s elbows repeatedly jabbing into him and kept going until he could wrap his fingers around the man’s throat. Holland thrashed beneath him and tried to pry his hands apart, as his face was turning red from the effort and lack of air.
“Just give up,” Arlen hissed.
Suddenly, he roared, and his shape began to twist underneath Arlen. Within seconds, the man was replaced by a large tiger, its claws out and ready to slash across Arlen’s skin. Arlen followed suit the moment he realized he couldn’t stop the other shifter from shifting and let his shift take over, backing away from Holland so he could have some space.
The two huge beasts filled the room, snarling at each other and knocking things over with each move. Arlen could hear the action outside intensifying as Shadow Squad already had a perimeter in place and was preparing to charge in. He was getting low on time if he wanted to be the one to finish Holland off.
Both animals lunged forward at the same time, crashing into each other in the middle of the room. The impact sent them flying, knocking into walls and cabinets. Dishes clattered to the floor, covering it with shards of porcelain and glass.
Arlen scrambled up, baring his teeth and planting his paws, ready for anything.
Holland stepped forward, tail twitching, one paw already raised. Arlen didn’t give the man a chance to strike as his own paw shot up. He landed a swipe across Holland’s muzzle, with such speed and power Holland’s whole head jerked to the side.
Arlen followed up immediately, jumping on the animal and pushing him to the ground. Holland squirmed under his weight, trying to get back on his feet as Arlen slashed at every part of him he could reach. Streaks of exposed flesh opened up in the orange and black fur covering Holland’s body as he howled in pain, thrashing.
Arlen was unmoved by the sounds of agony as bloodlust took over. Holland had endangered Sienna’s life more than once, and he was going to pay for that in pain. Even the knowledge that Shadow Squad Three could come busting in at any moment couldn’t break through the haze of rage surrounding him as he continued to rip Holland apart.
He took plenty of wounds himself as well, Holland tearing into him with his claws and teeth, but Arlen couldn’t even feel it anymore. The only thing that drove him was the need to know that he could take this danger out of Sienna’s life. For that, he was willing to suffer through any kind of pain.
The sound of a gun firing finally brought him back to his senses. It definitely came from inside the house and he stilled for a moment, trying to pick up Sienna’s position.
Holland didn’t waste time taking advantage of the momentary distraction and used his powerful hind legs to throw Arlen off of him. As the Crimson Claws tiger got back on his feet, he dribbled blood on the linoleum with each motion.
It only fueled Arlen’s anger. Now Holland was also standing in the way of him seeing if Sienna was safe. The growl he let out was so menacing, Holland even seemed to shrink back. He lunged at Holland’s neck just as Shadow Squad rushed in from all possible sides, surrounding the grizzly scene and pointing their weapons at Arlen and Holland.
Ignoring their presence, Arlen used his massive paws to hold Holland down as his teeth sank into the tiger’s neck. Blood filled his mouth, copper the only thing he could taste, as he forced his jaw to clamp down even harder.
The animal found satisfaction only after he felt Holland’s trachea being crushed. His opponent’s body twitched and shook as he gasped in his final breaths. Arlen wouldn’t let go until he knew that Holland would never take another breath again.
Arlen pulled his mouth back as Holland returned to his human form, his mangled throat looking even more gruesome this way. He slowly stepped away from the body, lowering his head in the direction of the men around him to show he was surrendering.
Travis moved forward and stared at him with an expression Arlen couldn’t quite figure out. Plenty of disapproval, but was he delusional when he thought there was also some respect mixed in?
“Lower your weapons,” he ordered, his eyes still locked onto Arlen.
Arlen nodded at Travis and shifted back, holding up his hands as he got up to stand. He grunted, feeling the extent of his injuries now, his clothes hanging off of him in tatters. But out of him and Holland, Arlen was the one still left standing.
Looking around the room, he felt oddly out of place for once. Arlen was used to being the one rushing the room and creating havoc, backed by an unflappable knowledge that he was doing the right thing, because he’d been told so. Now he was the one questioning everything, while Travis and the rest of Shadow Squad Three could remain in that bubble.
The glares he got from Syce and Devlin, both back on the line and cooped up in the kitchen with him, were withering.
“Let me through! Move out of the way or I swear to god…” Sienna was elbowing her way through the towering bodies, all armed to the teeth, like she wasn’t afraid of anything. Arlen had to smile at that.
“Please, let me see her,” Arlen said, looking at Travis.
The man arched a brow at that, but stepped out of the doorway nonetheless after a moment of contemplation. It was a small sign of good faith and Arlen would remember it.
Rushing past Travis and the other men staring at him with weapons in their hands, Arlen found Sienna at the doorway to the bedroom. She was struggling against two mountain-looking men blocking it.
She was giving it her all as the guys just stood there, giving each other amused looks.
“It’s okay, fellas,” Travis said from behind Arlen.
It was for the best. In the state Arlen was in, he was more than ready to go through both of them, armed or not.
The men moved to the side and Sienna broke through, rushing towards Arlen as soon as she spotted him.
“I’m okay,” Arlen assured her, before she could even ask anything.
She grabbed him in a tight embrace and he grunted as the spike of pain went through him. Regardless, he wrapped his arms around her as well. If she didn’t mind getting bloody, he would happily deal with the dis
comfort as well.
“And Holland?”
“Dead.”
Her father came out of the bedroom, followed by a nurse, just as he said that.
“And what went down in there?” Arlen asked, holding her at arm’s length now.
Sienna turned around, her face twisting.
“Father was feeling stupid so I had to take a warning shot to put him in his place. And Janice here is a live-in nurse whose job is to take care of Holland’s mother. She had a stroke a while back and is only kept alive by machines, but Holland was having trouble letting go. Not wanting to seem weak, he visited her in secret,” she explained.
A twinge of remorse pulsed in Arlen’s chest. He shook his head, closing his eyes for a moment.
It had to be done, he reminded himself.
Guys like Holland wouldn’t give up once they fixated on something. Arlen knew that. He was one of those guys, after all.
“Okay, enough chitchat. Say your farewells, Arlen. Let’s go, you’re coming with us,” Travis interjected.
“And you’re coming with me,” Antonio added, pointing an angry finger at Sienna.
Arlen could feel Sienna stiffen at his side as his tiger roared back to life inside of him.
So the fight isn’t over.
Thirty-Five
Sienna
Sienna clung to Arlen’s arm. This couldn’t be happening. The plan had worked, Holland was dead, but now Arlen was going to be taken from her while her father dragged her away.
“I will come with you, Travis. Just let me settle this first.”
Travis and Arlen seemed to be at a standoff for a moment and Sienna watched with bated breath. Would Travis allow it? He was being a real sport about the whole thing so far, Sienna had to admit. As much as he could be, considering everything that had gone down.
“Fine,” Travis finally responded with an annoyed sigh. “Back up, cover the exits,” he said to his men.
Everyone retreated, giving them some space. Two of the men tracked Arlen with particularly vicious looks, both sporting fresh bruises. She got the feeling they’d run into him before.