by Cheryl Davis
“I have my job the same as you have yours. It’s all about survival,” Dominic said and moved his eyes to his left to indicate where Sage should be searching for Anna. Liam frowned at Dominic, as he caught the eye movement.
“If it’s all about survival, then you should consider working for us. There’s no way Anna’s going to win this war,” Sage told him and then smirked. “You don’t think she is gonna win, do you? If you do, you’re dumber than I thought.”
“I don’t care who wins. I have a job to do that pays well. Just give me the girls so I can hand them over and move on,” Dominic persisted, even though Sage knew it was just an act. They could play out this standoff forever or figure out a way to end it and capture Anna.
“Well, we’re not giving you the girls. You can fight against us, or with us. It doesn’t matter to me. Either way, we’re still going to defeat Anna and put things right,” Sage told him, shifting his stance so his team would know they were about to move into action.
“Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Dominic said and lifted his hand to attack them. As he did so, Sage lifted his gun and shot him. The bullet pushed Dominic back into the SUV and then he slid to the ground. His team was already in motion to try to neutralize Anna in the direction Sage had indicated with his body language.
As he took off after his team, Liam stayed behind to secure Dominic.
Chapter Fifteen
The longer it took Thomas to get back to them, the more upset Cora and Viola became. They’d seen Sage and Liam’s vehicle branch off from the entourage way before the location that was set up to be the trap for Anna.
“We need to turn around,” Viola said.
“No dear, we have to stick with the plan,” Angelica told her daughter firmly.
“No, we’re going to the wrong place. It’s going down back there. That’s why Sage and Liam left us,” Viola insisted.
“You don’t know why Sage and Liam broke off. Something could have just caught their eyes and they wanted to check it out to make sure you were both safe,” Angelica told them and then looked at her phone.
“Viola’s right, Mom. We need to turn around and go help them. If Anna somehow got wind that we were setting her up for a trap, she’d make sure she wasn’t where we’re expecting her to be. We need to go back and help them,” Cora said, backing her sister up and worried about Liam.
“I am not taking you into the line of fire,” Angelica flat out told them. “This is not your mission, you are simply the bait.”
“Either we turn around and go help them or I’m getting out of this vehicle whether it’s moving or not,” Viola bit out, fury rising in her at her mother’s stubborn resistance to anything she said.
“We are not turning around and you are not getting out of this vehicle,” Angelica said in a stern voice.
“Watch me,” Viola said as she reached for the door handle. Angelica reached out and grabbed Viola’s arm and yelled when she made contact, immediately releasing her daughter.
“I am not joking. We either turn around or I am getting out here,” Viola told their mother in a low warning growl. “We are not leaving them behind unprotected.” Her hand was grasping the door release with a white knuckled grip.
“We should just turn around Mom. It’s the right thing to do,” Cora said, placing her hand on their mother’s shoulder. “Please don’t force Viola to hurt herself to get to Dominic’s side.”
“We can’t turn around. Your father would be furious if I took you both into the line of fire after everything we’ve done to get you away from Anna and help you prepare for your destiny,” Angelica said, true fear written all over her face.
“Nothing’s going to happen to us. Anna’s the one who should be afraid,” Viola bit out. She was losing what little patience she had left.
“Neither of you have any training to protect yourselves,” Angelica objected again.
“You know what, I’ve had enough.” Viola said and pushed the door to the moving vehicle wide open. The guard driving the SUV slammed on the brakes as Viola jumped out, before it was close to stopping. She heard Cora’s terrified scream as she rolled down the embankment and came to a stop. She jumped up onto her feet and began running back in the direction she knew Dominic, Sage and Liam were.
As she ran, she heard footsteps chasing her and that pushed her to run even faster. The squealing of the tires, as the SUV they’d been in turned around, caught her attention as well. She cut through alleys and buildings to try to lose her pursuers and reach the guys who needed her help.
The adrenaline pumping through her system prevented her from feeling the pain she knew she’d feel later from her jump. She heard Cora calling her name from a distance and pushed herself even harder. Glancing around as she ran, she realized she wasn’t sure where she was at this point.
Remembering how Cora had found Liam when Anna had taken him, she reached into her mind for the connection between her and Dominic to get herself back on track. When she found Dominic’s vibration in her mind, she realized she was a lot closer than she’d originally thought she was.
She rounded the corner and came to a full stop just as Sage fired the gun and watched as Dominic fell back into the SUV and then slid to the ground. The scream she wanted to let out got caught in her throat as Sage and the other team members, except for Liam, all broke away and headed to the building on her right.
“No, no, no, no, no,” Viola mumbled to herself as she stood frozen, watching Liam lean over Dominic’s still body. “This can’t be happening.”
She pulled herself together as she heard the SUV come to a tire-squalling halt behind the one Sage and Liam had been in. As the doors opened, she forced herself to move as fast as she could to Dominic’s side.
“Why Liam? Why did Sage shoot him?” Viola asked as she dropped to her knees.
Liam looked up at her with shock, “You are not supposed to be here.”
“Why? Because you all planned to murder my mate and you didn’t want me around to protect him?” Viola asked, her voice rising to a high-pitched scream.
She rose to her feet and began stalking towards the building she’d seen Sage and the team enter. There was no way she’d let him get away with shooting her mate.
“Viola, you need to calm down and stay out here,” Liam said, standing and placing his hand up to try to stop her. She pushed his hand away with an almost deadly look on her face and stepped around him.
“Stay out of my way Liam. I am trying not to hurt you because you are Cora’s mate, but I will if you don’t back off,” Viola warned. There was no mistaking the rage and hatred that was emanating from every pore of her body. The sheer power behind her rage made the air around them vibrate and pulse.
Cora came running up and blocked Viola’s path, “Don’t do this Viola. You don’t know what happened here.”
“I saw enough,” Viola said and pushed her sister out of the way, as well as two guards who came running up and made a grab for her. She sidestepped their advance and searched her mind for a way to keep them from stopping her. Without realizing it, she’d formed a shield around herself.
Two more guards stepped up and one raised a tranq gun, “Don’t make us have to put you under to control you,” he said.
“I wish you luck with that,” she said and continued, she’d almost reached the door to the building when the guard fired the tranq gun. She watched in surprise as it rebounded off of the shield she’d created and landed on the ground. The fear in the guards’ eyes, as they took a step back and out of her path told her just how much power she was wielding.
She didn’t even have to open the door, it exploded as she reached it, which she would have thought was pretty cool if she wasn’t so pissed off.
Entering, she paused to listen to see if she could find where they were in the building from the sounds, but she heard nothing so she closed her eyes and used her power to search. She found other power signatures on the upstairs level towards the back of the building.
“Viola, you need to stop now, before you do something you’ll regret later,” Cora warned from behind her.
“You can either help me or go be with Liam, but I am not stopping. I trusted him and look what he did,” Viola said and her rage level went up another notch, which she hadn’t thought was possible.
“It’s not what you think Vi,” Cora pleaded with her sister.
“I know what I saw Cora. Leave me alone,” Viola said and took off at a fast run up the stairs. She wasn’t listening to anymore of what her sister had to say.
Viola could hear Cora running up the stairs behind her and wished her twin would just back off. It’s not like it would be any different if it had been Liam who’d been shot and Cora going after the shooter. She remembered hearing about how Cora had attacked Anna single-handedly after the evil witch had kidnapped and tortured her sister’s mate. ‘If they thought she’d been bad then, they had no idea what was in store now from her,’ Viola thought to herself with an evil smirk on her face.
She heard the all too familiar cackle of Anna’s laugh as she approached the room she’d sensed the power signatures in.
“How nice of you to join us my dear niece,” Anna said, with even more of her vile laughter, as Viola stepped into the doorway. “The party was just getting started.”
Chapter Sixteen
Sage’s eyes grew wide in horror as Viola and then Cora appeared into the doorway. The bodies of the rest of his team members were scattered throughout the room, where Anna had dropped them without any trouble at all.
“Party? What party? All I see is your evil destruction everywhere. How about we put that to an end now?” Viola said, her voice so low and full of rage that Sage was even more worried. He’d felt her reaction when he’d shot Dominic, but didn’t have time to stop and explain to her what was going on.
“Do you really think you’re strong enough to defeat me without any training? You are a stupid, stupid girl,” Anna laughed again.
Viola didn’t say anything else and as Cora moved from being slightly behind her to standing right by her side, the two of them together unleashed their powers on Anna without warning.
Agonized screams filled the room as the attack hit Anna so hard it slammed her against the wall and put a large crack in the drywall. Anna’s body was frozen in pain from the torment the girls were inflicting upon her.
“Don’t kill her!” Sage yelled to the girls. “We need to interrogate her to find out what Camilla’s planning.”
Cora pulled back at Sage’s words but Viola continued her barrage. She didn’t know why Sage would think she had any reason left to trust him after what he’d done to her mate. In fact, when she was done with Anna, he was next on her list.
“Listen to me Viola. I know what you think you saw,” Sage said, but was interrupted by Viola.
“Think? I know what I saw Sage. I saw you shoot my mate. You will pay for that,” Viola sneered.
“Dominic is not hurt or dead Viola. It was a part of the plan. We had to make her believe he was dead as a part of the extraction,” Sage told her, fighting to keep himself calm as she came closer and closer to killing Anna.
“I just saw him Sage,” Viola ground out. “Do you think I’m blind?”
“We had to make it look realistic. You have to back off and let us take Anna in for interrogation,” Sage said, trying to reason with her.
“He’s right Vi. That’s why Mom couldn’t turn the SUV around to bring us back here. You weren’t supposed to see that part of the plan,” Cora told Viola and put her hand on her sister’s shoulder that was shaking from the amount of power she was using.
“You knew about this?” Viola asked, turning her head to look at her twin.
“Yes, as much as I didn’t want to, Dad made me swear I would not tell you about it, even though I told them that not telling you was a mistake,” Cora admitted. Viola could see how angry and upset her sister was about being forced to keep secrets from her, but it didn’t make her feel any better.
Viola dropped her attack on Anna and watched the woman slide to the ground unconscious. After watching and making sure Anna wasn’t getting up and sneaking out for the moment, she turned on her heel and left the room, without saying a word to, or looking at, either Sage or Cora.
Sage went immediately over to Anna and began securing her wrists and ankles and then threw her up and over his shoulder to carry her outside.
“What about them?” Cora asked and swept her hand around to indicate the fallen team members.
“We’ll send guys up here to help them,” Sage said as he moved toward the door. “They’ll be fine.”
“They’re not dead?” she asked in astonishment.
“No, just unconscious, like Anna. Although, they’re in a lot better shape than Anna is at the moment. We need to get her medical attention before it’s too late. Let’s go,” Sage said and moved Cora out of his way with a gentle nudge.
She followed him, worried about Viola and the members of the team that were lying in that room. This ended up turning into a huge mess, even though they’d achieved their goal of capturing Anna and extracting Dominic.
As they exited the building, several guards came up to Sage and Cora and he instructed them to go collect their wounded and meet them back at her parents’ compound.
When she saw Liam standing off to the side where Viola was sitting on the ground holding Dominic across her lap with his head against her chest, she took off at a dead run into his arms. She’d been so scared he’d be hurt during this mission and seeing him unharmed was such a relief.
Thomas came stalking up, his fury washing over all of them.
“Get her to a prisoner medical suite and have her attended to,” he ordered Sage before turning to the twins and their mates.
Viola didn’t even bother to look up at their father. Sage could feel the low boil of fury simmering inside of her as he headed away from the group and wished he had time to warn them all, she was a ticking time bomb.
“What happened here?” Thomas demanded.
When none of them spoke up to answer his question, Thomas walked over and stood in front of Cora and Liam.
“I asked a question and I expect to be answered,” he said through gritted teeth.
“What happened is what I told you would happen if you didn’t tell Viola the entire plan. She sensed something was wrong and acted on it,” Cora said, lifting her chin in defiance. “Maybe you should listen to someone who knows her better than you do before you go putting plans into action that affect her.”
“You do not talk to me like that young lady,” Thomas’ voice boomed.
“Excuse me? You do not talk to us that way. You need us, not the other way around. We could walk away from here with our mates and you would be screwed, so I suggest you stop acting all high and mighty and show us some respect. We’ve done nothing but suffer since you sent us to live with Patrick and Anna. We’ve done our best to do everything you’ve asked of us, and all you do is treat us like children. I’m sick of it,” Viola said, lying Dominic down on the ground as gently as she could and standing to square off with their father.
“You are children,” he bit out in response.
“No, we are the ones expected to save the world, so give us credit for having the intelligence to do so.” Viola responded. “If you can’t do that, then I’m leaving. I’m tired of being in the dark when everyone else gets to know what’s going on. I am not stupid, and I can handle a lot more than you give me credit for.”
“You are not going anywhere but back home to rest and then begin your training,” Thomas said, pointing his finger at Viola.
Viola laughed at him as she glanced over at Liam and Cora. “Hey Sis, what do you think? Have you had enough yet?”
“Yeah, it’s pretty old,” Cora responded with a smirk. She knew her sister was bluffing, but agreed that the way they were being treated had to change.
“Liam, take Dominic and get him to his room at the house u
ntil he wakes up. Cora and Viola, you will come with your mother and I to the house where we will have a discussion about all of this,” Thomas ordered.
“Nope. Not gonna happen,” Viola said and moved to block Liam from getting to Dominic.
“That is exactly what is going to happen, Viola. Do not push me,” Thomas ground out.
“Do not push you? Whatever. Don’t push me. When I said I’ve had enough, I meant it. You may be the one in charge of this side of the war, but you do not control me. I am not one of your soldiers whose strings you get to pull. If you want my help, then I suggest you start treating me with the respect that I deserve. You treat Cora a hell of a lot better than you treat me,” Viola said, staring their father down.
Angelica walked up and stood beside Thomas. She looked around at the tense faces and when she opened her mouth to ask what was going on, Cora shook her head at her.
“You do not tell me what to do. I am your father and you will show me that respect,” Thomas demanded, not giving an inch.
“Some father! You sent your twin daughters to live with a couple that did nothing but abuse them their entire lives, and not once have you apologized or tried to get to know us. The only thing you’ve focused on is our training and winning this stupid war. We didn’t ask for this. You dumped this in our laps. As far as I’m concerned, you can take it and shove it, because unless you start treating us better, I’m done,” Viola yelled at him, her anger getting the best of her.
“We should move this discussion back to the house,” Angelica said in a gentle voice trying to defuse the situation. “That will give you both the chance to calm down and talk more rationally rather than with your emotions.”
“No. I am not going anywhere with you people, and neither is Dominic, until I am promised things will change. I am sick of having things dictated to me. First Patrick and Anna, and now the two of you. No more,” Viola shouted.
Thomas opened his mouth to respond when Angelica put her hand up to silence him. “I agree with our daughters. You have been a dictator to them instead of a father. I’ve told you this in private, and now I’m telling you in front of them. It has to stop. You are asking them to sacrifice everything and put their lives on the line for us, without treating them the way they deserve. If you cannot do that, I will take them somewhere safe until you can get your head on straight to do what must be done for your family first,” Angelica said and moved to stand between their daughters.