Sweet Charity

by N. J. Walters

  Her father’s fingers gripped her wrist so tightly she could feel the bones crunching together. She cried out in spite of her resolve not to give him the satisfaction of her pain. He liked hurting others. Knew just how much pressure to exert to hurt without actually breaking her bones. For now, he was toying with her. Content to inflict maximum pain without permanently damaging her.

  “This way.” He dragged her toward the staircase and down two flights of stairs. They were going to the interrogation rooms.

  In spite of her resolve, her legs trembled and her breathing got shallow. She knew what went on here. Had seen it for herself. There would be no mercy for her. Nor did she expect any. She expected to die.

  A sense of calm washed over her. Her breathing grew deeper and her legs stronger. She could do this. She would do this. She would kill the General to protect Adrian if it was the last thing she did.

  She let her pack slide slowly down her free arm. As the General slammed open the entrance to the stairs, she let it drop silently to the floor. When Adrian came looking for the General, hopefully he’d see her pack and know which way to go. It would save precious time in case she didn’t succeed in killing her father.

  Adrian raced through the streets, aware of two men swiftly moving up behind him. He didn’t break stride, didn’t pause. The fact that they could keep up with him told him who they were.

  “Where are we headed?” Logan asked as he let two shots fly, dropping two men as they rounded the side of a large building. His aim had been true and both bullets had gone straight through the foreheads of their intended targets. An Alpha didn’t believe in wasting precious ammunition.

  “Security headquarters. The General has Charity.”

  Tienan glanced behind, firing rapidly before turning back to the road in front of him. “There’s a team in the tunnels now, routing out the rats who thought they could desert the city.”

  Adrian nodded. He trusted the people he had in place to continue fighting, to follow the plan he’d laid out. The three men moved as one unit, dodging bullets, jumping over debris and skulking in the shadows. They’d never fought together before, but that didn’t hinder them. They were all Alphas, all warriors. Their brains continuously weighed options, finding the best route to their destination.

  They didn’t slow for anything, moving steadily forward. The general populous weren’t a problem, as they had no weapons of their own. That was one of the many ways in which the Ruling Council kept things the way they wanted them. Most of the city’s inhabitants would hide in their homes and hope for the best. They’d long ago forgotten what it was like to fight for what they wanted.

  The security headquarters came into view. The building was squat and gray, but Adrian knew the real work went on down in the lower levels beneath the ground. That’s where the General would take Charity. There was also an escape hatch into the tunnels down there. He turned to Logan. “You take the tunnel entrance.”

  “I’m on it.” Logan rushed up the steps, firing nonstop as he went. Bodies of security police fell before the onslaught of the three Alphas. They scooped up weapons as they ran by, discarded empty guns with a toss.

  The three men flattened themselves against the concrete wall just outside the main entrance. Tienan motioned to Logan, who nodded. Like a well-oiled machine, they moved as one. Tienan went in high, Logan low. Adrian followed, going straight down the center.

  The lobby was empty. The entire building had an air of vacancy about it. Still, they weren’t taking any chances. “Booby trap on the right,” Logan called out. “Clear,” he said a few moments later.

  “I’ve got one too.” Tienan took care of the explosive device as easily as Logan had.

  Adrian scanned the foyer, weapon ready as he moved steadily forward. His woman was in here somewhere. He could almost smell her. The freshness of her skin, tinged with the nasty tang of fear and overlaid with a layer of determination.

  His eyes landed on a pack sitting just outside a door. It was Charity’s. His gut told him she had left it as a sign for him to follow. That’s my girl. “This way.” The other men were right behind him as he eased the door open. He listened, but heard nothing. The stairwell was clear.

  “I’m going to hit the tunnels. Good luck.” With that, Logan disappeared down the hallway toward the back of the building where the main escape to the tunnels was located.

  “Be careful,” Tienan called. Logan lifted his hand and gave a backward wave to let them know he’d heard.

  Impatience ate at Adrian. That wasn’t like him. As an Alpha, he was calm and calculated at all times, weighing options and making logical decisions.

  Screw logic, he decided as he moved swiftly and silently down the stairs. Charity was down here somewhere and he had to save her. Nothing was more important than that. Nothing. She was everything to him.

  He loved her.

  He came up solid as though he’d hit an invisible wall. He loved her. She alone was his weak spot, his Achilles heel. Did the General know that? Would Charity tell him?

  No. He knew she wouldn’t. She’d do everything in her power to protect him. And he wasn’t even certain she knew. He’d said nothing the past two days, burying himself in work when he wasn’t trying to sate himself with her delectable body.

  “You okay?” Tienan’s voice was barely a whisper.

  Adrian shook himself out of his stupor, resolve emanating from every cell of his body. “Yes.”

  Gripping his weapon in his hand, he moved steadily down the staircase, watching for more booby traps and listening. He heard it then. The sound of raised voices, one male, one female.

  His heart skipped a beat and then settled into a steady rhythm as he reached deep inside himself and found the Alpha at his very core. His senses flared, his brain working nonstop to list the best-case scenarios and possible outcomes. He eased out of the stairwell with Tienan covering his back. The voices were coming from three doors down on the left.

  “What the hell happened?” The General asked in a calm, level voice as he flung her against the wall. She hit it hard. Her shoulder and upper arm screamed with pain. Again, she didn’t think anything was broken. Not yet. She had to kill him. Now. There was no time to wait.

  He leveled his gun at her, waiting for her answer. She licked her dry lips and shrugged. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

  He didn’t pace. Didn’t betray any kind of nervousness. He was calm and cold as ever. His eyes narrowed and his upper lip curled. “Don’t give me that. You’ve always been a sniveling creature like your mother. Your only use was in the marriage mart and even then you tried to cause problems. But you didn’t succeed.” He smiled and she shivered as memories of her wedding day assailed her.

  “Martin told me you weren’t much in bed. I told him to indulge his little vices. After all, you were his wife. You belonged to him. No one would question him. I knew he liked to inflict pain on his women during sex.” The General lips tilted up at the corners in a cruel parody of a smile. “I figured it would teach you to respect your betters.”

  “You were wrong then, weren’t you?” she taunted in a low voice. Her hand slipped behind her, beneath the hem of her shirt, to the cool metal handle of her knife. She drew it slowly, never taking her eyes off her father.

  “You did as I wanted, didn’t you? You’re so predictable, Charity. I let you see the prisoner, talk to him. I was in the next room, listening to your pitiful conversation. I knew you’d try to leave the inner city and find Adrian.” His eyes gleamed with an air of superiority. “I knew there was a good chance you’d bring him to me.” He shook his head. “I’m surprised he didn’t know it was a trap. We were obviously right to terminate him and the other Alphas in that group years ago. Adrian is flawed.”

  “He did know.” She brought her hand back down by her thigh, keeping the blade hidden. She’d only get one chance to do this. He’d be on her in a heartbeat and he wouldn’t hesitate to kill her.

  “And he didn’t kill you. Weaknes
s. I told Piedmont that Alpha Ten was weak.” The General cocked an ear toward the door, but there was only silence. “I expect my security teams to quickly retake the inner city. A ragtag bunch of under-trained men are no match for my skilled fighters.”

  Charity smiled. “Those men and women were trained by the best. They were trained by an Alpha.” She shifted closer, waving her free hand in the air to distract him from her other one. “The best of the best. More machine than man. A cold, calculating killer with no feeling. Isn’t that what you always said?”

  She saw the General’s hand swinging toward her face. Satisfaction filled her. He was the one who was predictable. It would never occur to him that she would raise a hand to kill him.

  Time slowed. As his hand came toward her, she ducked and moved in low and fast. Swinging her arm forward, she brought the blade of the knife up and buried it deep in the General’s belly.

  He jerked back and she stumbled away as blood trickled from the fresh wound. He stared at the knife and back at her. Charity swallowed hard. He was barely bleeding. He wasn’t falling to the ground. How could he still be standing?

  “You should have followed through with an upward motion, gutting me while you had the chance.” Her father raised his gun and aimed it at her head. “And I should have killed you at birth as I did your mother. I wanted a son and all she produced was a weak female like herself.”

  Charity was past fear. Past feeling surprise at the depths of her father’s depravity. She’d always wondered if he’d killed her mother. Now she knew. She knew it was no good to remind him that, as the male, it was his sperm that decided the sex of the baby. She straightened her shoulders, waiting for the bullet that would end her life. She wouldn’t grovel. Wouldn’t beg. Even though he’d never know what happened, she wanted Adrian to be proud of her.

  “General, are you okay?” Two uniformed men rushed into the room, guns drawn and ready.

  “I’m fine, you idiots. Keep a watch while I finish this.”

  “Yes, Sir,” one of them said. They stationed themselves just outside the door, watching both ways for invading forces.

  Her father’s finger tightened on the trigger. This was it. Her muscles bunched and she prepared to attack. If she was going down, she was going down fighting. She wouldn’t make it easy for him to kill her.

  Two shots rang out, quickly followed by two more. She expected to feel a bullet tearing through her flesh, but there was no pain. One of the security police fell, the other one backed into the room. “Two men, coming fast.”

  Was one of them Adrian? Charity was half afraid it was. She couldn’t let her father destroy him.

  A loud roar echoed off the thick concrete walls. Charity’s gaze flew to the doorway. The General’s attention wavered and he turned away from her for a split second as he glanced toward the door. Charity leapt forward, knocking his arm upward to deflect his aim. More gunfire split the air. She heard a man cry out in pain.

  Her father swore and punched her. She managed to jerk away at the last second, but his fist still grazed her chin, knocking her back. Adrian was suddenly silhouetted in the doorway, his face a mask of fury, of promised death.

  “I’ll make sure you’re dead this time,” her father promised, turning his gun on Adrian.

  “No!” Charity screamed, jumping in front of the General at the last second. His gun fired and she was flung backward as fire bit through her arm. She slammed into the wall and fell to the floor, landing with a heavy thud. She heard another gunshot close by. She blinked to clear her vision, needing to know that Adrian was safe, that everything she’d been through hadn’t been in vain.

  Adrian was locked in combat with the General. Both large hands were wrapped around the General’s wrist. He squeezed tight and twisted. The gun fell from the General’s hand, clattering to the floor.

  Her vision was getting hazy, but she blinked to clear it. She had to help Adrian. Her left side was on fire, so she dug her right hand into the floor and tried dragged herself forward.

  Before she could pull herself an inch, Adrian was behind her father, hard-muscled forearm around his neck, twisting it sharply. A loud crack rent the air and all life faded from her father’s eyes. The monster was dead. Adrian tossed the body to the floor and stepped over it as though it were nothing.

  Charity closed her eyes and sighed. Adrian was safe. Nothing else mattered. She felt his hand on her face for a brief second before he touched her arm. She cried out as pain consumed her and the world went black.

  Adrian had seen many wounds in his lifetime. Hell, he had one of his own from where the General had gotten off another quick shot before Adrian had been able to stop him. He’d seen men die in the most horrific ways and he’d killed more than his share. But never had anything affected him like seeing Charity shot.

  Because of the sharp angle from the doorway, Adrian hadn’t been able to get a good shot off. He’d known the General was going to shoot him, was prepared to handle the pain. He knew he wouldn’t die, couldn’t die. Not until Charity was safe. Instead, she’d jumped in front of the General at the last second, taking the bullet meant for him.

  He hadn’t believed in her, hadn’t trusted her when the chips were down. Instead, he’d believed the lies the General had spouted. And what did she do in return? Take a bullet for him and save his life.

  Her eyes were closed, her body limp. She’d lost consciousness. Which was just as well. He didn’t want her in pain, nor was he ready to face her. Her words still echoed in his brain. The best of the best. More machine than man. Cold, calculating killer with no feeling. That’s what she’d said to her father. That was the side he’d shown her and that’s what she believed him to be. In spite of that, she’d risked her life for him, for all of them. The Resistance owed this woman a debt of gratitude that could never be repaid.

  Her face was dirty, her cheek bruised. Beneath that, she was very pale. He expected that when he stripped off her clothing, he’d find her body bruised from head to toe. The earlier blasts, coupled with what she’d been through since, had left their mark. Her hair was matted and tangled, her clothing filthy.

  “How is she?” Tienan stepped past the bodies on the floor and knelt beside him.

  Adrian tore the sleeve of her shirt all the way to her shoulder to reveal the wound. It wasn’t bad, but it would take some time for her to recover. His fingers were covered in her blood. Tears pricked his eyes but he blinked them back. There was no time for self-recrimination. He had to see to Charity.

  “It’s a flesh wound.” Ripping the sleeve into several small pieces, he wrapped it around Charity’s arm. “I need to get her to Mercy.” He knew Doc Smith, had known him for years, but he wanted Mercy to tend to Charity. He didn’t think he could stand the thought of another man touching her, even if it was to heal her. Possessiveness was riding him hard. He fought down the emotion as he finished his makeshift bandage.

  Tienan nodded, not even bothering to try to convince Adrian to do anything different. The man had a woman of his own and understood.

  Logan appeared in the doorway, looking disgusted. “Piedmont was down there. I smelled him but I couldn’t find him.” None of them would ever forget the unique scent of their creator and primary tormentor.

  “We’ll get him,” Adrian promised as he slid his arms beneath Charity and lifted her. His primary goal now was to get his woman medical attention. “I need to get her to Mercy first.”

  Logan stared at the woman Adrian had cradled in his arms and nodded. “Follow me.”

  The three men left as quickly and quietly as they arrived. Logan led and Tienan brought up the rear, both ready to guard the woman Adrian carried.

  Deep in the bowels of the building, the body of the General lay dead and forgotten.

  Chapter Eight

  Charity was warm and cozy. She shifted and moaned as pain shot through her shoulder. A low male voice murmured something to her. She couldn’t make out what he was saying, but the sound of the voice reassured
her and she snuggled nearer to the source of warmth surrounding her.

  A large muscled forearm wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer to a firm, hard chest. Sighing, Charity let herself drift back into the nothingness where she didn’t hurt and didn’t have to think.

  The next time she surfaced, she knew she was alone. She took a moment to examine her surroundings. Warm blankets were bundled around her and she was lying on a mattress. She also didn’t hurt quite as much as she had, which was a definite plus. The pain was down to a dull roar. She forced her eyes open and blinked to help herself focus.

  She didn’t recognize the room at all. It was fairly large and opulent. Heavy curtains hung at the window, blocking out most of the light. There were two chests of drawers made of the same dark wood that matched the frame of the bed. Two high-back chairs sat in front of a fireplace, which was empty. She wished there was a fire crackling in the hearth. In spite of the blankets, she was cold.

  The door opened and she swiveled her head around. Big mistake. Her head started to pound in an unrelenting rhythm before finally settling back to a dull pain. A short woman with incredibly pale, blonde hair strode in. It took her fuzzy brain a moment to recognize her. “Mercy.” Her tongue felt fuzzy and her mouth was dry, making it hard to speak.

  Mercy smiled at her as she bustled over to the side of the bed. “Good. You’re awake.” Picking up a pitcher on the bedside table, she poured some water into a glass and held it out to Charity. “I bet you could use some of this right about now.”

  Charity could practically smell the cool, refreshing water. She put her hands beneath her body and pushed, gritting her teeth as the pain washed over her. It wasn’t quite as bad as she expected. When she was settled against the pillows, she held out her hand, surprised to see it was trembling.