by Kim Faulks
Hold you…
I licked my lips and clung to those last words.
Torn with doing what I wanted, and what she needed.
“I’m not broken…damaged, yes. But I’m far from done.”
I flinched with the sudden chill in her words. I swallowed hard. “Never thought you were. You do what you need. Dance all damn day if that’s what it takes. Scream, yell, and when you’re done, I’ll take you to the range and teach you to protect yourself.”
She shook her head. “No guns.” There was a heartbeat of silence before she finished. “They murdered my people with guns, cut them down in front of me. He told me to run, shoved me away as the first shot rang out. I wanted to stay…I wanted to fight…”
Her voice turned thick, words clinked together like shattered glass. “But I ran. I left them behind and I ran. I should’ve stayed…it would’ve been better if I stayed.”
“But you didn’t. You ran to survive…and you’ve done that. You survived. It might not be the way you expected, but you’re here. This is the point of no return. There’s no going back. We become the person that makes sure we rise tomorrow, and the day after that. We never back down…no matter how hard it gets.”
“Is that what we’re doing now?”
I stared at the city landscape as it rose like a beast that held its secrets close to its chest. Manduck was a ruthless piece of shit, that I knew. This went far deeper than a rogue squad and its commander, but how deep…I didn’t know. “Yes, that’s exactly what we’re doing.”
I slipped into the steady stream of traffic that headed to the heart of this monster. X speared her fingers into the armrest and stared out of the window as the cars crammed us in.
“You okay over there?”
She gave a nod and held on. I focused on the traffic, spearing off as fast as I could. I’d been to Manduck’s apartment once before. The barely furnished apartment was one of fifty that all looked as drab and cold as the next. But the location was worth the money, overlooking the green parks in a popular part of the city.
Towering buildings gave way to flashes of greed. I slowed, taking the corners softer and pulled up outside the dirty gray apartment building.
X craned her head, staring up at the balconies. Drying clothes flapped on makeshift clotheslines. Green leaves reached over balconies waving at us down below. “Have you been here before?”
“Once, a couple of years ago.”
She leaned against the seat and turned to look at me. “Then how do you know he’s still here?”
A huff of laughter escaped. “He’s a Marine through and through and us Marines, we’re creatures of habit, structured in a way to resist change. We feed on precision and that means we do the same thing over and over and over again.” I stared at the runners heading for the Ash tree lined streets that lead them deeper into the park. “It’s nice here. Manduck wouldn’t leave…I hope.”
“Only one way to find out,” she murmured and grasped the handle.
I followed, shouldering open the door and climbed out. X scanned the street and moved around the car as I pressed the button locking the doors.
“Too many scents, too many noises.” She shuddered.
I stopped, and turned toward her. “You want to go back? Say the word and we’ll go.”
The bark of a dog made her flinch. She stole a breath and then shook her head. “No, I’m good.”
I wanted to reach for her hand as though it was the most natural thing in the world. Instead, I headed for the glass double doors. The building was older than most on this street. Drab concrete walls had turned cracked and dirty as the years wore on; still the place was clean and neat, better than most places this side of the city’s heart.
Steel on concrete squealed as I shoved open the door. I stole glances behind me and then headed for the stairs. She moved like a ghost, her steps too damn light.
But I knew she was there. I could feel her presence in the way my chested tightened and in every throb of my damn heart. I forced myself to focus and stared at fresh tags on the stairwell walls.
Voices floated down from the apartments above. Somewhere a TV blared with the excitement of a game show host and his fake laugh. We moved up each flight of stairs and exited on the fourth floor. I retraced history and turned right. Manduck’s apartment overlooked the parks and the trees. I remembered the view well.
The last time I was here blazed in my mind. Three squads had been sent home after being deployed for seven months, but the homecoming had been far from perfect. There’d been trouble in camp with another vile rumor about Gunny. She warned me, pleaded with me to leave it alone…and I had—for a while.
In the safety of his squadron, Manduck was a big deal. All mouth and brawn made him a perfect weapon in Kava’s ongoing battle to get Gunny kicked out.
So I decided to even the playing field, and have a little quiet word…man to man.
Blood is almost impossible to get out of leather.
I ruined my favorite jacket that day…but it was worth it—for a while at least.
He never looked at me after that, not while I was watching at least, and the open attacks on Gunny stopped. But behind the scenes there was a viciousness, a quiet hunger for blood.
“This it?”
I glanced over my shoulder as X neared the door.
“Can you break in?”
I winced as the echo of her voice resounded and pulled a pick set from my back pocket. “Gonna give my best shot, how’s that? You just keep an eye out, yeah? I don’t want anyone sneaking up on us.”
She turned, facing the stairwell and the other apartments while I set to work on getting the damn lock open. Five minutes of fiddling and cursing and the lock clicked open. I shoved up from my knees. “We’re in.”
I turned the handle and pushed open the door, feeling X crowd my back.
Shattered glass crunched under my boot as I stepped inside. What was once cold and clean was now utter destruction. What was once a glass topped dining table was nothing more than a steel frame upside down on the floor.
I glanced down to the scattered shards of glass and took a step. The kitchen doors were open, cups, bowls and cutlery lay scattered across the floor. Cooking appliances had been smashed and cast aside.
This wasn’t any break and enter…this was total devastation. I strode past what was left of the kitchen. Pictures lay skewed on the wall and in the middle of the living room was the sofa, turned upside down, cushions exploded, exposing foam innards.
X picked up pieces and dropped them back on the floor. I took one look at her, unable to find the words to say. Marine greens dragged my focus to the bedroom doorway. I headed deeper into the apartment, stepping over piles of clothes and scanned what was left of Manduck’s life.
Hate was reserved for the bastards that gave the order.
I didn’t like Manduck…not one fucking bit. But this…this was fucking cruel to those he left behind. My stomach tightened with the thought. This wasn’t just damage, this was someone looking for something…this was precision.
I glanced toward the kitchen. The dented toaster and shattered juicer glared like a neon sign. These weren’t just random items—these were hiding places. Whoever trashed this place was after the same thing we were…information.
And by the looks of it, they didn’t find what they were looking for.
I opened drawers, and searched through clothes ripped from their hangers. I shoved my fingers under his skewed mattress and searched the underside. I probed behind his headboard, his drawers, his dressers—everywhere I could find and still I found nothing.
“Alpha, there’s something wrong here.” X stared at the floor and the cupboards.
I caught her shudder.
She stumbled backwards toward the door. Her olive skin paled, turning ashen the longer she stared. “Not good, too many smells…sick, sick men.”
“I know; we’re out of here. It’s okay, X.” I lifted a hand and stepped over the shattered ar
m of the sofa.
A row of pictures lined the wall. All were self-fucking-portraits…narcissistic sonofabitch.
Death stared at me from inside a timber frame. I shoved the corner, straightening the image as his last moments came to life. The picture came off the wall and in my hand. Manduck was a piece of shit used to exploiting women, so his ending was fitting.
Alpha! Alpha help me…do something!
I couldn’t move, couldn’t do a damn thing but watch those five shifters close in around me. Those damn markings on Gunny’s arm had glowed silver as if she was syphoning power from the moon itself. My commander raised her hand, and all I could do was scream, No Gunny!
And God help me, those young girls dragged their predatory focus from me, to the next prey in sight…Manduck.
I closed my eyes. I could still hear his screams. Still taste the scent of gunpowder and blood. The hairs on my arms rose…I’d seen some battlefields in my time. I’d fought, hurt, bled with some of the very best. But that night wasn’t a battlefield—it was a bloodbath.
The frame slipped in my hand, hovered for a heartbeat and then dropped to the floor. Wood crunched, glass cracked, spearing long shards from the middle to catch the light from the window.
I winced at the sight and bent to gather the pieces. The corners had split with the impact, driving a neat line all the way through the width of the wood. A glint of metal peeked out. Something was there.
The frame opened wider with a little pressure. It was as though the entire frame wasn’t just one piece, but two, wedged together, surrounding…a flash drive.
Jesus. I yanked the pieces, tearing the timber and picked the edge of the device from its bed. “I think this is it, X. I think we might’ve found what someone was desperate to find.”
She came closer, veering around the shattered furniture. Whoever trashed this place was after something, as though they knew Manduck well—just like me. I glanced up as she neared and held up the silver storage device in my fingers. “If whatever’s on this was worth trashing a dead man’s home to find, then I’m betting they’ll do just about anything to keep it quiet.”
“I did, and would.”
The deep growl came from the doorway. I wrenched my head toward the sound and forgot to breathe.
Major General Philip Kava stood in the doorway, flanked on either side. His graying hair was stark against the collared black shirt and navy trousers. Even in civilian clothes, he looked like a pompous prick.
My gaze drifted to the big bastard on his right. His top lip curled, revealing canines in a sinister smile, and he turned those inhuman eyes from me to X.
Something passed between them. Something that made X stumble backwards. Her legs tangled with the metal table frame, forcing her into my view.
I clenched my fist around the flash drive and took a step to the side.
I knew the soldier at his left. Simmonds…Symonds…something like that. He was one of Manduck’s men…and now one of Kava’s.
Kava glanced to the device in my hand and nodded. “I knew he hid it somewhere, unfortunately my guys weren’t as thorough as you were.” He reached out a hand, palm up. “Now hand it over, Alpha.”
I glanced at the wolf. One shifter, one Marine and a Major General who hadn’t seen the ass end of a sniper’s rifle in many years. My thoughts went to the gun under my jacket. Movement dragged my focus to the most dangerous inside the room as the shifter took a slow step forward.
“I warned you, X.” Dark eyes flicked to me, and then settled on her. “I told you what I’d do to you, if you brought your boyfriend into this.”
His muscles rolled as he moved. Thick shoulders bunched as he clenched his fist.
“X? You know him?” I growled. My right hand reached for my piece. I had my hand around the grip and my sight trained on the middle of his chest before he could blink.
His tongue snaked out and licked thin lips. A sickening sneer spread across his lips. “X and I go way back, don’t we? Got some unfinished business, you and I.”
The hair on my arms stood on end as his gaze drifted down her body.
I took a step closer, meeting the sonofabitch head on. “X, get behind me.”
She was quiet…too damn quiet.
Tremors raced down her hands, making her fingers shake.
Goddamn piece of shit. My finger skimmed the trigger. Three fucking pounds of pressure and I’d put the bastard down. “Hey, you! You look at me, not her.”
She was fucking pale. The wide gashes on her head were almost healed, but the shorn dark hair made her look gaunt.
I kept my focus on the brute and growled. “Get behind me, X.”
“No Alpha.” She shook her head. “He’ll hurt you.”
“The drive, Alpha,” Kava demanded. “Give it to me and you can leave.”
I stared at his open hand.
I thought we were getting out alive, until the big bastard leveled me with a deadly stare, smiled, and then lunged.
9
X
The deafening boom cleaved the air.
The sharp scent of gunpowder followed, staining my shallow breaths.
Diamond jerked, stumbled. Still Alpha never stopped. He moved with a fighter’s precision. His focus and gunsight trained on the center of mass as the gun kicked in his grip, again and again…and again.
But this was a mistake. A deadly mistake.
Alpha couldn’t kill Diamond—not like that. He’d only piss him off.
The monstrous shifter turned his head. His lips curled. A sickening, feral snarl echoed through.
“Alpha,” I started, but my words were swallowed with the blast.
Gunshots left behind gaping holes in Diamond’s shirt. Blood seeped through, staining the fabric crimson. His body shuddered.
Black bled through brown in his eyes, until the silver glint of his wolf shone.
Nails curved, lengthening to claws. Massive thighs lengthened as his stance hunkered. Dark patches of fur sprouted underneath pink skin and broke the surface. But it was the hate in his eyes, that guttural rage which spilled as his flesh knitted together.
The stench of hot metal pierced my nose. But underneath, the thick, heady scent of rage broke through.
The click of the empty clip ratcheted.
My stomach trembled as Alpha yanked the magazine free and slammed a new one home. But the split second was all the shifter needed.
Diamond cocked his hand and lunged. Razored nails sliced the air, ready to part flesh and spill blood. I dropped my shoulder, and drove my heels into the floor. My heart was thundering, drowning out my wolf’s howl of fear.
Alpha’s torn body came to life inside my mind, and the image was a stab to my heart. My thighs tightened, stomach clenched. I lowered my head and lunged.
Diamond’s claws sliced the air. My teeth gnashed, bones shook. I stumbled, danced. Hot pain raked my side. One jerk and his claws hit bone.
My knee buckled. My hold slipped. White sparks danced in my eyes.
The scent of blood was suffocating like a hand over my mouth, taking me back to the child who ran on that infernal night.
"Get the fuck off me.” The familiar growl vibrated my ear.
Something sharp bit deep as he tried to yank his claws free.
I held on, shoving and pulling…dancing, just enough to get him away—just enough to keep Alpha alive.
My protector was a blur. His eyes were wide, trailing the muzzle of the gun right and left as Diamond shoved and punched.
Alpha’s screams bounced off the walls. The thrashing of my heart drowned out his words. The crunch of bone filled my ears as Diamond wrenched his claws free. One swift punch to my gut and my fingers slipped.
“No!”
I turned toward the sound. Alpha’s eyes were wide, his skin ashen. I tried to lift my hand to help him…to protect him, but my body refused to move.
Something spilled from my body. I looked down, pink blended with white to slip through my fingers. Blood trick
led, racing over the back of my hand to fall toward the floor. The warning inside my head dulled, and everything else followed.
Alpha charged, bullets punched, until there was nothing but the dull click of an empty chamber.
The thud of fist on flesh was sickening. My stomach tightened, flesh pulled taut, knitting the edges together, but it wasn’t enough.
A black metallic blur cut through the room. I followed the gun as it flew through the air and hit its target.
The pointed sight cut Diamond’s cheek, leaving two bloody tracks in its wake. Diamond strode forward and swung.
My breath stopped as Alpha moved fast, ducking the failed blow, and moved in close. The shifter’s eyes widened as Alpha unleashed three ferocious jabs, bulldozing the sonofabitch backwards, and dragged his hand across his body, before swinging bare knuckles through the air.
The blow connected with a crack.
Diamond’s head snapped to the side, and his body followed. His face lengthened, bones flattened. The line of his jaw grew and razored teeth filled the space. Half man, half wolf. Diamond found his feet. His lips curled, revealing the glint of enamel. He hunkered, fists clenched, and then lunged.
Alpha raised his fist, ready to fight a man.
But the thing that hit him was neither man nor beast—it was hideous, mid transformation, Diamond’s claws pierced Alpha’s shirt. He dragged a fist backwards and let fly. The blow connected with Alpha’s face. His head snapped backwards, but there was nowhere for his body to go.
Diamond hit him again. Blood splattered the air with the sickening blows. Alpha’s head rolled, eyelids drooped closed. His arms dangled lifeless in the air as Diamond hefted him from the ground.
I couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. This is my fault…all my fault.
The shifter would snap his spine—render Alpha broken…or dead.
I couldn’t let that happen. The walls seemed to close in as I stumbled, tensed my thighs and shot forward. I sprang into the air, claws ready. I hooked my arm around his neck and drove my claws into his shoulder.