“Kaden’s been hurt,” is all I manage to squeak out before I collapse from the pain.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Kaden
“Yes, Alpha Seamus, I understand,” I say and hang up the phone. Kaleb looks at me, and I can feel his concern.
“We’ve been assigned a new mission, and we have to go right now.” There’s no point in trying to argue. When our alpha calls, we go.
“Where are we going this time?” he asks.
“He didn’t say anything, but we’ll get our orders on the plane.”
“I don’t wanna leave her,” he says, and I feel the same. The thought of leaving Abby hurts me deeply.
“Neither do I, but we know we don’t have another option. Let’s go break the news to her; she’s not going to appreciate this.”
I slide my phone in my back pocket and walk over to her. Her face screws up, and if I didn’t think she was holding back tears, I’d laugh at how cute she looks. I know her fragile state is another byproduct of being at Nathaniel’s mercy. I can only hope that with time, she’ll be back to her old self, just with a few new scars.
“ Abby,” I call to her. “We have to go. Our alpha needs us. Wow, that sounds weird since he’s not really my alpha anymore. But until the Blood Moon ceremony, we still have responsibilities to Seamus.”
“Who does? All of you? We just got back!” her voice is trembling, and already I want to call my alpha back and tell him I’m not going.
“Just Kaleb and I. Our affinity for fire is needed to resolve a clan dispute. We shouldn’t be gone longer than a couple of days,” my tone is placating, while I pat her on the shoulder. I want to make this as easy as possible, but if I’m honest, I’m also upset. We told our alpha we couldn’t be far from her after what happened, and he still assigned us on a mission. It’s a small favor that he waited until we brought her home safely after our mini-retreat. What I wouldn’t give to be back in that gorgeous cabin, away from the world with her and my best friends.
“Do you really have to go?” she asks, even though she already knows the answer. I admire her tenacity.
I nod slowly, “We have our orders; it’s not a choice.”
I look at the breathtaking woman who’s Claimed my heart and feel the ties of the Bond strengthening between us. I fear leaving her is going to hurt and that it might even push her over the edge we just barely brought her back from. I curse my alpha in my head yet again, but smooth my face into an implacable grin and hook my fingers into her belt loop. “Come here gorgeous, give me a kiss. I want something to think about while I’m gone.” I grab her face and capture her lips with mine, sucking at her tongue and pulling it into my mouth. My thread of control snaps and in an instant, I have her up against the car, with her legs wrapped around my waist as I press my erection against her sweet hot core. The friction of our denim is almost enough to make me cum. I break contact with her luscious, and now swollen, mouth and press my forehead to hers, trying to catch my breath. Around her, I’m like a horny teenager, about to blow his load in his pants.
“As I said, we’ll be back in a couple of days tops. Don’t worry about us. We’re very good at what we do, and you probably won’t even notice that we’re gone,” I say with a self-deprecating grin. I try to think about unsexy things to control my raging hard-on. She manages to undo me every time, and I’m going to need all my control for whatever Seamus has planned for us. Lately, his missions have never been good or easy. I set her down and move away from her, evidence of my arousal still on display.
“You’re so full of it. Of course, I’m gonna miss you guys. Who else is gonna make me laugh?”
“I resent that,” Marcus interjects. “I’m actually hilarious, but with these two around I never get to show off.” His infectious grin breaks some of the tension.
I’d forgotten the other guys were even here; yet another effect of loving this woman—extreme tunnel vision.
She rolls her eyes and pats him on the shoulder “Marcus, you’re the chef—they’re the jokers.” Her tone is an awful attempt at seriousness, and her smile widens.
I grin at her. That’s what Kaleb and I are good at, making people laugh. Sometimes, I wish people knew how hard it was for us. Being expected to always be happy is tiresome. But with Abby, it doesn’t feel like faking anymore. She has brought so much to our lives: joy, laughter, and heaps of sexual frustration.
“My turn,” I hear my brother say, and watch as Kaleb shoves her back against the same car feasting on her mouth. It’s always a competition with us, but at least our gorgeous shifter gets to reap the benefits. He pulls away, and I smirk at the slight wobble in her knees as she walks towards Justin’s waiting arms.
That’s my brother. Before Abby, we had been known to cause more than a little destruction to the female population, but that all changed when our raven-haired vixen came into our lives. Laughing at her starry-eyed expression, I walk away to put in a call to our alpha. It’s general protocol to alert him of our status once a mission has been handed down.
“Alpha Seamus, we’re en route and headed to the plane. Our ETA is 3 hours 7 minutes once we board the plane.”
“Be ready,” the voice on the other line says. “We need to put down this resistance before it grows any stronger. You’re to go in and burn the entire village down. Leave no survivors.”
The phone hangs up abruptly, and I stare at it. Swallowing hard as I struggle to find my next words.
“Kaden, let’s go.” My brother calls out, and I nod.
We say our final goodbyes and jump back into the car we just exited. I drive, and he takes the passenger seat. Once we’re headed down the driveway, I fill him in on our mission,
“He wants us to massacre an entire town, Kaleb; he said to leave no one alive.”
He stares at me, aghast, and I don’t have to read his mind to know what he’s thinking. More innocent blood to stain our hands. I hate when Seamus uses us like this. His personal killing machines. It’s a secret we hide from everyone, even the other guys. I don’t know how Shaun is so blind to his father’s offenses. Sometimes, I think he might know, and he’s just a really great actor. Either way, after the first time we slaughtered a group of unsuspecting shifters, we chose to err on the side of caution, and not tell him. If Shaun knew who his father really was, he’d be destroyed. Protecting him and protecting Abby—that’s more important than anything else. We never discussed our decision to lie to Abby, though. How could we ever tell her the truth now?
“This has to stop; I can’t take anymore, and I hate lying to her,” Kaleb says.
Our eyes lock, and I see the fear in them, surely the same that is mirrored in my own.
“We have to find a way to help these people escape. I won’t do it again, Kaden. I won’t kill without knowing our targets are guilty of something. I can still hear the screaming ...”
He doesn’t finish his sentence, but he doesn’t have to. I know the nightmare he’s talking about because I have the same one. The fire and smoke, the shrill cries, the sound of burning cracking flesh—it’s all remembered in vivid detail and plays on a loop most nights when I finally lay my head to rest. That was the first time we’d killed for Seamus, and since then we’d done it many times over.
We arrive at the plane and board. Any supplies we will need for the trip are already on board. I wait while Kaleb changes into his tactical gear in the bathroom, and then do the same. Being around wolves has changed the way I think about nudity, but our clan mates would not appreciate us dropping trousers in front of them. We tend to stay dressed until we’re ready to shift. The plane doesn’t wait for us to buckle in before it takes off, and I’m forced to brace myself in the tiny ass bathroom while we begin our ascent.
After I’ve changed into our all-black uniform, I make my way to the only open seat on the small twelve-person plane. Kaleb is already propped against the window, eyes closed and snoring lightly.
I try to catch some sleep myself, not knowing how much rest I
’ll get once we touch down, but it eludes me. Instead, I’m stuck thinking about all the missions we’ve been on, and how they’ve changed each of us so much. Today, we’re headed to some small town in North Carolina. Every time we visit a small town, we leave a trail of death in our wake. I know there are whispers of the twin red dragons that deal in death. I’m just glad those whispers are only among the rebellion.
I glance at Kaleb, his forehead creased like he’s concentrating, but I’m sure it’s a nightmare—that nightmare that we share. We had one more mission before they chose men for the Claiming, and we were both thrilled we were chosen. The honor of mating, even to a wolf, was a great one when there were so many men in our clan who needed mates. The fact that we were lapdogs of Seamus worked in our favor, even if it made my skin crawl knowing what kind of man he was underneath the veneer of sophistication and prestige. I close my eyes, willing sleep to come, but as soon as my lids lower it begins playing like a movie in my mind.
Alpha Seamus calls us into his office and gives us the rundown. We are heading to Rhode Island, to put down an uprising against the Elders.
Our instructions are clear—go to their military base, and use our gifts to set a fire then leave. In, out, and back on the plane in less than 30 minutes. The fact that it’s so easy is a dead giveaway, but saying no isn’t an option, so we nod.
When we leave the office, I can tell Kaleb wants to talk, but I shake my head and tap my temple.
His voice appears in my head a few moments later.
This is bad.
Well, it isn’t good, but let’s not jump to conclusions just yet, I reply.
But we’re on a plane with men who are loyal to the alpha. There’s no way out of this that wouldn’t involve us getting killed for betraying him.
Fuck, well maybe he’s telling the truth this time, and it’s really just a military base of rebels.
You honestly can’t believe that! We’re the rebels, we’re the ones who are against the Elders, and you know it, Kaleb argues.
He’s right. Just saying the words through our connection, I can smell the bullshit.
Look, it’s going to be alright. We’re going to figure a way out of this; we always do. He stops projecting for a moment as we touch down, knowing it’s time to get this done. We’re going to kill some people the alpha finds threatening—just a simple military uprising that we’re going to put down. That’s it, he reassures me.
Remember, if we do this, then Seamus will choose us to go the Claiming ceremony with the Dama de Noches, and we know we want that! We know what that means —freedom from Seamus.
We quickly deplane, strip, and shift. It’s easier to cover more ground in dragon form. Night has fallen, which will help us maintain our cover, but we slip into stealth mode anyway. We use our wings to glide, flapping them at little as possible. Our wings cut through the air in utter silence, before we begin spewing dragon fire upon the town. It erupts in flames in seconds, dragon fire burning brighter and hotter than regular fire thrice over. It’s only when I see a school in the center of the town that I realize how horribly we’ve been lied to. Kaleb lets out a roar as Seamus’s guard soldiers cheer, mistaking his roar for a sound of triumph.
I follow Kaleb as he banks left and lands in a clearing and shifts. He immediately falls to his knees and vomits. Hugging my brother naked is not something I’d normally do. But after I shift, and his eyes find mine, I see tears are streaming down his face as he looks up at me. I wrap my arms around him in an attempt to calm him.
“It was a lie! He lied to us, and we just killed children. Why? What did this town do?”
“I don’t know,” I say, caging his face in my hands. “But we will find out exactly what our alpha is up to. This has gone too far. We could lie to ourselves before, when it was just a few men, but we just killed children.”
“I can’t believe the alpha would do this. I have never seen that many shifter children together, not in ages, and we just burned them to death. My stomach heaves, but I choke it down. I have to be strong for my baby brother, and he cannot see me crack.
I wonder what he would think of me if knew of my solo assassination missions. “Come on, let’s get back on the plane. We don’t want them to notice we’re missing. He shifts and I follow suit, soaring in the air to avoid the destruction we caused. We head to where we stashed our clothing.
“This is the last time,” I tell him.
“Kaden, don’t make promises you can’t keep; we both know this isn’t the last time. We’ve been baptized in blood. Now Seamus can ask us to do anything he wants and won’t have to lie about it.”
He seems so distraught that I want to tell him I’ll do all other missions solo, but we both know that won’t happen.
Turbulence shakes me awake, but I am grateful. I hate that nightmare. I wish I could find a way to forget, but I don’t deserve to.
Murderer. I hear the word in my head, and I hang my head in shame. What will Abby do when we tell her the truth? I can’t bear to think of the horror and disgust in her eyes. Lying would be so much worse. Fuck! What do we do? Maybe I can take the blame all on me. At least Kaleb has a chance then. I can keep working with the alpha and find a way to bring him down from the inside.
I’m feeling extremely sorry for myself when a feeling dwarfs me, and my heart hurts. I grab it, rubbing it as it feels like it stops and restarts. Abby has finally chosen, and she wants us all. There was never any doubt that she would, but it is so fucking nice to finally have it official. I want to wake Kaleb up, but I notice a sweet smile on his face and deduce that he just felt our Bond snap into place too, though I don’t know how he didn’t wake up. All I want to do is call Abby and tell her I love her, too.
“Hello, baby girl. I see you made your choice and had the good sense to keep the band together.”
“Of course, I did. I love you so much, but I was just being cautious. This is still really fast.”
Her words stun me, and I can’t help the sharp intake of breath that follows. Knowing that she loves me is one thing, but hearing it is so much better.
“Baby girl, you better enjoy your time with those three,” I tell her, “because when we get home, it’s our turn to celebrate, and I can promise it will be one hell of a party.
“Is uh … Kaleb there?” she says after a long pause, and through our now wide-open connection, I feel how much my words affect her.
I adjust my growing erection and rethink the timing of this call when we’re about to embark on such a dangerous mission.
“He’s sleeping, but I’m sure he’ll call you later. I’ll sure pass your message along. Oh, and, Abigail? I love you, too.” I add, then hang up, the crackle of static letting me know the PA system is about to go live.
The pilot comes over the PA system and announces we’ll be landing soon, so I nudge Kaleb awake.
“Did I dream that Abby finally made her choice, or was that real?”
“It was real; I just got off the phone with her. She asked if you were available, but you were sleeping. Anyway, she said she loves you. Call her when we’re done—it will give you something to look forward to.
He takes one glance at my face starts into me.
“You didn’t sleep did you, Kaden? Had another nightmare?”
I clench my jaw so hard it hurts and nod curtly.
“The same one?”
“Yes, Kaleb, the same one, but I can’t think about that now. We only get twenty minutes before the goon squad follows behind us to clean up our mess. If I don’t find the leader and get these people evacuated, we’re going to have even more blood on our hands.”
“Alright, it’s game time. You lead, and I’ll follow. I hope these guys have an escape plan in place.”
“Me too, but if they’re truly escapees of our clan and some of the others, they will have a contingency plan.”
A while back, clans began losing numbers as their loyalty to the Elders waivered. Those who felt the packs should have more autonomy stayed
and those who wanted the Elders to stay in charge began to leave. Of course, we thought it was the other way around when we began these missions, but now we know the truth. There’s a war brewing, and we’ve been quietly assassinating anyone who might help the Elders win. To be honest, I don’t know whose side I’m on, but I hate the way we’re going about it. There’s no honor is midnight raids and murdering woman, children, and unarmed men.
We debark the plane and slip into the darkness, moving in silence until we reach the town. I move ahead of my brother, taking advantage of our freedom from the rest of Seamus’s henchmen. He usually allows us to perform covert missions without his goons, but this one will be different. After we light up the base, they’re coming in and finish up the job, so we need to work quickly if we’re going to save anyone. We’re his death twins, a title I despise.
As I round the corner, a flash of silver is my only warning before anguish floods my system. I can feel blood pouring from my wound, hot and wet, but worse is hearing Abby’s screams of pain in my head.
Fuck, I left our connection open. I’d been so overjoyed by her admitting her true feelings that I neglected to close it, and now she’s feeling my pain. I fall to my knees and hold my hands up in surrender as the masked man prepares for another blow.
“Please,” I wheeze out, “we want to save you!”
“I know who you are,” the nameless voice seethes. “You and your brother are well known among those us of most loyal to our Elders.”
“We don’t want to kill you. Please,” I try again, but the pain is overpowering. Sparks dance before my eyes and my vision blinks in and out. I’m also certain I can feel the sting of poison running along my veins.
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