by Maia Dylan
“You, and every one like you, are an abomination against God, a scourge on this planet, like an infestation, and one that needs to be exterminated.” The largest of the three who had stayed with him and the one Liam had identified as the biggest threat spoke from his place at the window, and he turned to look at Liam with death in his eyes. “You must think that you are superior, that these mutations are a gift from God, when really they are the work of the devil. You think you are all so fucking powerful? Look at your mighty Alpha.” The man practically spat the word. “He’s done exactly what the boss said he would do. He’s come in alone, with his hands in the air because he thinks he so fucking powerful he can take a dozen men on his own and live to tell the tale. I’m looking forward to seeing that big bastard on his knees.”
The man walked closer to him, and Liam had to fight the urge to headbutt him when he leaned down to put his face close to his. “I used to be one of Santiago’s men a few years back. Was one of the lucky ones that got to help rid the world of Kieran’s asshole father. But that abomination and the rest of his freaks killed a lot of my friends that day in that fucking warehouse. All of them good men and none of them deserved to die just to save the little slut sitting in the kitchen. We kept you alive to control the bitch. My vote had been to simply gut you and leave you to bleed out, but the boss likes to do things a little differently. He’s going to kill you both in front of the bitch. Then we get to fuck her till we’re done, then slit her throat. There is nothing quite like watching a woman bleed out in front of you, especially one you’d been buried balls deep in just moments before. There’s not another high like it.”
A red haze fell over him, and Liam lost control.
Chapter Sixteen
“I knew you would come.” Josie’s voice was strong, but the look in her eyes told him she was anything but. “You shouldn’t have though.”
He stepped toward his mate, keeping his gaze on the man who stood a few feet away from her, a gun trained on the back of her head. When he was close enough Kieran looked down at her and reached out a hand to tip her face forward, rage filling him at the sight of the blood at the corner of her lip, and the swelling there.
He shook his head to clear the rage so he could reassure her with a small grin. “How could I not? I told you, Josie, you are the most important thing in my life. You once asked me when someone would put you first. Well, sweetness, for me and Liam you are, and always will be, first.”
Tears formed in her beautiful blue eyes, and he cupped her soft cheek to gently swipe a tear that managed to fall. Josie nuzzled her cheek against his hand, and his heart swelled. Movement behind her pulled his gaze, and he moved so that Josie was no longer between him and Rossi.
“You wanted me here, I’m here.” He cast a look around the kitchen and took note of the other three men in the room, leveling each of them with a look that promised death and had the satisfaction of seeing fear in the eyes of all three of them.
Scenting the air, he knew there were another three in the hallway with Liam, who was bleeding, and from the dominance that was swelling in the space, his cousin was pissed off. He hoped Liam could hold it together long enough for Kamon and Rune to get Josie out, and for Kieran to get into a position to take out all the men in this room. From the rage he could feel down the bond, he didn’t think he had a lot of time.
“You want to tell me what’s put me at the top of your shit list?” Kieran asked.
He had to give the twins as much time as possible to clear the playing field outside. If he and Liam were only dealing with the men in the house, then they had more than a fighting chance. If more came in while they were fighting, then they ran the risk of Josie being hurt.
Rossi shrugged. “You know, I am not entirely sure. Caruso wants you dead. He asked me to make that happen, and he is not a man that likes disappointment. The way I hear it, shifters will do anything for the woman they claim as their wife.”
“Mate,” Kieran corrected. “Josie is my mate. She's Liam’s, too. A wife can divorce you, but a mate is yours for life. There is no way to break that bond or deny it. When you find the one person the Fates have destined to be yours, then you cherish, protect, and love her for life, and you never let her down. She listens to what I have to say, does what I tell her, and she takes her cues from me, and I will never let her down. You getting all that, sweetness?”
Josie huffed a laugh. “Yeah, babe, I got all of it.”
“Good because I would hate to have to repeat myself,” Kieran answered, never taking his eyes off Rossi. “So, what’s the plan now? You gonna shoot me with that gun and expect that to keep me from gutting you?”
Rossi arched a brow in his direction. “You think you can make that move before I can apply enough pressure to the trigger and take the back of her head off?”
It was Kieran’s turn to shrug. “You think I don’t know you’re going to kill her, anyway? It won’t matter to you much though, you’ll still be dead. That was a possibility when you attacked my city and broke into my house. It became a fucking certainty when you put your hand on my woman.” Kieran let his gaze drift to Rossi’s men. “I plan to ensure that you all leave here in body bags.”
The men all looked at each other, uncertainty swelling among them.
“It makes me laugh how fucking arrogant you mutants are,” Rossi said with a snarl. “There are seven of us in this house, and another five outside. Do you honestly think you can kill all twelve of us?”
Kieran grinned, allowing all the rage and bloodlust to shine through. “I don’t have to. The five outside are already dead.” Kieran felt a burst of wrath explode down the bond, and the sound of furniture breaking and men screaming exploded from the hallway. “And Liam’s dealing with the others, so it’s just us. Now!”
Kieran leaped forward with every ounce of preternatural speed he had, releasing his hold on his lion and shifting in midair. He was aware of two tigers moving silently into the room and heading for the three men who stood at the back of the kitchen, expressions locked in horror of the death that was coming for them.
The sound of Rossi’s weapon going off was loud in the room, but it wasn’t enough to drown out Josie’s gasp. He felt a flash of pain down the bond as he reached Rossi and gave his lion free rein to maul the shit out of the fucker. He didn’t look back at Josie in fear of what he might see. As soon as Rossi fell lifeless to the floor he turned.
Josie had done what he’d asked. She’d dropped as much as she could, tied as she was to the chair, but from the blood that marred the side of her head, and her beautiful blonde hair, he knew it hadn’t been enough. Shifting back to his human form, he made a promise with himself. If Josie was okay, he would spend the rest of his life keeping her safe, never allowing her to be put in a situation like this again. But if that bullet had taken her from him, then he would join her in whatever came after this life. There was no future for him without her.
Liam slammed into the room in his human form, covered in blood and swaying on his feet, but alive. The bleak look in his eyes told Kieran everything he needed to know. If Josie was lost to them in this life, then they would both go with her. Heart in his mouth, he fell to his knees beside the chair and did something he hadn’t done in years.
He prayed.
****
“Well, I think, all in all, it was a good day!” Violet exclaimed with a grin. “Go, team Black Ridge!”
Josie smiled from her position held secure on Kieran’s lap with her legs across Liam’s thighs. Both her mates couldn’t seem to take their hands off her, and she was more than okay with that. It had been a horrible day that might have ended completely differently, and having them both with her, reinforced the fact that they’d survived. All three of them had wounds, both physical and emotional, but they were alive, and Josie had a wound to her temple to prove it.
Jacob leaned over and kissed Violet on the cheek. “No losses on our side, and limited damage to the city, and thanks to Kieran and Liam, heavy loss
es sustained by Rossi’s crew, so yeah, baby, it was a good day.”
“Wait just a minute.” Rune sat forward on the couch across from them. “Can I get a show of hand from the shifters who took out five of Rossi’s men around the pride house?” He and his brother raised their hands in unison.
Kieran laughed beneath her, and she snuggled further into his chest, loving the vibration of the sound and the way his arms tightened around her immediately. “That’s true. I want to know how you managed to take out five of them and make no damn noise while you did it.”
Kamon grinned at him as he took a slug from his beer. “Tigers, man. We’re sneaky like that.”
“You always bloody have been,” Liam said, amusement clear in his tone. “Bastards were famous for sneaking into places and getting information from people who had no clue they were even there.”
“That’s what makes us the best,” Rune said with a confident grin that had nothing to do with arrogance. That made Josie think it was probably true then.
“Do we know more about Caruso and his movements?” Mason asked, and the tone in the room turned serious.
Kamon put his bottle down on the table and leaned his elbows on his knees. “Something major happened in Nashville. A team of ESE agents raided a house they received a tip about and found eight people dead in that house. Three of them were men who worked for Caruso and were normally assigned to his security detail. None of the dead were Caruso himself, but all eight were killed with the biological weapon we’ve been tracing.”
Josie frowned. “You think Caruso ran some kind of test or maybe a vial of that stuff fell over and those people were killed by accident?”
Rune was already shaking his head. “No, we don’t. Caruso had split his men into two groups. Hell, there are probably more than that headed this way from every possible direction, but his inner circle split into two groups. One stopped in Nashville, and the other went off grid. We’re pretty sure the one we’ve lost track of had Caruso in it.”
Liam sat forward. “Why wouldn’t Caruso have his security detail with him?”
“Because he has something or someone else who is more important.” Josie wasn’t aware she’d spoken aloud until she noticed everyone turn in her direction.
“That’s what the ESE has determined as well,” Rune agreed. “They are working on trying to figure out who that would be. From what we know about this man, he’s a class-A narcissist. Whoever he was protecting, we think they either used this weapon by accident and ran fearing retribution from Caruso, or—”
“They did it deliberately to get away, and they escaped,” Violet said in a quiet voice. “Let’s face it. If you’re traveling with a man who is so morally bankrupt that he would willingly and deliberately resource the production of a biological weapon that kills indiscriminately, you’d want to get the hell out of Dodge.”
That made sense to Josie. Sitting in that chair this morning, facing an unknown future and knowing that Liam was being beaten just feet from where she sat, and Kieran was running headlong into danger to save her, she would have used any means at her disposal to take Rossi and his men out. A person who was desperate to live, to escape a horror they could no longer live with, would do anything to get free.
Josie hid a yawn behind her hand. She wanted to hear more and be a part of the discussion, but she was mentally and physically exhausted. And, if she were to be completely honest, she had a slight headache from where the bullet had grazed her temple. Enough to make it bleed and sting like crazy, but not enough to kill her.
“My BFF is exhausted.” Josie looked up at Violet who was grinning back at her. “I’ve had my team prepare one of the apartments downstairs for the three of you.” She threw a key at Liam, who plucked it easily from the air. “Until the pride house is all patched up, no one wants you staying there in case they walk in on you all engaging in a little somethin’ somethin’.”
Josie smiled, despite the blush that swept across her cheeks. “And well they should be!”
Her mates laughed with her, and when Josie made to stand up from Kieran’s lap, she was immediately swept into Liam’s arms.
“I can walk, you know,” Josie said tiredly, resting her head on his shoulder and not putting up much of a fight at all.
“I know that, kitten.” Liam pressed a kiss to her temple. “But after today, I can’t bear not to have you in my arms.”
“Neither can I,” growled Kieran as he followed them both to the elevator. “Let’s get to this apartment where we can hold you between us all night and keep you safe, keep the nightmares away.”
Josie’s smile slipped away at that. She wouldn’t be surprised if she did have a nightmare tonight. How many lives would one woman get? She’d survived Santiago and Rossi and could only pray that she did the same when Caruso arrived in Chicago. Because he would, she had no doubt about that. The man had been gunning for her mate for a long time, and she was under no illusion that he would simply give up and move on. He’d already expended two of his senior men on this vendetta he had, so it would make sense that he would take things into his own hands now.
“Sweetness,” Kieran said gently, and she looked over to where he was leaning against the side of the elevator. “We’ll deal with what’s coming our way. But not tonight.”
“Tonight, it’s about being together,” Liam added as the elevator doors opened on the floor below Violet’s bat cave. “And holding you between us where you belong. Tomorrow and what comes with it is not for tonight.”
Josie released a deep breath and nodded. “No, not tonight.” She agreed and gave herself over to her mates, knowing that they would take care of her.
Epilogue
“Please, please, just hold on a little longer.”
Klarissa knew she’d spoken out loud, but couldn’t hear it over the struggling engine of the piece of crap car she’d stolen. She wasn’t entirely sure if she was talking to the car or herself. Both were likely to break before she made it to where she needed to be. To be fair, she was surprised that she could hear the engine over the sound of her own damn heart, it was pounding so hard.
For the millionth time she checked the rearview mirror. The only thing behind her was darkness, and the glow of lights on the night sky horizon that signaled the lights of Chicago in the distance.
Just as she started to panic that she’d missed the turnoff she was heading for, it appeared out of the dark as if a prayer had been answered. With a groan, she used her battered right leg to press down hard on the brake, crying out as she fought to turn the wheel and make the turn. Her ribs protested the movement, the knife wound in her back throbbing, and she prayed her sudden movement hadn’t opened the hurried patch job she’d made when she’d stopped in the city to change vehicles.
As she made her way down the drive, adrenaline poured through her system. Klarissa had no idea if she’d even make it to the damn door alive. But she had to try. What was coming to Chicago, to the States, hell, to the world was because of her, and she had to do everything she could to stop it. If she died in that pursuit, then well, perhaps she deserved that, too.
She drove a little faster than she should into the drive that wound its way around the front entrance of the large, sprawling log cabin in the heart of the forest and ended up sliding the car into the grass at the side of the drive. Klarissa couldn’t keep from crying out at the pain that ricocheted through her just as the car rocked to a halt. The engine sputtered one last, dying breath, then fell silent the headlights dimmed, but cast a small circle of light in front of the vehicle.
Klarissa leaned her head on the steering wheel, her entire body shaking, and she took in a few deep breaths in a desperate attempt to stave off the nausea that threatened. When a sudden tingling started in the back of her neck, she lifted her gaze to look out into the night that surrounded the car and inhaled sharply.
Eyes, amber, arctic blue, and startling green all glittered in the darkness, all of them staring at her. She couldn’t see who or what
they belonged to. All she could see were the inhuman eyes that surrounded the car. Inhuman meant shifters. She’d made it to the Black Ridge pride house. She was kind of amazed she’d been able to get this close to it.
Swallowing her pain and her desire to flee, she gripped the handle of the door and struggled out to stand on the grass.
“I—I need to speak to your Alpha.”
All the hours she’d spent driving, making her way from Nashville to Chicago, taking every back road she came across, she’d thought about what she’d wanted to say and how she was going to say it. She was going to be forceful and strong, something she’d heard that shifters respected above anything else. She was so disappointed that in this moment she sounded as weak and scared as she felt.
“And we should care about that, why?” A voice came from her left, and she turned in that direction.
“Because—”
“You smell like blood,” another voice said from the opposite side of the car.
The voice was close, and she was startled at how the man had managed to get so near without her hearing a single step. She spun in that direction and had to reach out to grip the top of the car to remain standing.
“Yeah, I might have reopened the wound.” Klarissa cursed the way her voice shook. “My name is Klarissa, and I need to speak to Kieran Murphy.”
“Who hurt you?”
This time a voice spoke from directly behind her, and from the dark, raspy, and particularly growly tone, she figured the man was not happy. She turned a second time. Her head began to spin, and she knew she shouldn’t have moved so fast. When her eyes were able to focus, she knew she was truly in trouble. She was seeing double. Not that the man who stood in front of her wasn’t worthy of being cloned because boy, he was hot. Dark skin, eyes that spoke of a southeast Asian heritage, and a body that would make any woman sit up and pay attention.