by V T Bonds
Pouring power into my legs, I rocket us over the graveled lot and leap up onto the razor wire fence, moving so fast I twist over the top and stop our descent on the other side within two heartbeats. I climb down the last few feet and dash to the wall of the building, turning and sprinting toward the vent without breaking my stride.
I stop and wait for them to dance their choreographed routine, enjoying the flash of lightning and booming thunder.
Vander’s black silhouette joins us, making me wish we could shuck off our suits and mate in the rain. He’d look so sexy with his hair plastered to his head and the water dripping down his jaw as he loomed over me.
A puff of smoke disappears in the downpour before Seeck darts into the exposed tunnel.
I follow Dirk, glad Shya has him close by as we enter the dismal vents.
A sense of being entombed in the bowels of hell closes in on us, the immense weight of stifling concrete and solid rock pressing in on our psyches testing our resolve.
I pluck a positive note for Shya, reminding her of all the good and pretty things in the world. I fill her with the promise of a happy future, one where everyone gets to love and nurture the offspring growing in Anastasia’s womb.
Her courage flares to life, holding the ominous darkness at bay.
My thighs and triceps burn, but I ignore the pain and keep pushing forward, tracking our location as we turn through the seemingly endless maze of concrete.
When the gusts of wind threaten to ruin my purchase on the unforgiving surface, I follow Dirk into a much smaller offshoot.
Even with the whooshing of air behind me, I hear his shoulders brushing the smooth sides of the tunnel as he shimmies his way through.
I do my best to flatten myself onto my belly so I don’t scrape Shya on the hard material, making my abdominals and arms strain, but we pop out into a tiny room and press in like sardines.
Dirk, who turned to face us when there was still space for him to do so, begins unfastening the harness as soon as I stand.
The material pulls on my shoulders as the chest supports loosen, but my lifemate props Shya’s weight up before she slides downward.
Wedged against Dirk’s massive chest, I turn my face to the side while Vander lifts Shya. Dirk grabs her by the underarms, pausing to rest his forehead against hers to bolster them both before hoisting her off me.
She pulls her knees up and puts her feet on Dirk’s shoulders, taking his hand and using it for balance. Even standing so high, she has to stretch to reach the overflow valve. When she struggles to find purchase to pull herself up into it, I brace Dirk so he doesn’t have to worry about balance. He scoops her tiny feet into his massive hands and hoists her higher.
Her head and arms disappear. Little scratching noises sound until she wiggles in far enough to have most of her weight inside the tunnel.
The less of her we’re able to see, the quieter Dirk’s emotions grow, his focus narrowing into a laser of support for our tiniest family member.
No, she’s not the tiniest. She’s the second tiniest.
The babe in Anastasia’s womb is the tiniest.
Shya’s flick of agreement causes a spark of wonder to flare in my soul. Her naturally timid tendencies slide away in the face of danger, giving her such clarity she keeps wriggling through the tiny space without fear.
Her single-minded focus spears through us all, keeping even Seeck silent.
Vander slides to his full height behind me and squished like a sardine takes on new meanings.
I can’t stop the giggle from bursting from my throat.
Dirk’s absent-minded tilt of his lips shows me he doesn’t give a whit about our current position—he’s too focused on Shya.
Vander, on the other hand, wraps his palm around my throat while sending a snap of warning into my chest.
I can’t help myself. I have to say it.
“Who would have thought cramming into one hole with three Alphas would be so boring?”
Seeck lets out an exasperated sigh.
“Why didn’t we duct tape her mouth shut?”
“Because I’m feckin’ brilliant, that’s why, Carrot Top. Just because you don’t have a hard-on doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy my lady boner.”
My Alpha’s fingers tighten in a ruthless grip around my throat, making my head and core throb.
His silent growl invades the recesses of my soul, skyrocketing my joy.
“Keep pushing, Evie. I’ll enjoy silencing you with my cock later.”
“Yes, please.”
A slight grinding sound pings off the walls before the maintenance hatch opens. Seeck reaches up and pulls himself through the round hole about two feet above his head.
I press backward against my lifemate, giving Dirk space to turn and exit through the newly opened tunnel. Even with the layers of clothing and high-tech suits between us, my skin electrifies. His hard shaft against my back garnishes a chuckle from my chest.
His frustrated growl only heightens my arousal.
He pushes me forward, filling his hands with my ass. I walk my hands up the wall as he lifts me, wiggling for the sole purpose of feeling his thick fingers dig into my flesh.
As I slide through the tunnel, he lands a solid whack on my right butt cheek. Heat sinks into my bones and I contemplate staying where I am, with my lower half draped in front of his face.
When I look over my shoulder, lifting my torso so I can see him over the lip of the hole, lava boils through my veins. His stern expression and crossed arms make me want to jump him, but the steel core of focus in his soul tells me to get moving.
The mission thus far may feel more like an adventure than a dangerous endeavor, but there’s too much at stake for us to be fooling around right now.
Envisioning the end goal, I realize the deep-seated anger I hold for Alpha One no longer moves me forward.
As we go our separate ways, I keep alert but search through my memories, trying to find the exact moment I stopped dreaming of gutting Alpha One.
I’ve suffered his slimy presence for decades, and yet now I no longer want to murder him for the things he’s done to me.
Trauma hasn’t driven me for ages, but this is different.
Ever since Vander claimed me, my new sense of belonging superseded any anger-fueled revenge.
My need to annihilate Alpha One now stems from the need to protect my family.
Pressing my back against the wall when a clueless Beta strolls by with his face buried in a device, I wait until he turns the corner to move on. By the sounds wafting down the hall, we’re right on track—spoons clink against bowls and drinks slosh in their cups, indicating we’ve weaseled our way to the front side of the building near the chow hall.
I motion Vander forward and let him take the lead, darting into the next hall and sliding into the staircase before the door closes behind him.
Our footsteps make muffled thumps on the stairs as we plod upward, and I meet the most gorgeous slate gray eyes as he hunkers down next to the door one level up.
I squat down, waiting a few seconds until his internal clock confirms the same countdown as mine.
Branching my attention toward Seeck, I know he’s on schedule. Same with Dirk and Shya.
Vander watches my face and studies my soul, nodding when I grab the door handle.
I twist the lever and ease the door open just far enough for my Alpha to squeeze through, almost stepping on his heel as I follow him. Closing the door before controlling the lever’s return, it latches without noise.
I scamper down the hall after my massive brute, ready to massacre whoever crosses our path.
Too bad we can’t announce our arrival with a few explosives.
I shift to the other wall and quicken my strides until I’m even with Vander.
In sync, we slip tiny discs from our suits, him from his belt and me from the harness, and press them onto the handles of the doors as we pass.
These aren’t where Alpha One and his crew stay
, but there’s no reason to tempt fate and leave prison guards free to sneak up on our six, especially ones so close to where we’ll be skirmishing.
We reach the end of the hall and turn in opposite directions, branching out to lock all the doors in this portion of the level.
I keep a steady pace despite the urge to sprint, knowing if I make too much noise the guards will wake and ruin our surprise. Plus, if I get to my destination too soon, I’ll destroy my lifemate’s carefully created plan and lower our chances of survival.
Weaving through several halls, I stop before turning down the one hosting our prey, silently checking in with Vander.
He’s ready.
Sounds of scuffling emanate from across the building, and a surge of warning pushes from both Dirk and Seeck.
They ran into some kind of trap. We must act fast before our targets get notification.
I spring into action, sliding my boomerang from my hip and flicking it at the Alpha standing closest to the door while simultaneously yanking a blade from my other hip and driving it into my closest foe’s neck.
Embedded into his spinal column, I decide extracting it will take too much time, so I let go and grab the knife in my inner right thigh holster.
Feeling the warm rain of blood from his neck splatter onto my shoulder, I dart past him and crouch down low, slicing across his buddy’s thigh while catching my returning boomerang.
Jumping up, I cross my arms and sever the already injured Alpha’s neck with my dual weapons, the savage jerking apart of my arms ending with his body falling to the floor, sans head. His blank eyes flash across my vision as his decapitated noggin follows.
The bloke closest to the door grunts out a warning, alerting whoever resides within of our arrival, but it’s too late for him.
Vander places his boot on the sprawled enemy’s chest and buries his blade between the guard’s ribs, ending what my boomerang began.
Without hesitation, Vander flings the door open and rolls inside, avoiding the bullets peppering the air. I copy his entrance, angling to the side so I don’t run into him.
My thrown knife clinks against the glass barrier Alpha One stands behind in the back corner of the room.
“Feckin’ pussy, come out and fight like a man!”
Standing tall with his hands clasped behind his back in the stance I learned to hate within five seconds of meeting him, he shows no signs of worry or agitation.
The only guard within the room gurgles on the floor at his feet, the glass wall between them catching his spurting blood and leaving Alpha One in a pristine white lab coat.
Wrongness spears through me.
Why’s there only one guard in the room with him? Why were there only five guards in the hall?
I rise to my full height and meet his frigid blue eyes through the filthy glass, aiming my hatred toward him but unable to breech his disgusting soul.
His eyebrow rises in mocking concern.
“Hello, Evie. I see you’ve finally fulfilled your purpose.”
His voice makes me want to cringe, but despite my soul trying to shrivel in despair, I firm my stance and glare at him.
Vander’s silent support soothes my angst.
“What the shite are you blubbering on about?”
He tilts his head toward a side door, one that shouldn’t be there. One that connects two rooms together.
Dread forms a black seething mass in my chest.
It opens and reveals one of the worst things I’ve ever seen.
Both Seeck and Dirk kneel in the center of two dozen men, their wrists restrained behind their necks and their calves tied to their thighs. Blood runs down their exposed faces, their masks nowhere in sight, and their suits ripped to reveal gashes all over their chests.
Where’s Shya? I don’t feel her. At. All.
Dirk’s cloudy blue irises meet mine.
I turn toward Alpha One and hiss.
“You’ve brought me what I need. With these two under my control, the rest of the team will fall in line.”
I sneer at the bastard, fury coursing through my veins and sharpening my senses.
Between one breath and the next, silence becomes chaos.
I fling my boomerang into the other room, knowing it swings just where I meant it to go, ruining lives with an eerie whir.
Metal glints in the harsh overhead lighting as my savage lifemate precedes his body into the adjoining room with his throwing knives.
I slide the pistol out of my rib holster and send a bullet into the lock holding Alpha One’s glass cage closed, shattering his last defense.
Rage so fierce my ears ring and my vision blinks red carries my foot through the thick glass door, knocking Alpha One against the splintering wall on his other side.
His blood stains his coat, but it isn’t enough.
Smashing the edge of the door into his body again and again, I feel his bones crack under my blows. Even when he stops reaching for his weapon, I fling the busted door behind me and kick his broken body, pouring the emotions I hoarded for years into his destruction.
His ribs cave in, but I keep stomping him.
Gore-covered blue irises bulge up at me, luring me to sink my blade into them. So I do.
Over and over until nothing but a lump of butchered flesh and organs remain.
Hands close over my shoulders, piercing through my mania and stilling my outburst.
I freeze in place, taking in the sight before me, too numb from the tidal wave of released emotions to work through what just happened.
Vander’s arms wrap around me, enveloping me in warmth and understanding.
I did it. Alpha One is dead.
Very dead.
I snort so hard my chest hurts, only to roar with uncontrollable laughter.
Strong arms lift me from my crouch and lead me into the center of the room.
As my Alpha turns me to face him, I catch sight of Seeck cutting Dirk’s bindings amidst broken bodies.
My hysteria drains away as I meet slate gray eyes, his concern caressing my soul and sobering me without judgement.
A click sounds from the doorway. In unison, our heads swivel toward it.
Georgia stands in the hallway, the crazed expression on her face as she surveys the scene making my hackles rise.
Her delicate cheekbones and beautiful features warp with her fury.
“Stupid cunt. Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
My chin tilts down and delight pulls my lips up into a morbid grin. Splatters of blood dirty my mask, but I don’t wipe them off.
I’m just going to get dirtier.
She’ll be lucky to inhale five more breaths.
As she cocks the weapon in her other hand, I brace for the searing pain of being shot, ready to push through the agony and rip her to shreds.
Pink orbs ghost across the doorway behind her.
Two bullets ricochet through the room as Georgia’s body jerks in shock.
A blade tip protrudes from her trachea, and like water finding a hole in a high-pressure pipe, her blood spews forth. She tips forward, landing on her face and writhing on the floor.
Shya stands in the hallway, looking through the now empty doorway. Upon seeing Dirk, she darts into the room and flings herself against his chest. Shocked, his arms take a moment before wrapping around her, giving her time to growl at him.
Nodding my approval at no one in particular, except maybe myself, I replay the last twenty seconds in my mind and let mirth bubble up from my surprise.
Snapping out of my ruminations, I turn to Vander and growl my anger.
“Bollocks,” I snarl, whipping a first aid strip from my vest and covering the torn flesh of my lifemate’s shoulder.
“Did you jump in front of her bullet, or did your old bones stop you from dodging?” I say before letting a few more curse words fly.
He rips my mask off my face and plasters his lips to mine, wiping out all cognitive thoughts with his tongue. When my sharpened teeth gra
ze him, the taste of his lifeblood sparks joy and awe in my soul, but I lap at the cuts and seal his wound.
I curl my fingers in his salt-and-pepper hair and mash my front against his.
The hard, square device under my lowest left rib reminds me of our mission.
He pulls away and pushes me toward Alpha One’s remains.
Twisting the high-tech device from my corset, I press a switch and plunge the needle into the brain matter leaking from his skull. Releasing the button, I turn the device around in my palm while I walk to Georgia, pressing an identical button and sticking the corresponding needle into Georgia’s temple.
Her blank eyes and gray skin confirm her death.
I stick the thing back into its pocket and turn to my family.
Seeck and Dirk look a little dazed, and the sluggish cloud around their bonds tells me they were drugged, so I gesture for Vander to see to Dirk while I step up the Seeck.
Sliding a miniscule patch from a pocket on my sleeve, I slap it onto his collarbone.
“Blimey, but I wish those hurt more.”
Seeck’s expression clears, and he scowls down at me, only a little mad at my teasing.
“Thanks.”
“Shite, we’d better get him to hospital. He must be suffering from head trauma.”
“Shut up, Evie.”
I pat him on the shoulder before turning to check on the others.
Clarity shines from Dirk’s eyes.
Vander fiddles with his wrist communicator.
“Time to go.”
“Yes, Daddy.”
I throw my head back and laugh as my lifemate aims piercing orbs my way.
After corralling my mirth and ending my guffaws, I step toward Shya and kiss her forehead.
No one wears their masks anymore. This’ll make our exit a tad bit more dangerous, but there’s nothing we can do about it.
“C’mon, little savior. Back up you go,” I say before turning around and squatting.
Dirk lifts her into the harness while Vander adjusts the tension from the front. Once she’s snug against me with no hope of slipping around, I nod toward the door.
Seeck takes point again, with Dirk right on his heels. I pat Shya’s knee and sprint after them, knowing Vander won’t be far behind.