Bill shook his head and made a sound indicating he was tired. “Mind your strength there, Kong.”
“Kong?” asked Bane as he tried to right the sink. It didn’t help any. He stepped back and put his hand out to Galiena, clearly giving up on trying to repair the damage he’d done.
She grinned up at him, taking his hand. “I think he’s poking fun at your shifter type. You know, King Kong?”
Bill laughed. “Yep. King Kong. Your girl is smart. I feel bad that she’s stuck with you.”
“Ah, I’m following now.” Bane grinned. “Beats monkey-boy, I guess.”
He swayed and she pushed against him, hoping to steady him. She had a feeling he’d probably just accidentally crush her if he went down.
Bill cackled from the doorway. “I’ll bring the SUV around back. You get your footing. That was some blow job, huh?”
“Yeah,” said Bane before grunting. “Shut up and go get my SUV.”
Bill rushed off and Bane turned to face her. He bent and pressed his lips to hers. His kiss left no room for doubt that he wanted her. He stayed close to her after ending the kiss.
“Let’s get to a safe place and we can talk more there, okay?” he asked, worry in his voice.
She pressed herself tighter against him. “I’m pretty sure you’re going to need a crowbar to get me away from you.”
“Good.” He hugged her and then paused. “Galiena, you need to understand that you can’t always trust my shifter side. It’s done things in the past—I’ve done things.”
She sighed. “Bane, before I entered this club tonight, I turned a man into a pile of ash. He wasn’t a good man. He was a murderer. One who would have hurt me in the end if given the chance, but you should know you have some stiff competition in the don’t-trust-my-supernatural-half department.”
His nostrils flared. “Take me to this pile of ash. Right this second.”
“What for? You have the gift of resurrection? Because all King Kong’s men couldn’t put that pile of ash back together again.”
He grunted. “Dammit. I should have been there to protect you.”
“You’re here now.”
He grinned and bent to kiss her again. “I am.”
She couldn’t stop the euphoria that spread through her. She’d not been this happy in weeks. In fact, she couldn’t recall a time in her life she’d ever felt this light and free.
This complete.
She was about to say as much when the restroom door blew in, shards of it going in all directions.
One second Bane standing in front of her, his back to the door, and the next his massive frame was on her, forcing her to the floor, shielding her from the door fragments. Loud pops went off, sounding like firecrackers. Smoke filled the room, and the smell of something she didn’t recognize followed. It took her a moment to realize the sounds and smells were from gunfire.
A lot of it.
Screaming, she grabbed at Bane as she realized he wasn’t moving. He was too big for her to push off or move while unconscious. But his weight was suddenly ripped from her—and she looked up to find Helmuth there, glaring down at Bane’s lifeless form.
Galiena moved quickly, thrusting her body over Bane’s as Helmuth aimed a gun at him. “No!”
“Move,” said Helmuth, his voice eerily calm.
“No. Stop! Don’t hurt him! I’ll go with you, just don’t hurt him.”
“Why? Is this the shifter my men tell me you were all over tonight? Is he the one who’s immune to what you can do now?” Helmuth kicked Bane’s side forcefully.
Blood pooled around Bane’s limp body, and Galiena tried but failed to figure out where all the blood was coming from so she could put pressure on the wounds and stop the bleeding. A large piece of wood from the splintered door was lodged in Bane’s upper arm, going all the way through. Crying, she tried to get it out, but it was too slick from blood to budge.
“Do you have the suits?” asked Helmuth.
Several men answered, and made way as two men in what looked like a cross between hazmat and diving suits entered. They came right for her. As they ripped her off the ground, and didn’t burst into a pile of ash, she realized whatever they had on was protecting them from her touch.
“Boss, do we kill this one?” asked another man, also kicking Bane. “I can still hear his heart beating.”
“No. Bring him. He may come in use after all. Krauss can harvest samples from him and possibly backwards engineer them for me.” Helmuth sneered at the man. “Galiena, really. You selected an animal over me? Above everything I tried to give you?”
She cried harder. “Don’t hurt him. Please.”
“Hey, succubus chick,” said Thor, entering the restroom through the open door. He glanced around but didn’t look surprised to see Helmuth and his men. “Did I miss all the fun?”
He’d turned on her?
Galiena stared at him; unable to believe she’d misjudged him so horribly.
Thor glanced at her, winked, and then twisted and throat punched the man nearest him. In the blink of an eye, he had the man’s weapon and was using it, firing at the men in the suits.
Galiena dropped to the floor and crawled in the direction of Bane. A second before she would have made contact, she found herself being ripped off the floor by something that felt like a brick wall.
“Shoot and you will hit her,” said Helmuth, holding her as a shield before him.
Galiena stared at Thor, who had his gun trained on her. She gulped. Would the man shoot her too?
He lifted the weapon higher and bent slowly, setting the gun on the floor. “Let her go.”
“Molyneux will hear about this,” warned Helmuth. “I’ve seen what he does to those who betray him. It isn’t pretty or fast.”
Shrugging, Thor remained in place, watching Helmuth closely. “Tell him whatever you want.”
“So brave for being one of the vampire’s puppets. One of his toys,” said Helmuth. “If his love of you is so great, why did he loan you to me?”
“Don’t know. Don’t care,” said Thor, but the flash of fear in his gaze wasn’t lost on her. She’d heard Molyneux’s name mentioned more than once during her time being held captive by Helmuth. He and Krauss had argued over the master vampire’s loyalties to their cause, whatever that was.
Galiena caught Thor’s gaze and winked, causing a surprised expression to flash over his face. She looked over her shoulder at Helmuth. “You’re assuming the vampire he answers to doesn’t already know what he’s doing right now. Weren’t you the one telling Krauss that you don’t trust Molyneux? That his agenda doesn’t line up with yours?”
The edges of Thor’s lips twitched and he inclined his head ever so slightly. “One way to find out. Call and ask him. Then again, it would be tipping your hand that you don’t trust him. Let’s see how this goes, shall we?”
Helmuth stiffened. “Leave here at once and I’ll forgive this transgression.”
“I’m not allowing you to take the girl.”
Helmuth rolled his shoulders, seeming to get taller before her very eyes. It was then she noticed his fingers. They’d lengthened and had long talons sprouting from the tips. His skin began to change from creamy white to a light blue.
She closed her eyes, positive her mind was playing tricks on her.
When she opened them again, all of Helmuth’s exposed skin on his arms and hands was blue.
Thor must have noticed it as well. He drew back slightly. “What the hell are you?”
Helmuth hissed and moved in front of her, partially blocking her view of Thor. He ripped off his designer jacket and cast it aside before doing the same to the dress shirt he wore.
Galiena watched in stunned silence as his back contorted and huge bat-like wings emerged. They were a deep navy, almost black. He tipped his head back, his ears lengthening as well. He looked like a human caught between changing into a reptile and a bat.
He was anything but human.
She’d never se
en anything like him, and she’d been a first-hand witness to a number of the hybrids Krauss had experimented on. They were mixes of many supernaturals, but none looked like Helmuth.
Her darkness kicked into high gear, taking over her senses and responses, making everything around her seem as if it were moving very slowly.
Thor dove for the discarded weapon on the floor and came up holding it, aiming with an expertise that made her think of a trained military man. As he fired, Helmuth turned rapidly, his skin going from blue to gray instantly. The bullets ricocheted off him as if he was made of bulletproof material.
Galiena watched, in what felt a great deal like slow motion, as a bullet bounced off Helmuth and went right at Bane. He was already hurt and lying in a pool of his own blood. She didn’t want him hurt more.
With no thought to her safety, she threw herself over him, her darkness flaring up rapidly.
Something struck her hard in the side, the force of it stole her breath.
There was a loud screeching sound before something had hold of her and was lifting her off the floor, away from Bane, higher and higher. The pain of being shot made it hard to focus, and when she finally could, she realized whatever had her was flying right up and through the ceiling, dragging her with it. And it wasn’t turning to ash, despite the fact her darkness was in overdrive.
Helmuth has me, she thought, her breathing shallow from pain. It hit her then, he wasn’t turning into ash because he’d turned to stone to deflect the bullets.
Whatever he was, he was immune to what she could do.
Chapter Twelve
Bane came to and tried to hear over the ringing in his ears. Everything on him hurt. Dazed, he turned his head, trying to figure out where he was and what had happened. As the bathroom of the club came into focus, he remembered what had occurred. Gasping, he sat up fast.
“Galiena!”
“Take it easy,” came a familiar male voice. “I’ve got more rounds to dig out of you before you can start healing this damage. Tell me you’re the kind of shifter that heals fast. If not, we’re going to need to get you to help, fast.”
“What the…where is Galiena? Galiena!”
Blond hair was all Bane saw for a second as his vision blurred. It eased, and he gasped as he looked up into the face of a man many had assumed dead for a period of time. Immortal Operative Lance Toov.
“Lance? Where is she? Where’s Galiena? What happened?”
“Lance?” the man echoed. “Who’s Lance?”
Bane groaned. He really didn’t have time for bullshit. “Thor, where’s the girl who was with me?”
Lance shoved a finger deep into one of Bane’s wounds, drawing a growl from Bane in the process. He dug around for a moment before coming out with a bullet. Rumbling, he cast it aside and it made a strange sound hitting the tile floor. “Helmuth has her. I tried to stop him, but he grew fucking wings, turned into stone for a second to deflect my bullets, and took flight.”
“He what?” Bane asked with a roar as he came up and off the floor with so much speed that he nearly fell. He grabbed out for anything to steady himself and ended up ripping the stupid sink off the wall this time. Water sprayed everything.
Lance stepped back from the path of water and gave him a hard look. “Seriously, do you not get how strong you are? This a new development?”
Bane looked up and, sure enough, there was a huge hole in the ceiling, letting the night sky show through. Whatever had formed it had been of substantial size and power.
Lance coughed softly. “Uh, there’s more.”
“What?”
“Those bullets that bounced off Helmuth…they went toward you,” said Lance, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot.
Bane rubbed his chest. “Okay, not really earth-shattering news. I’ll be picking lead out of places I didn’t even know I had for weeks. I’m sure of it. I’m not worried about me. I need to figure out where he took my woman.”
“Is she your mate?” asked Lance.
Bane nodded. “She is.”
“Then you should know that she threw herself over your body to protect you from taking any more bullets.”
As Bane registered what Lance was saying, he felt the blood drain from his face. “She’s been hit, hasn’t she?”
“Twice, if my count is right. But from the smell in here now, this blood on the floor is all yours. But I’m telling you, I saw the rounds hit her.”
Bane clutched his chest, not from the pain of being shot so many times, but from the pain of knowing his mate was hurt and he’d not protected her.
Stepping back, he slipped in the mix of water and blood covering the floor. Once second he was standing, and the next he was on his back once more on the restroom floor.
Bill rushed into the restroom. “Holy Hannah! You’re still on the floor? That was one hell of a blow job! Hey, where’s your mate? And who are you, blondie?”
There was a loud crash from the outer portion of the club and Bill leaned back to look. His eyes widened. “Hey, King Kong, I think you’re going to need to get out there. Godzilla just invaded the bar. Bring blondie as back up. Or to use him as a shield. Whatever butters your biscuit.”
Lance kicked what remained of the door then moved through it, pushing Bill out of the way. Bane followed close behind—and when they reached the outer club portion, both men came to a grinding halt.
He’d seen a lot of things in his long life. The thing before him was a first.
Whatever the hell he was staring at had torn a hole through the side of the building that a semi-truck could have driven through. There was no sign of patrons, supernatural or otherwise. Bane sniffed and caught the scent of blood. Whatever the thing was, it had hurt others. He also understood fully that it couldn’t be permitted to roam loose and possibly happen upon humans. No amount of gas leak cover stories would make that thing vanish. With his luck, it was already caught on camera and videos of it were going viral all over the net.
The thing turned slowly, facing him.
“What the fuck is that?” asked Bane, staring at a creature that was double his height—which was really hard to pull off.
Lance cursed softly under his breath. “Helmuth calls them berserkers. They used to be normal supernaturals, but a buddy of Helmuth’s has engineered them to be something else. Unstoppable. Most of the time, Helmuth’s men die trying to stop their rampages.”
“This buddy named Krauss? Creepy little fuck with evil genius written all over him?”
“Yep. That would be the one,” said Lance. “Gives me the willies.”
Bane wrapped his mind around what he was looking at—one of Krauss’s experiments. He’d read the reports from the dock incident that had happened several weeks back. Whatever had ripped through the area after the I-Ops and PSI-Op agents were done had left nothing but carnage in its wake.
As the thing turned, setting one of its multiple eyes on him, he took a deep breath in. He’d taken on a lot of men in his time, besting them all. This, he wasn’t so sure he could come out the victor with.
His inner beast rose quickly to accept the challenge. It wanted to get to its mate and would do whatever was called for in the meantime. “I do not have time for bullshit tonight. My woman needs me. Let’s do this, ass face!”
Lance did a double take. “Taunt him. Smart. You still have bullets in you, not to mention you haven’t healed any of the other holes yet. Yeah, but go ahead and taunt the giant monster that’s invading the club. In case you’re wondering, my money is on that thing with fifty eyes. Not you.”
“You know, your file never mentioned you were funny,” snapped Bane, his gaze never leaving the creature.
“What file?” asked Lance, inching his way to the other side of the creature. If he thought he was going to be able to sneak up on it, he had another thing coming. The creature had eyes all over its head. No way was anything getting the jump on it from behind.
“I’m not sure you’re going to be open just yet to heari
ng about it,” said Bane, allowing his gorilla side to move to the surface more. His shoulders widened, as did everything else on him. He didn’t do a full shift for fear of getting locked in a state of bloodlust. He’d heard of it happening to other alpha males, and Galiena needed him too much right now for him to let his testosterone start taking the wheel.
Bane was about to rush the thing when something even larger and faster whistled past him, grazing his arm as it went, spinning him around from its force.
He twisted barely in time to see whatever it was slam into the creature, lifting it up and off its feet. It smashed into the wall behind it. There was a giant explosion and Bane had less than a second to duck and cover as bits of creature, followed closely by a large ball of fire, shot over him.
It passed and he came up slowly, dizzy, confused, and pretty sure a bomb had just gone off.
“Shit, did we get nuked?” he asked, opening and closing his mouth in dramatic fashion to try to get the pressure in his ears to release.
Turning, he took a moment to focus—and what he saw made him freeze in place.
Bill was at the back of the bar, near the hallway leading to the restrooms, wearing the flight goggles Gus’d had on earlier, as well as the football helmet, and holding an anti-tank weapon over one shoulder.
He lowered it and smiled, his crocked teeth bright for all to see. “And that is how it’s done, boys!” he shouted, making Bane realize the crazy asshole had shot the thing without the proper ear protection. Hell, he hadn’t taken any safety measures before firing, as evidenced by the hair Bane was fairly sure Bill had shaved off his arm when the warhead grazed him on its way to the creature.
“A warning would have been nice!” Lance shouted, his hearing more than likely suffering, too, from the explosion in such a confined space. “I’m wearing berserker bits. Don’t think the dry cleaner will be able to get this out.”
“What?” yelled Bill, lowering the weapon momentarily as he shoved his pinkie finger into his ear. He yanked his finger out and flicked earwax onto the wall next to him. With his foot, he nudged a large black bag on the floor nearby. Bane recognized it at once as the luggage Bill had brought with him. There was little doubt in Bane’s mind that the bag didn’t have any clothing in it. It held weapons.
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