Born to Fight (Can't Resist You Book 1)

by Brittany Anne

  In the minutes after the raid began, Hunter saw this vision come to life for the first time. Thirty men all moved perfectly in unison. Their movements were mechanical, calculated, yet graceful and fluid. Each man moved in perfect harmony with the man beside him.

  For a moment, Hunter stared in awe at the unit he had helped create. And then, when he was done admiring his friends and brothers, he joined them.

  First, they used knives and fists, so as to not alert the entire compound of the attack. They made their way through the guards on the outer wall, taking them out all at once in perfect time with each other.

  See, whenever the governor had a planned outing, he’d place extra guards on the wall and send several units out into the surrounding area to ensure it was safe for him to leave. This predictable move gave Hunter and his men the perfect opportunity to take out half of the UNR’s army before even getting into the compound.

  After the wall’s guards were taken out, Hunter and his men ascended the walls. Hayden was the first to make it to the top, and after he peered over, he signaled to Hunter which sides were clear. He passed on the message.

  Slowly but surely, all thirty men began to descend into the compound. Hunter waited, looking down to make sure they got all the guards. When he was sure, he dug his fingers into the hard stone and began pulling his body up and over the concrete.

  His biceps burned by the time he pulled himself over the wall, which was about forty feet high. He loved the familiar burn.

  From the top of the wall, he glanced over. There was a large gated area towards the East, and inside were many people, all wearing the same dark grey clothing. Hunter had no doubt that was the prison camp, which was his destination.

  Between him and the prison were small buildings, houses, apartments, and deserted streets. A few yards away from the prison was a larger building, no doubt where the governor stayed. Where Rain is.

  No. He couldn’t think of that right now. His best chance for saving Rain was to go through with the plan in its entirety, and that meant his first stop was the prison.

  Hunter quickly descended the wall, letting go when he was about ten feet from the ground and bending his knees on impact. He stood and looked to his men, all of whom were waiting for his signal.

  He nodded, and everyone moved. Perfect fluidity.

  Hayden ran to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “The prison.”

  “The prison,” Hunter acknowledged him. They began to slink along the wall, laying low and moving quickly.

  Hunter could hear the gurgling of guards choking on blood as his men took them out one by one. He still hadn’t heard a gunshot, a good sign. That meant they were still undetected.

  As they came upon two guards, Hunter and Hayden quickly separated without even needing to look at each other. Hunter walked up behind the first, clasping a hand over his mouth and pulling him close. He stuck his knife under the man’s left arm and straight into his heart so that he wouldn’t suffer. He fell limp to the ground.

  Hands clasped on Hunter’s shoulders as foot kicked into the back of his knee and knocked him to the concrete. As he jumped forward and spun to attack, he saw Hayden standing there perfectly still and a dead man at his feet.

  “You couldn’t have done that before he knocked my knee out?” Hunter whispered.

  One corner of Hayden’s mouth almost rose. Almost. “You’re lucky I did it at all. You’re the fighter, after all.”

  Hunter rolled his eyes and gave half a smile as they continued to move along the wall.

  He ached to get to Rain and moved himself along as quickly as he could without giving up their position. He had spent the past several hours fighting back all thoughts of her suffering, but now that he was close, he couldn’t keep the thoughts from coming back in.

  He wanted to hold her, to kiss her, and to never let her go again.

  He wanted to tell her that it didn’t matter if the choice was made for him long ago. He was taking it back, and his choice? It was her. It would always be her.

  The first gunshot rang through the air.

  All hell was about to break loose.

  ***

  When Anna stormed into Rain’s room, she jumped. She wasn’t expecting the door to swing open, and she certainly wasn’t expecting the frantic look on the face of the woman who entered.

  Anna ran to Rain and grabbed her, and Rain’s hands instinctively went to protect her abdomen.

  “He knows,” Anna said, her eyes wide and her voice frantic. Her eyes shot down to Rain’s hands over her belly, and then back to her with the same look of fear.

  Rain started to feel doom crawling up her skin as Anna’s words sunk in. He knows.

  Before she could ask any questions, they heard the loud bang of a gun going off.

  Anna’s eyebrows rose. “There are no red shirts here. How did that…”

  Rain’s eyes lit up. “The Resistance!”

  Anna’s face filled with shock and fear, and then returned to stone. “I have to go.”

  No, that wouldn’t do. Rain grabbed her arm and pulled the woman back. Anna looked like she might attack, but Rain held her ground. “You need to help me.”

  “You’re a prisoner and I’m a guard.”

  “You came to tell me. You came to save me. Help me.”

  Anna pulled away and began to walk out of the room. Rain called after her one last time. “You know who Alan is, don’t you? He’s not just going to come in here and kill me. He’ll kill my baby, he’ll torture me. He might make me carry it to term, give birth so I can watch him kill my child. Can you really live with that?”

  Anna paused. It wasn’t what Rain wanted, but it was something. “You know that it’s true. You know he’ll go to any lengths to make me pay for this.”

  Anna turned and moved to Rain’s feet, undid the shackles, and then rose, placing an arm on Rain’s shoulder and getting just inches from her face. “Keep up. I’m not going to wait for you. And if shit hits the fan, I’m out.”

  Rain felt hope flutter through her, a dangerous emotion to have in this place. She soon found herself sprinting behind Anna, pressing forward with everything she had.

  Another gunshot… the Resistance was here. Hunter was here.

  She ran even quicker as hope built inside of her, and then she felt herself be ripped backwards by a hand that fisted into her hair.

  ***

  As Hunter and Hayden worked on opening the prison gate, Hunter heard the banging of a door slamming into a concrete wall. He turned and saw a woman run from the second largest building in town, the first being the prison.

  She had short blonde hair and donned a UNR uniform.

  And she was running right towards them.

  Hunter didn’t care who she was, he wasn’t pulling a gun on a woman. Hayden didn’t seem to have that problem.

  In a second, his gun was aimed directly at her head and she came to a complete stop about ten feet from them. Her eyes were wide and green, her hands raised to the level of her eyes as she struggled to catch her breath.

  “You’re part of the Resistance.”

  It didn’t sound like a question, but Hunter nodded.

  “You know who Rain is?”

  His heart dropped.

  The alarm on his face must have been clear as day, because the woman continued. “Hurry. He has her.”

  “Where?” Hunter asked.

  She motioned towards the large building she’d just run out of. “There. Second floor.”

  Hunter turned to Hayden as he felt his heart picking up speed. Hayden nodded and Hunter took off, placing a hand on his sidearm and running as quickly as he could.

  ***

  “Are you going to kill me, now?” the blonde asked.

  Hayden kept his gun trained on her and squinted his eyes. “Why did you just help her?”

  The woman rolled her eyes. “I figured it would be easier to take out one of you boys than two.” She winked.

  Hayden felt a growl rise in his
throat as conflicting feelings ran through him. Part of him wanted to put a bullet in her and move on, and another part, that he didn’t recognize, wanted to press her up against a wall and take her.

  He squeezed the trigger on his gun.

  She jumped as the bullet left its chamber and all but disintegrated the lock on the gate he and Hunter had been working on.

  She stared at him with wide eyes and parted lips, her chest rising and falling even more quickly than it had been before.

  Hayden didn’t like what he was about to do.

  “Get out of here.”

  She stared at him for one second longer, and then she was gone. He ripped the chains from the gate and pulled it open, barreling inside as the sounds of chaos grew louder around him.

  ***

  “You can’t be pregnant. You’re broken!” Alan screamed as he dragged Rain backwards by her hair into a nearby room. The stone floor scraped against her skin until it was raw. “How?” he yelled. “How?!”

  Rain grabbed at her hair to try and save it from being ripped out of her scalp. She struggled against his grasp, but it was no use.

  He lifted her from under her arms and slammed her into a wall. Rain felt a jolt of pain throughout her body upon impact, and then the slow throbbing as the pain lingered.

  Alan came closer, eyes ablaze and mouth in a snarl.

  “Who assaulted you? Who took what was mine? Tell me!”

  Rain had enough. She pushed off the ground and stood firm on her feet. “Nobody assaulted me. Nobody took me. I made love to a man who I care about. I gave myself to the man that I love. My right, my decision, my choice.”

  His palm hit hard into her face. It stung, but she straightened herself out. “I was never yours. I never will be yours.” Her voice grew stronger as she felt the power behind her words. “You think you can purchase and own another human being? That you can torture and rape and brutalize me because you gave my father some cash? You think that you can order the murder of hundreds, thousands of your own people and get away with it?”

  Rain took a step towards him as she heard the echo of gunshots outside of the building. “The Resistance is here.” She moved in even closer to him, her face only inches from his. “You lose.”

  He grabbed her by the hair and slammed her into the wall.

  ***

  When Hunter saw that psycho shove Rain into a wall, he lost it. He burst through the door and grabbed the man by his shoulders, throwing him across the room.

  His body fell to the ground.

  As amateur as it was, Hunter turned his back to the man he now recognized as the governor and gave his attention to Rain. He delicately placed his hands on her and lifted her up, leaning her against the wall so she could sit upright.

  He looked down and saw blood on his hands, cringing at the fact that the same hands that now coddled Rain had killed several men just moments before.

  And they were about to kill one more.

  Her eyes began moving, fluttering, and slowly opened to him. The corners of her lips pulled into a weak smile as she sighed his name, and Hunter’s chest grew warm.

  Something hard smashed over his head. He saw stars.

  Too bad for the asshole attacking him that Hunter had seen many, many stars in his days. It only served to enrage him.

  He shot up and turned. He grabbed the man and pushed him back. The governor threw a punch, Hunter dodged. He threw a second, and Hunter dodged again. He let out a laugh and, just as expected, the governor surged forward.

  Hunter grabbed the man by his shoulders and kneed him in the groin. Then he shoved him back and planted his fist in his face. Once. Twice. Three times.

  Blood poured from the man’s nose and lip as his eye began to swell. Hunter shoved him against the wall.

  “Is this what you like to do to women? Shove them around?” Hunter pushed him again and he trembled. “Do you like to make them afraid?” Hunter got in the man’s face and lowered his voice. “Do you like to watch them tremble?”

  “Hunter?” He smiled at the familiar angelic voice.

  “I’m going to kill you in the same way you killed so many of your own people. Public execution. I bet your subordinates will love watching you cry and beg.” Hunter took one more step back as the man fell to the floor, looking like he was going to go into shock. “Enjoy your last few breaths. Governor.”

  Hunter turned and moved towards Rain, knowing the man behind him was no threat. He wasn’t a fighter. A killer, yes, but a coward. Without his armed guards, he was nothing.

  Hunter removed the shotgun that was holstered to his back, just in case, and placed it on the floor by Rain. He touched his hand to her reddened cheek, and she flinched. I might just kill that asshole right here, after all.

  “You came for me,” she said.

  Air escaped Hunter’s throat, half in the form of a laugh, half in the form of a sigh of relief. “Of course I did, baby.”

  Rain’s face lit up as the smile finally reached her eyes. But then those eyes widened, and before either of them could say anything, Hunter felt cold metal pressing into the back of his skull.

  “Get up. Slowly.”

  Hunter froze. He stared into Rain’s terror-filled eyes and slowly rose to his feet.

  “I thought the UNR didn’t allow such dangerous weapons,” Hunter mumbled. He should’ve known better. He couldn’t think about anything but Rain and he should’ve known better. He should’ve put a bullet in the man’s head before turning his back on him.

  “And how do you think we enforce that rule? With our words? Our knives?” The governor wouldn’t sound so smug with a gaping hole in his throat.

  “Red shirts get guns, sure. But you? You’re not a soldier.”

  He laughed. “As far as the people are concerned, only highly trained soldiers have weapons. But you didn’t really believe that, did you?”

  “Have you ever taken a man’s life, governor?”

  The man laughed. “Do you know who I am?”

  Hunter smirked. “You’re the guy who barks orders. So I’ll ask again. Have you ever pulled the trigger? Not given an order. Have you ever actually pulled the trigger?” Silence. “That’s what I thought.”

  Hunter shoved backwards and spun, smashing his arm into the governor’s elbow to knock the gun out of his hand. It discharged. Hunter felt his core burning, but he didn’t have time to die. He didn’t have time to do anything but fight.

  He grabbed the governor’s arm and crashed his elbow down against it. He wasn’t sure what was louder, the crack of bone or the governor’s scream. The gun fell to the floor.

  Hunter pounded a fist into his jaw and he flew backwards. Hunter moved forward and punched him again, but it didn’t have the force it should have. He was dizzy and found himself swaying, legs unsteady.

  The governor leapt up and barreled into Hunter, knocking the wind out of him. It shouldn’t have been that easy. Why was it that easy?

  When Hunter spun, the governor was holding Rain, hiding behind her like the coward he was. “If you take another step, she dies.” He had a knife to her throat. Hunter’s hand was on his gun, but he couldn’t risk taking the shot and hurt Rain. If his head wasn’t spinning, maybe he could’ve made the shot, but something was very, very wrong.

  “Hunter, you’re bleeding!” He saw moisture pooling in Rain’s eyes.

  He looked down and saw that his shirt was soaked. He touched a hand to his abdomen and then pulled it back to see thick red. He looked back to Rain. He brought up his gun and trained it on the governor. Even though he knew he wouldn’t take the shot, the governor didn’t.

  His hold on Rain tightened.

  Hunter felt himself fading.

  “Here’s what’s going to happen,” said the asshole Hunter was about to disembowel, “you’re going to drop the gun, you’re going to get on your knees, and you’re going to die like your father did.”

  Hunter felt a pang of shock, and then just rage.

  “Yeah, I know wh
o you are. The minute she said your name, I knew who you were. The great Hunter Kane. I expected more from you.” I’m not done, yet. “Final warning. Drop the gun or I will slit her throat.”

  Hunter began lowering his weapon.

  “No!” Rain shouted. Hunter paused. “If you drop the gun, he will pick it up and kill you.”

  The governor laughed. “Darling wife, can’t you see? He’s already dying. I don’t have to do a thing.”

  Hunter snarled at what the man called his Rain. He lifted his weapon, but the man’s knife dug into Rain’s throat and she let out a yelp. It broke him.

  Hunter dropped the gun.

  ***

  “No!” she yelled as Hunter dropped his weapon. The governor laughed.

  Rain felt blood drip down her collarbone, but the cut wasn’t deep enough to do any real damage. It only stung.

  “On your knees,” the governor said behind her. Rain wanted to struggle against his hold, but with the knife at her throat and Hunter’s life hanging on her next move, she had to be smart about this.

  She watched her warrior slowly fall to his knees. He wore all black, but she could see his clothing was soaked with blood… It was soaked like it was when she’d first found him on that riverbed, when she’d nearly mistook him for a corpse.

  “Don’t hurt her,” Hunter said. His voice was even, smooth, but she knew him well enough to hear the hurt in his words.

  “They always said you had a soft spot for women. That’s why we staged that attack in the meadow with my lovely Julia. We knew you wouldn’t be able to resist helping her. Even if it meant turning your back on my soldiers.”

  Rain watched Hunter’s eyes squint and his brows scrunch with Alan’s words. She felt the same feelings Hunter must have felt twisting in her gut. Alan staged the attack that nearly killed Hunter? It was all a set up?