Cruel Knots (Volkov Assassin Pack #1)

1

Damien

A single lamp lights the street corner, illuminating the cracked sidewalks and graffitied walls. There’s barely anyone around and most of the houses have darkened windows. You’d think it’s late in the night and the neighborhood is asleep but it’s barely seven in the evening.

This area is whispered to be one of the shadiest parts of Ashville. Gang violence is common in these streets. Drugs and cheap whores are the only attractions here. Even the cops stay away in a bid to preserve their pitiful lives.

So, what are Trevor Harding and his two best friends doing in a place like this?

“I can’t wait. Let’s take a hit now,” says Trevor. He’s the sixteen-year-old asshole who’s dared to ask our Lucia on a date to prom night.

The shitheads accompanying him halt in their steps at once. Their beady eyes gleam as Trevor pours a small amount of sugary dust on his forearm and shapes it into a thin line.

“Get out of the way, Denver!” Trevor snaps, pushing the guy with spiky green hair as he closes in for a sniff. “I get to do it first.”

“C’mon, Trev,” Denver groans.

Trevor fixes him with a scowl that shuts him up immediately.

I glance at the two shadows tailing me. The tall, lean figures are perfectly camouflaged against the night in their black jeans and hoodies.

I give a small nod, silently commanding them to stay alert but not to make a move yet.

“Fuck!” Trevor moans, throwing his head backward. A burst of wild laughter escapes his lips as he looks toward his friends. “This shit feels so good.”

“Do you think it’ll feel just as good to fuck Lucia Baldwin?” Denver asks.

“The bitch smells divine and I hear she’s a virgin,” says Cooper, the third guy with auburn curls. “How tight do you think she’ll be?”

Pure venom flows through my veins as I hear them talking shit about my omega. My fingers itch to snuff the life out of Trevor and his two friends who consider Lucia as nothing but a fuck-worthy trophy.

“She’s as easy as a dumb fuck,” Trevor brags loudly. “Should’ve seen the way she blushed when I asked her out. I think she’s been thirsting after my cock for a long time now.”

“Give her a good dicking,” says Cooper, his eyes lighting up maliciously. “Film her like you did with Katie Goldberg. Even if we can’t have a piece of her ass, we can at least jerk off to it.”

My eyes squeeze shut to calm the storm raging inside my heart. How dare they conspire against the girl I love?

The most beautiful thing about Lucia is her untouched innocence. She’s the kindest, sweetest girl in the world and the type to pick up abandoned, stray puppies on the road and bring them home.

My brothers and I were nearly starved to death when she picked us off the street. She thought we were a couple of homeless kids and wanted to help us.

Lucia probably thought she was doing a good deed by giving us a home in her family’s mansion. Our innocent angel had no idea she’d picked up a group of young assassins-in-training.

Two dark shadows stretch on the broken asphalt road but the three kids snorting coke are completely oblivious to their presence.

My brothers stand beside me now. The sound of their quick, shallow breaths tells me they’re fuming and itching to get their hands on the three bastards about to prey on our innocent angel.

I raise my chin toward Trevor, permitting them to do whatever they please.

Mikhail, my youngest brother, moves forward at once, gaining on the group and attacking the tallest guy without a moment’s thought.

Always so impatient , I think as Cooper turns around to face his attacker. He should’ve gone with a strike that could incapacitate his enemy in one blow.

Shouts and grunts shatter the silence of the night as the three boys rear up to fight against Mikhail who’s leaner than them all. They’re all alphas and think they can beat anyone who dares to attack them.

Mikhail easily blocks their combined attacks but he’s having a hard time returning their hits.

“It’ll take him all night to finish them off,” Leon whispers in my ear.

“Come on. Let’s finish this,” I say, moving out of the shadows to help our brother.

I grab Denver while Leon tackles Trevor. Their flailing arms and clumsy moves make it easy for us to incapacitate them easily. We strike them at precise points along their hamstrings using the fruit knives we smuggled out of the kitchen this afternoon.

A string of curses escapes them as they land on the ground.

“What the fuck?” Denver shouts, clutching his bleeding thighs. “Do you owe them money or some shit, Trevor?”

“No,” Trevor moans. For a moment, he looks up at me. “Wait a minute...” Recognition flits through his eyes. “I know you...you’re the guys who work at the Baldwins’.”

“You know them?” Denver gasps.

“Yeah. “I’ve seen them in Lucia’s home,” Trevor says in a shaky, uncertain voice. “They work in the gardens of her mansion or maybe they’re janitors or something.”

Cooper lands next to them, groaning. Two crimson slashes cut through the front of his pristine white shirt.

“What the hell?!” Denver yells, his eyes widening. “Why’d you have to kill him?”

“He’s not dead,” says Mikhail, coming to stand next to me.

“Why’re you here?” Trevor asks in a subdued voice. “What do you want from us?”

“We wanted to check out the loser who’d asked Lucia to the dance,” Leon answers from my side, his face contorting with rage. “We heard everything you said about her.”

“So what?” Trevor heckles. “Did the bitch send you to spy on us?”

“Lucia would never do such a thing,” Mikhail shouts.

“So, you’re just a bunch of psychos lusting after her,” says Trevor with a shit-eating grin. “Is that the reason you’re stalking me and my friends?”

An amused grin lifts the corner of Leon’s lips. “For once, you’ve got it right.”

“Do you know who we are?” Trever snarls. “You won’t get away with hurting us.”

Mikhail kneels before him. “Does it matter what happens to us when you’re dead and buried?”

Trevor’s arrogance cracks. Fear seeps into his eyes as he stares between Mikhail and me.

“They’re not serious, are they?” Denver asks, his eyes still fixed on his squirming friend.

Trevor gazes into my face. “You can keep the bitch,” he spits. “Just let us go.”

“How dare you talk about her like that?” Mikhail hisses. “She’s not an object to be passed around!”

There’s a sudden flash of silver. Next moment, Trevor howls, clutching his mouth. Streams of blood gush from between his fingers as he stares wide-eyed at Mikhail.

“Come away,” I say in a grim, authoritative tone. “We don’t have the time to dispose of three bodies this evening. Lucia’s probably waiting for him by the auditorium gates.”

“But—”

I shake my head. “Not tonight.”

A disappointed look comes over my youngest brother.

“Let’s take their clothes,” Leon says from beside me. “Lucia won’t be embarrassed by us but the mean bitches that go to her school will give her a hard time if we go dressed in these rags.”

“You already ruined his shirt,” I say, gesturing toward Cooper’s crimson-soaked shirt.

He shrugs. “I’ll button up the jacket.”

I gesture toward the three young men writhing on the ground before us. “Give us your clothes.”

Denver glances between his injured friends and immediately starts taking off his clothes. He’s lost all his bravado in the face of three unrepentant killers staring down at him.

“Give it to them,” Denver pleads, forcing his friends to part with their clothes as well.

Soon, Trevor, Cooper, and Denver are stripped down to their boxers.

“Thanks,” says Leon with a bright grin as he hauls their expensive tuxedos and trousers in his arms.

“Can we go now?” Trevor asks in a pathetically small voice.

“Nope,” I command. “We don’t want anyone ruining Lucia’s evening.”

“Are you going to kill us?” Cooper asks, gingerly wrapping an arm over the slashes across his chest.

“Damien already said we can’t kill you guys,” Mikhail huffs. “ I think it’s better to silence you guys forever. What if you give us trouble later on?”

I look Cooper in the eye and watch him flinch away. “Will you give us any trouble?” I ask in a slow, clear voice. Leaning closer, I whisper, “Will you tell anyone about us?”

The three boys shake their heads furtively.

“Good,” I say, feeling satisfied. “Bind them up and leave them behind those dumpsters.”

A cacophony of desperate pleadings rings out in the night as my brothers wrap plastic ties around their wrists and tighten them until their circulation is almost blocked off.

Kneeling before the cowering young men, I add, “You never saw us.”

They nod emphatically.

“It’s better to lose a memory than your entire head, right?”

More nods.

“Good.”

Just as their expressions are about to relax, I add, “You’ll never go near Lucia again.”

“I’ll never even look at her!” Trevor whimpers. “Happy?”

“Very.” Flashing a quick grin, I get to my feet and gesture toward my brothers to follow me.

We walk back into the shadows, content to be away from prying eyes.

“Can you believe our luck?” Mikhail says, digging his elbow into Leon’s side. “We’re going to prom with Lucia!”

“I know! I feel like fucking Cinderella right now.”

An amused grin comes over me. My brothers and I never attended a regular school. The fact that we’re assassins was bored into us since the moment we were born. We were taught Math and Grammar alongside using a knife to gut a man.

We aren’t immune to love and loyalty despite the blood coating our young hands. There’s an unshakable bond between me and my brothers. We just never expected to have the same connection with someone else after we were tossed out into the cold, dark streets of Ashville.

Lucia Baldwin truly appeared like an angel, promising us a safe and warm home. She forced her father to give us jobs as kitchen helpers and became the sweetest friend to us three brothers.

She’s younger than us. Even though her designation as an omega was revealed last year, we knew she was our mate from the moment we met her. We took one whiff of her sweet caramel scent and knew she was meant to be ours.

Lucia doesn’t realize it yet but she’s just as attached to us as we are to her.

She loves baking cookies and sharing them with us. She loves to read and always seeks us out to read out her favorite passages to us. The first thing she does after coming home from school is to look for us.

My brothers and I are killers but our hearts beat for her. We can do anything to make her smile.

“Why do you look so lost, Damien?” Leon asks, throwing an arm around my shoulders.

“Mikhail needs to control his temper,” I say, glancing at my youngest brother who’s busy straightening his jacket. “Don’t pounce on your prey without a plan.”

“Aww, shucks, Bruh!” Mikhail groans. “I got him, didn’t I? Stop ruining a fun night before it’s even begun. If we’re lucky, we might get to kiss Lucia tonight.”

Warmth floods me at the very thought. Thank fuck for the shadows shielding my face or my teasing brothers would see the evidence of my excitement on my heated cheeks.

Within half an hour, we reach the posh district that houses Lucia’s school.

“Let’s head into that mall to fix ourselves,” Mikhail suggests.

Looking ahead, I see the towering shopping mall with its bright, welcoming lights.

“Sounds good,” I say with a nod.

My brothers and I use one of the bathrooms to get dressed in the clothes we stole from Trevor Harding and his friends. The tuxes fit me and Leon perfectly but Mikhail’s jacket proves to be slightly bigger on his lean frame.

“Don’t sweat it,” says Leon who’s cleaned up rather nicely. He looks as handsome as the filthy rich alphas attending Lucia’s school. “The jacket makes your shoulders look broader.”

“You think so?” My youngest brother asks me with a worried look on his face. “I don’t want her thinking I’m a dork.”

Smothering a chuckle, I grab him behind the neck and bring his face closer to mine. “You’re my brother. Of course, you look handsome.”

That makes him crack his usual, carefree grin.

We liberally use up the few items we stole on our way to fix our hair and make us smell good. When we’re ready, we walk out and head toward Ashville Academy.

There’s no time to steal a car to make a grand entry through the front gates, so we scale one of the walls of the posh, guarded school to enter the premises.

We’ve used this route plenty of times to sneak in to catch a glimpse of Lucia during class hours. Having been around the campus, we know our way to the auditorium where prom night is being held.

There’s an air of excitement among the students tonight. Several groups are already drunk and high despite the school’s policy against alcohol and drugs. I guess the rules don’t apply to these rich bastards.

I catch sight of Lucia even as throngs of students crowd the entryway of the auditorium.

She shines in a knee-length white dress. Her long, dark hair is fashioned into gentle waves that reach her waist. A single emerald pendant rests at the base of her throat, drawing the eye toward her ample cleavage.

Lucia is only sixteen but she’s already a woman.

I swallow, feeling a familiar thirst in my throat as my heart drums against my chest. Lucia is the most beautiful omega in the world. You can glimpse her heart just by looking into those moss-green eyes.

“Why did you turn into a statue?” Leon mutters. “She’s right there.”

Lucia stands near the gates of the auditorium with an anxious expression etched on her pretty face.

“Let’s not keep her waiting any longer,” says Mikhail. “I hate how worried she looks.”

“She thinks Trevor stood her up,” says Leon in a grim tone. “ Come on , Damien. Let’s go to her.”

I force my heart to calm down before taking a step toward her.

Lucia’s gaze finally falls on us and suddenly, a bright smile appears on her pretty face.

Stay calm , I tell my pounding heart.

All anxiety drains from her face as she eagerly starts waving toward us.

We’re wolves in sheep’s clothing. If we cared for her, we’d stay far from her, but my brothers and I are like moths who can’t ignore her flame.

It doesn’t matter if we’re burned to ashes.

Lucia Baldwin means everything to us.