35. River
All of the recent warehouses we have investigated in the last few weeks have been a bust. I lost track of how many we have looked at so far.
After the first one Kai and I went to was useless I was starting to lose hope we would find anything. I pulled into the dim parking lot with the guys following.
“You ready?” Nat asked.
“Not in the slightest, let”s go,” I told her, opening my door.
Jax, Ryker, Tate, and Kai walked over to meet us. They looked like dark, avenging angels, dressed all in black. The only color was the stark white-blond color of Jax’s hair.
“Do you think we will find anything in this one?” Tate asked, looking at the building we were about to break into.
“Let”s hope so. We need some kind of trail to lead us to who owns Moonbeam,” I told him. We needed to know who to take down, we were going to cut the head off the whole corporation.
Nat shifted next to me on her feet, she had a nervous expression on her face. We haven’t had any issues at any of the other places so I was confused on why she looked so nervous.
“Hey, what’s up?” I asked her, bumping my shoulder against hers.
She was looking around the area, shaking her head, before finally realizing I was talking to her.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?”
My brows pinched together as I looked at her, this wasn’t like her. She was acting strange. “I said what’s up? Are you okay? You seem squirrelly.”
“I’m fine, let’s just get this over with,” she snapped, stalking away from me.
Was it something I said? Natalia was definitely acting strange and I had no clue why. We have done this at least a dozen times now. I didn’t know what had her so on edge this time.
“What’s her problem?” Tate asked, stepping up beside me.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” I told him, shrugging my shoulders.
Instantaneously, Tate, Ryker, and Kai’s phones went off. I stopped, spinning to look at all of them while they pulled their phones out to look at the messages.
Kai was the first one to speak up, “Star, I have to go. I’m sorry but this cannot wait. Be careful.”
He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me in close and placing a kiss on the top of my head. “You fucks better keep an eye on her.”
After threatening the other guys, he took off, shifting into his dragon and disappearing into the sky. I wondered what was so important that he shifted instead of taking his car.
I turned to look at Tate, dropping my shoulders at the look on his face.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, reaching out to him.
He looked up at Ryker before returning his gaze to me, “It’s Knox, he’s in the hospital. The house was broken into, and he was attacked.”
“Go,” I told him. I didn’t need any further explanation. I knew what Knox meant to him, and I was not going to be the one to stand in his way.
He looked torn. I know he wanted to stay here with me, while part of him wanted to go. I walked over to him, placing my hands on either side of his face.
“Go.” I demanded, “I’ll be fine. Ryker, can you drive him?”
“I don’t want to leave you alone. Ryker can stay.” Tate said. I saw the war in his eyes, and my heart was breaking for my mate. After we were home, I was going to have a long conversation with him. I gave him every opportunity to tell me about his feelings toward Knox. Enough was enough, though, he needed to know that I was okay with it.
I didn’t care if half of his heart belonged to him, as long as the other half belonged to me. Tate and Knox had a history, and I didn’t want him to throw that away because I came crashing into his life.
It wasn’t his fault the fates chose me as his mate, so he needed to stop tearing himself up over it. “Jax and Nat will be with me. You and Ryker go. Make sure he’s okay, beastly. I know how much he means to you.”
I placed my lips against his, putting all the emotions I was feeling into the kiss. He was tense underneath me for a moment before he relaxed, grabbing my waist and pulling me against him. He was caressing me in the sweetest way, when I pulled away from him I saw the understanding in his eyes. He knew I knew about him and Knox.
“Ryker.” He called to his brother, keeping his eyes on me.
“I’m good, let”s go make sure he”s good,” Ryker said, not needing any further instruction.
Tate was hesitant to release me, not wanting to let me go. I stroked his cheek with my thumb, looking into his beautiful green eyes.
“Go,” I whispered again. I would never forgive myself if Knox was seriously hurt and they stayed here with me.
I cared about Knox, too, even if he was ignoring our mate bond and needed to know he was alright. Mine and Knox’s relationship was confusing. One minute he was saying the sweetest things to me, and the next, he was acting like I didn’t exist. That man was so confusing, but it still didn’t stop me from caring about him.
When did my life get so fucking confusing? I felt like I was juggling five guys, and I was only really with four of them, but I couldn’t deny my feelings towards Knox. My heart wouldn’t let me forget about him, whether I liked it or not, the beating organ in my chest wanted all of them in my life, too.
“Okay,” Tate said, placing another kiss on my lips and forehead before following after Ryker.
I stood in place, watching them climb into Ryker’s green Bugatti before taking off out of the parking lot.
“Then there were three,” Nat said in a flat tone.
I whirled around to face my friend, she was putting off a strange vibe that I didn’t understand. What the fuck was her problem?
“Did you want to make it two?” I snapped. She flinched at my words, and I instantly felt bad.
“Nat, I’m sorry.” I started before she cut me off.
“No, it’s fine. I just have a weird feeling. That”s it. Can we get this over with?”
Her tone didn’t sit well with me. A freaking mate bond with her would really come in fucking handy right now.
Come on, ma lune. Let’s see if there”s anything here so I can get you home.
I nodded my head at Jax, he was right. The faster we looked through this building, the faster we could leave.
I walked past Nat, heading to the window Tate had broken out earlier in the week. I hoisted myself up and into the building. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the darkness without the moon lighting our path.
I moved out of the way so Nat and Jax could enter through the same window. I was doubtful we would find anything here, it looks like this place hasn’t been used in years.
“This place is creepy,” Nat said, shining the dim flashlight over the area.
She couldn’t see in the dark as well as Jax and I could, so she always brought a dim flashlight. Looking around the room, I knew what she meant. It looked like a torture chamber in here.
All sorts of surgical tools were lying across every available surface. One white bed was positioned in the middle of the room with a giant light hanging above it.
“This looks like an operating room,” I whispered, glancing around the area.
“What the hell are they doing to the patients?” Jax breathed out, asking the same question that was bouncing around my head.
“I don’t know, but this place gives me the creeps. Can we hurry this up and get the fuck out of here.”
Natalia walked over to the door, opening it up and peering down the hall.
“Do you want to split up? We could cover more ground and get out faster.” I asked, the more ground we could cover, the faster we could get out of here.
“Tate looked up the blueprints and there”s two floors plus a basement. We could each take a floor.” Jax said, looking back and forth between me and Nat.
“I’m not going into the basement.” Nat hissed, “Have you seen horror movies, the person that goes down in the basement is always the first to die.”
“I’ll go down to the basement,” Jax said, heading to the staircase.
Nat stayed put, looking back and forth between Jax’s retreating form and me. I sighed, knowing she wasn’t going to go upstairs either.
“You stay here, I’ll go upstairs,” I told her, watching as she visibly relaxed. I turned and headed to the same set of stairs Jax disappeared through. I know from the blueprints, one set led up and one went down.
I made my way up the stairs, grabbing a chair to prop the door open at the top, just in case. You could never be too careful with these old buildings. I could just jump out the window and shift, but I’d rather not have to do that.
I glanced around, taking in my surroundings. Downstairs looked like it was full of hospital rooms, but up here looked like offices.
“Bingo,” I whispered. There had to be something in here, so I picked an office and started my search.
After a good two hours of sifting through countless desks I had my bag full of files to go through later. There wasn’t much, but I took some of the more important looking documents.
There was a bank statement of properties purchased under Moonbeam that looked promising. This wasn’t a complete bust after all.
Are you ready, ma lune?
Jax’s voice in my mind startled me, and I let out a small squeak.
Don’t do that, chienne. You scared the piss out of me.
His chuckle filled my mind before I blocked him out. That asshole was loving this. He loved to pry into my mind. I don’t know who was worse out of my four mates. One of them was always poking around in my head when I was distracted and let my shields slip.
I shoved the last of the folders into the bag and headed down to meet the others.
“Did you find anything?” I asked as I walked into the room we originally came in. Jax and Nat were whispering back and forth. Their hushed conversation ceased as soon as I entered the room.
I looked back and forth between them, raising my brows in question.
“What were you two just talking about?”
“Nothing, ready to go?” Nat said, moving over to the window we came in from.
There was something up with her. I’m going to make her tell me later, because I did not like this side of Natalia.
Jax came over, slinging an arm around my shoulders and pulling me into his side. He placed a kiss on the side of my head that sent butterflies soaring through my stomach.
“Does she seem off to you?” I asked Jax after Nat climbed out through the window.
His arms tensed around me, “River…”
Ooh shit, this couldn’t be good. Jax never called me by my name unless he was about to give me bad news.
Before he could say anything, Nat popped her head through the window. “Come on, it’s fucking freezing out here.”
I sighed, shrugging out of his hold and walking over to the window.
“I’ll ride back with you, and you can tell me whatever it was you were about to say.”
I watched as he nodded his head before turning and climbing out the window with Jax following close behind.
Once we were outside, we started heading to our cars. I tossed my bag in the trunk of my car and threw the keys to Nat.
“I’m riding with Jax. Can you drive my car home?” I asked as she caught the keys I tossed her way.
She hesitated a moment before nodding her head. “Hey, River?”
I stopped at the sound of my name, turning to face my bestie. I waited for her to say whatever was on her mind. She looked terrified, her eyes were wide and round.
“Natalia, what”s wrong?”
I closed the truck door and walked over to her, taking her hands in mine.
“I’m so sorry.” She started shaking her head back and forth, tears brimming her eyes.
“It”s fine. We all have off days,” I told her. We have been through so much, we could get over whatever this hiccup was.
Natalia opened her mouth to say something else, but before she could six dragons landed around us. I pushed her behind me, facing the three beast in front of us while Jax stood at our back, facing the three beast that landed behind us.
We were sandwiched between the two vehicles, with three dragons each in front and behind.
“Where did they come from?” I asked, looking at Jax over my shoulder.
“I don’t know, ma lune. But I don’t think they are here to make friends.” Jax’s eyes were fully black as he looked over his shoulder at me.
Two blacked-out SUVs pulled up behind the dragons. I watched intently as the doors opened, my dragon was sitting right below the surface, ready to shift. The only reason why I wasn’t shifted already was because of Nat standing between me and Jax. If I shifted this close to her, I would crush her.
Eight men, dressed in pristine black suits exited the SUVs. None of them looked familiar, and they didn’t look like they wanted to gather around the campfire and sing kumbaya. Five of the men were holding pistols trained on us.
“Finally, we meet in the flesh. You have eluded me for far too long, River Moonstone.” The guy in the center of the men said. He was buttoning up the front of his suit, looking me up and down.
He was older and kind of handsome, but he had a sneer on his face that looked like he just smelled a steaming pile of shit. It wasn’t doing him any favors in the attractive department. He had long white-blond hair that was tied into a top knot at the top of his head.
The more I looked at him, the more similarities I saw…to Jax.
“What are you doing here, father?” Jax spat from behind me.
Well, I guess that answered my question. I turned my head to look at the traitor, my jaw dropped open and my eyes were wide.
“How could you?” I whispered, letting all the betrayal I felt seep into my words. I trusted him, and he did exactly what he promised me he wouldn’t. He handed me right over to Killigan Kailua, the only person I feared other than Moonstone Corporation.
His eyes widened, and he opened his mouth to say something, but I wasn”t hearing it.
“Don’t, just don’t,” I told him, turning around to face Killigan and slamming my shields up when Jax tried to talk to me in my mind.
“What do you want?” I seethed, if this asshole thought I was going anywhere with him, he had another thing coming. He would have to kill me first because I would not become Killigan’s personal incubator.
“Why the hostility, River? I simply want to chat.”
I scoffed, holding my arms out and gesturing to the six dragons surrounding us. “Then tell your guard dogs to stand down.”
Two of the dragons growled at my comment, maybe that wasn’t the brightest thing to say, but I was pissed and had no fucks to give.
“Easy, Jordan, I’m sure River didn’t mean that. Isn’t that right, dear?” Killigan said, giving me a wide smile.
I said nothing. This asshole was not going to get a rise out of me.
Jax growled, I caught him out of the corner of my eye while Nat poked her head out from my other side. If I just had enough room to shift, I could grab her and we could leave. With the six dragons surrounding us, they would scorch her before I could even get her out of here.
“Aah, there you are. Thank you so much for letting me know where you would be tonight. You definitely proved yourself worthy, well done.” Killigan clapped.
I felt all the blood drain from my face, why was I stupid enough to trust anything Jax said. I should have known he was in cohorts with his father this whole time. Nat was right when she told me not to trust him, and now I was paying the price for that mistake.
“Why don’t you come over here and properly introduce yourself to River,” He said, looking over my shoulder.
I followed Killigan’s line of sight. To my surprise it wasn’t Jax he was looking at. It was Natalia, my best friend for as long as I could remember. The first person I truly trusted and let into my life.
“What’s he talking about Nat?” I asked, tears pricked at the back of my eyes. Stinging as they made their way to my water line.
This had to be some sick joke. She was my best fucking friend.
“River, I’m so sorry.” Tears began streaming down her face.
“Natalia?” Disbelief laced my words, was she lying to me this entire time. “Was our friendship even real?”
“Yes, gods, yes. River, it’s not like that. Let me explain, please,” she said, reaching out to grab my hand in hers.
I yanked my hand out of her hold, shaking my head back and forth. This whole time, I thought it would be Jax that would betray me, and here we were, my best friend shoving the knife into my back.
“Natalia, won’t you come join me,” Killigan said, holding his hand out to her.
I stared in disbelief as my best friend walked past me, uttering how sorry she was while she walked straight into the arms of my enemy.
“Now, where were we?” Killigan asked, but I still couldn’t take my eyes from hers.
She was standing at his side, tears streaming down her face. Her lips kept moving, muttering how sorry she was, but the words never reached my ears. I couldn”t hear past the roaring sound thrashing through my brain.
“Why don’t we go somewhere where we can sit and have a nice conversation?” Killigan said, finally snapping my focus back on him.
“Fuck you,” I said, crossing my arms across my chest.
He narrowed his eyes at me, “I guess a simple conversation is not going to happen. So, I’ll give you two choices. You either come with me willingly, or I’ll kill the two people you came here with tonight and take you by force. The choice is yours.”
“Not going to happen. I’ll give you two choices, though: you can leave with your life, or I’ll kill all of you.” I told him, squaring my shoulders and raising my chin up.
I pushed the tears of betrayal down. I would not let her see how she truly broke me. I was shattered, though. She inflicted a wound so deep I don’t think I’ll ever be able to heal from it.
Jax stepped in front of me, shielding me from his father. I can’t believe I ever doubted him.
“She’s not going anywhere with you,” he growled, sounding more beast than human. I saw the scales shift along his arms and knew he was moment away from losing control.
“Shoot him,” Killigan ordered. There was no love for his son in his tone. No remorse for the order he gave to kill his son.
My heart dropped into my stomach. The gun fired before the words fully registered in my mind. Jax’s shoulder jerked back, causing him to lose his balance. He fell back into me, and I caught him before he fell, slowly lowering him onto the ground.
“No!” I screamed, cradling Jax in my arms. The tears spilled over, leaving a hot, wet trail down my cheeks.
I reached out to put pressure on the wound, stopping in confusion at the lack of blood. He was just shot. Why isn’t he bleeding?
Then I noticed the dart sticking out of his shoulder, and it finally registered. Killigan didn’t kill him, he tranquilized him. Killigan said something else that I couldn’t hear through the ringing in my ears.
Then, searing pain shot through my body. I looked down at the tranquilizer dart now embedded in my shoulder. My whole world began going fuzzy, I blinked to try and clear the fog. In my delirious state, my shield crumbled and my mates flooded my mind.
I’m coming, my star. Just hang on. I’m coming for you. I will kill everyone who hurt you.
Hang in there, little minx. We’re coming.
Drag?, hold on.
I couldn’t think straight. I tried to fight the pull of the drug, but it was too strong. Blackness was dotting my vision, pulling me under.
Natalia…
I was only able to whisper her name to my mates before darkness consumed me.