22. Seraphina
22
SERAPHINA
I tackled Hart from behind, my speed and his obliviousness allowing me to take him to the ground even though I was much smaller.
“What the hell!” he bellowed as he crashed onto the pebbled driveway, his briefcase flying from his hands and landing a few feet in front of us. It undoubtedly contained samples of the drug and God knew what else. I needed to secure it for Loki, Blaze, and Hawk to return to their client, which meant I’d have to resist the urge to open it and break every syringe I found.
But first things first.
I dug my knee into Hart’s back and wrenched one of his arms behind him. “Surprise, asshole. It’s your worst nightmare.”
He froze for a moment, sucking in a breath. “Seraphina Bryce,” he growled. I had him pinned so that he couldn’t turn his head to look at me, but I suspected the adrenaline pumping through my body also had my pheromones working overtime. My scent was fairly unique, and my skin crawled at the fact that this sick bastard knew it that well. “I should’ve known it was you sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”
“I’m just here to make sure you’re not sticking your dick where it doesn't belong,” I replied through clenched teeth. After pulling a pair of plastic cuffs from my belt, I looped one around the wrist I’d manage to trap. “I’ve always thought you were a little scummy, but forced heat and sexual assault of a student? That’s some sick shit, Professor .”
“I wouldn’t expect you to understand, you privileged little brat,” he snapped.
I dug my elbow into his neck and leaned down to spit my words next to his face. “Fuck you. It’s the end of the line, you twisted prick. I’d kill you, but my friends from Sentinel will want a word.”
I groped for his other arm, attempting to secure his wrist in the handcuffs, but in a renewed surge of energy, he heaved and bucked me off. I hit the driveway hard, landing on my back, and Hart scrambled to his feet. His chinos were streaked with dirt, and the dress shirt he’d squeezed his bulky torso into had lost several buttons in our scuffle. He looked around wildly, his dark-blond hair askew, then he spotted his briefcase.
He lunged for it. I rolled to my feet and tore after him.
Hart grasped the briefcase handle and scooped it from the ground. Before I could tackle him again, he twisted and swung the case right at my head.
I ducked, and his blow sailed right over me. He stumbled, the miss throwing him off, and I used the opportunity to attack again. I kicked his legs from under him, and he hit the ground once more, this time landing hard on his back. He wheezed, struggling to suck in a breath.
The briefcase landed next to us, breaking open with the force of its fall.
Gunshots cracked behind us—the guys and my brothers still working on the remaining guards.
I jammed my boot into Hart’s ribs. “Give it up, asshole. Your guards are dead all around us, and I’ve got five highly trained Alphas with me on the property. There’s no way out for you.”
“You only think you’ve won,” he panted. “We will start a revolution .”
“Using unwilling omegas as baby factories isn’t a revolution. It’s slavery, you fucking psycho.”
I shoved him again with my boot in an attempt to flip him onto his stomach. I needed to get him cuffed and under control so the guys could bag him for questioning. He jerked, coming alive again to twist on the ground and make a grab at my leg.
Quick like a bunny, I hopped out of his reach.
Except I was wearing my casual boots from the party and not my trusty tactical boots from my Bryce Solutions kit. I landed wrong on the pebbled driveway and lost my footing, the slicker soles of my boots sliding right out from under me.
It was all Hart needed to turn the tables.
He rolled to his hands and knees and grabbed my ankle, yanking me to the ground.
My back smashed into the pavement. “Shit!” I hissed.
Hart was on top of me in a second. I swung a punch at his face. My knuckles glanced off his cheekbone, and he swore viciously before he grabbed my forearms and slammed them to the ground on either side of my head. “You’ve always been an obnoxious little bitch,” he spat, “but you’re still a fertile omega from an impressive pedigree, not like the low-bred girls we’ve procured thus far.” He leaned in closer, smiling as he whispered in my ear. “You’ll do.”
He released one of my arms, but before I could take another swing at him, something sharp pierced the side of my exposed thigh.
Icy terror shot through my veins.
“What the fuck ,” I shouted.
Hart tossed a syringe into the grass beside us and flipped the briefcase closed.
I lay there, head spinning.
“In just a few short hours, Seraphina, we’re going to make a baby.”
Oh no .
No, no, no.
“Let’s get you out of here. I know a few luxury hotels that have superb nests in their suites.” He sat back on his heels, and he pulled on my arm like he was going to drag me to his car.
My vision tunneled. Adrenaline surged, and I unfroze.
I launched myself upward, wrapped my free arm around his neck, squeezing as I wrenched his head down to the ground. He released my other arm to grab at his neck, and I used it to shove his head to the side. His big body shifted just enough for me to kick a leg out and over his torso. With the force and determination of a woman fighting for her life, I forced him off me and rolled away.
My boots didn’t fail me this time as I sprang to my feet.
Hart scrambled to standing. He paused ten feet from me, breathing heavily, briefcase in hand.
We stared at each other.
No more fucking around.
I pulled my handgun from my belt and aimed it right at his head. “Do not move.”
He continued to stare at me, a manic look in his eyes. This was a man past the point of rational thought, consumed by his obsession, self-preservation warring with the intrinsic need to see his fucked-up plans through.
He blinked, then he turned and sprinted for the neighbor’s fence.
“Son of a bitch,” I spat. I still couldn’t shoot him because Sentinel needed him to get to his co-conspirators.
I took off after him. It was a small consolation that I suspected the guys wouldn’t be gentle in their interrogation when they finally got their hands on him.
Until I remembered I wouldn’t be around to watch. I needed to get to my dorm room within the next two hours so I could go on lockdown and suffer through whatever mini-heat hell this drug Hart managed to stick me with would bring.
And I really, really didn’t want anyone to know about it. Not my brothers, not Jere, and definitely not Loki, Blaze, and Hawk.
Weak, Seraphina. So fucking weak, letting Hart get one over on you like that.
Letting him reduce you to a writhing, useless pile of pain and slick.
Hart hurdled the fence and ran for the neighbor’s dock.
I clicked onto comms. “ Hart’s headed for the neighbor’s boat, west side. I’m following .”
One last gunshot sounded. “ Fucking finally ,” Seth said. “ The last guard is down .”
“ I’m bringing the boat in ,” Loki announced. “ Go support Seraphina .”
“ On it ,” Austin replied.
Hart was on the dock now. He flipped a switch on the wall near the boat, activating the motor that would lower the cables suspending the small speedboat over the water. As it sank below the dock, he jumped inside.
Heavy footfalls sounded behind me. Austin and Seth had hurdled the fence and were sprinting after me.
I stopped running several yards from the dock. I raised my pistol, took aim, and fired.
My bullet hit the briefcase, knocking it cleanly out of Hart’s grasp. It landed on the dock next to the boat.
“Shit!” he bellowed.
A large black boat streaked across the lake. As it neared our location, it slowed suddenly. Several men in dark blue fatigues loomed on its deck.
One of them raised a rifle to his shoulder.
“Get down!” I shouted at Austin and Seth.
I hit the grass, and I heard them do the same behind me.
The shot cracked through the night and echoed across the lake.
Hart’s head snapped back, blood splattering onto the boat’s windshield. I watched with horrified fascination as his body slumped over the side and fell into the water with a quiet splash.
“ Stay down, Lamb ,” Loki hissed in my ear.
A deep voice hailed us over the boat’s PA system. “Stay where you are and do not move,” it said in accented English. “Hand over the briefcase—unless you also would like your head blown off.”
“ Stay still, Princesa ,” Blaze whispered. “ With the darkness and the dock in front of you, I don’t think they can get a clear shot at you if you stay down in the grass. Your brothers managed to duck behind a bush up by the house .”
“ We can probably make it into the house before they can hit us, but Seraphina’s too close to the water ,” Austin said, his tone on the edge of panic.
“Do you hear me? You, girl! Get up and bring the briefcase to the edge of the dock!”
“Loki, where are you guys?” I asked, keeping my voice low. “Do they see you?”
“ We’d just pulled the boat into Hart’s dock when they arrived ,” he replied. “ The center has a large storage shed, so they can’t see us. I’ll reverse out of here, and Blaze and Hawk can start firing what’s left of our ammo at them. You guys will have to make a run for it while they’re engaged .”
Fear choked me. “No, Loki. That’s too risky.”
There were at least five men on that boat, and we could only assume their ammo was fully stocked.
“ Lamb, you’re exposed. If they come any closer or try to dock that boat, they’ll shoot you. I won’t allow it .”
I let out a shaky exhale. “Fine. But if one of you gets hurt, I will be very angry. And I do crazy shit when I’m angry.”
“ She’s not lying ,” Seth muttered.
“ We’ve got this, Little Flame ,” Hawk replied, amusement in his voice. “ On three .”
He counted down, and I tensed, muscles coiled and ready to spring from the grass and run like the wind.
“ Move! ” Hawk shouted.
I shot up just as Loki slammed their boat into reverse and then jetted out across the water. Blaze and Hawk, who were crouched below the gunwale, opened fire, and the men on the boat began shouting in a foreign language.
“Sere, we gotta go!” Seth shouted at me.
The guards shifted, and several semi-automatic rifles were now aimed at the guys.
I pulled my pistol from my belt again. “I can’t leave them!” I shouted at Seth.
“Seraphina! Get your ass up here!” Austin yelled from the porch.
“No!”
Shots rang out, and Loki dove to the floor of the boat. The larger boat began to zoom closer to the guys.
They were outnumbered. Despair wrapped its claws around my guts.
Another small ski boat sped across the lake, headed straight for us. It pulled up fifty feet from the back of the enemy vessel, and the driver killed the engine.
I could just make out the lone man as he climbed from the helm and into the small seating area in the bow.
The relief was instant, and I dropped my gun to my side.
Jere lifted what looked like a rocket launcher onto his shoulder. He wore all-black clothing, and the lake winds whipped at his red hair as he stood still as a statue for two excruciating seconds.
He fired at the hostile boat. The RPG round sailed into the air.
The guards on board had a fraction of a second to comprehend what was coming and begin the harried, panic shouting.
A deafening boom, and the boat exploded. Flames engulfed its body, shooting high like a volcano. The occupants who weren’t consumed immediately by the fire were thrown into the water.
We all waited, quiet and tense for several long minutes. Austin and Seth made their way down to me, and we walked down to the shoreline. Loki and the guys watched stoically from their boat.
No one emerged from the water.
Jere brought his boat to our dock. Loki did the same.
The guys exited in an orderly fashion and strode purposefully in my direction. Loki stopped a few feet in front of me, his icy blue eyes searching my entire body for injuries. Hawk and Blaze took up their usual positions at his sides. Hawk raised a tattooed hand like he was going to reach for me, then thought better of it. Blaze looked exhausted, his hazel eyes full of worry as he kept them glued to my face.
I smiled for them. I had a few scrapes and bruises from my tussle with Hart, but there was nothing seriously wrong.
Not that they could see, anyway.
The urge to jump into their arms rode me hard, but I knew as well as they did that it was not the move. Not only were my brothers standing right next to me, but my dad was here now. They were acting like professionals, and I would do the same.
Jere stomped up to us, completing our little huddle.
“Does someone want to explain to me why the hell you were in a shooting match with members of the Ussuri?” he demanded.
We all stared at him dumbly.
“Christ,” he said. “Gather the bodies inside the house. We have some shit to talk about.”