16
Icursed as I sent three more messages to Derek, but every single one went unanswered.
“Kai, we have to keep moving.”
“I won’t leave without my brother.”
She stopped and crawled toward me, a hand on my neck. The filtered lights streaking in from the vents highlighted her beautiful brown eyes. “No one said anything about leaving.”
“I want you to go.”
Her laugh was cynical. “I think you’ve got me confused with someone else. Holly is up there, probably dead.” She sucked in a breath before continuing, reeling in her emotions. “I know how you feel right now because she’s like a sister to me. And I won’t let what happened here slide. Whoever did this knew we were coming. So that means we either have a rat in our ranks, or our connect betrayed us. Either way, they die. The more creative, the better.”
Her lipstick was smeared, her skin covered in dust and streaks of mascara, but I’d be damned if I’d ever seen anything more beautiful. I swept my thumb over her lip. “Has anyone ever told you how goddamn sexy you look when you talk murder and mayhem?”
While the world fell apart, being in her company somehow helped ease the grief I felt without news from Derek.
“You just have a way with words, don’t you?” With one last half smile, she crawled forward toward the grates of what could potentially be an exit. Considering our situation, I knew indulging in how her ass swayed from side to side and the alluring vision of her crawling on all fours was wildly inappropriate. Still, we could be dead inside of fifteen minutes, so why the fuck not.
“How much ammo do you have left?” she whispered.
Through the thin slits, I could make out three men, all equipped with automatic rifles. One slip-up, the slightest noise, and all they’d have to do was spray in this direction, and we’d be done.
“We’re outgunned. By the time we kick this open, they’ll be on us.”
“Not if I go out first.”
“Fuck that. No.”
“I’m flattered you care so much, Cain. But I’m not exactly asking, so you either help me or watch them take me. Those are the only two options.”
I grabbed her by the shoulders. “You don’t know who they are or what they want. You’re goddamn gorgeous, vicious. But that means nothing right now. They weren’t exactly being too selective earlier when they shot up the place.”
Her expression hardened, and she tugged her shirt up over her head and tossed it, which left her in a black lacy bra barely covering her nipples.
“Again, I’m not asking.”
I gripped her arm, eyes on the swell of her breasts. “Is this what you normally wear for these occasions?”
She flashed me a grin. “Antes muerta que sencilla.” (I’d rather die than be basic.)
A flare of possessive heat rolled through me as I thought of how those men would lust for what was mine.
Yeah, she was fucking mine.
But I knew nothing would stop her from following through with her plan. I huffed a resigned breath and pulled her closer, my other fist in her hair. “If something happens to you…”
I smoothed my thumb over her nipple and felt it harden under my touch. “Be careful out there. You owe me, remember?”
“I’m glad you have your priorities straight.”
“Always.”
As I kissed her, she smiled against my lips.
“You better not miss.” Amalia slid her rifle off and positioned her boots quietly against the metal. “Out of sight until it’s time.” Those were the last words she spoke before kicking open the vent and quickly exiting.
A commotion ensued between the men as they shouted instructions and raised their weapons.
“On your knees,” one commanded.
“Es la reina,” another said with dark amusement.
“Alvaro, check the vent. Make sure she’s alone.”
I knew what that meant. He wouldn’t be coming by and sticking his head in to say hello. Things were about to get ugly, but before they did, Alvaro got a new hole to breathe from when my hollow point ripped through the side of his neck. Without wasting a second, I fired more shots through the narrow opening when I saw Amalia hit the floor. The bastard in front of her went down with two bullets to his chest.
Holes the size of quarters opened up around me as the third man began firing. I ducked just as the metal behind me broke open, and aimed my weapon, hoping Amalia was out of my line of fire. But when I squeezed the trigger, I realized my gun had jammed. As if sensing what had happened, she jumped on the man’s back and plunged a blade into his throat twice before he even knew he was as good as dead. By the time her assault registered, his eyes were wide, mouth agape when she slid the serrated edge against his Adam’s apple and sliced deep into flesh.
He threw his weight back, attempting to buck her off, but the stained steel disappeared again, deeper, until his knees hit the floor.
“Kai! We gotta run. Incoming!”
We picked up the abandoned AKs and dashed toward a stairwell, where a hail of gunfire awaited us, reverberating like clashing thunder against the long, hollow space. As we descended, our gazes met, and she reached out to me, briefly squeezing my forearm. While no words were exchanged between us, it was all I needed.
“This was where the other team was supposed to be,” I said, fear tinging my voice.
A puddle of blood pooled on the floor from the other side of the door, and Amalia placed a firm hand on my chest. “Kai, whatever we see in there…we have to keep our heads clear, okay?”
Her tone was vulnerable and empathetic, as if she knew that whatever awaited us on the other side could be equally devastating to us both.
Something was happening between us.
Changing.
But there was no time to dwell on those thoughts. I just hoped we’d get the chance to do so later.
“It’s quiet,” I said, as I pushed open the door. Emergency lights illuminated dark corners just enough to see a crouched figure on the far side of the room as soft squelching noises filled the air. Amalia raised her weapon.
“Wait.” Her shoulder twitched, hand shaking, desperate to make the kill. But I just had a feeling… “D, is that you?”
The fleshy noises ceased for several seconds before continuing, and Amalia steadied her aim again. But I shook my head, a broad smile on my face. Anyone else would have startled or reacted to the threat, but my brother was too busy handling business.
“About time you made it. My hand’s starting to cramp up,” he joked dryly.
“You’ve been down here finger-painting all this time while Amalia and I have been doing all the heavy lifting.”
Derek scoffed and straightened, twisting around to face us. He and I had been through a lot and done some wild shit. Unimaginable shit that would traumatize the average person, but the way Derek looked right now, was straight up a thing of nightmares. There wasn’t an inch of him not drenched in blood. His face looked like he’d applied crimson war paint and used it to slick back his hair, with the exception of a few thick strands hanging over his forehead, dripping red down his skin and onto the floor.
“Goddamn, Derek. We’re going to have to take you out back and hose you the fuck down.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “There’s a little back spray when they kick and scream.”
“A little?” Amalia chimed in. “You sure you weren’t playing in it? You look absolutely vile.” Her sneer suddenly lifted. “Amazing.”
“Is that what I need to do to impress you?”
She looked up and hip-checked me. “You can impress me in other ways, Cain. But first, we need to keep moving…” I put a hand on her arm as she stepped under the glow of a red light that highlighted her sheer bra. Setting my weapons down, I quickly shrugged off my shirt and forced it over her head.
“Really?”
“Yeah, come on.”
Amalia shoved her arms through without another word, then cautiously approached Derek. “What happened down here? What did you see? Did anyone else— Is it just you?”
He swiped the blade across the front of his shirt in a futile attempt to wipe it clean.
“The same that probably happened up there—an ambush. We all scattered. I didn’t see anything else apart from that.”
I had barely settled a comforting hand on her shoulder when a blast shook the room and sent us tumbling forward, the heat of a fire at our backs.
There came a point where defeat was inevitable. I would rather live to fight tomorrow than die here a pointless death.
“Amalia, we have to go. I’m sorry.”
She nodded, mouth tight as the reflection of flames danced in her irises. Derek and I helped her to her feet, and she swatted us both and started for the exit.
“Reina.” The voice was hoarse and unfamiliar. I couldn’t turn around to see his face because the barrel of a gun was pressed against the base of my skull. Derek reached for his side piece.
“This is a 12 gauge, so unless you want to wear your friend’s brain as a new accessory, I suggest you keep your hands nice and high above your head. You too, reina.”
My brother’s nostrils flared, chest rising and falling with every harsh breath as he reluctantly complied.
“Reinita, I need you to look pretty for me on your knees.”
“I’ll kill you if you think about touching her.”
He knocked the sawed-off edge of the shotgun against my head.
“All talk. But how will you do that without that pretty face of yours?”
Amalia and I exchanged worried gazes, and she shook her head slowly.
“You will come with me or die with them.”
“Fuck you. Go ahead and kill me,” she spat at his feet.
He released a mocking laugh and shoved the barrel harder against me.
“As you wish.”
We made eye contact through the darkness, and her lip quivered.
“NO! I’ll go…just don’t do it. Please.”
Barking another laugh, he motioned for her to get up and remove her shirt, and I clenched my fists at my side, feeling so goddamn helpless.
“La reina, la mercinaria, begging me? Ain’t that a bitch.”
The pop of a bullet against flesh had us all hitting the floor, that bastard on top of me. Blood trickled down my temple and over my face, and my first thought was that I’d been hit. Until I realized the man draped over my back was no longer moving or speaking. It was his blood. Fuck. That was close. Too damn close. I exhaled harshly against the floor.
“Gio!”
I couldn’t understand the name flying from Amalia’s lips until I saw her look of horror.
With a gun in one hand and eyes and face scrunched with fear, Gio stood above us. His breaths were coming so quick and shallow that I feared he’d start hyperventilating.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” She charged and disarmed him.
“No time for a reunion. I hear them coming, and I’m trying to make it back to my wife while I’m still breathing.”
I shoved the dead weight from my back and sprang to my feet before moving toward a frozen Gio and grabbing him by the scruff of his shirt. We stumbled outside into a back lot, where two SUVs were waiting. Amalia sighed a breath of relief when she was met with Holly in the driver’s seat.
“Where are the others?” she asked, throwing her arms around her friend.
“Everyone made it except Simone. They came at the van from all sides…I’m sorry.”
Amalia was quiet for several moments. “Is everyone out?”
Holly nodded and once we reached a safe distance, she pulled out a burner phone and detonated the explosives we’d planted in the basement level of the compound. The aftershock of the blast shook our vehicle. And we sat in silence until Amalia turned around from the passenger seat to face Gio.
“Start talking.”