Chapter 17 #4
Just then, we hear a tap tap tap, and our gazes move up to the roof of the gazebo.
Kit is hunkered down there, his red hair almost blindingly bright in the sun.
In his hands is a sniper rifle, men being plucked off in the distance with each shot.
He does miss some, but I’m impressed. His aim is pretty good for a Craigslist assassin.
Jax must think so too. He lets out a small moan as he watches Kit continue his takedown, and I let out a muffled giggle.
“Hot, right?” I manage to ask.
“Fuck,” he murmurs as I turn to see Luca and Viktor on a balcony, guns in their hands, shooting anyone who tries to advance. Luca is out of his wheelchair, leaning forward as Viktor constantly tries to get him to sit back down, a frown on his face between rounds.
I know it irritates the fuck out of Luca, the stubborn asshole. He is having none of Viktor’s concern. He’d rather die with us than not fight.
Whoever this is, they caught us off guard, but they won’t make much headway.
Anthony was prepared. He knew this was coming.
After going for the Sirens and taking them down, it was bound to happen.
Those women have friends, people who are willing to die for them.
And they have money to spend, an entire payroll we know nothing about.
As soon as we get hold of the trespassers, they’ll regret ever taking this job. They’ll regret their loyalty.
Georgiy and I will take the leader apart. My mind latches on to that and I wonder where the fuck he is. Where is my man?
My eyes sweep around the men on the ground, but I can’t make him out.
Shots ring loudly around us, but it’s less than before. They’re failing. They’re losing.
But I’ll lose the most if Georgiy is hurt.
I turn to look at Ellery and see they’re wiping their bloody blade on the grass.
“I need to find Georgiy. Have any of you seen him?”
“No. Last I heard, he was with Anthony. They were discussing something.”
A shot rings out, and I see a man topple to the side in front of me. Someone took him out. Jax turns his head and mutters Kit’s name. Must have been him.
Ellery nudges me. “Think he’s still alive.”
“We should make sure he doesn’t die—” My words are cut off when Ellery bounds forward and slams the knife into the man’s frightened face. Nova jumps after Ellery, pulling them back to safety.
“That was fucking reckless,” Nova grunts as Ellery struggles and kicks out, trying to retrieve the knife from the man’s skull. “You could have gotten shot.”
“I have a thirst for blood!” Ellery cries out as Nova wraps an arm around their waist and holds on tightly. Ellery’s scrappy and could escape if Nova loosens her grip.
“I do too, but you have to be strategic about it,” I tell them, patting them on the arm.
Ellery rolls their eyes. “I’ve known you two minutes and I know you’re not strategic about anything.”
I purse my lips, but they twitch into a smile just as a bullet whizzes past us and Nova shouts at me to get down.
She’s already pulled Ellery onto the ground and is covering them with her body.
Ellery squirms under her, but isn’t able to get free.
Probably because Nova is gigantic and has muscles, no average-sized person stands a chance.
“I really need to find Georgiy,” I tell them as I peer over the barrier and try to find a way out.
“You should wait it out,” Jax says, but I shake my head.
“What if he needs me? I can’t wait. What if this were Kit?”
Jax sighs and then says, “Go on. I’ll cover you.”
He doesn’t wait for my agreement, just stands up and fires several shots while I run forward and back into the house.
It’s a mess. Plaster has fallen from the walls, pictures and glass scattered across the ground.
But I don’t stop, even the cuts on the bottom of my feet don’t slow me down.
I trail blood along the floors, but I know Agatha won’t be upset.
It’s already all ruined. And honestly, what’s a little blood when Georgiy could be hurt?
No, I need to find him. He wasn’t anywhere I looked. So he must be below.
I find the nearest hidden passageway and run down the steps, my fingers trailing the dirt walls, my heart pumping. It’s dark, no lights flickering in the distance.
Something bumps into me, and my hands clasp an unfamiliar body.
“Who are you?”
I feel the mask, the body armor. I know this is not one of us.
“Who are you?” I scream, my body launching onto theirs. My legs wrap around their back as they struggle to get me off, my hands latching on to their head. My thumbs find their eye sockets, and I dig into them, feeling them start to burst as the man screams beneath me.
We fall to the ground, his hands trying to wrench me off, but I hold on, making him suffer. Making him bleed. He squirms, his fingers digging into my sides, his legs kicking up, but I don’t let up. Not until they’re entirely gone. Until he’s blind.
It’s only then that I find that artery on his neck and press on it, making him pass out.
Then I grab a rock from beneath me and smash his head until he’s properly unconscious. I’ll take care of him later, in my den, in the space that can make him feel the most pain.
I stumble up and rush forward until I see the flickering of light. I’m close. He has to be here. He has to be.
I skid to the right, my body flinging into the wall, and that’s when I see him.
He’s in his scrubs, neatly arranging a few tables, his surgical tools laid out before him.
Everything inside me stops, happiness and relief flooding through me. It’s so visceral that I find myself unable to breathe.
His head turns at my wheeze, and he arches an eyebrow.
“What happened to you?” His eyes rove over my body, taking in the blood and gore lining my clothes.
“Bad guys. Eyeballs,” I wheeze.
“Hm,” he cocks his head and then points to the table. “You’re hurt. Come here.”
I do as he says, limping toward him now, feeling the cuts on the bottom of my feet.
“I was worried about you,” I say as he places gloves on his hands and helps me onto the table.
“I was down here prepping for the torture. I’m not good with guns.”
“I know.”
I nearly swoon as he lifts my feet and sighs, “You cut them.”
“I didn’t have time for shoes.” He grabs something from his bag, a first-aid kit. “Do you have that in there for me?”
“Yes. My little troublemaker.”
That makes my heart swell, and I lean back as he cleans my feet. He works swiftly, pulling out shards of glass and sanitizing the cuts. Then he bandages them before grabbing a pack of wipes and helping me clean up the blood splattered across my skin.
When I’m mostly presentable, he squeezes my leg and then leans forward. His lips hover over mine, and I inhale him.
“Thank you for finding me,” he says.
“I was worried.”
“You don’t need to be. I’ve survived worse.”
“But I don’t want you to die,” I whisper.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“I may die if you do.”
He drags his finger across my jaw. “You won’t die. You’re invincible.”
“I don’t want to be invincible without you.”
“Here I am. Nothing has happened to me. I’m just waiting for the traitors to be brought down so I can operate on them.”
My eyes flash and he cocks his head. “Would you like to join me in taking them apart?”
“I so would. Are you going to teach me your ways?”
“I don’t think you’d like my ways. It requires patience.”
I wiggle in my seat, and he reaches out, pulling me to stand. “I think I won’t ask for patience, Bane of my existence. I think I’ll only ask for you to behave. To make a little less mess? Perhaps gently pulling off an arm instead of hacking it with a cleaver.”
“I can’t promise anything. I do love a jagged knife and a mess.”
His lips twitch. “But if you behave, I can reward you when we’re through.”
My cock perks up, my insides trembling with excitement. “Really? I love a reward. I’m very reward-based. I can be the best boy when one is offered up.”
“Mhm, how about—” His head turns as the first victim is dragged through the doors. “How about we get started with this one and get some answers?”
“I want all the answers,” I tell him, adjusting myself indiscreetly. He eyes my dick and then wets his lips.
“Answers and then reward.”
“Reward,” I repeat as I grab my tools all piled up on a cart and roll them toward the man that Jax and another guard are tying to a chair.
He’s struggling, but bleeding from wounds in his arm and leg.
He won’t last long. Watching him struggle reminds me of the man I fought with in the tunnels and I tell Jax to go find him and bring him back here.
I took his eyes. Now I’ll take everything else until he tells me what he knows And I’ll make sure to make them all suffer.
They came after my family. After my home.
I will make sure they all rue the day they were born.