Chapter 14 Hayden
fourteen
Hayden
“Burn, motherfucker!” I shout as I push the nozzle down on the hairspray and light the bastard up.
“Where is she?” Wincing as the words leave my mouth, I realize maybe I should have asked the question before burning the bastard alive.
The guard in question, who had been trying to murder me ten seconds ago, rolls on the ground screaming.
Oof.
“Ask questions first, dipshit!” Declan shouts, right as the elevator dings behind us.
“Oh thank fuck,” I breathe a sigh of relief when I see Sam, West, and that Rory guy from earlier, who all immediately duck down and head for the table I’m currently crouched behind.
“What the hell?” Sam snaps, sliding to his knees next to me and watching with mild horror as the guard on the ground passes out.
Or dies. It’s not super obvious, and I’m not about to check his pulse. I might even feel bad for the guy, if he wasn’t a part of an organization that kidnaps and experiments on omegas.
But let’s be honest. The asshole signed his own death warrant as soon as they took Jo down here. My alpha rumbles in satisfaction at the knowledge that the men who had a part in our omega’s disappearance are being dealt with.
Losing Jo has unlocked something inside my alpha…inside me. Three weeks ago, I would have balked at the idea of being part of anyone’s death. Now, though? I’m ready to burn the world down as long as she’s still standing among the ashes when it’s done.
Out of habit, I reach out to check the bond again. She’s there, she’s just…muted. Even now, she’s still blocking me.
“She’s not up here,” Declan shouts, peeking out from behind the doorway he’s taken cover behind and shooting at more guards at the end of the long-ass hallway.
It branches off in a t-shape, and the bastards are hiding around each corner, only peaking around to take shots at us.
Except the guy still smoldering on the ground, who thought he could rush me.
“What the hell are we still doing here, then?!” West asks, his expression hard.
“They’ll follow us if we just leave!” Declan’s voice is irritated, probably from my lack of finesse when it comes to interrogation skills.
Or, you know, all the bad guys shooting at him. I can never tell with him.
“Fucking hell,” Sam mutters, then reaches behind him, pulling something out of the back of his pants.
“Dude!” Rory explodes in laughter. “Where the hell were you hiding that thing?”
Sam brandishes his grenade launcher, loading it with the three cartridges he pulls out of his pocket and props the muzzle onto the edge of the table. There are six chambers in the launcher though, so I wonder if he has another set of three hidden somewhere. “Cover your ears!”
We all reach up to follow his directions as he pulls the trigger, and the grenade goes flying out of the launcher, hitting the left side of the hallway. It explodes on contact, the blast spraying shrapnel where half the guards are taking cover.
The ground shudders as the deafening explosion reverberates in the room, making my ears ring even though I’m covering them.
“Shit!” Declan shouts, a panicked look on his face. “Don’t do it again—”
But Sam is already pulling the trigger, aiming for the right side, where the other half of the guards are taking cover.
Another explosion, another deafening burst of noise. Sam waits, eyeing the end of the hallway.
For a second, the only sounds are the grunts and moans of the exploded guards.
Then, Declan tears out of the room, his face furious.
“Fucking idiot!” he shouts, quickly shooting down a guy who had been trying to crawl towards us.
“We don’t know how far down this place goes!
You could have made everything collapse on top of us! ”
“I’ve seen bunkers like these before,” Sam snaps, standing and shooting at another downed man who started groaning. “Ten feet of reinforced concrete between each floor, and more counter-measures to collapse than you or I could dream of. Two little grenades aren’t going to do shit.”
For a second, Declan looks like he might argue but then he sighs, shaking his head. “Then let’s go. We can see if the ‘T’ button on the elevator stands for ‘testing’.”
Declan, Rory, Sam, West, and I sit in tense silence as the elevator moves down. It’s hard to tell, but I think we’re going to the floor directly below the one we’re coming from.
Muffled voices from right outside the elevator have Declan hitting the emergency stop button before the doors open. He turns to us all with a warning look.
“Don’t know what that sound was, and the radios aren’t working.” One of the voices says, sounding frustrated.
“It was probably just one of the loony scientists working late again. You know they blow stuff up sometimes.” Another voice responds. “I was in the middle of dinner—let’s make this quick.”
Declan silently raises his handgun, and puts a finger to his lips. Then he pats Rory on the shoulder and makes a stabbing motion. Rory nods, pulling two bowie knives out of his belt. There’s a feral glint in his eye as he twirls them once.
“We should let Brooks know what’s going on,” the first voice says.
“Nah. He’s busy with that omega and the Vasiliev bastard. We’ll update him if there’s actually anything to worry about. Remember last time we interrupted him and it ended up being nothing? Guy was pissy for like, three days. I don’t want to deal with that again.”
We startle when there’s a series of three bangs on the metal door. “Where the fuck is this elevator?” The frustrated voice huffs.
“You guys checking it out too?” A new voice says, and I hold my breath. More guys. Shit.
Declan gives Sam, West, and me a stern look, then makes an outward sweeping motion with his hands.
Sam yanks me against the side wall of the elevator, and West presses his back against the opposite side. Right. Out of the line of fire.
Rory holds up three fingers, then counts down on them before reaching zero and hitting the button to disengage the emergency stop. Declan stands, his silenced gun ready, and Rory is poised to strike.
As soon as the doors slide open, all I hear is a “What the fu—” and then a small pop from Declan’s gun, followed by a thump as a body hits the floor. Rory flings himself forward, knives in hand, and a series of quiet pops go off as Declan aims from inside the elevator.
In less than ten seconds, Declan is lowering his weapon, and jerking his head at us. “Let’s go.”
Dumbstruck, I step out of the elevator, my eyes landing on ten guards swiftly taken out by the Irish Mafia duo. Rory is wiping his bloody blade on the uniform of one of the dead guards. He bares his teeth at me in a feral grin as he stands.
A shiver runs down my spine. I don’t know if I like Rory or not. He seems a little crazy, even by my standards.
“Stealth,” Declan reminds us. Well, mostly West and Sam, I think.
“We see anyone else, let me or Rory do it.” He scowls at Sam.
“No more fucking grenade launcher. Based on what those guards were saying, I’m pretty sure Jo is on this floor.
We don’t want them getting spooked by the sound of gunfire and relocating before we can reach her. ”
Sam grunts, looking unused to taking orders, and West’s normally calm, collected expression is full of worry. It seems like we’re all on the same page though as Declan turns to assess our surroundings.
Nothing but pure electricity thrums in my veins as I look around floor “T”. We’re so close to finding my Fireball, and then we’ll both be free of this place. Thornfield, the Cathedral…secret, underground labs.
Though…this doesn’t really feel like a secret lab.
It almost feels like we could be in any old hospital.
There’s a nurses’ station, stark white walls, flickering fluorescent lights…
but, there’s something decidedly…unsettling about this whole place.
Could be the ten dead bodies on the floor.
I’m new to this whole “overthrow the establishment” thing.
A growl rips out of my throat when I see a wall with a whiteboard listing out all of Jo’s and Kole’s vitals and measurements. Their names are written on the top of the board in jagged, angry letters.
Something in me stirs at the sight, and my stomach twists. My omega. My true scent match. My mate.
I startle when I feel a hand on my shoulder.
West.
“We’re close, Hayden.” His words are meant to be reassuring, but all I can think about is how I failed her. How she’s in this place because I wasn’t a strong enough alpha to protect her.
Closing my eyes, I release a slow breath as the rest of the guys clear the area.
Two more muffled shots, and then nothing.
What will we find when we get to her? How much of her will be left?
Having this plan to focus on has helped me tremendously over the last few days, but now that we’re so close to finding her, I can’t help but think about how unworthy I am.
As if reading my mind, West speaks again. “They will pay for anything they’ve done to her.”
A hollow laugh leaves me. “You know she doesn’t need us to get revenge for her.”
He lets out a low hum. “Who said she does? Jo will need us when we get her out of here—emotionally, and at least you and Kole physically. But after? When she’s healed body and soul, and back to her wonderfully unhinged self?
Well, she might need a few extra hands to hold her knives.
I intend to be there for her when she does. ”
I find myself smiling at my psychologist. “Well, damn, Doctor Monroe. If she doesn’t want to ride that beta dick all the way down to Florida after that—ow!” I laugh and rub my shoulder while West shakes his head.
“You, unfiltered and sharing a mate? That’s going to take some getting used to.”
Sam’s voice echoes from down the hall. “You guys coming, or what?”
West and I jog to catch up with the rest of them, noting all the cleared rooms—empty medical examination beds and even some with safety restraint chairs. “Do you think there are usually other omegas here?” I ask West quietly as we continue to work our way down hallways while Declan clears rooms.
“Based on that whiteboard near the entrance, it seems like they might have brought Kole here. If they keep alphas and omegas separate like Kole thought, it would make sense for them to empty out this floor when they moved him."
Suddenly, a door at the end of this hallway opens, right next to a bathroom sign.
A guard comes out, his pants half done and his gun nowhere to be seen.
There’s a split second where nobody does anything, but the moment the guard turns to run, Rory takes off.
He sprints after the unarmed guard, knives out, and for some reason, my feet are following.
I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I’ll be damned if I sit around and wait while everyone else takes care of business.
As I run, it happens.
Jo opens the bond.
My breath catches in my throat as all the love, all the warmth, all the affection my Fireball feels for me floods my heart, and as tears sting my eyes, I send a wave right back.
We’re coming. I will the words to travel across our connection, even though I know it’s impossible.
The bond mutes again, and my breath hitches in my throat. We have to get her. We have to.
She’s still sitting there, this little ball of warmth in my chest. Not as bright and brilliant as when she lets me in, but there nonetheless.
Rory tackles the guard to the ground, and then…I skid to a stop.
She’s gone. Where only seconds ago there was a faint light, but it’s been snuffed out.
Not muted. Not tamped down.
Removed.
My heart is ripped out of my chest as an agonizing emptiness fills me.
The scream that tears out of my throat is nothing short of devastated.
My ears ring as I start clawing at my bullet-proof vest. She can’t be gone. She can’t. Did they kill her? Is that what broke the bond? My hands try to reach the spot above my heart where the bond used to sit. Maybe if I can rip my chest open, I can find it. Maybe it’s just hiding—
“Hayden!” Sam is shouting in my ear, shaking my shoulders. “What happened?!”
Somehow I’ve ended up on my knees.
“She’s—” I can’t get the words out. My alpha roars at the loss of our mate. My only reason for living, for putting up with this hellhole. Dead.
“He needs to shut up!” Someone—Rory, maybe—shouts, and it’s then I realize there are voices and footsteps heading our way.
“They killed her,” I say quietly.
They’re all going to burn in hell, and my lighter won’t cut it.
My eyes land on the floor next to Sam. He stupidly dropped his grenade launcher when he came to kneel next to me. He loaded three rounds, and shot off two upstairs.
There’s still one left.
Faster than I’ve ever done anything, I stand, and grab the weapon. Then, I sprint in the direction of the voices.
“Fuck—Hayden, wait!” Sam shouts behind me, and then Declan says something, and then they’re all arguing.
But I don’t care.
Because these fuckers are about to pay, and I don’t care if I take myself down with them. I round the corner, and there they are, halfway down the hall, weapons raised. Bullets fly past me as I raise the launcher and pull the trigger.
I’m yanked backwards by my vest, and I laugh deliriously as I fall on my back, looking up at Sam and West, whose expressions are a mix of fury and worry.
And then…boom.
The walls shake, and the lights flicker.
“What the hell did you just do?” Declan hisses as he and Rory pass us to assess the damage.
There’s more shouting from down the hall, and Sam angrily takes the weapon back from me. “What do you mean they killed her?” he snaps. “You can’t just say shit like that and then take off with my fucking M32 grenade launcher!”
“My bond is gone,” I spit, getting to my feet. “Not muted, not suppressed. Fucking gone. Do you know what the hell else does that?”
“We’re in an experimental facility, dumbass.” Sam’s jaw is tight. “They could be doing any number of things—that doesn’t mean she’s dead. I refuse to believe it until I see it.”
More gunfire from the direction Rory and Declan went.
“Guess we’re not doing this stealthily anymore,” West mutters.