Chapter 7 #2
That line of thought was causing his anger to rise and Ulf to gnash his teeth. Funny thing was the anger coming from his wolf was waffling between targets. Sometimes at Carys for fooling them, and sometimes at Monster for believing the worst about her.
What would you have me do, Ulf? It can’t be a coincidence. He’d found himself wishing she was his mate. Now he dreaded the possibility. Especially if she’d set him up and betrayed his club to Samual.
No matter what, her scent being present at Cliff’s was damning, but Ulf still balked at the thought that Monster planned to trick her.
I know, it hurts me too, but will you give her a chance to explain to us?
Us.
They were bonding, and Ulf was begging. He sounded like that lost little wolf pup who’d been exposed to the world too soon and didn’t understand what was happening, what he was, and why he had tasted blood.
Monster promised Ulf to try. If for no other reason than that Ulf was speaking in full sentences, and he no longer felt feral to Monster.
He knew deep in his marrow that Ulf being in control without the silver was somehow due to Carys.
Even if she’d drugged him with some Domino pack bullshit, he didn’t know if he’d wish it away if he could.
Ulf was whole, and that was worth his heartbreak at her betrayal.
And that thought was rending his soul. He’d sworn to himself years ago that he’d never be in a position to choose between his club and a woman. However, he could see the writing on the wall—that was exactly what was coming.
The prospect was driving the van with Ghoul riding shotgun. The rest of them were sitting in the back of the windowless box van. One painted with a dummy plumbing company’s name.
They’d all donned matching overalls. Monster was placing the weapons in the toolboxes as he spoke.
“Kansas?” Monster didn’t look up, but he heard Kansas grunt. “Do you think she used the mating medicine they used on Carys’s mom?”
“I don’t see how they could have made it for you without your DNA. There was nothing I found to suggest they can synthesize that.”
Ulf perked up at his words.
“They do have mine and could’ve made a drug based on mine. But I kissed her and nothing.” That made him wonder.
“Is there a reason it wouldn’t work?”
“Well, if the person already has a mate, has met them, or their true mate has otherwise started the calling process, no drug can override that.” The hope that Ulf had seemed to deflate for both man and beast. They’d never met her before that night.
He wanted to ask more, like would him sitting at the bar count as met, but the prospect had already thrown the van in park.
They arrived at Cliff’s before Monster was ready to face the man who had an unknown connection to his pixie. No, not his anything. He felt he owed her something for her impact on Ulf, but that was where he had to draw the line.
“Looks like he has company,” Zachery commented, motioning to a vehicle parked toward the back of the house.
“Fuck,” Monster cursed when he saw where the prospect was pointing. Anger suffused him, but it was almost a whine that laced the word.
Prowler turned to him. “You got this? Or do you wanna stand guard out here, brother? Your call.”
Inside. We must be inside. Ulf grit out in his head.
“I’m good.” Monster needed the pain, and Ulf needed to see for himself.
Prowler nodded at Ghoul to gain entry.
“Door’s unlocked. Should we be suspicious?”
“Go time,” Prowler whispered as Ghoul closed the door silently behind him. Setting the toolboxes down, they extracted their silenced weapons.
On Prowler’s hand signals, they made their way deeper into the house. Voices were coming from Cliff’s office. Monster clenched his teeth so hard his molars were on the verge of cracking when the feminine voice drifted on the air and settled in his ears.
Carys.
Ulf howled, but Monster could feel the hope he harbored that all of this was a misunderstanding.
Hearing her voice caused him to trip over his own feet, but he caught himself before he landed on the marble. Yeah, marble. As it was, his boot gave a small squeak. Everyone froze, waiting to see if they had been heard. No one came, and the conversation never lulled.
Prowler gave them the signal to advance.
The office door was open, and they staged themselves around it.
“Speaking of monsters, how is your new fuck buddy? Did you gather any information for me or just ride his disgusting biker cock all night? So much like your mother. I will say, darling, I didn’t think you’d go so far as to fuck the man, but I respect your commitment to help take down the Kings.”
While he didn’t sprout fur, Ulf had taken over and was fully in the driver’s seat. Monster stepped into the open doorway.
Looking at Carys’s back, he felt his heart being torn to tiny pieces, like a ripped-up love note.
She turned and their eyes clashed.
Rage threatened to overtake him, and it took every ounce of control he had to hold on to his skin in Ulf’s pain.
The words they’d heard were damning. She’d been sent to spy on him and his club for Cliff. The thought that she might still be his mate was bitter bile in the back of his throat.
“Monster,” she breathed. “I—”
Monster was about to roar at her to not bother with words when Kansas pushed past him.
“Samual.” His tone was accusatory and disbelieving.
“Ah, Daniel Ramsey, or do you prefer Kansas these days?”
Monster took in his surroundings. There were guns pointing in every direction. Including one in Cliff, eh, Samual’s hand pointed at Kansas. Everyone had made their way into the room except the prospect. With this many gats and tempers, it wouldn’t end well.
After the quick assessment, he realized the likelihood that they’d all leave this room was slim to none.
“Call me whatever you want. Just tell me what your endgame is? You’ve already taken everything from me years ago.”
“Me? I took everything from you?” Samual shouted, spittle flying from his lips.
Carys flinched and made to turn around. Monster’s hand shot out, grabbing her throat in the way he’d only grabbed her for pleasure before.
“Don’t you fucking move a muscle. You’ll stay right here. I’ll be damned if I’ll give you a chance to hurt my club any more than you already have.”
“I—” Monster tightened his grip, and he hated himself for it, but he shoved it down.
“Don’t.” He drew her closer so he could fire around her if need be.
A snippet of a memory flashed through his mind, and his stomach threatened to empty itself.
When he’d first seen her at the bar, he’d pictured himself holding her just like this in anger.
He’d blown that vision off when he had it.
Monster would never harm a woman, especially one he cared for, but there he stood, doing just that.
Ulf growled in his head. Not in anger, to protect.
Monster ignored Ulf’s attempt to soothe him. He needed to focus, or his brothers would pay the price.
Holding Carys with one hand, he trained his weapon on Samual’s forehead.
“Not me. You. You took everything from me.” Samual’s face was red with rage. “I had to eventually run from the pack because of you. When you left, I thought that was it, but you couldn’t just go away silently. Even years later, you were still there.”
He was monologuing. Good, Monster thought. If for no other reason than he could feel his brothers shifting slowly into more advantageous positions, and Samual didn’t seem to take note of it.
Even Monster shifted. Ulf wanted to place Carys behind them and out of the line of fire. Especially since Samual’s gun was shaking and seemed to be pointed at Carys’s back.
Not possible. He told Ulf.
Monster noticed Samual’s trigger finger was twitching. He did what he could to reassure Ulf.
But I’ll not let her be hurt.
Monster realized that while Ulf was his age, he seemed more like a young adult. Kinda like Monster had been at around twenty.
He assumed it was because he’d emerged before he was mature and then suppressed. Maybe he hadn’t matured as a wolf should’ve because of it.
A wave of guilt washed over him, not for the first time, for the part he played in repressing Ulf’s growth. At the time, he did what he had to do with no knowledge or thought to any lasting damage he may have done to his wolf half.
Monster pushed it aside as Samual went on. He’d just add it to the pile of guilt that was sizing up to be as tall as him to be dealt with later.
“No, you had to keep reaching out to Ben, planting seeds. He copied all the things we’d kept hidden, and when the test group of the pack found out what the control group were doing, well, they staged a revolution.
We could’ve shut it down, but when I heard they aligned with the bloodsuckers, I knew I had to go. ”
Samual shifted his aim from Carys to Kansas.
“You ruined my life,” his shout was deafening.
Monster didn’t know how Kansas managed to keep his mouth shut. How Samual had turned the tables to make himself the victim was unbelievable.
If it had been Monster in Kansas’s position, he would’ve called the man out on his bullshit. The man experimented on Kansas’s family and wiped them out, yet Kansas had ruined his life. Un-fucking-believable, the man was batshit crazy.
While Kansas was steady enough not to call him out, Creedence, who’d moved to Kansas’s side, had no such filter. For a human, he didn’t seem to feel inferior in a room full of shifters.
“That’s the most fucked-up logic I’ve ever heard. I’m dumber for having listened to it.”
Samual’s eyes flew to Creedence, and so did his aim.
“A bullet to the brain can help with that,” he spat. To Creedence’s credit, he didn’t even blink.
“However, you’re not my main focus, but you will be if you don’t shut the fuck up.”
Creedence took a breath to snap back, but Kansas tucked the weapon into his waistband and stayed Creedence with a hand as he stepped closer to the desk the man still stood behind.
“My club has nothing to do with pack business. This is between us. My club’s going to leave, and we’ll settle this the old way.”
“The old way?” Samual scoffed. “I’m no longer pack or wolf. And this is about them. They’re the reason you kept putting those ideas in Ben’s ear. He rallied an army against me—for them.”
“No, Samual. That was me, not them.”
Kansas spoke over his shoulder. “Prez, get them out of here and take the girl. I’ve got it from here.”
Monster shifted focus from his Secretary to his Prez, and Prowler nodded, signaling them to leave.
What the fuck?
Did they have a plan he wasn’t privy to? Monster was starting to get pissed when he felt Carys’s swallow against his palm. If there was a chance to get her out of danger …
He’d just shifted his body weight to comply with Prowler’s order to step out, when Samual had him freezing in his tracks.
“Uh, uh, uh. Not before you help me with one last experiment.” Samual shifted his aim once more to his own daughter.
Monster didn’t even dare to take a deep breath, as his movement might prompt Samual to pull the trigger.
“While she may have attached herself to that one.” He indicated Monster with the barrel of the gun, before steadying it back on Carys.
“In her blood, she’s for you. Let’s see if her death hurts you as much as I think it will. ”
Carys inhaled deeply at his words, then all hell broke loose, but thanks to Ulf sharing his consciousness for a change, Monster was able to see it all as if in slow motion.
Two shots rang out. One from Samual and one from just over Monster’s shoulder.
Monster spun them the second he saw Samual’s finger twitch. With Ulf’s help, it was quick enough to move Carys from the line of fire. However, the bullet he expected to bite into Ulf’s fur never came.
Once they hit the ground, Monster was able to wrest control back from Ulf.
“Are you … hit?” He grasped Carys’s cheeks and shook her out of her shock.
“No. Are you?”
Monster shook his head. “Stay here and don’t move.”
Monster turned to take in the war zone that was Samual’s office.
Creedence was kneeling over Kansas, who was lying on the ground between Carys and Samual’s line of fire with red blooming over his chest.
“Fuck.” He heard someone curse. Monster stood and looked for Samual. Ready to neutralize the threat, but he was dead behind his desk. A shot right between his eyes.
He looked toward the door to see Zachery standing there, gun still smoking, before he snapped out of it. “I’ll grab the kit.”
Zachery turned to presumably retrieve the first aid kit from one of the toolboxes as the rest of them gathered around Kansas. Creedence had his shirt off and wadded on the wound.
Blood was seeping from his mouth, and his eyes were dimming and flashing back and forth from his to his wolf’s. He looked up at Creedence and smiled. “I couldn’t have chosen better.” He gripped one of Creedence’s wrists with his bloody hand. “Take good care of River. He’s been through a lot.”
At that moment, his eyes flashed one last time before they went blank and stared at the ceiling.
Creedence stiffened and cursed before rocking back. His eyes flashed.
Zachery spoke with reverence. “He just inherited Kansas’s wolf.” Considering Prowler and Zachery were jumped wolves themselves, they were the only ones in the room who knew what that felt like.
There was little time to appreciate the sacredness of the moment because Ghoul’s phone went off.
“Gotta go. Someone reported possible shots fired in the area.”
No one needed to be told twice. They lifted Kansas, and everyone headed for the van with the exception of Monster and Carys.
“I’ll stay back with her in case they knock on the door, and then we’ll head your way.”
Prowler nodded. “We’ll send a clean-up crew once you give us the all-clear.”
Monster watched his club leave with his fallen brother.