Chapter Thirty-Three
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GG WATCHED THE COMPUTER screen in horror as Rahab hunted for the blonde woman he’d obviously mistaken for her.
Dalt sat beside her, holding her hand. Wynter and Tolas had come for a visit and had brought Nova with them.
The baby was asleep, thankfully. None of the adults wanted an innocent child to witness what they all knew was going to happen, even if she was too young to understand or remember it.
“Run,” GG urged the poor woman who was about to die even though she couldn’t hear her. They’d tracked her through the cameras Xanthia had given them control over. Soldiers on patrol had spotted her and one of them had called their commander.
“Good thinking,” Dalton said when the female cut down an alley. She was wearing sunglasses, so they couldn’t see her expression, but she had to be terrified.
“I wish I could rescue the female,” Tol said, hating that he had to watch and he couldn’t interfere.
“You’re not risking yourself with dozens of our enemies practically on our doorstep,” Wyn said. She felt sick watching the human being hunted so relentlessly.
“I could teleport to her and take her to Pastor Hogan before Rahab even knows I’m there,” her mate said.
“Don’t even think about it,” Wynter said. “I’ll freeze your feet to the floor if I have to.”
“It’s too late,” GG said in despair as she watched the survivor trying to get into one of the warehouses that was right behind their base. “Rahab’s got her now,” she said, swallowing down the urge to be sick.
Dalt’s hand squeezed hers, then they all watched in silence as the victim was beaten to death.
“Oh, my God,” Wynter moaned when Rahab tore the female’s arm off. “He’s insane!”
“Yeah, he is,” GG confirmed, holding onto her cowboy’s hand like he was her lifeline. “I think he’s always been crazy, but he can’t hide it as well now.”
Rahab went into a frenzy and tore the survivor apart with his bare hands. Picking her head up when he was done, he realized she was a stranger and his rage spiked.
“Now do you see why using yourself as bait is such a bad idea, darlin’?” Dalton asked. “That will happen to you if you try to outrun Rahab and his goons.” He pointed at the screen with his free hand to emphasize his point.
GG’s stomach was rebelling despite her best efforts to control it.
The last straw came when Rahab dismissed his lackeys, then kicked the dead woman’s head.
It soared directly towards the camera they were watching the grisly scene through.
Jerking back in reaction when the screen went blank, GG released Dalt’s hand and scrambled out of her chair.
She raced to the communal bathroom and threw up her breakfast.
“Ugh, yogurt tastes a lot worse on the way back up,” she complained hoarsely.
Flushing the toilet, GG brushed her teeth with a spare toothbrush Sinai had duplicated.
They had a lot of supplies for when their allies came to visit.
Tossing the toothbrush and wrapper into the bin, they would vanish after a few hours.
“Are you okay?” Wynter asked when her bestie rejoined them.
“Not really,” GG admitted. Dalt and their friends had moved to a couple of couches. She sank down next to her boyfriend and he hugged her to his side. “I wasn’t expecting to watch someone get ripped apart by Rahab today,” she said wanly.
Tolas was frowning at her. “What’s this about you wanting to use yourself as bait, female?” he asked.
GG gave her boyfriend a sour look. Dalt just looked at her in concern. “You all know I want to rescue the other women the Soldiers of Chaos are keeping captive in their base,” she reminded the warrior.
“Yes, but you know how dangerous that is even for the knights,” Wynter said. She’d seen the stubborn look her best friend gave her before and her gut tightened. “You just saw what will happen to you if you try to do something as risky as luring Rahab away,” she said in exasperation.
“I also saw how well it could work,” GG said defensively.
“Almost all of Rahab’s minions came running to Brooklyn.
I bet there were only a few of them left at their base.
Tol and his brothers could easily bust in there, subdue the guards and free the women.
” They all knew Rahab would sense it if his men died and he would come running to exact vengeance.
“Not at the expense of your life, darlin’,” Dalton said, squeezing her muscular shoulder for emphasis. “We’ll come up with an idea that doesn’t involve you sacrificing yourself.”
Tolas looked over at the computer screen.
Dalt had switched back to the cameras around their base.
The images shifted every few seconds so they could get a view of the area surrounding their second base.
“It was effective, but the chase didn’t last nearly long enough for us to free dozens of women,” the knight said.
“So, we come up with a way to make Rahab chase me for longer,” GG said.
“Are you pregnant?” Wyn blurted, assuming this was the case because she’d puked.
“It’s only been six days since Dalt and I rekindled our romance,” her bestie reminded her.
“I’m being careful,” Dalton said. “We’re going to wait until GG’s ready to become a mom.”
“I’ll make you a deal,” the beautiful blonde ex-wrestler said slyly. “I’ll let you knock me up as soon as we’ve saved the women from Rahab’s base.”
Dalt groaned at that proposition. “You’re killing me, GG!” he complained in anguish. “You know how badly I want to be a dad!”
“Yep,” she said unrepentantly. “The sooner we save them, the sooner you can put a bun in my oven.” She patted her flat, toned stomach with a grin.
“You need to help me out, brother,” the cattle rancher said to Tolas.
Tol nodded gravely. Dalton Ashton was a good man and they’d become staunch friend.
Their mates were as close as sisters and the knight wanted them all to be happy.
“I’ll discuss the matter with Amaros and my brothers again,” he vowed.
“We haven’t forgotten about the females,” he told GG.
“We’re aware of their plight and we feel for them all. ”
“Xanthia said they’ve added even more women to their harem now,” Wynter said, wrinkling her nose. “They’ve replaced Faye, Paris and the other females we saved.”
“They plan to be here forever if they defeat us,” GG said, all traces of triumph vanishing.
“I’m glad Fate made them all sterile. They would have made an army of cambions if they could procreate.
I bet they would have bred with their comrades’ offspring when they were old enough to make more hybrids like Arakiel and Nova. ”
Wynter instinctively held her daughter more tightly to her chest. “Arak and Nova can already use magic,” she said in a disturbed tone. “Can you imagine the damage evil hybrids would cause?”
“Fate sees far and her wisdom is unmatched,” Tol said. “I imagine this is why she agreed to allow twenty Soldiers of Chaos to be released from the Void to impregnate one female each. It gave her the opportunity to outwit Chaos and Anarchy. She ruined their plan to spread evil across this world.”
“I’d place my bet on Order over Chaos every time,” Dalt said. “Anarchy doesn’t have the ability to plan ahead at all, does he?”
“Not that we’ve seen in all of the eons of our existence,” Tolas confirmed. “That’s why we win more wars than we lose. Fate guides us to succeed most of the time.”
“How did your enemies win some of their past wars?” GG asked, fascinated by the topic.
“They won some by using my brothers and me as bait,” the knight said wryly.
“We quickly decided not to rescue each other and ended our own lives until Rahab stopped using that tactic. Other wars were won by Chaos’ pawns through sheer dumb luck and natural disasters that wiped us out.
Amaros isn’t infallible and he sometimes makes mistakes that end in our defeat.
But he always learns and he never makes the same error twice. ”
“I’m sure our friends will come up with a way to rescue the captives soon, darlin’,” Dalt said, giving a pleading look to the Knight of Order. Tolas had already said he would speak to his brothers and he knew he would keep his word.