21. Seraphina
21
SERAPHINA
D ylan and I stood on the dock, watching as Loki and Blaze lowered the rental house’s ski boat into the lake. They’d already dropped the Jet Ski Dylan and I would commandeer for our assignment.
“Here, Little Flame,” Hawk said, popping up next to me. He slid a helmet onto my head, then he gave the strap under my chin his full and careful attention, his teeth worrying at his lip ring as he adjusted it until he was happy. “There,” he said, grinning down at me, his sage-and-clove scent blooming pleasantly. “See you on the other side.”
He ambled away to join the other two while I just stared dumbly after him.
After a few seconds, I glanced at Dylan. She had the shit-eating-est grin on her face.
I pointed a finger in her face. “Not a word out of you.”
“You like them.”
“Of course I like them,” I retorted with a careless shrug, as if I hadn’t recently been blindsided by the fact that “like” was probably no longer accurate for how I felt about Loki, Blaze, and Hawk. “That’s like accusing someone of liking triple chocolate cake. Who wouldn’t?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Why are you so smug?” I demanded, and then I began to count on my fingers. “My parents are trying to sell me to another pack, I’m not fucking or otherwise dating this pack, and Paige is about to be forcibly bred if we don’t get across this lake and into that house in the next fifteen minutes.”
She wiped the smile from her face. “Fair point. We can deconstruct the tangled web of your love life at a later time.”
“Can’t wait.”
The guys had piled into the boat, and Loki maneuvered it a few feet away from the dock, where it now idled. “Load up, ladies!” he called.
Dylan climbed down and straddled the Jet Ski. I reluctantly lowered myself behind her and wrapped my arms around her torso. “I can’t believe I’m riding bitch for this.”
“Better bring your Roshambo A game next time.”
Austin’s voice buzzed into the earpieces we’d been issued prior to departure. “ We’re in position. Ready on your signal .”
“ Copy ,” Loki replied. “ Headed across the lake now .”
Dylan revved the Jet Ski’s engine. “Ready?” she asked.
“Let’s fucking do this.”
She gunned it, and we were off.
After parking our Jet Ski two docks over from Hart’s house, Dylan and I crept through the small, dark yards of the neighboring homes, approaching from the west. It was getting late, but it was a Saturday night, so there were plenty of boats still in party mode out on the lake. Our approach had so far gone unnoticed by the guards milling around Hart’s backyard.
“ In position ,” Loki said in our ears. “ Ladies, hold until the signal .”
“We heard you the first three times you gave us that instruction,” I replied.
“ Don’t sass me, Lamb. I just want you safe, and I’m certain Dylan’s Alphas and her unnaturally beautiful beta feel the same .”
“ He really is ridiculous ,” Blaze muttered.
I snorted. “If you three want to join Cam’s fanboys, you’ll have to get to the back of the line.”
“ There’s room for everyone, Sere-bear ,” Cam replied. “ Oh, don’t look at me like that, Seth. You knew what you were getting into when you decided to bond me .”
“ I truly cannot take you anywhere ,” Seth grumbled.
“ Anyway ,” Austin drawled. “ We’re ready when you are .”
Austin, Seth, and Cam had driven their car around to Hart’s side of the inlet and parked down the road at a neighboring state park. They were creeping through the bushes and preparing to assault the road-side guards, while Loki, Blaze, and Hawk would take the lake-side force.
Dylan and I paused in the yard of the house immediately adjacent to Hart’s. All was quiet—not a single light on inside or out. We crouched on the back porch and set eyes on our target. The second floor of the lake house had a wraparound balcony that spanned the backside of the house for the lake view and extended around the sides. Paige’s bathroom window was accessible via its west side.
“ On our signal ,” Loki said. “ In three, two…. ”
Gunfire rang out, a hail of bullets startling the guards out of their complacency on both sides of the house.
Time to go.
Dylan and I bolted from our hiding spot. She scaled the short aluminum fence with little effort, and I followed with slightly more effort. I was still in my party clothes, down a leather jacket and up a ballistic vest and helmet, and I was thankful that my Chelsea boots were comfortable and easy to run in.
I landed lightly on the grass, hustling to keep up with Dylan and her ridiculously long legs as we skirted the A/C unit and came to a stop underneath the balcony on the side of the house.
She considered the wooden railing above us. “Should I dig out the grappling hook?”
I shook my head. “No time for that. Get ready for me.”
Dylan crouched as I backed up a few feet. She threaded her fingers together, creating a step. After she gave me a perfunctory nod, I bounded toward her in quick, powerful strides. I stepped into her hands, and she launched me into the air. I grabbed the lower bar of the balcony railing and swung a foot up above my head to find purchase between the wooden slats. After hooking my boot securely between the slats, I was able to push myself higher and scramble up and over the railing.
I pulled a loop of thin nylon rope from my belt, tied one end securely around the top of the railing, and dropped the line for Dylan.
Shots continued to pop off around us. Shouting from both sides of the house meant there were guards still alive on both fronts.
Dylan shimmied up the rope and over the railing, and we scurried through the shadows to the second-floor bathroom’s small window. I tugged on it, but it didn’t budge.
“Plan B,” I whispered.
Dylan jammed her elbow, thankfully covered by the long sleeve of her work shirt, into the lower right quadrant of the glass pane. It cracked like an egg. “Son of a bitch,” she hissed, shaking out her arm.
I pulled my handgun from my belt and smashed through the glass. The thick, heavy scent of vanilla cake, sour like it’d been left in the sun, hit my nostrils.
Paige, nearing a heat and scared out of her mind.
More shots. More yelling. I couldn’t pick up any words, but it sounded like the guards were shouting in a foreign language I didn’t recognize.
“ Two down in front ,” Austin reported. “ We have the remaining guard engaged in a stalemate .”
“ We’re two down and three returning fire ,” Loki replied. “ They have the high ground but can’t aim for shit at us while we’re out on the lake, cruising around .” Another shot cracked through the air. “ Nice one, Hawk. That’s another down out back .”
“Any sign of Hart?” I asked as Dylan reached her gloved hand through the jagged hole she’d left in the shattered pane.
“ None ,” Blaze said. “ Be careful. He’s probably cowering inside somewhere .”
Dylan flipped the lock on the window and shoved it open. She motioned for me to hop through first.
“Paige!” I whisper-shouted as I stumbled through the window and landed on the tile.
I fell immediately to my knees in front of Paige, who had wedged her tiny body between the toilet and the wall under the window. A sheen of sweat coated her brow, and tendrils of her dark hair stuck to her face. She held a plunger like a weapon, trembling, her brown eyes glassy and wide.
“I’m here,” I said gently. “It’s okay now.”
“I’m hot,” she rasped.
“I know, babe,” I said softly. “Did the heat start?”
She shook her head. “No brain fog or, uh, slick yet, but I think it’s about to happen. I can’t be here, Seraphina. Don’t let him touch me.”
“I’ll fucking kill him before he touches you,” I told her.
Dylan landed on the tile next to me, her handgun raised and pointed at the door.
Paige gasped, and I stroked her hair with a reassuring hand. “That’s Dylan, my sister-in-law. Remember? You’ve met her.”
“Oh. Right.”
“She’s just making sure no one bothers us while we sneak you back out this window. Dylan and Cameron, her beta, are going to take you somewhere safe to ride through this weird mini-heat, okay? If you want, they can give you a sedative to take the edge off.”
She nodded vigorously.
“Cam,” Dylan said through our comms. “We’re ready for pickup.”
“ On the way ,” he replied.
Dylan holstered her weapon and helped me get Paige on her feet. After Dylan crawled back through the window, I guided Paige through it, then I followed.
Paige clung to me, understandably terrified by the sounds of gunshots, which were deafening now that we were outside. After Dylan used the rope to lower herself back to the ground, I walked Paige to the edge of the balcony.
I peered over the railing. Cam was there, and he’d grabbed Dylan by the back of her neck and pulled her into a very intense kiss.
“Excuse them,” I told Paige. “Apparently Cameron is not immune to acting crazy about his omega in dangerous situations.”
They broke apart, then Cam looked up, his angelic face expressing no apology as he gave us a little wave. “We’re ready now, Sere-bear. Hi, Paige.”
“Wait…. How am I getting down?” Paige asked in a hysterical whisper.
“They’ll catch you,” I assured her. “I know it’s scary, but I don’t know where Hart is, so I don’t want to take you through the house.”
“O-Okay.”
I helped her over the railing. Cam and Dylan got into position.
With my hands wrapped around her wrists, I looked Paige right in her terrified brown eyes. “Trust me, Paige. Just let go and fall backwards. They’ve got you.”
She nodded, and on the count of three, she dropped. Cam and Dylan caught her like they were pro cheerleaders, and they wasted no time getting her to her feet and taking off into the trees surrounding the property. Their SUV was down the road somewhere.
“Loki, Paige is secure,” I announced on comms. “Do you need support?”
“ Only if you can do it safely, Lamb ,” he replied, sounding out of breath. “ We still have two active over here .”
“ Still one stubborn asshole left on our side ,” Seth added.
“On it,” I said.
It didn’t take me too much effort to jump from the balcony’s railing and grab the roof’s edge. I clambered up, staying low, and then I slithered across the roof like a snake, my rifle a comforting presence on my back.
I peeked over the roofline at the lakeside. I didn’t have a clear shot at either of the remaining guards where they were tucked up under some kind of shed.
But when I made it to the front of the house, I found that Austin and Seth’s guy wasn’t so lucky. He crouched behind a large black Suburban, occasionally popping up to fire shots over the hood and into the trees that lined the driveway, where Austin and Seth were hidden from view.
I lay quietly, the familiar calm settling over me as I lined up my shot. Here, I had all the power. Here, I wasn’t an omega with no say over my body or my future. Here, I was a stone-cold killer, and in this moment, I was more powerful than any Alpha who had the misfortune of finding himself on the other end of my bullet.
One breath in, one breath out, and I pulled the trigger. My shot hit its target, and the man collapsed in a heap behind the car.
“Your guy is down, Austin,” I announced. “Go help Loki and the others.”
“ Fuck ,” he replied. “ Okay, then .”
“ I am simultaneously impressed and horrified, Sere ,” Seth said.
“ Excellent work, Little Flame ,” Hawk added, the pride clear in his voice. It made me all gooey in my omega center.
No time for that shit, though.
I watched as Austin and Seth appeared out of the darkness and sprinted around the house, attacking the last of the guards from the back.
I was about to join them when a man ran out the front door, headed for the bullet-riddled Suburban parked in the driveway.
Hart, carrying a large briefcase.
“Oh, fuck no,” I hissed.
My trigger finger itched, but I knew better. We needed him alive so that the guys could pump him for information.
He wrenched the driver’s door open and jumped inside.
I lined up my shots.
Front tire: blown.
Back tire: blown.
Back passenger window: shattered for good measure.
The door opened again, and Hart stumbled out, shouting, “Fuck!”
I set my rifle down and bolted.
In seconds, I was off the roof, down the rope, and running right at him.
It’s judgment day, motherfucker.