99
Callum's POV
Max stood close to one of the glass walls of his penthouse. His back faced the door where I entered from and he didn't bother turning around to look at me.
"Coming up here all alone, Callum, is a bold sign that you underestimate me so much," he said in a soft tone.
"Cut the crap and tell me where you hid her," I ordered.
He chuckled, throwing his head back. "Tell you where she is? Do you really want to know, Callum? Huh?"
He shoved a feet backward in order to turn. "Don't dare it," I ordered. "Don't fucking move."
"Huh? Don't tell me you're scared to look me in the face," he taunted.
I gritted my teeth hard. "I promise you, Max, make another silly move and I will pull this fucking trigger. I swear on my life."
"Bloody dare it," he taunted and finally turned around.
I aimed the gun at his chest, carefully to shift it slightly from his heart. Then I pulled the trigger.
What I expected to be a bang came out as a soft click sound. My orbs flew wide. When did I run out of bullets?
Max's cheeks stretched into a grin and he shook his head.
"You see, you've always been the calmest, most rational; and in the eyes of some fools, the smartest amongst us triplets. But it's a pity that till now, you don't know how many bullets you have in your cartridge. And to think that something like you underestimates me..." He paused. "It irks me so fucking bad!" He yelled out loud, dragging his nails down his face.
"My jacket is bullet proof anyway." He brought his voice low, pointing at his chest. "You had no chance of winning from the start."
He dug a hand into the inner pocket of his jacket and pulled out a silver dagger. Flipping it in his hand, my nerves tensed up, threatened by the mere sight of silver.
Getting cut by that blade was the worst thing that could happen to me. But it wasn't going to stop me from fighting him either.
I cracked my knuckles. Regardless, I had to fight.
I lunged at Max and made a grab for the dagger, but he swiftly stretched his arm away as I locked him between my arms.
Sliding low with my arms still locked around him, I pulled his legs and he landed on the floor with his head striking the floor heavily. Yet, he still held the dagger. It was clear that his intent was purely to stab me with that dagger.
He shrunk away from me and stood up quickly. Then he rubbed his palm on the back of his head only to bring it back to his face with a blood stain on it.
His lips tore into a devilish grin at the sight of his own blood.
"This is not enough to stop me, Callum!" He laughed, shoulders quaking as he stood there like a maniac, just laughing. "You have to do better than this, for real. Don't you want to know where I hid your precious Liv?"
At the mention of Liv's name, the blood in my veins boiled with rage.
"Won't you like to know everything I did with the innocent girl in the past few days?" Max taunted. I knew he was trying to get at me. And indeed it was working. Staying cool-headed became a difficult thing.
I took in a deep breath, trying to still my anger. But it kept brimming up, going past the level I could contain.
And I lost it.
"Argh!" I rushed at Max, not minding the silver dagger in his hand.
He swung the dagger at me and I caught his arm, bringing him to stop. Tightening my grip on his arm, I pulled him close and headbutted him.
He went back with a staggering motion, but I caught him still, ready to pull him in for another headbutt.
The moment I pulled him again, he crouched and I knew immediately that I'd let my anger write me a bad fate.
With a very swift of his hand, Max tore the skin of my right leg with the silver dagger. And as if that wasn't enough, he flung it around and jabbed it into my thigh.
"Arghhhhhh!" I screamed, falling to my knees and instantly regretting how I fought him carelessly.
The cut on my skin stung like snake venom and the stab wound felt like it was about to pull my soul out of my body. Silver was something a werewolf shouldn't mess with. It didn't matter being an Alpha or not.
Now, Max was the one standing, and I laid on the floor, holding my leg and gritting in pain. It felt so satisfying to him.
Max grabbed me by my collar and dragged me up from the floor. "Look how pathetic you are now." He spat in my face.
A fever had slowly developed in my body, owing to the lethal injuries. My chest heaved up and down as my temperature rose. I could only hope it wouldn't get worse.
"As my brother, I'll give you an honourable death," Max said. "You know I despise rivalry. But I'll hold you and stab you until I'm sure you've taken your last breath."
"Do something, Callum," my wolf growled. But at this point, shifting was impossible, not with silver swimming in my bloodstream.
Suddenly, I remembered that I had a dagger iny pocket as well, though it was an ordinary one. Striking Max with it was my only chance of survival. However, I couldn't juts strike anyhow.
I stayed patient, watching him as he raised his dagger into the air, excited to be taking my life. His doom wasn't far off. That moment when he'd think that there was nothing else to stop him.
I focused all my strength in one arm, and the moment he was about to strike, I jabbed two fingers into his eyes, piercing his eyeballs.
"Fuck!" He yelled like a mad man and staggered back, letting go of me immediately.
I pulled my dagger out of my pocket and threw it at him. Unfortunately, my feverish body didn't grant me an accurate hit. But Max was yet to find his balance, so the odds still stood in my favour.
Limping, I rushed to him and grabbed the hand where he held the silver dagger. His grip tightened around it, knowing that once I took it, it was over for him.
A fierce tug of war between his blind self and my feverish self ended after three minutes. I held the dagger in my hand, my eyes dark with rage as I gazed at him bashing into one object after the other.
I kicked him and he fell on the floor, then I squatted close to him. "Where's is Liv?" I asked.
"Like I'd tell you, Callum!" He yelled. "Go to hell!"
With a swing of the dagger to his heart, I silenced him. He wasn't going to talk anyway.
I sat on the floor, watching as blood drooled out from the corners of his mouth. Silver was surely a dealt thing.
Heading back to regroup with Ryder and the other soldiers, I couldn't hear any gun shot. Was the battle over or was the poison messing up with my senses?
Reaching the main hallway, I was surprised to see Max's men all kneeling down. Frank and Ryder were at a corner talking, while our other soldiers kept eyes on the hostages.
I smiled. We'd won, finally.
Ryder sensed me immediately and peep towards the corridor where I was watching from. "Callum?" He called.
I smiled, too exhausted to utter a word. But nothing felt better than knowing that those several hours of planning didn't come to waste.
He noticed I was injured and ran up to me. "How bad is it?" He asked, his nose quickly taking his attention to the fresh wound on my leg.
"Silver," I said. "But it's nothing. The important thing now is finding Liv."
"About that, there's this huge guy who seems to be one of their commanders," Ryder said to me. "Well, Frank has beaten hell out of him. And I'm sure that sooner or later, he'll confess."
Looking in Frank's direction, I saw him washing his hands in a bowl brought to him by one of the servants.
"Are you done, Frank?" Ryder yelled from where we were.
"Yes," Frank answered before squinting his eyes and peering closer to see me. "Oh, Callum! Did you get him?"
A small heaviness grew in my chest at that question. I did get him, yeah. But I also killed my own brother.
I let out a soft sigh. This wasn't the kind of thing I should stress my mind about. Besides, if I hadn't killed him, he'd have killed me instead.
"Look at this low life," Frank said, dragging a heavily built guy with him.
He dropped him on his knees before me and I shot a took a glance of the pitiful guys face. His eyelids, chin, lips, had swollen purple, but it didn't stop me from recognizing him. Gerard was one of the strongest and most loyal soldiers that the Darkmoon hard.
"Alright now. Be a good boy and tell Callum the exact same thing you told me," Frank demanded from him.
"She... She..."
"C'mon. Don't waste our time!" Frank could barely hold himself.
"She's locked in base 112, southward," Gerard spat out.
The name clicked on my mind immediately. Whoever thought he'd use the death row dungeon to lock up Liv.