Chapter 18 #2
Why didn’t she say anything when her father praised her?
If she’s innocent, why keep silent? Once I could undersand.
Maybe even twice. But all three times he casually praised her part in setting him up?
Innocent people don’t stand by silently when they’re accused of the kind of horror Caelan’s been subjected to.
Innocent people scream their innocence.
Don’t they?
Fates…what exactly are we walking into if this female managed to manipulate one of the Bloodbound’s best warriors? How was she able to screw with Caelan’s instincts so thoroughly that he willingly ignored the concerns of his pack, his commander, and his brothers, just to be near her?
None of this makes sense. None of it. I have too many questions, and nowhere near enough answers.
Right now, all I know for sure is that my brother’s in pain. His side of the Bond is dimming more and more with each passing second.
My adrenaline spikes, sending blood thrumming through my veins. Answers don’t matter right now. All that matters is Caelan was attacked, and someone’s going to pay for it.
And if that someone’s the Omega?
Then so be it.
“We’re two minutes out,” Gav’s voice rumbles through my headset.
“Copy.”
Two minutes. Caelan was shot twenty-six minutes ago.
How much time does he have left? How much silver is in his system?
If the bullet went straight through, he’ll be fine in a few hours. But if it lodged in muscle or bone, then the silver’s already spreading through his bloodstream…
Fuck. If that happened, we might not have much time left. Fates, he might not have much time left.
A growl vibrates beneath my sternum.
I turn to Dax, rage overtaking completely. “We need to decide what to do with her.”
“We’re going to fucking bury her,” Dax answers swiftly. Every one of his muscles is coiled tight, his body primed and ready for an attack. He’s about two seconds from ripping the SUV’s door off its hinges and turning this into a one-male rescue mission.
I can’t let my own anger get the best of me. Not now. Dax’s barely hanging on as it is. I need to rein him in. Fates know how he’ll react around the Omega.
As much as I understand his anger, there’s a line we’ve never crossed before and won’t cross today. A line we swore we’d stay on the right side of even before we went on our first missing. It’s our one, set in a stone rule.
We don’t hurt females.
Which means we need to come up with another plan for her.
If Varenthrall’s using her, then we need to assess and act accordingly. We can’t let her stay and continue to work with him. If the female’s still there, we should take her with us. Take her off the playing board completely.
“We take her back to HQ.” I counter. “Make her tell us what she knows. Use her to discover her father’s plans and lead us to the missing Omegas.”
I steel my spine as I lay out my plan, confident it’s the best course of action.“We get answers to whatever the fuck’s going on with the blood Caelan found. Above all, we use her, just like she used Caelan. Then we give her back to daddy.”
My instincts start to settle. The more I consider it, the more sure I am that this is the perfect plan. It appeals to Dax’s logic while satisfying our thirst for vengeance as well.
Dax’s looks at me with eyes hard as stone. Leaning over the console, he lowers his voice and says, “We take her with us and bring her back to HQ.”
I nod. “Right, like I—”
“Then we make her suffer for ever thinking she could outsmart a Bastard.”
I whip my head to the side and almost recoil at the flat, dead stare of my packmate. There’s no life in his eyes. The blazing anger from before is gone completely.
Whatever he’s feeling now is way worse than anger.
“I will ruin her, Vae. I will pick her apart piece by piece,” he continues in an eerily calm cadence.
“I will pluck every piece of knowledge out of her pretty little head and use it to bring down her father. And once I have his smoking, charred corpse smoldering at my feet, only then will I tear her apart.”
His smile is fucking terrifying. My eyes flick between him and the road, like my instincts aren’t sure which is more dangerous to take my attention off of.
“Make no mistake. I will make her pay for what she’s done to Caelan. She will pay for the pain she’s brought to our pack. I won’t let her go until she’s paid for each and every aching second between now and eternity.”
My lungs squeeze. Something inside of me is screaming.
“Daxen…”
“I’ve made my decision.”
His decision? What the fuck. That’s not how we do shit. We’re a pack. When it comes to pack issues, chain of command means fuck all.
I’m two seconds away from laying into him when a mansion comes into view. All my fears for Caelan seem to multiply when I see the dark structure looming ahead. I press my foot harder on the gas, anxious to get down the gravel drive.
“Look out!” Daxen’s shouted warning makes me slam on the breaks. The SUV skids through loose gravel as the tires squeal in protest.
I’m about to ask him what the fuck he’s shouting for when a black blur streaks past the front of the vehicle. It bolts toward the treeline, partially illuminated by our headlights.
“What the fuck..?” I mutter, squinting at the black shadow of muscle and fur.
“GO!” Dax roars. “We don’t have time for whatever that was. Just fucking go, for Fate’s sake!”
Shit. He’s right. I clench my jaw and punch the gas, determined to get to my brother.
I tell myself to ignore it, but right as the damn thing makes it to the forest, it turns and stares right at me. Its large yellow eyes shine bright in the reflection of the SUV’s headlights, gleam like phantom coins in the dark.
A chill skates down my spine and I clench my jaw
I mean, what kind of big ass cat was that, anyways?
I guess it looked kind of like a domestic short hair. If someone injected a domestic short hair with Fatesdamned steroids.
“Everyone ready?” Dax’s voice crackles through my headsets as we finish last second checks before deploying. His lethal edge forces my attention back to the very real, very fucked up situation we’re about to run into.
“Copy,” Gav responds. “You’ve got point on this one, Daxen.”
I’m not shocked Gav’s handing lead to Dax.
He knows like I do that Dax has already come up with solid, tactically perfect plans based on limited intel and the possible situations we’re about to walk into.
Not only that, but he’s probably got a few contingencies for each of those plans in case things go to shit.
Tactics and ops is basically his super power.
“We go in through the front.” Dax orders. “Stay down, stay fast, controlled, and silent. Don’t make yourself a target and don’t give them any reason to shoot before we find Caelan.”
“The primary objective is obviously extraction,” he adds. “We know Caelan’s injured, but we don’t know the state of those injuries. Locate Caelan, stabilize if needed, and get him the fuck out. Do not engage unless cornered or compromised, am I clear?”
His eyes flick to me. “Vae and I will take the basement. Gav and Silas, I want you on the rest of the estate.”
“You said primary objective,” Silas says carefully, like even from Gav’s passenger seat he knows Dax’s last nerve is about to fray. “What’s the secondary?”
He narrows his eyes and answers, “Secure the Omega. She’s why Caelan’s been shot.
She set a trap that nearly killed him. That kind of setup doesn’t come from nowhere.
She’s working with someone. Possibly only her dad, but I’m not ruling anything or anyone out—including Alexander.
Bottom line, the female comes with us. Force her if necessary.
If she’s immobile, sedate and carry. If she runs, stop her. Permanently, if you have to.”
“Wait, what?” Silas’s voice is a few octaves higher than normal, which I totally get because, seriously? What the fuck?
There’s no way my instincts will let me murder an Omega in cold blood. Shit, there’s no way my conscience will allow it. This shit just went from 0-100 in 2.8 seconds and I feel so far out of my depth it’s starting to scare me.
“We do not kill the Omega,” Gav snaps. His tone makes it clear this is non-negotiable. I release a relieved breath and ignore the angry glare Dax aims my way. His lips part but Gav talks over him.
“I’m not fucking around. Subdue her, cart her out like a fucking sack of shit if you want to, but under no circumstances are any of you to murder a helpless female.” There’s an expectant pause before Gav barks, “Daxen, acknowledge!”
“That supposedly helpless girl nearly killed Caelan!” Dax snarls.
“Arguing with me is only keeping you from reaching him sooner.” Gav tosses back.
“I’m serious, Daxen. That girl better be alive when we get back to HQ.
I don’t want to hear of any “convenient” accidents.
You’ll give me your word now, or you can stay here while we rescue your brother. What’s it gonna be?”
I hold my breath, afraid he’s about to purposely disobey Gav for the first time. But Dax must realize he’s playing a losing game. He straightens his spine, squares his shoulders, and falls into tactician mode like nothing happened.
Like he didn’t just threaten to end the life of a female.
He glares at the estate, forcing his jaw to relax before answering. “Understood.”
His eyes harden, like he can already see the hell we’re about to walk into. Or, more likely, he’s imagining opening the door and finding the Omega standing over Caelan’s body with a silver blade poised to enter his heart.
“Get Caelan out,” he repeats. “Bring the Omega with us. Gag her if she screams. Don’t let her pheromones fuck with you, because I promise you, that female will use every advantage she can to convince you she’s harmless. Do not forget that she lured our brother here to die.”
He swings open the driver’s side door without another word. I throw mine open too and we both exit onto the driveway. A second later, Gav and Silas follow and all four of us take off, boots crunching on gravel as we race for the entrance.
When we get to the door, I take a second to look at my team—the males I call brothers.
We’re all on edge, ready to raise hell on anyone stupid enough to still be on the other side of this door.
One by one, each male meets my eyes—a silent acknowledgment that they’re ready to do what needs to be done. For a single, suspending moment, I’m comforted by the knowledge that no matter what we walk into, we won’t be walking out without Caelan.
At Daxen’s silent nod, I lift my leg and with a single swift kick, break down the front door. It’s hinges rip from the frame. It fractures, exploding inward almost too easily.
We fan out, weapons drawn, prepared to take down any threat keeping us from our brother.
Daxen pulls forward on my left. His grey eyes gleam with violence and the promise of death. His smile is all predator when he growls, “Let’s show these humans exactly why they’ve feared our kind for centuries.”
I straighten, a mean smirk tugging up the corners of my lips. I glance at Gav and Silas over my shoulder and my smirk widens with anticipation. “You heard him, boys. Let’s go find our brother.”
We may be walking into a shitstorm, but we’re ready to fuck up anything that stands in our way. These assholes have no idea what’s coming for them.
And if we discover Omega really was a part of this?
We’ll make sure she never has a chance to play her little games with Alphas ever again.