Chapter 14 Creature
M uffled voices penetrated the fog in my head.
I could hear warbled words but not make out enough syllables to string together what they said.
A constant ringing in my ears continued to disorient me as my awareness slowly crept in.
My wrists were bound, and my arms had been wrenched backward, tethered behind my back.
My ass sat on a hard wooden seat. My ankles were also restrained to the legs of the chair. Overkill much?
I groaned, feeling the effects of a potent drug in my veins. Someone got inside the clubhouse again. Into my fucking room.
Shit. Blair!
I opened my eyes, seeing nothing but a cream-colored sack over my head. My voice was muffled by the rag stuck in my mouth. I was about to lose my shit.
The hood was yanked over my head as I blinked, blinded by a bright bulb above my head. It took a minute for my eyes to adjust, and I noticed the room revealed nothing but shadows beyond where I was sitting. Somewhere close, I could hear a muffled cry.
It wasn’t Blair.
Dad? Oh, fuck. No!
Drake!
He was silent in my head. Why?
What the fuck was happening? Where the hell were Maddog, Manic, and Skel?
I didn’t have a chance to think beyond that before a man walked from the shadows into my line of sight.
Mateo fucking Ruiz. Yeah, I looked him up on social media after what Blair told me. He had a memorable face. Good for me. Bad for him. When I got loose, he would regret tying me up and touching my woman.
“I see the recognition in your eyes, pendejo .” He yanked the rag from my mouth and tossed it to the ground.
“What the fuck do you want?”
A sneer hovered on his lips. “What I want is to be left alone, but our sweet senorita would not listen.”
Fuck.
“Where’s Blair?” I demanded.
“Oh, I won’t ruin the surprise yet.”
He slid back into the shadows as I shouted. For a full minute, I threatened and insulted him to try to bring him back. It didn’t work.
“I don’t believe that we’ve met, Balen Hobbs.” Another guy stepped forward. I knew who he was, too, as I’d seen him in the photos Blair showed me.
“Roderick Paul.”
“Correct. By now, you must have figured out our business arrangement. You see, we rely on one another for certain merchandise, transportation, sale, and finally, delivery of that merchandise. It’s quite a process.”
I didn’t give a fuck.
“Where’s Blair?”
I fought the restraints, refusing to bring up my father’s name, but I worried that they brought him here. It was hard to be sure without Drake’s help. I couldn’t understand his silence.
I need you, Drake!
Roderick stepped back into the shadows as another man came forward. What was this? Musical Mobster?
The third man’s identity alluded to me. I decided to insult him to see if I could trick him into revealing it.
“You’re the least important, huh? They just brought you here to add to their numbers, but you’re just as expendable as everyone else. You’ll be tossed out with the trash.”
That did it.
“I’m Luis Diego.”
“Damn, I feel sorry for you. I thought with the rumors, you’d be bigger. Or at least taller than a child.”
He lunged for me, driving a fist into my stomach as I coughed, then laughed. “Pathetic.”
Somewhere close, I heard a scream. Blair!
Fuck, Drake! Get in here!
One more person walked into the light, and I stared, shocked to see Bells holding a gun. She approached me, getting close enough to clog my lungs with her nasty perfume.
“Your best friend has been looking for you.”
“And she should have walked away. We warned her.”
Why the fuck did Bells turn on Blair?
“You joined their organization,” I guessed.
“You’rea smart guy.” She gave me a dazzling smile. “But that won’t help Blair. She should have walked away. It would have been so easy for her.”
“She loves you. Blair isn’t like that.”
She sighed and waved her hand as she dismissed what I said. “I’m sure she’ll appreciate your support before I frame you for her murder.”
“The fuck you are!” I hollered, fighting against the bindings on my wrists. “Set me free. Are you all too afraid to face me?”
Blair screamed. I renewed my struggles, fighting the restraints until I toppled over in the chair.
One of the arms busted, and I freed my hand, quickly reaching for the bindings on my opposite arm.
The wood cracked against the concrete floors.
I groaned with the impact but focused on getting to my feet.
We were inside a warehouse. I could see that much. I had my feet freed within seconds. A feral snarl fell from my lips as I lunged into the shadows.
“Balen!”
Not Creature. My woman needed me.
I followed the sound of her scream and rushed through a door, realizing far too late that it was a trap. Something heavy cracked against the back of my skull, and I went down. Hard.
“Balen!”
Blair’s frantic voice was the last thing I heard.
Everything went black.
PAIN WAS MY FAVORITE motivator. Didn’t matter if it was mine or someone else’s, pain pushed people to act. It became their strength or their weakness. You chose to rise or allowed yourself to fall.
Like now.
I shoved off from the floor and cracked my neck. There was a dull ache in the back of my head, but I ignored it. It wasn’t enough to slow me down. Not when I had to get to my Firecracker, my sexy, fierce redhead.
She’s ours, you dick.
“You wanna debate this now?” I asked,
Fuck. Not now. Later.
Blair screamed, and I felt the entity I shared space with shake with fury. He clawed at my mind as his fury joined mine.
“We’re going to save her.”
I know.
“Then why are you pissed?”
Because she’s hurt. Can’t you smell the coppery tang of her blood?
I could, but I wasn’t worried because it wasn’t much. Not enough to have been from a critical wound.
Move! Go after her!
He was so cranky and hostile. I loved it.
I closed my eyes and focused on the sounds in the room. I could hear every voice and sense all the movement from every soul on the property. I knew where each one had fled when Balen fell from the chair and broke free.
Cowards.
I headed toward Roderick Pual first. Maybe I would only break his legs. Or his head.
Get Blair!
“Not yet. I need to break bones first.”
He paused.
Okay. Stop saying I. It’s we. Two. Plural.
Right.
We let out a howl and chased our first victim—the guy who owned the casinos, the nurse’s brother.
We liked Phyllis. She didn’t take shit from anyone.
Roderick? Fuck no.
“Oh, Roderick? Come out, come out wherever you are!”
We heard him run in the opposite direction. Yes! We loved a good chase. Who didn’t?
We reached him as he entered the same room where Balen had been strapped to the chair, and he tripped over the broken pieces.
A sigh escaped my lips. Roderick almost wasn’t worth my time.
Don’t say that. We love blood and screams.
I shivered. We sure did.
Our fist rammed into Roderick’s nose, and we heard a satisfying crunch as he cried out in pain. Blood gushed from the wound.
Ohhhh. Almost better than sex.
“Almost,” I agreed.
We stomped on his leg, bringing our boot down with more force than humanly possible. We heard a crack and the bone snap.
Ohhhhhh. We’re getting hard.
Our cock swelled as bloodlust enticed us.
“We’ll need to fuck after this.”
Roderick stared at us in horror.
“Not you.”
We picked up his head and knocked it against the concrete. He lost consciousness—a pity.
Mateo’s laughter caught our attention next.
He dies. We need to protect Blair.
She deserves justice.
We ran through several rooms and found a stairwell that led to the roof. At the top, we saw our woman.
“Blair!”
“Balen!”
“Not Balen. Drake,” we growled as we corrected her.
She blinked. Confusion flittered over her face.
“Still yours. Always. All of us.”
“Oh, wow,” she whispered. “I should have figured it out. It’s been there, lingering in your eyes.”
Our rage flared when we saw the fresh bruise on her bare arm and the red mark on her cheek. A scratch with dried blood across her jawline. That was the scent that caught our attention, alerting us that she was in danger.
Blair was hurt.
Mateo laughed as he lifted his gun, caging her into a corner of the roof. “You can’t save her.”
“No, you can’t save yourself.”
We closed our eyes as shadows detached from the walls, seeping like an inkblot into our skin as they joined us, covering our body and shielding us from the weapon in Mateo’s hand.
We sprinted toward Blair and swallowed her into our gullet. Our shadows engulfed her. She wouldn’t be harmed. Not a single cell on her body would be vulnerable. The shadows formed an impenetrable barrier.
Mateo’s eyes widened and he fired at us until the clip was empty. The bullets bounced off like we were made of rubber. Amusing.
He cursed as we shot out a shadowy hand and lifted him by the ankle. We dangled him high in the air.
“Do you know what it feels like to go splat?”
His eyes filled with horror as he flailed his arms and legs. “Put me down!”
“Yes! So happy you suggested it.”
We tossed him up toward the stars, delighted when we released him, and he began to fall. His screams were sweet music as he hurtled toward the street below. But his body hitting the ground? Magnificent carnage.
He went splat.
We both giggled.
Blair turned to us with uncertain eyes. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. We protect Balen.”
She nodded. “I understand. You came out when he lost his mother, didn’t you?”
“We did.”
“Then I’m thankful for you. You kept him safe for me.”
Our chest puffed with pride.
But the danger wasn’t over.
Bells joined us on the roof. “You just couldn’t leave it alone, could you, Blair?”
She turned to her friend, holding up her hands, when she saw the gun. “It doesn’t have to be this way, Bells.”
“It does,” she contradicted, aiming at our shadows.
“You were my best friend. I trusted and loved you like a sister.”
“You always were clingy.” Bells shrugged. “Mateo was supposed to take care of you for me.”
Blair shook her head, her expression unreadable. “You had everything you could ever want. Why do this?”
“I don’t need to answer to you!” Bells fired several shots at our shadows.
It didn’t disturb them.
“You will toss the gun and allow the cops to arrest you,” we ordered.
She snorted. “The hell I will.”
“Last chance,” we warned.
“Go to hell.” Bells aimed at Blair and pulled back on the trigger.
We reinforced our impenetrable wall of shadows around our precious woman until the danger passed.
Rage filled us as we picked Bells up, letting her dangle over the edge of the roof. “We want to drop her.”
Blair shook her head. “No. She doesn’t deserve a merciful death. I want her to rot in prison.”
We were confused. “Prison?”
“Roderick, Bells, and Mateo were funneling drug money out of the U.S. and using it to fund terrorist organizations. Luis Diego was their biggest supplier. They were going to bomb Las Vegas. I didn’t realize the extent of the operation until they brought me here.”
Our rage increased. “She must die.”
“Not by our hand,” Blair disagreed. “Put her down on the roof.”
So boring.
We dropped her. Roughly.
Bells cried out when her knee hit the concrete, and something cracked. Oops.
“Where are the others?” we asked.
Tinman, Balen’s father. Phyllis, the sassy nurse. Maddog, our president. Manic. Lark. Bianca.
“Everyone is safe.”
Relieved, we knew it was time to let Balen return.
Blair kissed our cheek. It felt soft, like rose petals. “Thank you.”
We blinked, giving Balen a mental high-five.
Blair faded, but we had her kiss. We planned to keep it.