17. Chapter 17
Chapter 17
Hazen
M y ears ring.
Someone is screaming.
It sounds like Freya.
I have to get to her.
She has to be okay.
My hand runs over the rocky ground before I push myself up.
Smoke fills the air.
People are yelling, but I can’t hear what they’re saying through the ringing.
Pain rips through my muscles as I move to stand.
Gage groans from the ground, and I reach out.
He grabs my hand and joins me on his feet.
He pinches the bridge of his nose, his brows pulling together.
“What the ever-loving fuck was that?” he asks.
“No idea, but whoever did this might still be around. Load up,” I say, pulling out my gun from its holster on my leg.
The smoke begins to clear, and I look around for Lucas but don’t see him.
Fuck, he was so drunk he’s probably gone up in flames.
Fuck, no.
I can’t think like that.
“Can you see Freya and Lucas?” I ask, and Gage disappears into the swirling gray smoke.
“Freya!” I scream.
We move closer to the town hall, which is on fucking fire.
Flames build higher and higher into the night sky.
Shit!
People run around frantically, trying to get away from the burning building, but all I care about is our woman.
She needs to be okay.
I can’t think of the alternative, because a life without her in it isn’t much of a life at all.
“She’s here!” Gage’s voice sounds through the acrid haze.
I push forward, shoving past panicked bodies, my pulse hammering in my skull.
The smoke is suffocating, thick as a damn wall, blinding me with every step.
I squint, scanning the chaos, but am met with shadowed figures—running, screaming, burning.
My lungs ache, each breath searing hot, but I don’t stop.
I can’t.
I yank my collar over my mouth, rub the fabric against my stinging eyes, and keep moving.
She’s here.
Somewhere.
And I’ll tear this place apart to find her if I have to.
There, a short distance away, Gage is standing, and Lucas is bent over someone.
Her .
My knees give way as I fall beside them.
Lucas has her head in his lap, brushing his fingers through her hair.
Her eyes are closed, her face covered in ash.
Nasty burns line her arms, and I want to kill whoever did this, but right now, she needs me.
My hands begin to shake, my breathing deepens, and I open my mouth, but no words come out.
She has to be okay—she will be.
I take Freya’s hand in mine.
Gage sits opposite me, staring at Freya with a pained look in his eyes.
My fingers run over her pulse and push down hard, trying to pick up on the faintest beat.
I refuse to believe there’ll be anything less.
One small thump, then another and another.
My lips part, and I let out a heavy breath.
Fuck, I thought for a second we’d lost her.
I squeeze her hand, but she doesn’t squeeze back.
“Call an ambulance!” I yell at both Lucas and Gage, finally finding my voice.
“They’re on their way,” Lucas says, brushing his fingers over Freya’s cheek, removing some of the ash.
“Seeing her disappear into the smoke and then finding her unmoving . . .” He sighs, and a tear falls down his cheek.
I’ve never seen him cry—not even when his mother died.
“I thought she was gone forever.”
My chest tightens.
I know exactly how he feels because I felt it too.
I’ve always been taught that women are nothing but distractions—they only serve one purpose, and that’s looking good by our side—but Freya is more than that.
Yes, she’s a distraction, not only to me but to my brothers as well, but she’s also one of us now.
If anything ever happened to one of my brothers, then the doors to hell would open and there’d be no going back.
Smoke clogs my throat, thick and bitter, burning its way into my lungs.
The town hall is gone, nothing but a skeletal ruin swallowed by flames.
A woman stumbles past us, her dress in shreds, her skin blistered and peeling.
She doesn’t scream—maybe she can’t.
But others do.
Their cries tear through the polluted air, raw, desperate.
The scent of burning flesh turns my stomach, but I don’t look away.
I can’t.
My fists clench.
This isn’t over.
Not even close.
Someone threatened my family today, my brothers, and this means war.
My first priority is making sure Freya receives the best care, then it’s time to clean up this mess and find out who was brave enough to fuck with us.
Brave enough to set fire to our town hall, to threaten The Brotherhood.
I squeeze Freya’s hand more forcefully before releasing it.
“Do you think she’ll ever forgive me?” Lucas says, staring down at her.
She looks so peaceful with her head in his lap, her hair falling around her like a halo.
“Yes.” Gage nods, placing his arm over Lucas’s shoulder.
“You two need to sort your shit out, and this is the perfect reminder that tomorrow is not guaranteed.”
Lucas purses his lips as he considers Gage’s words before focusing back on Freya.
Gage is right—they need to clear the air.
It just sucks that this is what it’s taken to pull him out of the gutter.
Sirens ring through the chaos of the night, getting closer and closer.
I stand, and Freya moves her hand over her stomach, her brows drawing together in discomfort before smoothing out.
I wave over two paramedics, and they start tending to Freya.
Gage gets up, standing next to me, but Lucas doesn’t leave her side.
A thought strikes me.
“Amirah wasn’t in there, was she?”
“Nah.” Gage shakes his head.
“She’s at home.”
“Who the fuck would do this?” Gage asks, staring at the burning building.
Fire trucks pull up, and firefighters start putting out the flames.
People are lining up at the ambulances.
A single raindrop hits the bridge of my nose before more follow.
“Someone who has a death warrant.” I huff, crossing my arms over my chest.
People are screaming, with nasty burns covering their skin.
A few bodies line the footsteps of the building, and I look away, focusing back on Freya.
She’s on a bed, and I move next to her, taking her hand in mine once more and pressing a kiss against the back of it before letting go.
The paramedics push her into the back of the ambulance and Lucas jumps in alongside her.
“Keep us updated,” I yell, and the driver nods before the doors close and they drive off.
My heart pounds against my rib cage.
I should be with her.
Fuck everything else.
A hand slaps me on the back.
“She’s going to be okay. We’ve gotta deal with this and find out the damage.” Gage walks off ahead, and with a final heavy sigh, I roll back my shoulders and follow him.
Time disappears in a blur as the firefighters put out the fire, and black smoke lifts into the sky.
My throat burns as though there’s a fire lit there, moving down into my belly.
Gage passes me a black-and-red bandanna he got from who the fuck knows where, and I fasten it across my nose, attempting to block out the smoke, but it’s a bit late for that.
My lungs are scorching.
We move toward the building.
The closer we get, the more bodies litter the ground.
“Hey, you can’t go in there!” someone yells behind us, but I ignore them.
We can do whatever the fuck we want.
I need to see the damage, how many we’ve lost.
We reach the entrance, and anger boils up from within.
Five members of The Brotherhood lie unmoving across the steps, mostly soldiers, but Samson’s among them, and I see red.
Who the fuck would do this?
Samson was one of our most loyal men.
He might have been a little skeptical when we took over, but he trusted us and had our backs.
Now he’s gone.
A light ache forms between my eyes, and I squeeze the bridge of my nose.
I’m not even in the building yet, and I want to kill any motherfucker I see.
Is my father in there too?
Fear grips my heart in an icy hold.
I hate him, but I don’t want him dead.
Gage silently steps around the bodies and disappears through the half-destroyed door.
Pressing the bandanna closer to my nose, I follow him in.
The smoke rises into the air, and with each step I take, the more I want to step back.
Bodies lie across every seat.
Hundreds of people who came to the meeting to hear about the peace treaty are now dead.
“What a fucking mess,” Gage grumbles, kicking over one of the burned freestanding chairs.
“Whoever did this is going to pay with their life and the life of everyone they love,” I say, letting out a heavy breath.
The stench of burned bodies reminds me of being back in my shed, torturing informants for answers, fucking with their minds until they bitch out and give in.
I usually love the smell, but now it’s different.
I didn’t do this.
Innocent lives have been compromised in someone’s fucked-up plan.
“You know if we weren’t late, we would have been in here?” Gage says, staring at something on the ground in front of him.
I step up beside him, and my blood turns to ice.
A mother with a young baby in her arms, both their bodies burned.
Her face is still half recognizable, but the baby is gone.
Only their arms and legs are intact.
I have to get out of here.
I stumble backward and practically run to the exit.
I kick the last remaining piece of wood from the door, and it crumbles to pieces.
Stepping around my soldiers’ bodies, I rip off the bandanna.
The smoke-tainted air clings to my lungs, and I take several deep breaths.
My hands shake at my sides, wanting to reach out and snap something, preferably a neck.
To hear bones twist and break at my will.
Footsteps approach.
Ronald appears with Zeke by his side, who looks as white as a ghost.
Zeke’s got a burn on his arm, but Ronald—he’s unmarked.
How’d he escape without injury?
What if he knew?
“Fuck, how many?” Ronald asks, glancing over my shoulder.
“I want a body count ASAP, and the name of every single person in there,” I snap and glare at him, stepping right up in his face.
His breath lingers against mine.
“You were against this meeting from the moment we mentioned it. How do I know it wasn’t you who did this?”
Ronald’s eyes widen.
He stumbles back, raising his hands up in surrender.
“Jesus Christ, you can’t be serious?” He looks between me and Gage, who’s joined me.
I don’t stand down.
“I may think your idea was fucking stupid, but I would never put my brothers in harm’s way.”
I stare at him for several long breaths, his jaw tight and eye twitching, but eventually, I step back.
He’s right; one of our own wouldn’t put our brothers in danger.
We protect our own above all else.
Ronald leaves in a huff, and I grab my phone from my pants and open a text from Brax.
Brax: Dominic is still alive and getting a haircut at Rebel’s.
Doesn’t seem to have the slightest clue about the blast.
My shoulders relax slightly, and I shove my phone back into my pants pocket.
A car speeds toward us and skids to a stop just in front of us.
Dirt fills the air, and I use my hand to block it from getting into my eyes.
Ronald moves in next to us, grabbing his gun and aiming it forward.
Car doors slam, and Kai, Zion, and Bear get out.
Kai stares blankly at the town hall, his hands clenched at his sides.
Bear’s jaw tightens, and he glares between Gage and me with hatred.
Zion reaches into his pants, and Ronald goes to step forward, but I shoot my arm out, placing my hand over his chest.
He growls but stays put.
Bear pulls out a small pocketknife.
He flicks it open and closed, watching me with his crazy bright-green eyes.
Kai makes a clicking sound through his teeth.
“What the fuck did you do?” His voice is full of anger.
I scoff.
“I was about to ask you the same.”
“Where the fuck is Freya?” Kai asks, staring behind us and around the parking lot.
“She’s fine, and no concern of yours,” I say, and Bear laughs.
Kai crosses his arms over his chest.
“Killing innocents isn’t really my MO, but it is The Brotherhood’s—and yours.” He steps forward, coming within arm’s length of me.
He looks me up and down, judgment clear in his eyes.
“Did you set this up? So all these innocent people would die?”
I shake my head.
“What makes you think that?”
“Gee, I don’t know—we get nothing but terror and oppression from you lot for twenty years, and now, all of a sudden, you’re offering peace—only for it to end in fucking murder?” Kai’s voice is thunderous.
“Why do you fucking think I think that?”
“We didn’t do it.”
“You may not have done it, but you called this meeting. It was your job to keep these people safe.” Kai stabs a finger toward me.
“You could have saved them.”
His words hit me like a knife to the heart.
My chest rises and falls at a rapid rate.
I can’t breathe.
Everything around me disappears into darkness.
Kai glowers at me, his eyebrow raised.
Those words are exactly what I’ve said in the past, about that night when I killed the little girl.
I took her from this world, and I could have saved her, just like I could have saved everyone inside the town hall.
Kai opens his mouth, but before the words can leave, my fist hits him square in the jaw.
There’s movement around us, but I can’t see anything but Kai.
Zion jumps in front of him, throwing his fist, connecting with my stomach.
I keep my legs firmly in place as the wind is knocked out of me.
Kai shoves Zion aside, getting up in my face and gripping the collar of my shirt.
“You don’t know shit,” I growl, and Kai laughs.
“You’re just like your father,” he snaps, and I push against his chest hard.
He falls back, landing on the ground.
Zion rushes to his side, and Bear stares at me, his eye twitching, that knife still flicking in his hand.
Am I like my father?
Am I nothing but a killer without a heart?
I’ve been brought up in a bloodthirsty environment.
Killing is all I’ve ever known.
Maybe I am like him.
Look what just happened to all those innocent people inside the building.
I arranged this, told them to be here, and now, boom—they’re dead.
Fuck.
Kai takes Zion’s hand and stands back up.
Zion whispers something into his ear, and Kai watches me, glaring.
He runs his hand across his throat.
Is that a threat?
“Do it,” I say, and Kai’s nostrils flare.
“Nah, that would be too easy. You deserve much worse than a bullet to your broken heart.” Kai moves around Zion, coming closer to me, within arm’s reach.
“I’m trying to fix this between us—that’s what this was all about. Giving you something in return for peace,” I say.
Kai laughs, though there’s no humor in the sound.
“And look what you did! You killed people from the Hood and the Ville. You call yourself a leader? Pfft. You’re a destroyer.”
I swallow past the thump in my throat.
He’s right, but I won’t be telling him that.
“Daddy would be so proud.” Kai smirks, and my fists ball at my side.
I’m ready to punch this asshole.
“Enough!” Gage yells, stepping between us.
“This isn’t the time or place for this. We need to settle this properly.”
Zion scoffs.
“Only way this is going to get resolved now is by war.” He turns around, heading back for their car.
“May the odds be forever not in your favor.”
Bear follows Zion, but Kai stays back, shoving his gun back into the front of his pants.
“Whatever happens from here on out, that’s on you.”
He leaves, and my heart pounds so hard and fast that I can’t hear anything else around me.
A hand lands on my shoulder, but I don’t move.
I watch as they leave, dust kicking up behind the car.
Guilt slams into me.
Who the fuck am I?
Is that all I am, a killer?
That’s all I know.
All I’ve ever known.
Kai is right about one thing.
If I’d been on time—if I’d thought to have the building checked by security beforehand, if I’d scanned everyone as they entered—I could have saved them.