Chapter 16 Dax
Cain was just as worked up about this as Calliope was. Watching them argue about the same goal was making my head spin. My rage built with every passing moment, but not for this Penelope person. I could care less about her. But the panic in Cain’s voice was making me edgy, it took everything in me not to cross the room and pull him into my arms. Calliope was eerily calm, but the way her eyes flicked to where I stood told me how freaked out she was. I would ask her what happened at another time. I was sure she would tell me when she was ready. Just like I would open up to the pack that made me want to stay. Watching them disagree was so domestic that I found my lips moving into a smile. I could come home to this every day. Curl up with my omega and beta. Spend all the time I could spare worshipping every inch of them.
“What are you waiting for? Go!” Calliope’s voice broke.
“Which one of you upset my omega?” Ayden swept into the room.
“Now I can go.” Cain seemed resigned. He kissed Calliope on the forehead, but as he passed me on his way out he said, “Come with me. I could use the help.”
“Come home to me,” Calliope called out.
“I will, my sweet Omega.”
My heart sped up at the sweet tone in Cain’s voice. What came out of Calliope’s mouth stunned me for a moment. “I mean both of you.”
That made me cross the room to her. She was still sitting, so I reached out and grabbed her chin, tilting her head up until I was staring into her emerald gaze. “There is nothing in this world, no man, woman, child, or act of God that could keep me from coming back to you. The world could end, and I would fight every demon in hell to have the chance to be graced by your presence for even one more second.”
I leaned down and pressed a kiss against her stunned face before walking out of the house and climbing into the passenger seat of Cain’s car. His goodbyes took a little longer than mine had. But then he had double the people that I did. He was quiet as he climbed in beside me before pulling out of the driveway in silence. Nothing was said until we had been driving for about twenty minutes. He pulled to the side of the road and got out, going to the trunk. I sat in the car and waited for him to come back.
After a minute, he pulled open my door asking, “Are you coming?”
I got out and followed him to the trunk. Inside, there was a complete arsenal. Shotguns and pistols lined one side of it. Blades of all shapes and sizes filled the bottom. I was sorely tempted to make a few of them disappear. “Choose.”
I looked up at him shocked. “Are you seriously going to put a knife in my hand?”
“You’re not a danger to me.”
He seemed too confident; I couldn’t help but challenge him. “How the fuck do you know that?”
“Your comment to Calliope before we left. It would have been less shocking to us if you had just told her you loved her.”
“Love is too simple a word for the way I feel.” There was more that I wouldn’t voice to him. She was everything. I couldn’t wait to have her alone so I could worship at her altar.
He just nodded, reaching to grab a set of throwing knives. I studied the collection for a moment before selecting two hunting knives. “I’m not getting those back, am I?”
“No comment.”
“Keep them.” He shrugged. “They lack the finesse I prefer.”
I nodded as he closed the trunk. He pulled me to the side of the road. I assumed this was where we were going. My eyes were moving around us, getting to know where I was, who was watching what we were doing. At that moment, every light around us was out. It was eerie. I had never been in a neighborhood quieter than this one. It made me suspicious.
“Who all lives in this development?”
“The house we are going to is the only one occupied at the moment.”
I studied his face trying to judge if he was telling the truth. All I could do was take him at his word. This was not the way that I normally hunted. I knew nothing about this neighborhood. Knew nothing about our targets or Penelope. Didn’t know the response time of the cops. There were too many variables. Anything could go wrong. Cain pulled up in front of a large house, there was something off about it. My beta got out, coming around the car and waited for me to join him.
When I came to his side, I turned to him for the answers I needed. “What do you know?”
“Six alphas and a beta, plus Penelope all in the house.”
“She’s an omega.” It was a statement.
“She is, and you stay the fuck away from her.”
His snarl made a smile cross my face; he was cute when he was angry. “Anyone that matters to you, matters to me.”
“How do you always know just the right thing to say?”
“Instinct.”
“So, you’re listening to your instincts now?”
I moved in on him, pinning him to the front of the car using my bulk. “That’s what you don’t understand, baby boy, I always have, and it led me to the two people that melt the ice around my heart. Count yourself lucky that it turned out that way.”
“You haven’t touched me. Hell, we haven’t done anything together, how do you know I’m one of those people?”
“Your scent doesn’t make me want to gut you and leave you for the animals to eat. In fact, it does the opposite. You and Calliope are mine, and anyone who touches what’s mine will bleed out beneath my blade.” My hand came up, grasping his face, I turned his head so I could expose his neck. “And I can’t wait until you both beg me to put my mark right here.” I leaned forward and suckled on the skin across from where Ayden had marked him.
His hands slammed down on the hood behind him as I nipped at the skin there, soothing the pain with a swipe of my tongue. “Fuck, Dax.”
I pulled back and watched the pleasure play along his face. “If you’re a good boy, we can finish what we started when we get home. Now, tell me who I need to kill.”
He took a moment to gather himself. “Every man in that house, but Samuel. Him, we just need to disable and stash somewhere.”
I nodded, and he led me to the front door. Instead of kicking it in, he picked it. That took less time than you would have expected. When the door slid open, I saw the alpha standing there. Cain was still kneeling, so I charged at him, pulling one of the knives from its sheath as I moved. He was so shocked that he didn’t try to stop me when I slid the blade between his ribs, seeking his heart. When the hilt hit his skin, I twisted making sure that hole expanded enough that there would be no saving him.
I spun back to Cain where he was just staring at me, wide eyed. Closing the space between us, I pulled him to his feet, catching his lips in a kiss that made me forget where I was. I broke it telling him, “I told you that I wouldn’t let anyone hurt you or Calliope, and I meant it.”
We were pulled from the moment by a man’s voice saying, “Who the fuck are you?”
Cain reached beneath his shirt, retrieved a throwing knife, and tossed it in one smooth motion. There was a thud when the man hit the floor. I turned to enter the house and all I could hear was the alpha gasping. That made two of them. Where were the rest?
Cain answered my unspoken question, leading me to a closed door. There was crying and moaning coming from the other side. All that did was make me want to slaughter everyone in the room. Before Cain could stop me, I pulled the other knife from its sheath and kicked the door open. The bang of the door slamming into the wall behind it startled them enough that they all froze where they were. It didn’t take me long to choose my targets. I would leave the one on top of the omega for Cain. The rest were mine.
I moved before either of them processed what was happening. Getting between them and lashing out with the blades. The one on my right, I caught at the throat, opening it. He collapsed to the floor, clutching the wound as blood seeped from between the fingers. The one on the left managed to throw his arm up in time, taking the slash to his forearm. I was still moving, just getting out of his range before he managed to grab me. Flipping the blades to lay against my forearms, I stood against the wall and waited for him to come at me. And come he did. He would have had more luck if he had stayed silent. Announcing his attack was as good as killing himself. But I took that pleasure from him, letting him wrap his arms around my waist. He made the critical mistake of not protecting his head. I took that opportunity, slamming both blades down to the hilts in the back of his skull.
I kicked him away, pulling the blades from his head in one motion. Looking over at Cain, he was struggling with the alpha that was on top of Penelope, trying and failing to get him off of her. When his elbow caught Cain’s eye, I saw red. Crossing the room in three steps, I slid one of the blades into the alpha’s side. That finally stopped him. “That wound won’t kill you… If you get help soon enough.”
He finally looked at me, his eyes were as cold as mine once were. “What is this omega-slut to you?”
“She is nothing to me, her existence is inconsequential.” Cain gasped at that, I shot him a look, hoping that he understood that I had this handled. “But she does matter a great deal to my beta and omega. In fact, my sweet Calliope was very insistent that I come and rescue her.”
His eyes filled with heat when I said her name. So, this was Samuel. “I remember Calliope, she had a nice tight cunt. Not that it mattered by the time I was through with her.”
“I won’t kill you for that tonight.” I pulled the blade from his side, pulling him off her with his hair. “I will do something much worse.”
Cain went to Penelope, getting her off the bed. She was shaking and clearly terrified and refusing to come near me. That was good. She fought Cain’s hold until he promised I was on their side. When they skirted past me to leave the room, Samuel screamed after them. “You can’t take her; she’s already been sold!”
“I’m done with your shit,” I told him before I released his hair, he spun, and I hit him one good time. He collapsed unconscious. Picking him up, I walked out of the house with him over my shoulder.