Chapter 17
Chapter
Seventeen
His mind spun in a million different directions all at once, and not a single one of those directions was good.
It had been hours since they’d seen that helicopter fly overhead, carrying his girls away from them, and they hadn't come up with any meaningful plan to track it.
Lion was frustrated, and it was only getting worse because no one else was as upset as he was, and that was driving him crazy, even though he knew there was no reason for it to.
The rest of his team cared about Kate and Ariella, and would do whatever it took to find them and get them back, that was never in doubt, but they were able to maintain a level of control, of calm, that was spiraling ever further out of his reach.
What happened if that control he was struggling to cling to snapped?
Because he’d never been able to let go of his love for Kate, his regret for his command that she terminate the pregnancy, Lion had always known that he wasn't quite the monster that Dr. Gardner had claimed them to be. A monster couldn’t love someone else with the depths of emotion he felt for his Katie-Bear.
But that didn't mean he was normal.
Nowhere close to normal.
Those reasons that had led him to end things and walk away from Kate a decade ago still existed.
Watching his teammates fall in love, hearing Whitney’s perspective on the drugs and what they could and could not do, learning that while the drugs did mess with their conscience and ability to feel emotions, it didn't remove it, had all helped him understand more about what he was capable of and what he wasn't.
None of that erased the very real fact that a beast of anger lived inside him.
Inside each one of his team members as well.
Over the years, it had been Dragon who struggled to contain that beast the most. That didn't mean he and the others didn't have those same struggles. They’d just always been better at maintaining control.
Lion might have been the best of all of them because he already knew the person he loved the most was safely out of his reach.
Only now, his girl had returned into his orbit, bringing with him the most perfect little girl. Now he had more to lose than ever before, and he had lost it. It had flown right over his head and possibly disappeared for good.
Struggling to breathe as emotion lodged in his throat, Lion felt that rage bubbling over.
He needed an outlet, needed to kill, to spill blood, to offer a sacrifice to that furious beast so he didn't wind up hurting someone he cared about. No one else was out there in the forest. They’d found the place where Kate and Ariella had been caught, the dozens of footprints, including small ones that could only have been his daughter’s, along with what looked like wheel marks, possibly from a wheelchair.
They needed to find a way to contact Prey, but the forest they’d crashed in was vast, and although they’d found a road and spotted a few cars, there had been no way to reach any cell phones inside them without traumatizing innocents, and they wouldn't do that.
Which meant there was no outlet for that rage that slowly consumed him.
Turning him.
Into the monster he’d been afraid a decade ago would wind up hurting his girl.
As he spun in a circle, desperately seeking an outlet that didn't end with him tearing to pieces one of the people he considered his family, Lion felt his already enhanced vision sharpen.
Every detail, from the patterns on each leaf to each individual line in the exposed skin of his teammates and their partners, assaulted his mind.
Overwhelming him.
Too many details.
Too much anger.
Any second now he was going to snap, and if he lost his sanity to the beast inside him, there was no guarantee he’d ever be able to reclaim it.
It was why he and his teammates lived the way they did.
They were dangerous, their control always tenuous, letting the anger take over meant the possibility of not being able to leash it.
Breathing sawing in and out of his chest, his body vibrating with rage, Lion vaguely registered voices, no doubt someone trying to calm him down before it was too late.
But it was already too late.
Even though he was aware that losing control lessened their chances of finding Kate and Ariella, he couldn’t seem to stop it.
Already too lost to that monster that had prowled around inside him for a decade.
Now it demanded to be let free, and wouldn't take no for an answer. It wasn't something he could fight any longer.
With a growl, he turned on the closest living being he could find. Shedding blood would help. When he felt the wet, sticky, warm liquid coat his skin, an offering to the beast, maybe then he’d be able to draw a breath that didn't feel like he was inhaling fire.
There.
A target.
As he leaped forward, there was one last echo of a thought in his mind, a plea to Steel that the man would use his enhanced strength to kill him if that was necessary to protect everyone else, and then to go after his girls, rescue them, save them, and make sure they knew that he loved them more than anything else.
Before he could connect with anyone and rip the breath right out of their chest, a body collided with his, taking him to the ground.
Inside his head, the beast howled, the sound deafening, bouncing about like a ball of fire, making him scream.
Hands held him down.
Lion fought against them.
The need to kill, to destroy, to satiate the beast so it left him alone, was all he could think about.
Snippets of words filtered through the howling pounding inside his head.
“Might need to kill him.”
“Anger is destroying him.”
“Losing control.”
“Needs Kate.”
Kate.
That word penetrated the haze, and he clung to it. It soothed the worst of the beast’s hold on him, calming him enough that when he spotted movement in the distance, he knew what he had to do.
There was enough clarity left in him, his mind not completely owned by fury, for him to know who was coming, what was about to happen, and that he might be the only one who could stop it.
With a howl that even to his own ears sounded more animal than human, Lion felt a surge of strength rush through him, and he dislodged the hands attempting to restrain him.
Then he moved, assessing threats as he went. Red hair and green eyes; safe. Brown hair and green eyes; safe. Blonde hair and blue eyes; safe. Brown hair and brown eyes; safe. Blonde hair and gray eyes; safe.
Guns pointed at him, but he ignored them.
He thought he heard someone yell not to shoot him, but he was already moving.
Threats.
Had to eliminate the threats.
Had to protect.
Had to save.
Kate.
Ariella.
Those two words were the only threads left keeping him chained to his humanity. Without them, he would have already succumbed.
Shots fired through the air, but they were nothing but dull cracks compared to the howl of his beast. It demanded blood. Demanded revenge, retribution for its creation.
The scream as he grabbed that first body, and began to slam his fists into it, was music to his ears. It was a balm to soul. And he needed more.
Would there ever be enough?
Screams echoed through the forest. They were beautiful, and he couldn’t get enough. Lion moved from person to person, vaguely aware that people were still shooting, but he didn't care about anything but his blood lust.
Each time he saw a heart stop beating, he dropped the body and searched for another. He had no idea how many he killed, only knew that he wouldn't stop until the only ones left with beating hearts were safe people.
But that choice was taken out of his hands.
Something pierced his neck. The sharp sting enough to draw his attention.
A bullet?
No.
There was no wet, sticky blood flooding down his skin. Instead, heat bubbled inside him. It stole his strength. It bled out of him in a different way than the blood he’d just shed.
More shouts.
More gunfire.
The world began to fade, he staggered, and dropped the body he’d been holding. Wrong. The heart still beat. Had to stop it. Had to kill. Had to shed blood. It was the only way to quiet the beast, to give it what it wanted so it could he shoved back into its box.
Had to regain control.
Only way to get to his girls.
Unable to remain upright, Lion swayed and then fell.
Fought the darkness that was encroaching.
His girls.
Couldn’t fail them.
They needed him.
Wasn't there.
Hadn't been there.
Had let them get kidnapped right under his nose.
Failure.
Again.
Nothing.
March 19th
5:36 A.M.
Kate’s head jerked up with a start. She’d fallen asleep? No, she couldn’t, that was bad. No matter how exhausted she was, or how badly she longed for a respite from the stabbing pain in her chest that sleep could give her, she had to stay awake.
She was the only thing standing between her daughter and danger.
Quickly glancing to the bed, she saw that her little girl was still curled up beneath the covers, fast asleep, free for the time being from her fear.
It would be so nice to join her for a little bit.
To just slip onto the mattress that looked deliciously comfortable, throw the covers over herself, get away from the chill in the room, put her head down on the soft pillows, and …
“No,” she mumbled, her head once again sagging to the side. “No sleep. No. Sleep. Not now. Not until it’s safe.”
The fact that it might not be safe for a long time yet, and that sooner or later her body would succumb to sleep whether she wanted it to or not, was not something she was going to let herself consider.
She could stay awake for a while longer.
She had to stay awake for a while longer.
There was no other option so she may as well suck it up and find a way to keep herself from dozing off.