25. Chapter 25
T oday wasn’t too bad after that awkward moment in the car.
Once we got that all out of our system, my mother and I shopped and even smiled at each other a couple of times.
She helped me pick out some cool clothes like ripped jeans, graphic T-shirts, and Chucks.
The shorts and button-ups were cute, especially my banana shirt, but I wanted to look like the nineteen-year-old I was and not clash with Angel.
I even got my ears pierced. Two hoops in each ear.
I had seen guys with them, and I really wanted some.
Little boys wouldn’t wear those, so it changed my image.
I hoped Angel liked my new look. I also got a little surprise for Angel for our intimate times.
I fingered one of my hoops that still stung as I petted Cleo’s big head while she munched on a bone I got her. The television was on, but I wasn’t paying much attention to it as my mother made us some dinner.
I wasn’t sure why I sat in here. It was my new bedroom my mother set up for me, but it didn’t feel like mine. I preferred Angel’s room. There wasn’t much in it but some furniture and a bed, but his sheets were soft, and everything smelled like him. His scent felt like home.
While the day ended up better than I expected, I missed Angel. I worried about him, and it took what little strength I had not to call him or text him. He would call me when he could, and I just had to suffer through it.
Cleo suddenly stopped chewing and lifted her head as her floppy ears moved forward and alert.
Her body froze next to mine, and her strong muscles were tight.
She was barely breathing as she sensed something.
I trusted her instincts, which told me something was out there.
But because she wasn’t growling yet, I wasn’t sure if it was something dangerous.
Then she did growl. It was a low rumble deep within her body.
That was my cue to prepare. I had been training long enough to know when to be ready for danger, so I removed my shoes and socks to keep my feet silent on the floor.
Once that was done, I sent a text message to Sid about my suspicions.
Not waiting for an answer, I put my phone on silent and shoved it into the back pocket of my jeans.
Cleo stood sentry at the door as I stood and put on my quiver that sat on my bed, then grabbed my bow, nocking an arrow to it. A gun might have been more useful, but I still wasn’t used to them still.
As soon as I quietly opened my bedroom door, the house was plunged into darkness. Someone had cut the power.
My mother cursed as she dropped something in the kitchen, then she walked around mumbling about all the money she spent on electricity and that it should never go out. I might have assumed that, too, were it not for Cleo.
The dog hadn’t left my side, but it was time. I gave her one of Angel’s hand signals for her to search the home, and she took off silently. There was no dog door for her to get out, but she could at least attack any intruders who got in.
I doubted they were in the house yet, but it was only a matter of time, so I dashed down the steps and went in search of my mother. I found her digging in the closet in the mud room, bitching about how she couldn’t find the flashlight.
“Leave it,” I said.
“But we need to see.”
“This isn’t a power outage. Someone’s here.”
“That’s not—”
“Trust me. Please. Go hide in the basement, and lock the door behind you.”
“Then you come with me.”
Thank god, she didn’t question me. “I can’t. Angel isn’t here to protect us. I have to do it.”
“No, please, Luca.”
“I have Cleo. She’ll watch over me. Don’t forget to lock it behind you.”
She tugged on my arm. “I already lost you once.”
I gave her a quick hug. “We all die, Mother.”
But I didn’t want to die. It was why I hung on for so long while a slave. That sliver of hope I would escape one day and have my freedom. I would also miss my Angel, and he would miss me, so I had to do my best to live.
This was what he trained me for. To be strong, take care of myself, and protect those I care about.
While she went down to the basement, I heard her lock the door, allowing me to breathe easier.
For the first time in my life, I became the hunter. It made me feel strong and powerful, but I didn’t let it get to my head. Not that I had been in a real fight.
Everything was silent, including my padding feet on the marble floors. There was only a slight creaking of the bow string drawn tight next to my ear. All my practice strengthened my fingers and arms, allowing me to hold a nocked arrow for longer.
As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, a gurgling noise sounded near the kitchen, so I rushed over there, sticking close to the wall and making myself as small as possible.
The sound grew louder, and then it was silent.
When I craned my head to look into the room from around the kitchen, a man lay there bleeding from his throat while Cleo hovered above him, dripping his blood from her mouth.
I snapped my fingers, and she was instantly at my side. Cleo was stealthy. It was why Angel taught her hand signals instead. She knew when to bark or growl and when not to. Her presence alongside me was reassuring, giving me confidence. She would take care of me, and I would take care of her.
My mother’s house was too big, with too many rooms and too many dark corners. My eyes may have adjusted to the darkness, but I still couldn’t see everything.
A dark shadow flickered in my periphery, so I pressed up against the wall and drew my arrow tight. The man grew closer and hadn’t seen me yet. I tried to keep my heart from drumming in my ears using careful breathing, just as Angel had taught me, but it wasn’t easy.
Before I could do anything, Cleo suddenly lunged at the man, who quickly turned, about to shoot her, when I fired my arrow, which landed in his throat. He landed hard on the floor with gurgling noises as he suffocated on his own blood.
The amount of calmness that washed over me was strange after spending most of my life in fear.
Perhaps it was because of my training and knowing Angel and his family would be here soon enough.
Or perhaps it was because, for the first time in my life, I was in control of it.
I had power and a means of protecting myself.
But where were my guards? They should’ve been here by now.
Should I go outside? There were more places to hide, and I could run if I had to, but I also didn’t want to leave my mother alone and trapped here. Whatever she was to me, I didn’t want to see her harmed.
While I needed Cleo at my side to feel safer, I would rather her search the perimeter inside the house and attack. She was stealthy enough to do it, and she could find our enemies better than I could, so I gave her the signal to hunt, and off she trotted in silence.
With feelings of nakedness, I did my best to shrug it off and hunt myself, listening for any sound or threat.
Sweat trickled down my spine and from my pits, and it beaded on my forehead.
Keeping my arrow loosely nocked, I padded toward the dining room and scanned every corner.
It appeared empty, but before I could turn around to check the library, someone came up behind me and covered my mouth with their hand.
“Shhh, it’s me, Mac. One of your guards,” whispered a deep voice before I could react. I didn’t talk to the guards, so I had no idea what they sounded like. But I was aware of their appearance.
I gave him a quick nod, quickly jumped out of the way, and aimed an arrow at his head as soon as he let me go, instantly recognizing him, even in the darkness. His shaved head, beard, and tattoos over his neck and arms were a dead giveaway.
“We need to get you out of here. My partner is dead.” His voice was barely a whisper. A leaf in the wind, but I heard him. I was sad his friend died because of me, but that was also their purpose.
“My mother. She’s in the basement.”
He nodded and beckoned me to follow with his hand as we made our way back toward the basement to get her out of there.
Another dark shadow came around the corner, but Mac quickly took him down before I could react.
“How many are out there?”
“One is too many. A lot. I’m not sure. My partner and I killed at least eight. Now zip it.”
In the distance, I heard a scream, then silence, assuming Cleo had killed another intruder. They must have breached several areas around the house. With no security system, they easily broke in, though I had no idea how. I hadn’t heard any windows breaking.
I tapped on the basement door. “Mother, it’s me. Open.”
The door didn’t make a sound when she unlocked it and opened it. She peered out with wild eyes.
“We’re leaving,” Mac said.
He led the way out of the house, with my mother behind him and me taking up the rear. Another scream was heard upstairs, and more silence. God, I loved that dog. I wish I could’ve called her back to me, but I didn’t want to give away our position.
We headed toward the front, which I would’ve assumed was the most dangerous to leave from, but then again, the intruders were coming in from the back and windows upstairs. Perhaps it was so obvious that no one would expect it.
But someone did expect it. As soon as Mac stepped out the front door with his gun drawn, a silent bullet slammed into his head and exploded out the back, drenching my mother and me in blood spatter and brain matter. He dropped to the ground, and my mother screamed.
“Freeze! Stay where you are, or you will both be killed. Drop the weapon. Now!”
The voice came from behind some trees, so I couldn’t see them. But the red dot on my chest showed it wasn’t a bluff. I thought they had wanted us dead already, but apparently not.
With no other choice, I dropped the bow and unclasped my quiver, dropping that too. Then I raised my hands.
“Move to the center of the driveway… slowly.”
As my sobbing mother and I stepped forward, my heart raced. Were they there to take me back? Would they kill my mother? She was nothing to them. Instead of the expected triggering fear, all I felt was rage. I’d rather die than go back.
When we stopped, four men came out from their hiding spots with rifles and suppressors. They’d been waiting for us all along, flushing us out.
“Tie them up,” one of them said.
My only hope now was that Angel would find us. I trusted him. He could do it.
Running feet caught my attention. Feet moving too fast for a human. I didn’t hear the snarl until Cleo jumped on one of the men, gripping his throat in her powerful jaws and tearing it out.
Before another man could shoot her, a knife landed in his throat. Soon, several knives were flying, and all the men dropped. My brain tried to register what was happening, still not believing we were safe. Who killed them? It wasn’t Angel. He used knives, but he preferred guns.
Cleo trotted up to me, and her nubby tail wagged furiously. She was covered in blood, but I didn’t care. I squatted next to her and hugged her muscular frame.
“Who knew kittens and doggies would get along so famously?” said the familiar and unexpected voice.
I stood and turned to face Sully, wearing a tweed suit and not a drop of blood on him or a strand of red hair out of place, as he pulled out AirPods from his ears. My body tensed, but if Cleo wasn’t tense with his presence, then I wouldn’t be either.
“How did you know?”
“Sid and Mav sent me, since I was the closest.”
“Where’s Angel?”
He shrugged. “On his way, I presume.”
Sully walked closer and inspected me for injuries. “That’s not kitten blood, I hope. I’d hate to be on Dante’s bad side. He doesn’t scare me, nor could he hurt me, but he’s a brother all the same, as much as I love to torment him… as brothers do.”
“I’m not hurt. It’s Mac’s blood… our bodyguard.”
“Ah, yes. The big brute. Useless, really, and a waste of good money. Anyway, all the other men are dead. We’re clear.”
He glanced at my mother, and while I was appreciative of his help, I still didn’t trust him, so I stood in front of her as if I could do anything to stop him should he want to kill her.
He frowned at me, but I didn’t care, though I eased the tension by thanking him. “I appreciate the—”
“Luca!”
My heart leaped at the sound of Angel’s voice. I turned toward it and saw him running to me. I took off and jumped into his arms. He grunted and eased me back down. I held him by his shoulders and looked at him. “Are you hurt?”
“Nothing I can’t live with.”
I nodded and pulled him into a kiss, uncaring that I smeared blood all over him.
“Well, isn’t this adorable? And before I choke on the sweetness, I’m leaving,” Sully said.
“Thanks, Sully,” Angel said. “I fucking owe you.”
“Oh, you do. I’ll be sure to hang it over your head for some time to come.”
Instead of getting upset, Angel laughed. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
As Sully left, I reluctantly pulled away from him and went to my mother, who had her arms wrapped around her and was visibly shaking. “You’re not living here anymore,” I said and pulled her into a hug.
“We’ll set you up in one of our safe houses until this situation is sorted out. Meanwhile, I’ve called in for a cleanup crew. It will be like nothing ever happened.”
She looked up and nodded. “Thank you.”
It was over, but I was sure it was only temporary.