39 Ryatt
We went up the stairs with Castiel’s team and my own, and I’d been flanked by Franco and Anika.
Jericho moved within the middle of the pack because I still didn’t trust him to fight on his own against people who had been hostile for years.
He had a gun, and Anika assured me he knew how to handle it.
I couldn’t lie and say it didn’t piss me off when she told me she had been teaching him things behind my back, but it was time for him to learn.
The world we lived in was cruel, and his kindness wouldn’t get him far outside of our pack.
A few other teams followed us, but they went to a different floor to handle whoever lingered in those spots. By the time we made it to the top floor, I knew we were about to begin a bloodbath. There was no war like one over a woman, and Kit would always be worth burning the whole world down for.
Every man readied themselves before we entered the door that would lead to the room we needed.
Each of my hands held a weapon, putting back my crossbow to favor a handgun and a knife instead.
The gun helped with quickness to swiftly shoot, but the knife would be my saving grace if one of them got too close to me.
Closing my eyes and counting my heartbeats, I let myself get to ten as the rhythm steadied within me.
Quieting my nerves, something always exchanged inside my head like a switch being flipped.
It was like my humanity shut off, and I could carry out the tasks that needed done.
I became a silent predator when it came to lurking near an enemy.
The others in my pack also felt the same sense sweep over them as we became something other than human.
Within me, I reached for our bond to make sure everyone was okay before going in.
The emotions were high between my men, so I let that carry me through this next portion.
Everyone was alive and well, and that would be the first step to completing this.
I didn’t want to lose one to gain one, but I also knew none of us could say no when it came to saving Kit.
I could never say no if any of them were in her position.
I turned into an animal as I stealthily moved to the door.
Castiel and I shared one glance. That single look told both of us we were prepared for whatever outcome was about to be dished out.
One of his men pulled the door open for the rest of us to scurry inside.
Using our keen eyesight, we were able to deduct who needed to die right as we walked in.
The group of men were unprepared for our attack as the battle began.
Only then I could see we were just in the first room of whatever they had going on up here because a door rested on the far wall.
Somehow, Castiel and I became partners as we managed to work our way through the room to get to the entry, leaving our men to handle the bloodbath behind us.
When my hand reached for the door, I wasn’t surprised to find it locked.
It irritated me some because I knew we just told Saul of our presence by trying to gain access.
Castiel turned to look behind our backs to make sure no one watched us as I placed my handgun right above the lock.
Shooting it, I felt the kick of my gun as the vibration settled over my hand.
Even though it was a small firearm, it still had enough power to kill someone.
Castiel held up his knife over his face just in case of a ricochet of any kind.
Bullets weren’t anyone’s friend, so it was always better to play it safe than sorry.
After three bullets pelted into the wooden door, we finally saw the lock give way enough for us to open it.
Castiel became just as impatient as I grew, placing his foot square with the door before lurching it back to kick forward again.
It took him three kicks, but the door shoved open for us to find something I wasn’t prepared to see.
I knew Kit would be his prisoner, but it felt tenfold worse to see her being held at the throat by him in front of his body to protect him from our shots.
He used her naked form as a meat shield, but it let me see the mark on her cheek he must have burned into it that showed everyone a dysfunctional Omega walked among them.
After that, I noticed her neck had been healing a burn, and it told me Saul took out her fake bite marks to let the rest of the world know too.
Growling, I looked into the eyes of my father’s former second, hating everything he had ever done to my family.
His stare that he returned only glowered as though he still won, and I hated his confidence.
Saul wasn’t a man who liked to lose, so I could see how unhinged he became as he kept Kit in her shackles.
He wanted her to suffer, and I could tell he hadn’t been nourishing her properly by how sunken her eyes were.
There were track marks along her arms as though he had been drugging her and letting her become his typical whore.
Everything within me wanted to declare war, but I also knew I had to play it safe because Kit sat within his grasp.
“Ryatt, how nice of you to join us. I wasn’t prepared for you guys to show up, but I always have a backup plan.
” Saul didn’t give us a second to respond.
His teeth immediately sank into the burned flesh of Kit’s neck, claiming her as his Omega.
Everything roared inside of me because I knew she didn’t belong to anyone else but me and my pack.
Saul did this because he knew it would cripple her if we killed him.
Kit screamed out in pain as he forced her to take his mark. She tried to breathe through it after it was said and done. He hurt the tender flesh that he had already burned. She hadn’t healed quite enough to not feel the impact of it.
My gut rolled in turmoil because I wasn’t sure what I should do now.
Even Castiel paused beside me because he knew what just happened.
The strength of my woman gave me power to continue as she met me dead in the eyes while being bitten.
“I already suffer, so don’t let this mark stop you from doing what needs done. ”
Saul despised her response, smacking her across the face for her to fall against the hard floor.
Her naked body had been on full display, but I didn’t pay attention to her nudity.
I only wanted the culprit who made her suffer and endure it.
Even from here, I could see the bruising that lined her body, and too much white stuff had dried along her thighs to reveal how many men had used her.
Plus, I saw every marring line from when he previously slices into her body.
My anger reached a new limit, but I couldn’t contain it. Not with what she withstood.
“Castiel,” Saul finally greeted him after degrading Kit even more. “I take it you figured out I used my intel against you.”
“The only time I meddle in other’s affairs are when they become my own,” the lone Delta spoke beside me.
He readied himself in a stance that meant he prepared to lunge, and I did something similar as the door behind Saul kicked open for four other men to come inside.
In all the fuss, I hadn’t seen Damien. I wondered if he removed himself from the premises for when shit would hit the fan, but I also knew Castiel didn’t tell him when we planned to attack.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about the man, but Castiel let us know Damien saved Kit before.
With him doing the same now, I’d owe him for her life being spared.
Running toward our enemies, I shot two men point blank because it wasn’t worth the fight. Castiel began a sword battle with Saul, telling me to stay out of his fight. Though, that would be a race for both of us because I wanted to kill the fucker as well.
My hands took hold of the next one’s neck as I rammed my blade into his navel area.
Jerking it up, I felt as I cut through all the bone and muscle of his torso.
His eyes were wide in pain, but he couldn’t do anything with how I shoved him against the wall to handle him.
Letting him fall to the floor, I watched as blood poured out of his middle to create a pool around his body.
It never bothered me that I killed people, and I found their deaths fascinating with how their crimson bath spilled out of their bodies.
My fingers itched to touch it, to feel its warmth, but I knew other things were a priority.
Being rammed against by another foe, I found myself shoved up against the wall.
This man knocked the blade out from my hand by slamming it against the windowpane of the room.
We started our own brawl, fist fighting each other into submission.
He had the strength of Franco, promising to crack a few ribs within me when his fist connected with my rib cage.
I groaned, but I also knew this couldn’t be it.
Unlike the man before me, I had something worth fighting for.
It was that drive that pushed me to keep taking the hits.
Letting myself go numb, I didn’t feel any of it as I focused on destroying him.
Kicking my leg out, I was able to get him a foot away from me right before I lunged and tackled him.
He was the last man I had to battle, but he’d be the biggest. Nailing me in the same spot he had before, I heard another crunching of my bone within my ribs.
I let my fist connect with the center of his face, smashing his nose with my strength.
When I pulled that back up, I could tell I had broken it by the new angle as blood began to pour out his nostrils.
He was smart enough to take a swing at my face, hooking the side of my cheek to clip my mouth and nose.
My jaw popped, letting me know it dislocated, but I couldn’t stop.
We were a mess of limbs and blood, but neither of us wanted to back down from the fight.
With grunts and groans, we kept rolling all over the floor, battling for the top position to dominate the other.
Had he not been an enemy, I would have asked him to be a sparring partner more often because he was a challenge.
The daylights were being beaten out of me, but I couldn’t stop.
The man gained the upper hand, clamping my throat with his hands as he exuded his power into me from being an Alpha as well.
To my left, I saw the blade by the window as my hand tried to grasp it.
It sat just out of reach, but I kept trying to get it because I knew this would be my end if not.
The strength bearing down on me was too much force.
Just as blackness began to line my vision, I saw a speedy figure run by and grab the knife right before jumping over me to stab the man through the eye.
The hand that clamped my throat gave way because he fell dead, so I rolled his body off me.
Blinking properly, I gasped for breaths when I looked up to see my savior.
There were no words for the surprise on my face when I found Jericho being the one hovering over me with a knife in his hand that was now coated in blood from the man who tried to kill me.
My Omega had just killed, but I questioned it it had been his first one because he was in the room with the others behind us.
“Where did you learn to do that?” I asked my Omega because none of us had taught him how to kill so fast.
He smiled bashfully as though he wanted to be proud of himself but wasn’t sure if it was the time or the place. “Kit told me, in the first lesson, if I wanted to kill an enemy fast, to stab them through the eye.”
Kit.
It took him saying her name once for me to comprehend the other battle in the room we were facing.
More men were filtering in through the other door in the room just as my guys came in to help us.
That was when I finally noticed Damien among them as he took in the massacre happening.
Tilting his chin to me just a little, he acknowledged me in a way that told me he would follow.
Saul was stupid and thought his son came here for him, so he waved toward Kit. “Get her out of here and take her to my other location!”
Damien had no issue doing that because he knew it would get Kit out from underneath his father’s thumb.
He rushed to the side of the fallen Omega, scenting his father’s mark on her.
I could see how distraught it made him, breaking him just as much as it did the rest of us.
He hid it well as he helped get her out through the other door where the fights weren’t taking place.
I could only guess a second stairwell sat on that side, but I knew he’d take her down and get her to those waiting.
We just had to finish the fight in here even though we were outnumbered.
Franco helped me stand to my feet as I wheezed from a punctured lung. Anything physical could be fixed as long as I avoided any major organs. A punctured lung was going to be hell to heal from, but I could have all my limbs missing from my body, and it would still be worth saving Kit.