by JJ King
Rose stretched her neck and opened her mouth, clamping her teeth down on his jugular and with every ounce of strength she had left, she bit.
Hot blood poured from his throat, covering her instantly as his grip loosened and he flailed away, grasping at his torn flesh.
Rose sputtered, spitting out the blood that coated her tongue and wiping her face with her sleeve. When her eyes were clear, she looked around the room, noticing the dropped bodies on the floor. Some were unconscious and some were dead. At her feet, the guard who had believed himself the victor bled out on the rock floor, the light in his eyes dimming as she walked away.
Liam clocked the last guard on the head with the butt of his gun, then rose, turning to see if she was alright. He froze, staring at her face in horror, with his mouth hanging open. He glanced past her and saw the guard lying cold and still on the floor in a pool of his own blood, then back to her. “Well,” he licked his lips and arched his eyebrows in surprise, “That’ll teach him.”
He pulled her into his arms and leaned down to kiss her softly. “You amaze me,” he whispered with a husky tone.
Rose melted into his embrace, resting her cheek on his chest. The tempo of his quickened heartbeat matched her own, slowing as they stood quietly in a room full of violence and death. After a minute she pulled back, remembering their mission, “Katherine.”
Liam nodded and grabbed her hand, “Let’s go kick some more arse.”
Chapter Fifteen
Katherine’s heart skipped a full beat the moment she heard the lock on the door click open. She turned to face Raphael, unwilling to hide her face in fear even though she could barely breathe. It took every ounce of steely pride to keep her body from betraying her and crumbling to the floor.
The mammoth metal door swung open with a crash, banging off the wall hard enough to chip away a piece of the hard limestone. Then it was closing again, shoved quick and hard by Raphael, but not before Katherine got a glimpse of what was happening in the room beyond.
The mountain was under attack.
Katherine covered her hand with her mouth and moved, desperate to see a familiar face, to see Quinn, or Ronan, or Rose. The door slammed shut with a brutal finality that reverberated through to her bones, then Raphael rounded on her with a snarl.
“You fucking bitch!” He screamed, tearing at his hair as he stalked the room, glaring at her with so much hate she could taste it. Katherine didn’t want to back down, didn’t want to give him any more power over her, but the insane wolf that had tortured her last year, the one who had infiltrated her nightmares, was back. The sanity that she’d glimpsed earlier in his eyes was gone now, replaced by an utter madness that made Katherine’s mind beg to disconnect from reality for self-preservation.
But she stood straight, her spine unyielding through some magic of will that Katherine couldn’t explain. Maybe it was her father’s spirit in her, urging her to never back down. The thought of her father centered Katherine, refocusing her long enough for rational thought to prevail. She watched him moved about the room, jerking around as if even his body were on a precipice, ready to dive over the edge.
He was unhinged, irrational, and his well laid plans were in ruins. She could use this.
There was no point aggravating him yet, he was doing a great job of that on his own. Katherine let him pace the room, ranting and pulling at his hair until his hands were filled with clumps of bloody brown locks. She watched him carefully, knowing it was just a matter of time before…
He pivoted toward her and froze, the manic glow in his eyes focusing in on her. Still, she refused to bend, to give into the terror that would rob her of her mind. Katherine forced herself to breathe and waited for him to make a move.
“I should kill you,” he said in a dead pan voice, completely devoid of emotion. It was a new tone for him, one she’d never heard before, and it sent new shivers down her spine. “Or,” he smiled and Katherine’s resolve cracked, the look in his eyes too horrifying for her to ignore, “I could just fuck you right now and let fate decide the rest.”
Katherine didn’t have time to think before he moved. Like lightening, he pounced, landing a punch to the side of her head that knocked Katherine off her feet and made her vision threaten to go black. She drew her arms up over her head, protecting herself, and struggled to stay aware so she could fight back.
Raphael grabbed her by the hair and pulled her head back sharply, then delivered a stunning blow to her cheek. Blood filled her mouth and she gasped for air, punching out as hard as she could, trying to hurt him. She needed time, just a second to clear her head, but he refused to grant her that. He threw her against the wall and when she fell, crumbling to the floor, he kicked out, his boot connecting with her ribs. A loud crunch filled the room and darkness pressed closer. Katherine sobbed in desperation. No, no, the word played on repeat with every pump of her heart. No, he can’t win.
“Get up!” He screamed, yanking her up again. Katherine stumbled to her feet, bent over at the waist to protect her broken ribs, and lurched away from him, her instinct to survive on high alert. He laughed at her feeble steps, stalking closer to her as she fought to stay on her feet.
He reached for her and she managed to step back in time to evade his grasp. Instead of flesh, he gripped her clothes, ripping them away from her chest and knocking her off balance. Katherine landed on the floor at his feet and scrambled back, toward the door.
A sharp stinging blazed up her arm as she moved away from his devil eyes and the scent of new blood filled her nose. It mixed with her other injuries, hidden among her wounds, but Katherine felt the cut and the piece of jagged limestone that had caused it.
Keeping her gaze on Raphael, Katherine searched for the shard that had cut her, and almost cried when her fingers curled around a piece roughly the size of a knife.
Raphael stared down at her with greedy lust, his desire not for her, but for his destiny. His lip pulled back in a snarl as he watched her. Seconds ticked by and neither of them moved, the sound of their panting the only break to the room’s silence. Then he reached for her.
Katherine swung her entire body forward, crashing into him with all her force, and thrust her arm up. The shard plunged into the muscle of his abdomen, just north of where she’d wanted to hit, and stopped abruptly on bone. Katherine’s body shook from the force, but she held on with blood streaming from her hands as the sharp limestone knife shredded her skin. With a cry that emanated from somewhere dark and desperate, she twisted the shard and felt absolution when Raphael’s screams filled the air.
He clutched at his stomach and stumbled back, falling against the door. His eyes were wild now with pain and panic, any thought of destiny gone now with the need to survive.
Katherine barely noticed the gore on her hand as she searched the floor for another weapon. She spotted another piece just out of reach and flashed back to Raphael, whose gaze fell on it then shifted to her.
She threw herself toward the piece, screaming in pain as her broken ribs shifted dangerously within her chest. She would heal, but so would Raphael, so she didn’t think about it. Katherine wrapped her fingers around the shard and spun around to brandish it at Raphael.
The door swung open just enough to let in the sound of snarling wolves and gunshots. Katherine screamed with a primal drive to kill and pushed off the floor with all her might.
Raphael limped out the door and slammed it shut a split second before she collapsed against it, sobs of fury resonating from her entire being. Katherine let herself slide to the floor, beating her fists ineffectually against the immovable barrier.
The pain she’d been refusing to acknowledge roared to life and Katherine let herself fall apart. There was no telling who would come through that door next or when it would happen, so she let herself go. Katherine bit down on her hand hard enough to break the skin, muffling her screams of frustration. She’d been so fucking close!
After a few minutes, Katherine’s sobs broke. She thought abou
t the attack happening just outside the door and wondered who those wolves were. They might be there for her, or they might have another purpose, but regardless of the why, Katherine knew their presence had ruined Raphael’s plans as much as her knife in his gut had and that made her smile.
The door moved behind her. Katherine hissed in a breath and pushed away, moving as quickly as she could to hide behind it in the hope of surprising whoever was stupid enough to try her. Katherine crouched low and lifted her shard.
A tall man strode into the room holding a gun at eye level. He scanned the room then pulled the door closed behind him. Katherine sprang forward, screaming like a banshee, and froze.
“Quinn?” She heard his name slip from her lips as if she’d conjured him from her dreams, without conscious effort.
The apparition rushed forward with open arms and enveloped her, pulling her so tightly into his chest that her breath rushed from her chest.
In the darkness created by his arms, Katherine stilled and listened to the familiar rhythm of his heartbeat. She pressed her chest against his chest and closed her eyes, breathing in the scent of her mate. Her arms fell to her sides and the shard fell to the floor.
“Katherine,” Quinn murmured against her hair. He pressed his lips against her head, then pulled back and stared down at her for a moment before covering her face with kisses. Wet tears fell from his eyes as he brushed his lips over her closed eyelids, completely unashamed. “You’re safe now,” he whispered, his voice rough with emotion, “and I swear, Katherine, this is it. Please. No more. My heart can’t handle it.”
Katherine heard his promise of safety and blinked, letting the words sink in. “Raphael?” She asked, the very sound of his name on her lips rising bile to her throat.
Quinn framed her face with his hands and looked straight into her eyes. “He’s dead.”
Katherine shook her head, frowning as Quinn watched with a worried expression. “It’s a trap,” she insisted, wincing at the break in her voice.
Quinn took her hand and tugged her forward, walking her toward the door. She walked on automatic, following him like a sleepwalker, her gaze lingering on the fallen bodies being dragged into rooms and locked securely away by wolves she didn’t know but who looked suspiciously like Liam who emerged from a room holding Rose’s hand. Katherine gasped at the sight of her sister’s face, covered in blood. She broke out of Quinn’s embrace and rushed to Rose who simply opened her arms and silently held her.
“I’m alright,” Rose pulled back, giving Katherine a once over. “It’s not my blood.” Someone had underestimated a LaFlamme woman, Kathrine thought.
Katherine pulled herself up straight. She was a LaFlamme, too, like Rose, like her mother, and they didn’t stay down for long.
“Show me his body,” she looked to Quinn. He reached out a hand and walked her to the furthest room from the lab, this one with a simple door. It was open now, thrust open to display a lavish room, decorated in rich fabrics and colors. An exquisite rug lay on the floor, ruined now by the spreading pool of blood seeping out of a bullet wound in Raphael’s head and from the gash she’d made in his abdomen. Katherine stepped toward the body, her gaze locked on its unseeing eyes.
“It’s over,” Katherine knew she was gaping but she didn’t care. She felt things she couldn’t put a name to, but mixed in there was hope.
“Katherine!” Ronan flew into the room and grabbed her, wrapping his arms around her like he used to. Katherine reached around his waist and hugged him back, letting a lifetime of memories and love wash over her. He’d been so distant since their father’s murder, unrecognizable. She pulled back and looked up at his face, so like her own, and saw the man she’d seen grow from a boy. He was back; her brother, her friend.
He frowned down at her, “Don’t you ever do anything like that again!”
“What? Get kidnapped by a psychopath who wants to father a new line of wolves and rule the world?” She cocked her head to the side and asked innocently. “I’ll try.” Katherine glanced down at Raphael’s body and ignored the urge to spit on it. She was too much her mother’s daughter to stoop to that level. Instead, she turned her back on him and walked away without looking back.
♀♀♀
Katherine stared at the four men who were each trussed up and tied to a sturdy chair. They were Raphael’s men, the same men who had kidnapped for him, held women against their will for him, and killed for him. They were also her half-brothers.
She could see a resemblance in some of them and it made her heart ache so bad she had to forcibly resist the urge to rub at her chest. They had her father’s eyes, his jawline, his shoulders, but when she looked in their eyes, she knew they were Raphael’s children. He’d raised them, he’d ruined them, there was nothing left of her father in these men.
“Get your fucking hands off me! Do you know who I am?” Three of Liam’s brothers appeared in the doorway, dragging a bloody and struggling Faolin. Katherine looked at the man who’d tortured her sister, the one who’d tried to be so much like Raphael that he’d surpassed capacity for cruelty. Her lips turned up in disgust and Katherine had to hold herself back from baring her teeth at the man.
Katherine opened her mouth to deliver a sharp retort when Rose stepped into the doorway, backed by Liam, whose eyes gleamed with barely controlled fury.
“No one cares who you are,” Rose said with a snarl, bunching her hands into fists by her side. “No one will ever care again, but let’s face it,” she cocked an eyebrow at her brother, “no one ever did. Rot in Hell, Faolin.” With that, Rose turned on her heel and walked away from Faolin, who began to howl and rage.
Katherine and Ronan followed Rose out of the room, closing the heavy door behind them, blocking off the screams. As soon as she was cut off from Faolin, Rose turned and buried her face in Liam’s chest. He wrapped his arms around her as Katherine watched, impressed by her sister’s strength and her mate’s love. When Rose came up for air, Katherine pulled her in for a hug. “It’s over now,” she whispered the same words Quinn had told her, then let her sister go when Liam took her hand to lead her away.
“This part won’t be pretty,” Ronan’s face turned grim as he stood before the closed door. Katherine squeezed his forearm, knowing her brother hated the kind of violence this type of interrogation would require. She knew their usual methods would probably be useless here.
“Don’t do anything Dad wouldn’t have done,” she advised, knowing Ronan would take her words to heart. In response, Ronan pulled himself up just as their father would have, pulled open the door and stepped inside. The door swung shut behind him.
Katherine’s stomach churned as she thought of what would happen inside that room. She’d chosen not to be present for the interrogation. She’d seen enough blood and gore for a lifetime and didn’t feel like seeing biological remnants of her father tortured for information. She prayed Ronan could stomach it.
The door to the lab was open when Katherine wandered by. She could see Daphne poking around, lifting test tubes and reading labels. Katherine walked through the heavily armed door, amazed again at the work Raphael had put into designing this fortress, and joined her friend. She heading straight to a work desk in the corner and began opening computer files.
“I wonder what else they were working on in here,” Daphne blew out a breath and shook her head, looking overwhelmed at the sheer extent of the room’s contents. “I have no idea what I’m looking for here, any luck over there?” She crossed the room and took a seat across from Katherine.
“Well,” Katherine clicked away, her gaze darting all over the screen, “the good news is that our blitz attack worked. They didn’t have time to close down the open files. We’ve got a shit load of information here.” She clicked on a file and frowned as a password request popped up. “Damnit, some of this is password protected.”
“Not surprising,” Daphne flipped through a paper file and set it aside, then reached for another.
“No, but shi
tty nonetheless,” Katherine agreed. “Wish we had Teagan here. He’d crack this no problem.” She went back to the open files and tried to read, but the half of her mind that she regularly used for thinking was stuck in that room with Ronan, demanding answers of Raphael’s men.
She knew the questions they were being asked, or rather the question, singular. The most important one they’d ever had. Did Raphael kill their father?
Katherine’s stomach churned at the thought. If she were anything less than a wolf she’d have the worst ulcer of all time. But being a wolf didn’t exclude her from the pain of losing someone she loved so deeply that it still felt as if a huge part of her was missing. She was walking around with a gaping wound in her chest, pretending to be her usual self, and it still felt like such a lie.
It was a necessary lie, she’d told herself over and over; finding the women and stopping Raphael was top priority. But Raphael was dead now, Faolin captured, and they’d found the women in a big dorm-like room set further into the mountain. Everything was tied up in a nice, neat bow with a cherry on top.
