Watch Me Burn

by Nikki Drost

  “What Kingston says is truth,” Alex says as he pulls out a pack of Dunhill’s and lights up a smoke of his own. “Yakov is no man, he is the worst kind of monster and must be stopped.”

  Micah sighs wearily before turning toward my direction. “I need you to cause a distraction and lighting up a house full of highly flammable chemicals should do the trick. You’re the only one of us that can get close enough and withstand a blast of that magnitude. After the explosion, you, Adam, Gunnar, and Landon take out any cats that may have survived while the rest of us search for those missing females. They need to be our top priority and maybe if we’re lucky we’ll get some info on Balakin or Savchenko’s whereabouts.”

  ***

  Forty minutes later, we arrive at the abandoned farmhouse. To the naked eye, the two-story family home appears to be like any normal residence in the area. That is until you go around back and see the numerous generators, and added equipment for a makeshift air filtration system. The smell alone should have alerted the proper authorities to this location, but seeing as how the place isn’t swarming with flashing lights, means they probably have law enforcement on their payroll.

  My team and I move into place while the rest of the Enforcers and Guardians make their way toward the barn. Several men carrying machine guns can be seen patrolling the grounds. Once I blow the place up, we’ll have a small window to take the shifters out and to save the women before every cop in three counties swarms the property.

  Thanks to the kid, we have a description of the Alpha in charge. Once Micah storms the barn, Hannah, Lincoln, and the boy whose name is Trenton will grab the girls while everyone else takes out the remaining Omegas. Now to get the party started. I scan the area as we silently make our way to the entry points.

  Leaving my team a safe distance away, I silently army crawl across the yard toward one of the basement windows. Breathing becomes an issue the closer I get to the large PVC pipes pumping out toxic fumes. By the looks of the paraphilia scattered all over the place, heroin isn’t the only drug being cooked here.

  With one last deep breath, I place my hand over the end of the pipe and count to three. With a surge of my powers and a silent prayer, a stream of fire bursts from my palm like a flamethrower. I scramble to my feet and haul ass in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, I only make it a few yards before a massive explosion rocks the entire foundation of the house. The force from the blast propels my body into the air. With my eardrums blown to shit and my vision blurred by the smoke, I fail to notice the nearby shed until it’s too late.

  With a hard thud, I crash through the wooden structure, landing on top of old propane tanks and glass beakers. Every muscle in my body cries out as I try to move. My left side aches with each breath I manage to take. I pray my ribs are only bruised and not cracked. I can’t afford to be laid up for days. Despite the pain, I roll myself over and force myself to my feet.

  It takes me a few to get outside and join the rest of my team. The moment I set foot out into the open I’m pulled backwards by a set of hands, my first instinct is to throw a punch, but fortunately, my sense of smell is still intact. Landon’s unique lemony scent seeps into my nose, allowing me to relax for the moment. I take the opportunity to scan what’s left of the area.

  The place looks like a Warzone, bodies and various limbs are scattered across the burnt grass. Thick black smoke and bright red flames pour from the smoldering remains of the farmhouse. With nothing left for us to do here, the four of us hurry toward the real action.

  Gunfire rings out from all directions. I silently curse my natural ability to heal quickly as the noise level reaches ear-splitting volumes thanks to the confines of the space. Not wasting any time, I engage the nearest enemy. I quickly stab him in his heart and move on to the next one.

  I toss a few fireballs hitting my targets with ease, that is until a bullet pierces my bicep. Fuck. It’s silver. Man that shit burns. I push the pain down and focus on the shooter just as the cougar aims his gun at my head and fires off another round, I hit the ground in a tuck and roll maneuver while tossing a fireball, lighting the bastard up like a candle.

  Keeping low to the ground, I scan for my next target. Everyone seems to be holding their own against the large cats. Good, we are going to need to conserve all of our strength in case we do actually find any vampires later.

  Each type of supernatural being has its own level of difficulty. Bears are the worst to take out. They have size and brute strength on their side, sharp teeth and claws that can rip through flesh like butter. Taking one down is hard enough, let alone a group of them, which is why it’s a good thing we have Lincoln on our side. The cub is the biggest bear I have ever encountered. Now cougars in general are a difficult group to fight. They have speed, agility, and are much larger than wolves. Which is why we want to keep the group contained, the last thing we need tonight is to go on a fucking wild goose chase through the woods. All the cats would have to do is climb up a tree and we’d lose them. Coyotes are the lowest on the totem pole, they’re smaller and cunning, but that’s about it.

  Vampires are a whole different breed. They have what I like to call the three “S’s” strength, speed, and stealth. Plus their fucking fangs are a literal pain in the neck. The only advantage we have over them is our blood. All it takes is a single drop of our toxic blood to bring a vamp to his knees. Of course, getting them to swallow our blood is a whole other problem.

  More shots are fired in rapid succession to my left. I turn my head just in time to see Cass take several bullets to his stomach and chest. He hits the ground hard as blood streams through his fingers clutched at his side. The gunman smiles, then shifts into his animal form stalking forward toward my brother. Instinct takes over jolting me into action. I push myself off of the dirt floor and race forward, ignoring the shouts from my brothers to stay down. Bullets whiz past my head as I leap into the air, another bolt of pain explodes throughout my body. My entire right leg feels like it’s on fire thanks to the solid mass of silver now embedded deep within the tissue of my thigh.

  My body collides with my enemy, my arms wrap around his lean torso as we tumble to the hard floor. The back of my head smashes into the ground with enough force to leave me seeing stars. That split moment was all that was needed for the big cat to free himself from my grip. Before I can clear the cobwebs from my vision, razor sharp claws tear through the flesh of my shoulders. Fuck! That’s going to leave a mark.

  The big cat hisses angrily mere inches from my face, the stench of his breath permeates my nose causing my stomach to revolt. God, hasn’t this bastard ever heard of breath mints? I begin to struggle under the Omegas weight, which only serves to piss the beast off further. Just as the shifter lunges for my jugular, I thrust my knife between his ribs piercing his lung.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Cass hasn’t moved, blood continues to ooze out of his wounds at an alarming rate.

  “You goddamn son of a bitch!” I roar, the knife I had been holding clatters to the floor. My fist connects with the shifters face. Gaining the upper hand, I roll on top of my enemy and proceed to pound the shit out of him. Blood splatters onto my face and chest, bones snap and crunch with every blow I deliver. Somewhere deep in the recesses of my brain I know I should just put this poor bastard out of his misery, but I can’t seem to stop.

  “James, that’s enough!” Micah’s voice is barely audible over the sound of my rapidly beating heart. Someone grabs me from behind, pulling me off of my victim, muscular arms wrap around my torso and arms effectively trapping me, although that doesn’t stop me from continuing to struggle. I’m not close to being done with that cougar. I want to break every bone in his body.

  “Calm the fuck down, wolf!” Kingston yells next to my ear. “You’ve made your point.”

  The more I seem to struggle, the tighter the vampire’s hold on me becomes. He’s right though. The cougar had shifted into his human form at some point during his beating. There is a pool of blood underne
ath the back of his head, indicating that his skull must be fractured. Not much is left of his face, the entire left side has sunken in on itself.

  “Get your fucking hands off of me, vampire. I need to check on my brother.”

  Once Micah removes the bullets, I can cauterize the worst of his wounds. It’ll leave a nasty scar, but at least Cass won’t lose any more blood.

  Kingston finally releases me and I make it to Cass’s side. Micah holds his hands above Cass’s body, small tremors ripple through his body as Micah’s power draws out the slugs. Within seconds, the silver bullets push their way out of Cass’s wounds and into Micah’s waiting hands. A soft sigh escapes Cass’s parted lips.

  Until this very moment, I hadn’t realized I had been holding my breath. Jesus, I need to calm the fuck down. Cass’s injuries were in no way life threatening, but just seeing him lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood triggered a flashback to a few months ago when Adam was shot and had essentially died in my arms. I can’t go through that again. If we had lost Cass… nope, not even going to go there.

  I quickly inspect the rest of the group. Everyone is covered in blood splatter and random claw marks, the vamps have all healed by now, but they are all sporting noticeable bullet holes and tears in their clothing.

  “Micah, grab his shoulders. Someone needs to hold onto his legs.”

  My brother moves into position, firmly planting his hands against Cass’s shoulders while surprisingly, Kingston applies pressure to Cass’s legs.

  At first, I was convinced that the vamp was going to be a pain in my ass, but then I noticed something oddly familiar in his cerulean eyes. I’m not sure if we’ve met before or if we are just cut from the same cloth, either way I’ll be looking into it once all of this is over with.

  “Alright, here goes nothing.” I press my palm against the GSW near Cass’s liver, with a sizzle and the nasty aroma of burnt flesh the wound closes. He’s still unconscious from the blood loss, but he’ll be fine by morning.

  “Now it’s your turn, little brother.” Micah doesn’t waste any time, his palms grip both of my open wounds, and with a pulse of his power, the silver is ejected from my body.

  “Fuck that hurts!” I cry out as a new flash wave of pain ripples through my limbs. At least I’ll be able to heal now that the silver is out of my body. “Where’s Trenton? Are his sister’s okay?”

  Alexei extends his hand helping me to my feet. It’s the first time I’ve gotten a good look at the barn. The walls and floor are made from basic lumber, there is a ladder leading up to a decent sized loft that I doubt is being used to store hay. Most likely, that is where the crates full of guns are being stored. But it’s the steel cages along the far wall that catch my attention.

  Each of the enclosures is around five feet wide, ten feet long with a height of about six feet. The mesh surrounding the cages is made up of thick tempered, solid steel rods; the doors were chained together and held by padlocks. Scattered worn out blankets and broken sets of handcuffs litter the inside of the heavy-duty dog kennels. Christ, these women were chained up like animals. Rage pumps through my veins as I continue to envision what other hellish treatment they may have endured.

  “Trent is outside with his sisters.” Alex points toward a backdoor. “They were banged up, but alive, others were not as lucky.”

  “We’ll have to cross check the names on Kingston’s list to make sure they’re the ones we were looking for, but there were ten human girls plus the three cubs. All of them with varying degrees of malnourishment.” Micah hangs his head, hands on his solid hips. “Two are dead, have been for at least forty-eight hours. There is also a mass grave out back.”

  “Did they die from the starvation or dehydration?” I growl.

  A human can survive without food for up to four weeks as long as they are healthy, kept in a regular climate and given water. Without fluids, a human will be dead within days. Between the hallucinations, muscle spasms, convulsions, and lethargy, it’s a hell of a painful way to die.

  “Neither,” he says while motioning toward something over his shoulder. “I’d say they died from internal injuries.”

  On the other side of the room there are numerous folding chairs arranged in a “U” shape around a black leather bench with built in restraints. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what gruesome things took place here. I feel like I can’t breathe. The anger and utter disgust I feel threatens to consume me.

  “Where’s the Alpha?”

  Micah tilts his chin to my right.

  Before anyone can stop me, I lunge for the male shifter whose being held by Adam and Landon.

  “You sick son of a bitch!” I shout as my fist slams into the shifter’s jaw.

  The wolves release their hold on the cougar allowing him to tumble to the floor. Lincoln wraps his arms around my waist hoisting me off of the ground and into a bear hug.

  “Not yet, we need answers from the bastard first.”

  I struggle to break free from Linc’s death grip but it’s no use. Even with my added strength, I’m no match against the Kodiak.

  “Start talking, you piece of shit. Tell me where I can find Ian McIntyre and Yakov Balakin.”

  Lincoln whispers into my ear that he’ll relinquish his hold on me as long as I make the SOB suffer slowly.

  “With fucking pleasure,” is my response.

  The Alpha regains his footing, then flashes us a cocky grin. “Alright I’ll tell you everything, but only if you grant me a last request.”

  The slime-ball actually has the audacity to smirk.

  “I want ten minutes alone with that hot piece of ass standing behind you.”

  Hannah gasps while angered growls erupt from the men in the room.

  As soon as the words leave his mouth, I see fucking red. Once again, I throw out my fist, sending the man to the ground. The cougar rolls to his stomach, mouthfuls of blood and broken teeth are spat onto the wood floor.

  “I suggest you keep your mouth shut about my sister unless you want to lose more of those pearly whites,” I snarl while crouching down next to the bloody figure, flipping the man onto his back, my hand wraps around his throat to hold him in place.

  “I was taught if you took something that didn’t belong to you, you’d lose a hand. If you trespassed, you’d lose a foot. If you lied, you’d lose your tongue. Do you want to guess what part of your body would get cut off if you forced yourself on a female?”

  The Alpha’s eyes widen in horror, his mouth opens and closes like a fish gasping for air. Using my inhuman speed, I grip the Alphas left hand just below his wrist. An eerie bluish light radiates from my hand and snakes up coiling around the cougars palm like a glove. A garbled scream retches from the man’s throat as his hand disintegrates into a pile of ash. I repeat the process with the man’s other hand and both of his feet.

  “Now before I take your tongue I want some answers. Give me the names and location of your bosses and trust me, fucker, you don’t want to lie to me right now.”

  “If I…tell you…they’ll kill me,” he pants.

  “And I’ll kill you if you don’t.” I grab the man by the collar of his shirt. “Now answer the fucking question!” I have very little patience as it is, but when it comes to scumbags who get off hurting women and children, I have none.

  A cocky grin spreads across his battered face. “It doesn’t matter what you do to me, Enforcer, either way the Bratva is going to put you down like the dogs you are.” The cat leans over coughing up a large amount of blood. “That is of course unless the IRA gets to you first. Either way, all of you are fucking dead.”

  I release my hold and with a heavy sigh, I back away from the useless piece of shit.

  “We should take him somewhere and torture the information out of him,” Raiden says while he examines a Japanese Tanto knife. The twelve-inch blade looks like it could slice through flesh with little to no resistance.

  “I know just the place for this piece of shite,” Edward chi
mes in.

  “Alexei has offered to take the women in and care for them until they can be reunited with their families. Landon, Dallas, and Hannah, I want you to go with him and help get them settled.” Micah shakes his head while surveying the room. “Gunnar I want you with the Guardians, I’ll join the interrogation once I’ve gotten the boy and his sisters somewhere safe. As for the rest of you, go home and look after Casanova.”

  Everyone jumps to follow Micah’s orders, including the vampires, everyone except for me that is. It feels like my boots are glued to the floor. Micah notices my hesitancy and comes to stand before me, his left hand wraps around the back of my neck. Our eyes lock while a silent understanding passes between us.

  “Burn this fucking place to the ground,” he growls through clinched teeth.

  His eyes change color as his fingers dig painfully into the flesh of my neck. No response is needed. I had been thinking the very same thing. Zeroing in on that fucking bench, I know just where I’ll start.

  ***

  Back at the cabin, I helped Adam and Lincoln wash the blood and sweat from Cass’s body. He is still out for the count, but some of the color has returned to his cheeks. Once we had him squared away, I went to check on my mate. I found her passed out in my bed, clutching one of my T-shirts to her chest.

  The whole time I was gone all I could think about was getting back to this woman, but as I stand here glancing at her peaceful form I find myself grateful for the reprieve. My head is far too messed up right now and the last thing I need is for Kelsey to see me covered in blood.

  With that thought, I grab a nearby bottle of Jack and head for the shower. The hot water burns like acid when it hits my open wounds, but it’s the least of my worries. I make quick work of ridding my body of the filth of tonight’s battle. With an overwhelming feeling of lethargy, I slump onto a built in bench where I gulp down a large amount of whiskey.