Chapter 5

Odhran

Istood a few feet behind Adryan, leader of the American Vampire Clan and an all-around crazy motherfucker.

If I didn't need him and his kind's help in breaking into the structure we were currently scouting, I would've kicked his ass and been done with it already.

The psychotic, arrogant bastard was currently staring at the farmhouse down in the valley across from where we were stationed. I could sense the dark rage pouring off him. I knew that feeling well. It had been my companion for a very long time.

And I knew the only reason he was here with us, to finally help us, was because his mate had been taken and handed over to the Assembly.

His very human, very fragile mate.

We arrived in Vermont half an hour ago and were currently canvassing the area. Although Adryan mentioned his soldiers had been here watching the property for a while now, the Lycans wanted to do their own reconnaissance.

I thought over what we'd learned about the place. There were just too many inconsistencies with the property: the deed being transferred many times, the names changing, and a lot of shit seeming to have been buried to avoid whatever it was they were hiding.

And that was a facility owned and run by the Assembly, the corrupt and twisted organization that needed to burn to the fucking ground.

The information we found out on what they'd done with the Otherworlders once they captured them was speculation, given the fact that we'd never met anyone who had escaped. But we'd done enough research, heard enough rumors throughout the years, decades, hell, centuries, that we had a good idea of the monstrous things they did.

My chest clenched at the very thought of my wee Larkin in their clutches. Gods, not just recently, but for decades.

Banner, King of the Scottish Lycans, had flown in for this particular ambush, to take down these bastards who were hurting our kind. He stood beside Adryan, and the two males spoke low.

I could hear a growl come from the head vampire's chest as he spoke about his mate.

If there was hope that Larkin was in an underground facility under that dilapidated barn in the middle-of-nowhere Vermont, I was going to fucking go in guns blazing.

"Let's fucking paint the floors red," Adryan said, and everyone moved into action.

Aye, paint it bloody red.

I stoodin the center of an underground corridor that had been built below the barn. It was a state-of-the-art facility, but no piece of electronics, technology, or space-age shit could stop us.

The blood of my enemies covered my chest, arms, and face. And I reveled in pride and pleasure.

And I wanted more of it. I wanted to watch the life drain from every single piece-of-shit Assembly member's eyes. I wanted to hear them plead for mercy, which I wouldn't give.

I stood still, silently watching the situation unfold.

After infiltrating the barn and slaughtering any of the Assembly members who came after us, we found the entrance to their facility underground. We decimated any enemy who came at us, bodies littering the floors and blood covering my body. The violence gave me strength, the purpose to do whatever I had to do to get to Larkin.

And after all of that, we now found ourselves at the end of a corridor, the door where I knew my female was being blocked by James, one of Adryan's soldiers, but who now revealed himself to be a traitor. Not only had he kidnapped Adryan's mate, Kayla, but he'd turned her over to the Assembly. The fucker had been working with them for far too long, leading a double life, and giving information to the human organization that tortured our kind.

If I didn't know Adryan was going to end the fucker's life, I would have gladly ripped his throat out.

And then there was the other male, a human who held Adryan's mate and kept a knife to her throat. He called himself Salvatore and was a high-ranking member of the Assembly, and a motherfucker I would gain a lot of pleasure from taking out.

But the bastard must have known he didn't stand a chance, because he shoved Kayla forward with so much force she stumbled and lost her footing. Adryan was in front of her a second later, pulling her up and dragging his tongue along the wound that Salvatore had made when he pressed the knife to her throat.

And then Salvatore was gone, disappearing behind the door he'd originally come through… the door I had to get through to find Larkin.

Adryan handled James the only way a brutal, savage sociopath vampire knew how to.

There were fires burning all throughout the facility from the destruction of the other Lycans and vampires who'd followed us in and tapered off in different directions. The smoke was starting to clog the tunnels, and I could see dark tendrils coming out from underneath the door.

I held my glowing blue eyes with Adryan's red-hued ones.

"She's in there," Adryan's mate said, and pointed to the door Salvatore had just gone through, her gaze locked on mine. She didn't have to say who she was. We all knew who she meant.

I felt my beast rise as adrenaline pumped through my veins. My female. Gods, my mate.

"Go!" I roared loudly. "Get your female out, and I'll worry about protecting mine." I stared into Adryan's red, glowing eyes, saw his jaw clench, and could practically hear his warring thoughts. He wanted to stay and help, but his mate's safety was more important. And I understood that better than anyone.

"Good luck," Adryan said, low but loud enough that I heard.

I nodded once and then was gone, charging through the door and instantly being engulfed by the thick smoke. I lifted my forearm and covered my mouth and nose, blinking back the stinging sensation behind my eyes as I tried to take in the scene before me, trying to see anything clearly. But the deeper I went into the corridor, the harder it was to breathe. I couldn't sift through scents, couldn't smell anything but the fires burning this motherfucking place to the ground.

"Larkin!" I called out my mate's name in between coughing. "Lass, where are ye? Call for me, and I'll find ye."

Silence.

I started coughing again but refused to stop moving, refused to turn around.

I didn't come this far to give up now.

"Darlin', say something, anything, and I'll come tae ye." I was roaring out now, feeling that familiar panic ignite in me.

I stopped, bent over, and braced a hand on my thigh as I tried to catch my breath, which was impossible with all the smoke. When I reached out instinctively to steady myself, I connected with the bars of a cell. The magic laced within the metal shot through my hand and up my forearm. I gritted my teeth and jerked my hand back before straightening once more and moving forward, calling out for Larkin over and over again until my voice was hoarse and my lungs burned.

But before long, I found myself on my hands and knees, my eyes closed, my lungs desperately trying to take in oxygen that wasn't corroded with smoke.

I didn't want to give up. I couldn't. But when I tried to stand, I fell to my side, my throat burning as I coughed, my lungs on fire.

And that was the last thing I remembered before the darkness took me under and I was no longer able to be strong for her.