Chapter 26

Adryan

We’d been going over logistics for the last hour, and with each passing second, I grew more and more uneasy and on edge but couldn”t place why.

I didn’t give two shits about what anyone said right now, couldn’t even concentrate on the very real threat we were up against or the magnitude of how powerful this organization truly was. I could feel Sebastian shifting back and forth beside me, no doubt feeling how fucking restless I was getting. I also knew he didn’t like being separated from his brother. But he kept his mouth shut, and the longer Banner spoke, the closer I was to saying fuck it and letting the wolves just have a damn field day in Vermont.

I could have blamed my unease on the fact that shit was for sure going down tonight whether I called the shots or not. I could see that in the Lycans’ eyes, felt it come from the rippling aggression and anticipation pouring off them. There would be bloodshed, more than likely some bodies hitting the ground too.

But I knew that wasn’t why I felt off-kilter. The threat of death didn’t scare me. I welcomed it with open arms. Violence and pain, bloodshed was an old friend, one I embraced.

This… this was something else.

Listening to the wolves talk about what the hell they planned on doing tonight, that this wasn’t about any kind of reconnaissance operation but a full-blown infiltration, told me more than enough about the future of… everything.

“Adryan, I know ye can’t be bothered with half the shite we say, but can ye at least pretend tae give a fook?”

I glanced up at Banner. My brother-in-law scowled at me in that annoying way of his.

“Yeah.” I straightened. “I heard everything, and you know I’m on board. We good here?”

Banner straightened as well and looked down his nose at me. “Ye’re in one fooking hurry, vampire. Ye have somewhere else tae be? Something more important that yer time should be devoted tae?”

The room grew tense, quiet. Heavy.

“As a matter of fact, yeah, I really fucking do.” It was my turn to stare down my nose at him.

Banner scoffed and exhaled. “Fine. Do what ye have tae do, but we leave in half an hour. Make the calls to yer airfield and have a plane ready. Trip is less than an hour and a half, so make sure yer boys are ready.”

I nodded and was about to turn and go back to my female but froze when I sensed Banner wasn’t done just yet. “What?” I cocked an eyebrow at him.

“I meant it when I said bring all the soldiers and firepower ye can. Doona want tae take any chances if things go sideways when we get tae Vermont.”

Not if. But when they did.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Banner, who the fuck do you think you’re talking to? You think I don’t bring party favors on the off chance things get fun?” I scoffed and shook my head, looking at my vampire soldiers standing in the tech room. “Don’t worry. We’re ready. Make sure your boys are. I want this shit done and over with already.”

I turned and left then, my mind feeling heavy and wired, like my brain was filled with static. I didn’t realize I was already in the house until the front door slammed against the wall.

For a second I just stood there. Everything was still, silent. My mind and body were a labyrinth of conflict, so it was hard to concentrate and sift through sights and smells, sounds and changes all around me.

I looked up the stairs and at first didn’t see jack shit, but as I forced myself to calm, I smelled it then. Blood. And a hell of a lot of it.

I sensed the others coming up behind me, but I didn’t give two fucks about anything but getting to Kayla.

I used my speed to go up the steps, my body on fire, my muscles shaking with the force of trying to keep my shit together. And as I scanned the upper landing, I spied the source of the scent of blood thick in the air.

Mikhail lay twenty feet from the stairs, his eyes on me, his mouth open and closing as he tried to make words. Blood gurgled from his mouth and pulsated out of the open, massive wound on his neck.

Where the fuck is Kane?

I was crouched beside him a second later, aware of the others rushing up the stairs, the shouting and cursing, the sound of weapons being drawn. Hell, we didn’t need the latter, but at this point I wanted anything and everything at my disposal where my female was concerned.

Mikhail kept gurgling, spraying blood, and trying to lift his arm, pointing a finger at something down the hall. I was about to say fuck him and go to Kayla—because she was all that mattered—when Mikhail started gasping words out in a sickly, wet voice.

“James,” he said and coughed, blood spraying out. “Assembly.” He closed his eyes and shook his head. “Gone. Her. Gone.”

I looked at his neck, saw that it wasn’t just a wound, but his head had damn near been taken clean off. Not even a vampire could survive that.

I could piece together the broken words Mikhail said clearly enough. The only thing I didn’t know was whether James was a victim of the Assembly, or if the bastard was working for them and that motherfucker was soon-to-be dead.

I was up and heading toward my room, toward Kayla, my heartbeat a rush in my ears.

I saw Kane’s booted feet sprawled out beside the door, smelled the thick scent of his blood coating the air. I couldn’t stop to see if he was all right, had to get to my female, make sure she was okay. But before I reached the room, Kane roused, instantly cursing up a storm.

Growling, scratching, and something heavy being slammed against one of the bedroom doors echoed down the hallway. Before I could bark out orders, one of my soldiers was opening it, Bear hurtling out of the room, snarling, snapping, and darting toward Kayla’s room. Blood covered his muzzle and the thick mane around his head and chest, but he looked otherwise unharmed.

“I’m sorry, Adryan.” I focused back on Kane. “I shouldn’t have let him catch me unaware.” He closed his eyes and shook his head. “That dead motherfucker,” he groused. “I’m gonna beat the living shit out of him before I tear his dick off with my bare hands and put it through a blender in front of him.”

I saw the hammer lying on the floor beside Kane, the tool used to crack him hard enough on the back of the head that I was surprised there wasn’t more damage done and he was even waking up this soon. But I didn’t give a shit where James had gotten it, and didn’t care that Kane was hurt or Mikhail was dead. Kayla is all that matters.

I wanted to rage at Kane for not protecting my female, to kill Mikhail all over again for failing orders. but this one was on me. Fuck, this was all on me. My fucking fault. I shouldn’t have let her out of my sight.

“I got him good upside his fucking face before he coldcocked me.” He waved to the door impatiently. “Go to her,” Kane growled, and I smelled Sebastian in the hall, saw him crouch beside his brother.

I kicked in the bedroom door, the wood splintering, the door hanging on its hinges. I froze and took in the scene of the room, my breath stalling, my entire body seizing.

Blood was splattered on the floor. A mixture of Mikhail and Kayla’s.

The top sheet was missing from the bed.

The curtain was hanging from the rod.

I stepped in farther, and then another, smelling Kayla’s fear lingering in the air. It was fading, which meant it had been a while since she’d been here.

Whoever took her must have done it shortly after I left the house.

“I’m going to eviscerate him. I’m going to rip his bowels out from his throat, shove them back down, and make him eat them.” My head pounded, my hands shaking. I’d never felt so out of control, where everything in me was unthreading, spiraling haphazardly until it would stain everything it touched.

I felt all my sanity vanish. Using all my strength, I was by the bed and tossed that piece of fucking furniture across the room until it crashed into the opposite wall. I did the same with the dresser, then tore the large mirror from the wall and dropped it on the floor as hard as I could, letting the shards of glass spray along the floor. I slammed my fist into the plaster over and over again until I felt the skin of my knuckles break.

The pain felt good. I needed more.

When the room was in pieces all around me, I stood there panting, taking in the destruction… wanting more. I felt the blood from my busted-up hands dripping onto the floor.

Drip-drip, drip-drip.

Nothing made sense. All I felt was dark, hollow pain. Pure, undulated need for revenge, vengeance.

I heard this deep, rough sound and realized it came from me. I was snarling and growling, unable to think sanely, didn’t even want to. I wanted everyone and everything to feel this pain, to be this broken. Just like me.

I was fucking pissed. I wanted my female back. And I’d do anything and everything to make that happen.

I felt someone touch my arm, and I didn’t know what happened, but one minute, I was standing in the center of the room amid the carnage I’d wrought, and the next, I was standing over a very dead, mutilated body.

My chest was pumping up and down as I breathed hard and fast. I killed the poor vampire bastard in a matter of seconds yet had no recollection. Lifeless eyes looked back at me, a mouth gaping open like a fish out of water, twin white fangs flashing among the splatter of blood coating everything. Especially me.

I lifted my hands and looked down at my open palms. Blood. So much.

A beautiful sight.

“Easy, ye crazy arsehole,” someone said and came forward.

I snapped my head up, narrowing my eyes at the Lycan who was inching forward. “Stupid motherfucker,” I growled in a distorted voice. I tasted the coppery flavor of blood on my lips and tongue from my latest kill.

Gaelic was being shouted at the wolf, but the bastard didn’t stop. In fact, he kept coming closer, and I could see the gleam in his eyes.

I faced off with the wolf who was dumb enough to come close. The fucker wanted a go at me. “You want a piece of me, think this is your chance?” I held my arms out, let the blood coating me cover the ground all around me.

I’d oblige him with a smile on my face.

“Ye crazy bastard. Ye need taken down.”

I heard Banner shouting at the Lycan bastard, but before the king could stop him, he lunged forward, not listening to or caring about orders.

I let him slam into me, let his body propel me backward until I crashed into the wall. I let him hit me. Once, twice, his fist slamming into my face a third time before I’d had enough, grinning a bloody smile, laughing darkly.

And so I wrapped a fist around his throat, lifted him up and off the ground, and spun him around and slammed him against the wall now. I couldn’t think straight but felt the vibrations on the floor as bodies were coming toward me, feet hitting the wood. I knew in two seconds I’d feel hands on me, pulling me away.

They wouldn”t take this kill from me.

I ripped the fucking wolf’s throat out, felt the spray of blood on my neck and face, basked in that wet warmth. I let his body fall to the floor and turned around, spitting out the chunk of flesh and part of his trachea, the rage in my head never ending, the violence I felt a rising crescendo.

“She’s mine. She’s mine. She’s fucking mine mineminemine.” I shook my head and closed my eyes, a darkness the likes of which I’d never felt claiming me. And I fucking let it. “I’ll slaughter the piece of shit who took her from me.” My voice was low, barely audible. “I”ll rip their arms and legs from their worthless body, feast on every drop of blood flowing through their veins.”

Mine. Mine. Mine.

“Well holy fooking shite.”

I opened my eyes, and through the haze of red in my vision and the rush of blood in my ears, I heard Banner’s shocked tone and saw his surprised expression.

“The bastard found his mate.”

I spun and snarled at Banner. I was going to rip that fucker’s throat out too. Banner grinned and lifted a hand, curling his finger and gesturing me forward.

I rushed him and clashed with his body, the momentum propelling us toward the wall, pictures falling to the ground, plaster crumbling under the wallpaper from the force.

The Lycan twisted out of my grip, and before I could stop him, he had a heavy arm banded around my chest. The fact that he was thinking clearly—unlike me—gave him an advantage.

“Be at ease, motherfooker,” he growled by my ear.

“Fuck you,” I said in a distorted growl, the air in the room icy from my rage, the space glowing red from my eyes.

“Think logically; act rationally, ye stubborn, crazy bastard.”

I growled and tried to break free again and again, did a couple of times before Banner had ahold of me once more. If anyone could restrain me, it was this big bastard.

“Even if yer arrogant arse pisses me off more times than no’, I’m here tae help find yer female and Odhran’s. All the Lycans are. Now…” He spun me around and pressed his forearm to my throat, leaning in so we were eye to eye. “Calm the fook down so we can get both of yer females back and level the Assembly.”

I thrashed again, instinct and the primal side of me needing violence and destruction. But with each passing second, I breathed through that rage, knowing what Banner said was true. If I planned on getting Kayla back—because there was no other outcome—I had to be smart. I had to get control and be the emotionless bastard I was known as.

I looked at Odhran, who stood off to the side with a hard, unyielding expression on his face. I swallowed as the last of that bloodthirsty rage left me.

“I understand,” I grated out. “I understand.” I didn’t have to emphasize that I finally understood that hollow, vicious ache in a male’s chest when their female was taken from them, when they felt the most important and vital part of them was ripped away. “Christ, I understand, brother.”

Odhran’s throat bobbed as he swallowed, and he ran a hand over his face. “Fooking hell,” he grumbled out. “Let’s go get our females.”

Dark, deadly solidarity settled in every single molecule that made me who and what I was, growing excited, bloodthirsty. All those things that made me the most dangerous vampire in the world.

“We’ll destroy the fucking world and everyone in it to get our females back.”

Odhran nodded slowly.

Yeah. Yeah, we sure as hell would do just that, and I’d be grinning the entire fucking time.