17. ~Mason~

17

~Mason~

My pencil flew across the page.

Something had snapped back into place for me since we'd been up here.

Well, it could've been anywhere, but it was just the fact of our foursome—the positive impact it was having on me.

And my creativity.

I'd flown through five tattoo designs in the last couple of hours.

They were damned good too.

Inspiration and creativity were coursing through me like livewires.

Working on my design journal had started earlier as a means to tamper down my anxiety about what was going on, while we waited on Lev's program to complete to detect Royce's location, and also on Bree's Vixen to pull the intel we needed too.

I wasn't used to sitting back and allowing others to take the lead.

But we were a team now, and the two of them were best suited to these particular tasks.

As I'd sunk into my drawings, though, it had become a lot more than sublimating.

I was allowing it to become a bigger part of me again.

I was allowing it back in.

It wasn't time to immerse myself back into it fully.

But the fact that I could see the possibility now was a huge thing.

The reminder that it wasn't yet time, though, hit me as rushed footsteps sounded down the corridor outside my bedroom, and then Bree's voice rang out.

"Mason!"

"In here, dark angel! My bedroom!" I called back.

A moment later, I looked up from my journal as I sat leaning against the headboard of my bed to see Brianna walking in with Colt just behind her, his guitar slung over his back.

"We have a problem."

"That should be our fucking mantra or something," Colt groused.

Bree reached out and fondled his mohawk. "Only until this is all over, sweetheart."

He preened at her words of comfort and her cute way with him.

And then she snapped back into action and walked into the room with her phone in hand.

When she reached me, she held it out and I pushed off the bed and rose to my feet to take it.

The program Levi had left running while he was gone that would get eyes on Royce Humphrey flashed on the screen.

"It's completed," she told me.

"Already?" I asked, even as I saw the startling evidence for myself. "That was a mammoth area to cover."

She lifted a shoulder, pride shining in her eyes.

And a little arousal too.

"It's Levi. He wrote the program himself. He could plug in specific variables to narrow things down and discount unnecessary data."

I studied the screen. "Fuck me, it's found the bastard."

Bree nodded. "The most recent sighting was two hours from here at a truck stop."

"Shit," Colt exclaimed. "There's nothing else around that area—around here—for hours on end. He's gotta be coming for us."

"With his mercenaries too, according to the footage Levi's program was able to pull."

"A dozen of them," I spoke aloud as I took in the program's report.

Another curse left me as I rapidly tried to formulate a plan of action.

I didn't get more than a few seconds to absorb the data as my phone rang.

I snatched it up from the bed to see that it was Levi calling.

I swiped it open and hurriedly put him on speakerphone.

His voice came down the line before I could even answer, urgency coming off him in waves, "Are you seeing what I'm seeing from the program?"

"Yeah, we've seen it, Lev," I assured him.

The sound of his Harley roaring filled our ears.

"Wait. Are you riding and checking your phone?" Colt asked incredulous, because Lev didn't do that. Ever.

"Yeah, I was worried about you all. I couldn't wait the hours' long drive until I got back to you."

"How far out are you?" Bree asked.

"Too far to get back there and pack up with you. Take care of it now. I'm gonna call my dad and have him prepare for our arrival so he can secure the estate like Fort fucking Knox and bring us in discreetly so it doesn't bring Royce or Lynch bearing down on him."

"I'm not running from Royce Humphrey," Bree ground out vehemently.

"You sure as fuck are," Levi growled.

"No. This is our chance to end that fucker."

"The risk is too high."

"A dozen of his military trained guys are with him," I pointed out.

"So we split up. Four-to-one can be handled. If Lev can get here in time, it'll be even more possible."

"That's one of the most reckless things I've ever fucking heard. And coming from me, of all people, that's really saying something, cupcake. And Brianna? This is not fucking happening. Do you hear me?"

"He murdered my mom right in front of me. He abused you. Taunted me. Egged Malcolm Lynch on when he was ripping me apart over and over. I can't turn away when he's gonna be here within my grasp! I won't!"

Stunned silence filled the space and down the line from Lev.

"Wildflower, I love you. Please don't do this to me. That many soldiers at his side, you won't be able to come out on top. You very likely won't even get within reach of him at all. But what will happen, is you'll get hurt. For fucking nothing. This is not the time to take that motherfucker."

"Levi—"

"I swear to you, there will be another."

"We'll fucking well create another time to put him down," I told her.

She gritted her teeth, clenching her fists, trying to fight the urge.

Colt was there then, wrapping his arm around her. "Please, cutie. We need you safe, we need all of us safe and together."

Slowly, she managed a nod. "Okay. Yeah, okay."

"Fuck. Thank you."

Relief rolled through me that it had been stopped at that.

I'd made a vow to her that I wouldn't use extreme methods with her like I had in order to bring her up here.

So if she hadn't listened, there would be no way for me to get her out of here against her will.

I wouldn't risk what we'd built and what had flourished between all four of us since we'd been up here.

"All right, move now. He was tagged by my program via those security cameras at the truck stop two hours ago, but it took time to search through a whole load of them to pick him up, meaning he could be anywhere right now. There's no businesses or homes past that point all the way up to Boreas, so we're blind at the moment. He could be there at any time. Don't risk it. Pack quick and go. I'm riding as fast as I can. Brianna, I'm gonna hack into the GPS on your phone so I can track you guys. Stay together, all right? And, are you okay with that, Wildflower?"

"Yeah. Go ahead."

"Asking permission ? You've come a long way, brother," Colt said. "Proud of you."

"Well, I'm only asking from the three of you. Everyone else is fair game."

I chuckled, thankfully his words adding some much-needed levity to the situation.

"We're gonna move now, Lev. Keep in close contact."

"Will do. Watch your six. All of you."

"We will," Bree confirmed.

I hung up, then turned to the two of them. "Time to move."

"That's everything," Bree confirmed as I took the last reinforced steel case from her and packed it into her charcoal gray Charger.

It contained Levi's computer—hacking—equipment. The fucking case could probably actually withstand a RPG strike, it was that hardcore, something he'd borrowed from Knightsridge Engineering. Lev loved discovering new prototypes there. Roman loved it less when he did, obviously.

The Charger had been the most non-descript, non-attention drawing vehicle we'd had immediate access to at the time of rushing up here.

My black shiny Porsche was an attention-getter of a vehicle as was Colt's satin-blue Mercedes. Lev had brought his Harley when he'd had to drop the van back in Stonewell after transporting the mercenaries, which hadn't been ideal for the snow. But we'd had to make do.

It had helped that Brianna's Charger wasn't listed to her, or her father, or technically connected to her. She'd protected herself there to minimize anyone's ability to track her—at least via her vehicle.

Smart woman .

As usual with her.

"Yeah?" I asked, always needing to double-check with everything.

She'd been in charge of packing up all of Levi's equipment, because she had the know-how there that Colt and I didn't.

Meanwhile, I'd packed her clothes and supplies along with my own and Colt had packed up Levi's along with his.

We were ready to move out.

Twenty minutes was all it had taken, because we'd worked smoothly and efficiently.

Just the way I liked it.

Colt came down from the snowy hill toward the car carrying two gym bags full of clothes, his gold puffer jacket a similar style to Bree's swishing about him with his rapid movements and the way he swung his arms when he was hurrying along—even with bags in his hands.

"Good to go," he told me as he reached us.

"Perfect," I said, taking one from him as he reached us and hauling it into the trunk, while he took care of the other.

I shut the trunk, then unzipped my aviator jacket to withdraw the keys and hand them back to Bree when my phone started buzzing wildly in my pocket.

I pulled it out to see a whole lot of flashing red.

Fuck me.

"The electric fence has been tripped."

Bree frowned. "The fence, but not the early-warning system?"

"Royce must've caught onto it and circumvented it."

"Shit. Let's go. Right now," Colt said, heading for the passenger seat.

He didn't even make it that far as two gunshots rang out, echoing brutally through the area.

The two front tires popped a split-second later, the car lurching.

We all spun around, following the trajectory of the shots and the sounds to see four hooded guys all in black emerging from the trees to our left.

The sounds of footsteps in the snow came from the right and we looked to see another four coming from that direction.

"On your knees, kiddos!" a voice rang out coming from behind us by the house, and there were the remaining four mercenaries striding around the side of the house.

Royce Humphrey made unlucky thirteen, leading the way.

Middle-aged as opposed to his soldiers who were in their early thirties at most, he was a tall and lanky guy. He was decked out the same as them in all black.

The twelve of them closed in around us.

When Royce reached us, he stroked his goatee and started eye-fucking Bree, so Colt and I stepped in front of her, blocking his view.

Slimy piece of shit.

"All the trouble you've caused me, how you've put not only my operations at risk, but my goddamn life, we should be here to kill you. But I need leverage, I need to make sure Malcolm knows it's not me coming at him. And he'll want a gift to go along with it. That's you. You'd think that would mean I'm showing mercy here, but, believe me, death would be the mercy. Once you're in Malcolm's hands, the horrors will truly begin." He looked at Brianna through the small gap between me and Colt. "Isn't that right, pretty princess."

I felt her shudder against us.

"Where's Knight?"

"No idea," I ground out.

"I wouldn't be so hasty, Hall. I've got twelve guys here who get off on spilling a whole lot of blood."

"You're not touching him!" Colt yelled.

Royce slapped his hand over his heart sarcasm dripping. "How touching." His eyes narrowed in the next second, switching on a dime like a psycho. "And foolish."

I stepped forward and hissed, "Like I said, he's not here."

He sneered. "No matter. He'll come when we're done here. He'll try to stop me from handing you over. We'll take him then."

"You aren't taking him anywhere, you piece of shit," Bree seethed, stepping out from behind us and facing her former tormentor head-on, like the brave and impressive woman that she was.

"Damn, you've grown up good. I'll make sure to have a taste before I hand you over to Malcolm."

Everything happened so fast then.

Colt lost his composure at the despicable threats to her and threw his fist.

It slammed into the underside of Royce's jaw, making his head snap back and destabilizing him.

As he stumbled back, he bellowed at his guys, "Subdue them! And make it fucking hurt!"

He stepped back, folding his arms across his chest and looking on sadistically to enjoy the fucked-up show.

And then the guys closed in.

Before they could fully, I smashed my fist into the closest guy, knocking him to the snow in one shot.

I spun as another tried to take a shot at me, and caught his fist, twisting it brutally until I heard a telltale snap that had him grunting. And then I yanked him toward me and used the hold as leverage to haul him around and toss him into two more incoming guys.

As I kicked back another with my boot, I caught sight of Brianna jumping onto the hood of the car, then smashing her foot into a hostile's face, blowing him back.

As another tried to grab her, she leapt up onto the roof of the car and assumed a fighting stance.

Two approached her from either side.

Thankfully, I saw Colt grab one of them and wrench them back, then he smashed their face into the trunk, knocking them out cold.

Distracted by the wellbeing of my loves, my plan to cut a path through the guys was jeopardized when I took a brutal hit to the gut.

Instinctively, it forced me to double over, and then I took a hammer fist to the back of the neck that drove me to my knees in the snow.

One of them rounded me and fisted my hair, wrenching my head back, and about to knee me in the face in a clear attempt to knock me out, or keep beating me until it had the same result.

As they raised their knee, something cut through the air.

In the next split-second, a knife was buried in the guy's throat.

As he choked and collapsed, I looked out to see Bree giving me a chin lift, before she spun into a spinning kick that propelled her latest opponent off the roof of the car and had him landing with a hefty thud on the hood. He ricocheted off it and hit the ground on his back.

As I shoved back more hostiles, the fuckers overrunning us by their sheer numbers, I caught sight of Colt struggling to defend himself against three that had closed in around him.

I ducked and rolled away from those closing me in, coming up by the guy Bree had killed, and wrenching the knife from his corpse.

And then I tossed it at one of Colt's opponents.

It plunged into their chest, right on target for their heart and they lurched, sinking into the snow wheezing.

Colt looked out at me and winked, before ripping the knife out too, then turning it on the other two hostiles.

As much as we were giving it our all, as soon as we took one down, several more took their place.

There were just too many.

The odds really weren't in our favor.

And as much as I hated it and the connotations of weakness and failure associated with it, we needed to call a retreat.

A strategic fucking retreat.

I called out to Colt and Bree, "Head for the house!"

Against all rhyme and reason, we managed to break free with a whole lot of dodging, weaving and ducking.

"Go! Go! Go!" I yelled to Bree and Colt as we reached the door of the house and Colt punched in the passcode on the electronic lock.

They rushed inside and I slid in just in time, slamming the door closed and locking it as two of the hostiles crashed into it.

I spun around to face my loves, the three of us breathing heavily.

"How is everyone?" I asked, looking them over.

Thankfully, Bree looked untouched and Colt only had a mild bruise across his right cheek.

For my part, my ribs were killing me.

The guy who'd kicked me in the gut had done more damage that I'd let on, even to myself, while we'd been in the throes of battle. It was trying to move, let alone run.

Thankfully, adrenaline was helping me out, helping me to push onward.

"All good here," Colt said.

He laid his hand on Bree's shoulder and she jolted, jerking away.

"Sorry," she exclaimed, holding up her hands apologetically. "I just… seeing him again… it's a lot."

"No need to apologize at all," Colt told her.

"I'm so sorry this is happening, dark angel." I gestured to the right. "Let's get you out of here ASAP. We'll head to the house entrance into the garage and make a break for it via snowmobile."

Colt nodded. "Wild idea, but the only way out right now, unless we head through the trees."

"Heading out on foot risks them catching up to us," I said."

"The fact we didn't hear them coming points to them parking their vehicles really far out, so we access the snowmobiles and they'll only be able to chase on foot," Bree pointed out, already coming back to herself despite the shock of a demon from her past showing up right at our door and a massive attack descending on us.

That was our woman.

Resilient.

Courageous.

Fierce.

As the hostiles slammed into the front door, trying to break it down, we bolted through the vast space of the house, headed for the access door to the garage.

We were just thirty feet out when a thunderous crash sounded as we were passing the kitchen.

I swung my head to see several of Royce's guys pushing through the wreckage of the kitchen door and the shattered windows either side, glass littering the linoleum floor like a jagged carpet.

I snatched the knife Colt still had from earlier and rushed forward as they tried to bolt from the kitchen toward us.

Before the closest one could even touch me, I snagged his arm, wrenched his gun from his holster, then pistol-whipped him with it.

As he staggered back, I cocked it, then fired off a brutally close range shot to his kneecap.

A blood curdling scream tore from the asshole's throat as he collapsed onto the ground, clutching his bloodied, shattered knee and writhing uncontrollably.

"Holy shit," I heard Colt gasp, having a difficult time dealing with the full-on, no-holds-barred brutality. It was a lot different than merely trading punches.

The guy just behind the guy I'd felled hesitated at what had just happened to his buddy.

I took advantage of it, firing a bullet through his left shoulder that had him roaring in agony and falling back.

The third guy let out a battle cry and lunged, but I reacted quicker, caught up in merciless life-and-death mode that was reminiscent of the incident from five years ago.

I snagged him and slammed him against the door frame, ducking as the guy threw a right hook. I thrust my fist into his gut over and over in a series of rapid-fire blows that had him choking and doubling over.

I'd just delivered a clip to his jaw that had him crumbling to the floor, when a knife sailed past us, and I watched it tear through the eye of the guy I'd kneecapped, killing him instantly.

I turned to see Brianna standing there giving me a nod.

Commotion from the front door had us looking to see it blasting open and four more rushing in.

I burst out of the kitchen and fired off consecutive shots that put all four down swiftly with a simple kill shot through the skull.

But then more movement caught our attention just a moment before more guys burst from the living room, another couple rushing down the stairs.

Jesus.

They were upon us in moments and I only got to fire off one more shot before I was slammed into the wall, another hostile smashing my hand against it over and over until he was able to yank the gun free and toss it away.

It was chaos then as we were descended upon.

I didn't even get the chance to look out to see where Colt and Bree were.

I was ripped off my feet by a sweep to the ankles and I grunted as I landed hard on the hardwood floor.

I thrust my forearms up as three guys wailed on me until it was all a blur of unadulterated violence.

Jesus. They were gonna take us.

I couldn't stop it.

We were completely overrun.

Just when it looked like it was over, automatic fire rang out, jolting the shit out of me.

The guys assaulting me were downed in moments, torn apart and riddled with bullets.

I pushed back to my feet to see all of them being ripped into with the furious fire.

When it finally came to an end, an eerie silence took over, the only sounds I was aware of being mine and Colt's heavy breathing.

I turned to see him with a black eye and his knuckles bloodied, him sweating all over.

He was still standing, he was all right.

I went to seek out Brianna amongst the mess and check she was okay too, when footsteps at the top of the stairs pulled our attention.

It wasn't her.

Colt and I looked up to see a guy at the top of the stairs instead with a machine gun in hand, decked out in red and black padded snowmobile gear, a crimson balaclava over his head giving off Red Hood vibes.

He nodded at us, then pulled off the balaclava and I started when I took in the sight of Roman Knight.

He rushed down the stairs, taking in all the dropped bodies, and came to us.

"Are you hurt?" he asked, that fatherly concern of his coming forth that he'd always shown to Levi in spades.

"Just superficial," I told him, looking to Colt for his confirmation.

Colt nodded. "How did you… what are you doing here?"

"Figured you could use a hand." He slapped his gun. "Or a few bullets."

Through the shock of it, it took me a few moments to take stock, and then I was spinning around and looking every which way, becoming frantic with it as I uttered breathlessly, "Where the hell is Brianna?"