He
was standing there, well-groomed like he just stepped out of a meeting. “Are you coming in?”
My
hands gripped the steering wheel, giving him a sharp stare. “You’re in my space, Luke. Can you step back?”
He
smirked knowingly as I pushed open the door. He stepped back, allowing me to walk around him. I leaned my hip against the door with arms crossed defensively. “Let's talk,” I said.
His
eyebrows shot up with mock surprise. “Outside? I think not.” He gestured toward his house. “Shall we?”
Damn
it to hell. I gave him a scowl before walking up the stairs, feeling his heated stare on my ass. “Enjoying the view back there?” I snapped.
He
laughed. “Of course. It's a lovely view. It always has been.”
I
snorted. “You’re an ass,” I responded as I stood waiting for him to open the door to his lair of doom. He pushed open the door grandly, allowing me to walk into the house. My sneakers squeaked loudly on the black marble floors with Luke following close behind me. So close that his cloying cologne made me want to throw up. He pressed a hand onto my back, his icky fingers trailing seductively along it.
I
spun around quickly, shoving him back. “Don't touch me. Ever!”
Amusement
flitted across his face. “Apologies,” he said quickly.
“Can
we get this over with?” He was creepy and I wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible.
“Follow
me,” he said with that weird smile that made me very uneasy. We walked into the expensively designed living room with a fireplace roaring. Luke gestured toward the leather sofa. “Have a seat.”
Crossing
my arms, I stared at him. “I’d rather not. I won't be here long.”
He
shrugged, sitting down in a large leather chair, staring at me with an indecent look that told me that he was undressing me with his eyes.
“I
want you to leave me alone. Leave Knox alone. And lastly, stay the fuck away from my family.”
“No
,” he responded flatly. “If I can’t have you, no one can.”
I
pulled the gun out and aimed. “I tried to reason with you, Luke.”
He
actually laughed at me like I was some sort of joke. “You won't kill me, Storm.” He got up from the chair and walked toward me slowly. “You love me.”
“Believe
me,”—my stance widened—“I don't love you.” My finger slowly squeezed the trigger. “And I will kill you.”
He
stopped mid-step, watching me with an amused look on his face.
I
continued. “You're trying to hurt what is mine. And that will never do.”
“Do
you think that you can just kill me and end my family's mission? I'm not the only descendant of Morpheus. Nor am I the only follower. We are the Shadows… always watching… always vigilant. He reached a hand toward me. “Don't you understand what we're trying to do?”
“No,
I don’t. But what I do see is that you and your followers, the Shadows, are a bunch of fucking nut jobs that need to be exterminated like roaches.”
“Don't
you fucking get it?” he screamed, practically foaming at the mouth. “I'm among the last of the living blueblood warlocks.” He gave me a cruel smile. “And with the union of our bloodline, we’ll be unstoppable.”
My
jaw tightened. “That’s highly unlikely, nut job.”
His
eyes narrowed. “You don't even realize how powerful you are. The Fae left this realm centuries ago. But their gift to us, to the world… is you. We will recreate this world. Exterminating the Others and making humans our slaves as our greatness dictates.”
Every
hateful thing that spewed from his mouth only made me more upset. He and the Shadows were some elitist fucks that had to be stopped. “Oh, I get it all right. You want to stage some ridiculous revolution using my family. So let me clue you in real quick. It's not going to happen. In all the centuries your family and followers stalked us, killing every man we loved, has it ever occurred to any of you that we would rather render ourselves childless than to procreate with you psychos?”
“We
can do this the easy way or the hard way.” His jaw tightened. “But you’ll come to see our way.” He stepped forward.
“That
’s not going to happen.” It was time to send him a warning message that I meant fucking business. Slowly, I squeezed the trigger. The bullet grazed his ear. Luke squealed, jumping back hotly while grabbing his bloody ear.
“Lucky
shot,” he snarled.
“Luck
has nothing to do with it. This just got real for you, Luke. I feel threatened by your aggressive actions. So if I were you, I wouldn't make any sudden movements.” I smiled coldly.
“Bullshit
.” He took a step forward.
“Freeze!”
I screamed, aiming for his knee. “Do you like walking? Because I'm prepared to blow them both out.”
He
froze in his tracks, wiping impatiently at the blood dripping from his ear. “Okay, Storm, you kill me, then what?”
My
eyes narrowed. “Dispose of your body. Eliminate the problem. Make the world safer for humanity and the Others. And last but not least, go back to my mate and live in fucking peace,” I responded coolly.
Taking
a life was not high on my to-do list, but I would if it meant saving countless innocent lives. He was dangerous—shit, his whole family was. The sheer number of men his family killed without remorse was staggering. Killings throughout centuries that caused Credence women to suffer needlessly, with some of them going damn near insane from the burden of the Credence Curse. It was just cruel and inhumane. And now, I had the opportunity to set everything straight just with one bullet. With a bonus of stopping any world takeover that he and his band of crazy followers were planning.
“What
mate?” he asked sharply.
I
laughed cruelly. “Oh, did I forget to tell you? I'm now mated to Knox. Surprise!”
His
face glowed red with rage. I didn't care. I was too concerned with deciding which knee to blow out first. That's when the crazy bastard charged me, screeching hysterically like a reality show contestant. I got off one bullet to his shoulder before he tackled me like a football player, knocking the gun out of my hand and sending it sailing across the floor. Pain ricocheted through my body, my legs splayed awkwardly, as his body pinned me to the ground. His blood dripped from his wound.
I
fought against him like a mad woman. The only thing that I could think of was survival as my blood-coated arms slipped, adding an extra complication to every move I made to escape. I didn't know what came first, his rage or mine, but a full-out fight ensued with him banging the back of my head against the floor with such force my vision swam.
His
face was a distorted mask of sheer madness when he screamed, “You bitch!” over and over like some weird chant.
Pulling
all my will and strength, I fought the urge to black out. My pulse raced. My instincts and training guided me as I swung my knee up into his groin so hard I even felt the force jarring against his body. I followed up with the heel of my hand to his nose so hard the blow sent blood everywhere.
Luke
rolled over onto his back, screaming in pain like a hysterical girl. Rolling away, I scrambled to my knees, crawling away on all fours and trying to put as much distance as possible between us. The crazy bastard somehow got his bearing, lunging toward me with inhumane speed, yanking my foot toward him. The bite of his fingers across my ankle sent me into sheer panic, kicking him hard in the face and scrambling to my feet. I was a mess with his blood coating my clothes and face. Panting and tired as I circled him, I got into a fighting stance.
Just a little more, and I win this thing… getting out of here alive.
He
wobbled to his feet, swaying unsteadily toward me. “I still want you, Storm. Despite the fact you sullied yourself with that human. You're strong. A fighter. Beautiful. Imagine what we could do together.”
Circling
him warily, I waited for an opening to strike a deadly blow. “But isn't that what we Credence women do? Sully ourselves with humans?” I spat sarcastically, taking a step back, preparing to strike him in the throat. He charged at me wildly. Smoothly, I delivered a roundhouse kick to his chest, knocking him back. Recovering, he charged again, this time grabbing my leather jacket and tugging at it wildly. I punched and kicked so hard that I felt the impact in my bones. But no matter what I did, he kept coming at me. It was like he was on some super steroids. He was taking my blows like it was nothing. Swinging me around, he banged me face first against the wall, plastering his body against me swiftly. He started rubbing his groin against my butt while moaning and panting like some sort of barn animal, all while successfully pinning my hands to my side.
“You're
a damn freak,” I gritted out before headbutting him with the back of my head, feeling instant satisfaction at the sound of the crunch with the connection against his nose. But he remained steadfast. His breath came out harder against my ears. I couldn't believe the pervert was getting off on this.
I
was almost in full-on panic mode, waiting for a lapse in his posture for my opportunity to launch another attack, when I heard loud crashing and ripping sounds. It was like someone was tearing the door off the hinges. I froze, waiting, but there was an eerie silence like the calm before the storm. There was a horrific growl that shook the ground like an earthquake before Luke's body was ripped away. Swerving my head, my body froze at the sight of a huge, feral, midnight-black wolf dragging a flaying and kicking Luke across the marble floor like yesterday's trash. Luke’s kick connected with the wolf’s flank, which only seemed to incense the wolf even more.
The
wolf’s hackles rose with its lips curled back, displaying nothing but fangs and gums. It was circling Luke, reaching in periodically to bite and rip into his flesh. It was almost like it was toying with Luke. Blood flew everywhere as sounds of flesh being mauled filled the air. It was terrifying, and I was undecided if I should run from the feral wolf while I had a chance or not. I decided on the latter as I backed away slowly, trying not to make any large movements that would turn the ferocious wolf on me. I was almost at a safe distance away when I bumped into something hard.
“Going
somewhere, Storm?”
I
yelped, swinging around, only to stare at Soar, Rip, and Jackal standing there like some great wall of muscle. “How did you find me?”
Rip
smiled cockily. “Knox put a tracker on your cell.”
That
sneaky bastard. I tried to move past them. The wolf growled menacingly with his green eyes strangely keyed in on me. My body froze.
“I
advise you not to move. He seems to be a little pissed off at you at the moment,” Jackal said calmly.
“Rightly
so,” Rip added, giving me a stern look. “You need to be bent over his lap, getting your ass smacked… hard for this asinine stunt.”
“Oh,
she’s going to get more than that at the end of this little ordeal. He's fucking pissed,” Soar added with a smirk.
My
heart raced with fear. I couldn’t deal with a pissed off wolf-shifter right now. “Who is that?” I licked my lips nervously, feeling like my bladder was about to fail. “Ryker?”
Soar
dropped the bundle of clothes in his hand on the floor. “Nope. Guess again, sweetness.”
My
eyebrows rose.
Jackal
nodded toward the wolf tearing into Luke. “Darling, I wouldn’t want to be you when Knox is finished with that warlock.”
My
eyes widened, feeling like my world was being upheaved. “What the hell are you talking about?”
They
shrugged, looking over at the wolf-shifter tearing into Luke. I jammed my hands on my hips. “Are you fucking around?” They just stared at me. I turned to look at the wolf attacking Luke with such ferocity that I almost felt sorry for him.
I
looked on anxiously. He looked damn near feral and that couldn't be good. “Well? Are you guys going to do something?”
“Like
what? He’s got this,” Soar responded nonchalantly.
I
pointed over at the blood and carnage. “He's ripping him into shreds. Don't get me wrong, the world could do with less trash, but I came here for answers and he’s killing the only person that can provide them.” I needed to know more about his cult, about who killed Celina, and anything else the little prick could tell me.
They
just shrugged.
I
walked forward. “Oh hell, just fuck it.” They swiftly blocked me.
“Are
you crazy? He'll hurt you by mistake,” Rip said crisply.
“I'm
not stupid. Move.” I shoved at them. My abrupt movement made Knox stop and growl at them like he was going to attack.