Page 151 of Wreck Me

Skylar strode to the guy and ripped the knife out, making him scream. An elbow to the face knocked him out and he went down hard on the stage floor. Skylar grinned at Bastian, spun the knife in her hand, then slotted it into one of the spare sheath holsters wrapped around her thighs.

“Those two were the last ones,” Bastian called to us.

“It’s done,” Cas confirmed, as the two of them led the women through, navigating around the dropped bodies on the bloodied battlefield.

Not enough blood for my liking. Or punishment and pain.

This had been tame by our standards.

But it worked well for our first mission after such a long break.

It had been quick and efficient, and having Skylar here had just added to that.

She’d been laser-focused, completely on-mission.

I hadn’t even seen her succumb to all the darkness in her, not even once.

I reasoned that she was likely mustering all her control to prove to herself and us that she had it in the bag, and probably to impress us too given her hero worship thing she had with The Jackals.

As Bastian and Cas led the women past us, Skylar jumped down from the stage and made her way over.

I smiled and wrapped my arm around her as she reached me.

“How did you like our first joint mission?”

A beaming grin spread over her face. “It was everything I thought it would be.”

“Yeah?”

She nodded. “It felt really good to be back, but even better to be doing it with you guys.”

“The feeling’s mutual, darling.”

I eased from her, then pulled the can of red spray paint from the inside pocket of my leather coat. As I started shaking it, I said, “Time for the final touch.”

She followed me out of the space and through the lobby where Cas was talking to the women and trying to comfort them.

Bastian looked out at us and in the better light of the lobby, he noticed the bruised forming across Skylar’s cheek after she’d taken that hefty punch from one of those fuckers. He was rushing over in the next second and fawning over her.

“I’m fine. It’s just superficial, nothing really,” she assured him.

He traced his fingers over her cheek and she snatched his hand. “I’m really okay.” She gave his hand a squeeze, then pulled him into her, lowering her voice to that sultry, sexy one as she told him, “That throw with the knife… that was sexy as hell.”

“Yeah?” he said, pushing into her.

I smiled, then left them to it, wanting to complete the mission.

I made it to the outside door of Shakers, then started branding it with the red paint until I’d formed our recognizable ‘J’. Such a simple thing, but it served to strike fear into the hearts of these sorts of places, these kinds of sick motherfuckers.

We were back now and word would spread quickly.

There’d be nowhere for these fuckers to hide.

“Long live Jackals justice,” I ground out.

I watched as Caspian communicated with the drivers of the unmarked vans who would return the girls home safely. Some of them were shaking and most definitely not from the cold. Others were crying. And some were wide-eyed and basically unmoving just staring off into space.

The latter had been what Hayley had been like when she’d been brought back home.