Page 73 of When Kings Fall

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.

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