Page 48 of The Rise

“There’s no way they found Chaos by chance,” Rylan says. He’s right. They didn’t but I can’t figure out how they would have known.

“What are you thinking?” I ask him as I rest my forearms on the seat in front of me.

“I don’t know. Do you suspect any of the Gods?” he asks. I shake my head.

“Not that I can think of. We haven’t had any issues in a long time,” I reply. I can’t think of a single God who would do this shit. Why would they? It doesn’t make sense.

“I don’t know, Hunter, something just doesn’t feel right.”

“You think we should call it off?” I ask him. I trust Rylan with my life. If he isn’t feeling it, then there’s usually a reason, and I respect what he has to say.

“No. You’re right about finding them first. We need to hit them before they hit us,” he says. I nod my head.

“He’s right. Let’s get to them before they come back,” Silas adds.

“I appreciate you guys coming along,” I tell them.

“Fuck off, Hunter. We’re family. And I’ve told you, things between the Kings and the Gods are going to change. We’ve been separated way too much in the past, and that shit doesn’t make any sense,” Rylan says.

“I get it, Ry. I’m about ready for some damn changes around here,” I tell him.

“So, you’re married now. How’s that going?” Silas inserts, changing the subject.

“It’s good, Silas. You know, you never think you’re going to find someone who will accept your damn demons as their own, but Lana does. She doesn’t judge me or look at me some kind of way.”

“Then you got a good one, Hunter.”

“Yeah, I agree. Let’s just hope she stays that way after what I have planned,” I tell them. They both laugh but don’t ask questions. None of us are in our right minds and we’ve accepted that a long time ago. We do questionable things to people and don’t think about the repercussions.

The ride is silent as we get closer and closer to the area we suspect they’re at. The anticipation is high as fuck. I can feel my blood running colder and colder.

The thought of them touching Lana causes my blood to run ice cold. The thought of them hurting her and taking a life from her. The anger it causes me is hard to keep pushed down, but I do my best. If I don’t keep it contained, I will kill them on the spot and not even get to have any fun with them.

We pull into a parking lot with the other guys behind us and climb out. We move to the trunk, grab our bulletproof vests, and slip them on before getting the guns ready.

“The building is right over there,” I tell the others, nodding toward it. “We don’t know how many are in there. We don’t know anything about the fucking layout either. The mission is to get in there and see if it’s them, and if it is, we want them alive. Anyone else, kill them.” The guys nod their heads as they finish getting ready to go.

Once we’re all set, we start making our way toward the building. You would think we were the fucking military the way we move around so stealthily. We’re down the road and up against the side of the building, ready to move.

I raise my hand and motion for some of them to go around back as the rest of us hit the front. We give them time to get back there before we move to stand in front of the door. Rylan raises his hand and counts us down when I kick the door in.

We move in quickly and make our way through the first room, not finding anyone, but there are signs of trafficking. There are cages along one wall and a mess of clothes on the other.

Rylan motions for us to keep going, and we make our way down the hallway. A few guys break off to go to the left and the others to the right. We kick open the first door, and kids begin to scream.

“Fuck,” I mumble under my breath as I take them in. We back out of the room and close the door for now, knowing we now need to be extra careful with what we’re doing.

We move down the hall further and keep checking rooms until the last one. My nerves are firing off one by one, and when wekick the door open, the shots are fired. We fire off a few rounds ourselves, but we’re careful where we aim. We move into the room as a team, rushing the assholes in the corner. A few shots hit my vest, nearly knocking me on my ass. The pain shoots through my body, but I don’t stop.

“Get the fuck on your stomach!” I hear Silas yelling as I blink my eyes rapidly. The pain is intense as I reach around and pull the zip-ties from my back pocket, tossing them to the guys. I shake my head and step back, letting them get a handle on them.

“You hit?”

“Hit the vest,” I tell him.

“Shit. You sure?” I don’t fucking know at this point because the pain is ripping through me.

“Hunter?” Rylan calls out to me.

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