Page 92 of Resisted

Gage and I joined Roth, Taras, Boyce, and the rest of the team in a row, waiting for eyes to fall on us, waiting to be noticed. When they turned, when they finally realized that a man simply didn’t fall to the ground dead with weeping bullet wounds on his own, their bodies went rigid with fear before they tore their eyes away from the man on the ground and instantly was met with our stares.

It was their move. They could give him up for a painless end to this whole ordeal, though we knew that wouldn’t happen. A fact only emphasized when the first gun was raised, and the first shot was fired. It missed. The motherfucker had the nerve to take the first shot in a standoff and fucking miss. But it was what was needed to nudge us in the right direction, and once that shot was fired, vengeance was underway.

Chaos. It was pure chaos. Pure, adrenaline filled, satisfaction creating chaos. Despite Bella’s apprehension gnawing at my soul, I dove right into the mess of bodies as they plowed toward us, ready for the chaos to consume me, and it did. The moment the first person came at me, I was ready, and though I had weapons stronger than my fist, I would miss the gratification of my flesh against theirs. I would rob myself of the jubilation of effortlessly disarming them and leaving them powerless against the beast before them.

The first swipe of my clawed fist against skin of my opponent tore a scream from his mouth that was so loud, the echo damn near burst my eardrum, but the pain was worth it. I swiped again, slashing a hole in his chest from his shoulder to his abdomen, and it was satisfactory. When he fell to his knees in front of me and my palm slid into his chest like it was made of warm butter and I ripped his heart out, feeling it beat as it poured the last of its blood down my arm, I felt absolutely no remorse.

These men, or men from this same group, had killed my mate, left Bella an orphan and us to live years knowing that we were not enough to protect her. This time, when it came to saving Silas and proving to Bella our worth, we would be enough, because to not be was no longer an option. Losing another member of my subpack, another sliver of my almost black heart, was not a fucking option I was willing to live with. We might not have been what Bella wanted, but she was fucking stuck with us and I, for one, would not give her a reason to leave. I refused. I wouldn’t do it. I couldn’t stand to watch her walk away, not after the fates had gifted us a second chance—a second chance we couldn’t have if Silas didn’t make it through this.

Silas. Fuck, what a mess he was in. His bloody and battered body sat tied to that chair, and if I didn’t know by scent and mind who was in front of me, I would never fucking believe it. I never wanted to. His face was so fucking swollen, and what skin was exposed through the layers of dried and fresh blood was riddled with bruises of various colors. They would pay for what they had done, every last one of them would fucking pay, and I hoped it was painful. I hoped that the very last one of them standing was stuck begging for his life as we tore his intestines out with our teeth and proved just how savage we were.

He could have shifted, but with the numbers, I doubted it would have done him much good. Plus, wasn’t that what they wanted? To see the beast in his true form? To prove that they absolutely did exist in this world? Maybe video it. Get a crowd going. Post it live to social media. All the things that shifters like us feared would happen. Or worse than that…he could get stuck in his animal form. It had happened, and well, it wasn’t pleasant. When an animal sustains a lot of physical damage, it hinders the ability to return to human, and with science these days, I was almost positive something existed that would trap us in our animal forms.

A bullet grazed my arm while I was lost in thought, and it tore me back to the present, back to the grungy-looking man standing a few feet away, pointing his weapon at my heart as if I would let him take the shot. I was on him in a flash, my teeth bared as I snarled. My fingers fearlessly went for the weapon in his hand, only to bend its barrel with one slight squeeze of my grip. His Adam’s apple bobbed, the only sign of fear he was willing to show, that I allowed him to show, before my claws cut into his navel and ripped upward to his heart, where I squeezed. I allowed it to remain in his chest as I turned the organ liquid in my grasp and watched the light in his eyes diminish as his life drained away.

I wished I had time to savor the kill. My wolf wanted to howl in victory, seek his praise for a job well done, but the man knew that time was fragile and my pack and family were on the line. Neither of which I was willing to risk, not when we were so close to being whole. Beside me, the others clawed and fought their way to gain the upper hand, and where we were once outnumbered, we now were even. Each person faced off with another, a line of humans against a line of shifters, and behind them, fuck behind them, I saw Silas, unable to move. Unable to help. Hell, he was hardly able to breathe without the rope cutting against his bleeding chest, and the fucking sight, that would forever be engrained in my mind, caused a new wave of fury to roll through me. A wave that couldn’t be stopped, that I refused to let snuff out.

A guttural sound escaped my throat, a sound that was mirrored a second later by Boyce before we lunged. No one else near us got an opportunity to strike, or maybe they chose not to. The kills were ours, the damage and destruction that came with hunting down poachers was embedded in our souls, and though we had killed many times before, none of the kills were ever as satisfying as watching the life leave the eyes of the men in front of me.

“Enough!” A shout sounded, and for a moment, it didn’t register. Then I heard the voice boom one more time, breaking through the madness of the deadly rampage I was on, but it didn’t stop my clawed fingers from tightening around the neck of the body I held in the air as my mind paused to look around. The struggle of the body in my grasp didn’t faze me, the movement nearly unnoticeable as my eyes caught sight of a man standing in front of Silas, a controller in his hand.

He held his hand high, holding the controller up in the air like it fucking meant something. My mind was fogged with the thought of retaliation, death and destruction pumping through my veins, and for a moment, I didn’t notice the why of it. I didn’t see the metal wrapped tightly around Silas’ neck or the red light that periodically blinked, letting us know that it was on. I didn’t see the sudden fear in his eyes when the device registered, or how shallow his breaths became as he tried not to move.

I had missed all those things, my mind not fully clear. When my beast pulled back and clarity rushed in, every single detail slammed into me like an eighteen-wheeler going twice the speed limit, and inside, I panicked. I was damn near moments away from hyperventilating, but outside, I forced my nails out of the neck of the man I held, letting him drop to my feet, giving the fucker with the controller my full attention.

The man flung the controller in the air, spinning it before catching it. Wouldn’t you fucking know, we all held our breath, afraid that if he caught it wrong, and there was a massive chance he could have, then Silas would be fucked. But as it landed in his hand, nothing happened, and fuck if you didn’t hear the collective sigh. “A dog collar. It was a nice touch, right?”

No one answered him, and it was probably for the best because if I did manage to open my mouth, I knew that it would only expedite the button pushing. He continued, “I bet you’re wondering what this button here does?” He held up the controller, pointing to a single red button above a black one. “One flick of this button, and it’ll send pieces of his body so far out, they will plaster the walls and ceiling.” He laughed. “But this black one? Well, this black one…”

He pressed it. He fucking pressed the black button, and Silas’ body began to shake uncontrollably, his eyes fluttering involuntarily, his fingers clenching and unclenching. Then, as fast as it started, the black button was released, the light on the collar dimmed, and with it, the electricity that had shocked Silas. His head flopped forward, his body lifeless, and I felt dead inside and so fucking useless that I couldn’t help him when he was right there in front of me. I was weak, weakened by the control of another man, and I needed the upper hand. One more press of the button, one more shock, and I doubted he would make it through.

Luckily, Boyce stepped forward, speaking before I could. “Tell us what you want.”

He was nicer than I would have been. His question caused a chorus of humorous laughs from the remaining poachers. If Silas weren’t in a collar, if I’d just fucking moved faster or kept an eye on him so that the hunk of metal never made it to Silas’ neck, I would have already been on that man, tearing apart his neck like it was the most wholesome fucking meal I’d ever tasted. But he was in control, and because of that, despite my dislike for the matter, I had to behave. I couldn’t lunge. I couldn’t attack. At this point, he had our balls so tightly in his grasp that I couldn’t even blink without him controlling the action.

“What do I want?” He looked to his people, as if the answer to the question was obvious. Maybe it was and I was too dense to understand, but regardless, there had to be more to his wants than Silas in chains. If that were all he wanted, he could have done away with Silas long before we got here. “What I want is all of you.”

“That won’t happen.” Boyce’s voice was steady. “We won’t trade all the men here for the life of one.”

“I suspected not.” What Boyce said was true, but fuck, hearing it was nearly painful. “But I’m willing to let the others go…”

I cleared my throat. “For?”

The human smirked, and I could feel the sinisterness to my bones. Some people were born innocent and their habits and thoughts were learned as a product of their environment and their upbringing. But him? There was no question in my mind that this man standing in front of me was born with a soul that radiated evil.

“You two, of course. Alone, he’s worth a good chunk of change, but a whole group,thewhole group… Well…” He laughed. “I’d be living pretty good for a while.”

“We can’t be worth that much,” I mumbled. “We could strike another deal because we both know that won’t happen.”

He held the controller up, and Boyce jumped in. “Wait. If you want me, you can have me.”

The fuck he could. There was no fucking way. Our plan was always to sacrifice two out of three if it came to that, but to leave one—Boyce. He was the plan. Silas and I had led a good life, but the kid still had plenty of growing left. I knew Bella wouldn’t agree to that plan, but it was what we’d discussed. A trade, me for Silas. Me for the lot of them. Not us. Me.

“I’ll go, but he stays. He’s a kid,” I interjected.

The remote got waved in the air again. “He seems more than a kid to me. But what do I know? I’m only the one with the detonator.”

My heart rate picked up and I looked to Roth for guidance, but he offered me none. His eyes were solely on Boyce, his trust in him. Didn’t Roth know that he was the baby in our subpack? That Boyce was never the leader and always the follower, always the easygoing guy? He wasn’t made for situations like this, his heart was still too soft.

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