Page 96 of Matteo

Xander was a blur of motion and reaction as he landed a kick to my midsection. I went flying backward while the air left my body.

Quickly he was over me, his fist pounding into my face and body, his sadistic laughter crawling inside of my ears.

He finally grabbed a fistful of my hair that had grown a little longer and pulled my head back. “To think your weak pathetic ass put a baby in her first.”

His fist slammed into my face again and I began to see stars as I tried to comprehend his words.

An alarm began to go off somewhere in the background, loud and fierce as lights began to flash inside of the facility.

He kicked me one more good time in the side of the head, leaving me breathing hard and seeing stars. By then, Alaska had appeared outside of the door looking panicked, her red lips almost seeming to quiver.

“What's going on?” I heard Xander growl, as I struggled to sit up.

An intense, searing heat surged through my veins, spreading from my core like molten lava, and each breath brought a sharp, constricting pain, as though an invisible force was slowly crushing my ribcage from all sides.

“My boys,” I heard my mother say.

Thank fucking God, I thought.

“How?” Xander began to scream, a primal sound that made my ears ache. “It matters not, I will kill them next.”

As I struggled to sit up, my vision wavered like a foggy morning. I caught a glimpse of my mother reaching out, her fingers wrapping firmly around Xander's arm. He cast a glance at her hand, irritation flickering across his features before he jerked his arm free, leaving her hand hanging in the air.

“Xander, no! We will begin the Posideon Protocol…its already been enacted. We must go. We have everything we need now. Leave them…”

“No!” He screamed into her face and for the first time I think Alaska realized, she had lost control of her monster. “It’s time we eradicate them once and for all, Mother!”

Alaska’s back went straight, and her eyes narrowed. “You will obey me…stand down. Now!”

The alarms were still blaring, even louder now, and the flashing lights had me feeling as if we were were in a disco.

“They must be dealt with,” he looked over at me and I could see his chest rising and falling.

“I will not allow you to jeopardize everything I’ve built.”

“Then go! But I will kill them all tonight.”

He was gone then, and I tried to get to my feet to stand. Alaska looked over at me then. We hadn’t been this close in a while.

“This place will be completely flooded in less than twenty minutes,” she said simply. “I do want to thank you for what you have contributed to my research. I know you don’t see it that way now but this will be an honorable death.”

Our mother is a crazier bitch than I thought,I admitted to my Corsican.

She is,he sighed.But we need to save Rain.

I agreed, And kill Xander or we’ll never have our life back after this.

Pain was wracking my body, with every movement I took. I forced myself to stand, using the wall as support.

“Go, Mother,” I almost smiled. “But just know, you are truly dead to all of us. And I hope it was worth it.”

Alask arched a perfectly sculpted brow. “I’ll see you around, Augustus. My perfect boy.”

She slid a key card over the panel and all of her other techs came running out, sheer terror on their faces.

When they were all gone, I dared to go into the room, terrified of what I might see. Rain was still strapped to the table but beginning to come too.

I rushed to her side, my heart pounding as I took in her disheveled appearance. She looked so small and vulnerable.

---