Page 18 of Fired at the Heart

I move up to his side and aim at the guards on the right.

My first shot takes the farthest guard out, his brains splattering the wall behind him. My second catches the other guard as he spins toward us, his hand still on his holstered weapon as he crashes to the floor.

Raphael’s targets fall in perfect synchronization, so attuned it feels like we never stopped doing this together.

Breaths quickening, our eyes lock, and electricity crackles between us. No one else, not even Cassian, has ever been so in tune with me, and my soul sings with the rightness of having him by my side.

It takes effort to turn my head away, focusing instead on the heavy metal door that lies beyond the bloodstained card table.

Our intel said this was the way in, but now that we’re here, I can see it’s going to be a problem. The door is reinforced, likely bulletproof, and not something my lockpicks can get us through.

I point to a black rectangle on the wall. “Handprint reader?”

“Appears to be.” Raphael scans the men at the table. “Which of them do you think is the leader?”

I turn to study them and point to the man with the largest pile of chips. “Him.”

Holstering his weapon, Raphael grabs the body and drags him over to the wall. I join him and lift the man’s hand, pressing it to the reader. A red light flashes across the panel as it scans his palm, then turns green, and the door unlocks.

Raphael lets the body thud back to the ground, and I step over it to reach the door, opening it wider.

With our senses on high alert, we step into a dimly lit room beyond, and even through my mask, the stench of mold and decay reaches me. I take a moment to gain my bearings, my vision adjusting to the gloom.

And that’s when I see them.

The Omegas. Far more than we were led to believe were held here. A dozen of them, shackled to the walls, naked and staring at us with haunted eyes. The sight of it hits me like a punch to the gut, a wave of fury and revulsion washing over me.

Beside me, Raphael goes still, his body stiffening as anger rolls off him in waves, a mirror of my own emotions.

I take a deep breath, forcing down the rage that threatens to consume me. We have a job to do, and I can’t afford to let my emotions interfere.

I touch the communicator on the side of my throat. “Report.”

“Security down,” comes through the speaker. “Alpha and his dinner guests are secured.”

“Incendiary devices in place.”

“We found the Omegas,” I report. “We’re going to need more transportation.”

“Plenty of vehicles in the garage, boss.”

“Good. Find some clothes and notify the care team that they’ll have more patients than expected.” I turn to Raphael. “Check the body for keys to those shackles.”

Raphael crouches to pat down the guard, and when he doesn’t find keys, and checks the other bodies, too, before he straightens with a shake of his head. “One of the guards upstairs must have them.”

With a nod, I pull lockpicks from my pocket and pass Raphael a second set. “I hope you remember how to use these.”

“I haven’t let my skills get rusty.” He takes them, his fingers lingering on mine. “I won’t let you down.”

Pulse jumping, I pull my hand back. “I’ll take the left side, you take the right.”

We split up, and I move to the first Omega.

“It’s okay,” I murmur to the young woman who looks more like a child. “We’re here to help you. You’re safe now.”

Despite my reassurance, the Omega just stares at me, unmoving. The sight sends a sharp pang through my chest, stirring memories I don’t want to face. Not here, not now.

The stench of damp concrete and unwashed bodies presses in, suffocating, too familiar. A fine tremor shakes my fingers as I work the first lock, the cold metal reminding me of the ones that had bound my mother. I don’t let the emotion take hold. I shove it down, focusing on the mechanism, on the way the shackles spring open under my touch.

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