Page 71 of Frenzy
Rosa’s face crumpled as she swung down from the ceiling like a spider monkey. She fell into my arms, sobbing. “They took Pryce. I saw them surround the house while I was studying for my chem quiz and I gathered the kids up and stuck them in the roof cavity, but I was too late to get Pryce. They hit him in the head and dragged him away.” She choked around another sob. “I broke my perfume to throw them off and hid like a coward.”
Fuck. I squeezed her tighter to my chest. “No, Rosa, you did the right thing. God, you’re so fucking smart. Now I need you to be brave again, alright? Let's get the kids down. We need to get you out of here.”
I grabbed a chair and Winston handed down the babies first, then the smaller kids until he jumped down himself. “Okay, you have two minutes. I need you to get your cell phones and charging cables, diapers, bottles and formula. That's it,” I told the two oldest kids. I handed the babies to the two younger ones. “Hold them properly and follow me, okay?”
I walked down the hall to my bedroom, going to the gun safe and pulling out a gun, a box of ammo and a spare clip. Then I grabbed a stack of cash. I stuffed all that into a backpack in my closet. By the time I got back to my door, Rosa and Winston had the other stuff. I threw it all into the backpack and zipped it up.
“Let’s go.”
I jogged back down the stairs, my gun at my side, but still I didn’t see anyone. I needed to get the kids to Bonnie’s car, and then I was going to make Bonnie leave, take all the kids, including hers from the Sanctum, and run. But where?
Naja’s? You couldn’t get there by van, only by ATV, and they needed the vehicle.
When I got to the van, I was happy to see the keys in it. But then I smelled the blood. So much of it.
Rosa threw me a panicked look, and she looked a second away from freaking the fuck out. I gave her the second gun and pointed to the van. “Get the kids in.” She blinked toward the door, her face growing more and more pale as her brain caught up to what that tangy metallic scent meant. “Now, Rosa!”
My tone snapped her into action and she threw open the sliding door, ushering the kids inside. I slowly crept to the front door of the Sanctum, which was partially ajar. Blood had pooled underneath.
Blood that smelled like Bonnie.
I pushed it open slowly, and came face to face with a Manix. I lifted my gun, pointing it at his face. “Get the fuck away!”
“Dominic?” he rumbled. “It’s me. Taylor.” He transformed back into a boy I’d seen at the cafe only hours earlier, looking terrified. “I came home for my lunch break and—”
He pulled back the door, and Bonnie was there, lying on the floor, blood pooled around her body.
“NO!” I slid along the floor, no longer keeping watch, no longer caring if someone snuck up behind me and shot me. I checked her pulse and huffed a small, relieved breath that it was still there, but thready. If I didn’t get her help soon, she wouldn’t make it.
Taylor looked like he was trying hard to keep it together, but he was just a fucking kid. “One of the other kids said it was Legion Force, that they just walked up and shot her. They’re keeping the little ones away so they don’t see Bonnie, but I didn’t know what the hell to do? Who do I call?”
I needed to get her to Doc. But I needed to get all these kids safe first or Bonnie would have my balls when she got better. I assessed her wounds quickly, realizing that one of these kids had been keeping pressure on them and I could have hugged Taylor.
“Rosa and her siblings are out by the van. I need you to gather up whoever is in the house right now and get in the van too.” Taylor disappeared to do what I asked without question.
I scooped up Bonnie, trying to ignore the tacky sensation of her blood on my fingers. I carried her to one of our blacked out SUVs and laid her on the back seat, before racing back over to Bonnie’s van. It felt like everything was going too fast but yet not fast enough.
Rosa was in the passenger seat, and all the kids were belted in, including some of the Sanctum kids, with Taylor in the driver’s seat. I grabbed Rosa’s phone from her lap, quickly typing something in. “Drive as far as you can without stopping. Not for gas. Not for food until you are out of the state. When you reach the border to Canada, call this number. This is the doctor who worked on Bonnie—he owns some kind of refuge for supernaturals. He’ll get you somewhere safe. Tell him what's happening, okay?”
I grabbed Rosa’s chin so she was forced to look at me. “Do not come backuntil one of us comes to get you okay. Me, Courtland, Pryce, Radic or Bonnie. Or Naja herself, okay? That’s it.” My voice cracked on Bonnie’s name but I kept it together. “They’re your mission, kid. I need you to get them to safety, got it?” Rosa nodded and I scruffed her hair. “I love you guys. Now go.”
I ignored Rosa’s tears as Taylor hit the gas. I would get them back soon enough. First, I had to save one of the pieces of my heart.
41
Courtland
Iwoke up chained to a wall and struggling to remember how I got here. I’d been getting out of my ATV, and something bit me on the neck, and then nothing. I didn’t have to be a smart man to realize I’d been tranqed. My body ached, so I guess they hadn’t stopped there after I was out.
“Fucking cowards.”
Someone laughed from the shadows. “Maybe, but that's not how we’ll spin it if anyone comes asking around about your death. We’ll say you started pedaling Omegas for cash or something. I mean, you do have a history of criminal activity.”
Eldridge, the smarmy fucking Legion General who I really should have killed before today, stepped closer to the bars in front of me. I was obviously in the cells beneath the Legion building.
“Why don’t you challenge me like a worthy Manix?” I growled, and he had the audacity to laugh.
“Because I’d lose. I’m not an idiot, Courtland. I know I can’t win in a fight with a younger, stronger Alpha. I am not like the old Alpha General, who was too bullheaded to remember that every leader is usurped eventually. Your time is just coming a little earlier than expected.”
