Page 74 of Frenzy
“There's been a coup. They’ve shot everyone.” My voice broke, but I pushed it down. “We need help. I know—” My voice broke. “I know that you aren’t meant to interfere but they’re innocents and I can’t find the surgeon and they’re dying.” I sucked in a deep breath. “Please.”
“Can you keep them stable for forty-five minutes? Pack the wounds, give them blood transfusions?” I looked at Merrick and Murphy, and they nodded.
“Yeah, we can do that.”
“I’m sending Nico. X and I will be right behind him. Nico isn’t a surgeon, but he’s very old and very fast, and he’ll be able to get things under control. X is a doctor; he’ll fix them.” She covered the phone and there seemed to be a brief argument. “I’m sending Lucius too, in case you, uh, need backup of a less life-saving variety.”
I’d never been happier that someone was sending me a psychopath.
Raine’s soothing voice came down the line. “It’s going to be okay, wolf.” And I believed her. I wasn’t sure what kind of voodoo sorcery she had, but that panic that had felt like lead in my gut and ants crawling under my skin all but disappeared. The anger remained though.
“Nico and Lucius are twins, so they’ll be there before you know it, since they won’t be able to help themselves but make it a competition. Hold tight. We’re coming.”
She hung up, and I looked between Merrick and Murphy. “I have to find Courtland.”
Murphy nodded. “Merrick will stay and keep them stable until help arrives. I’ll go with you and call in reinforcements.”
I was shaking my head before he’d even finished. “No Legion Force. The kid from the Sanctum said it was a guy in Legion Force uniform who shot Bonnie. I don’t know who to trust.”
Murphy nodded. “Only people I would trust with my life, or Merrick’s, I swear.” He pulled out his phone and started talking to someone in a low tone as we jogged toward the Legion building.
Only one place was strong enough to hold Courtland, and that was the cells underneath. We crept along in the shadows, but it seemed eerily quiet in the streets.
“Hear anything?” I asked Murphy, and he shook his head. We moved closer, climbing the stairs to go through the side entrance. I pushed the door open with my foot, ready to kill anyone who appeared, but the inside of the building was oddly dark.
“We found Radic behind his desk,” murmured Murphy. “His computer was still booted up so someone had obviously surprised him. We killed the lights in case anyone else appeared to finish the job.”
I nodded, hoping I wasn’t walking into a trap. My gut said that Merrick and Murphy were good guys, but my gut had been wrong before. At the top of the stairs that led to the cells was motherfucking Washington, guarding the door in his human form. Piece of shit dumbass.
I choked down a growl. You couldn’t sneak up on a Manix. I’d learned that early on in life. You had to be crazy and erratic and pounce out of nowhere. Fuck it. I sprinted down the hallway faster than I’d ever made my human form move, jumped up and wrapped my thighs around Washington’s neck in a move that was usually only seen in action movies with female badasses in spandex. Didn’t fucking care because that big bastard went down, and by the time I had him on the ground, blinking up with wide-eyed confusion at me, I had his throat in my palm. Literally tore it out.
“For Loren, you fuck.” Then I spit in the gaping hole where his larynx had once been.
He gasped for air for a moment, and I held his eyes the whole time, so he knew exactly why he was dying. Knew he’d fucked up, failed, and now I would be the last thing he saw before he burned in hell.
When the life left his body, I pulled off his head so the fucker didn’t respawn somehow. Murphy had raced down the stairs ahead of me, because if there were reinforcements down there, I’d totally just fucked the element of surprise, so I ran down the stairs after him.
There was no one down here though, except the strong smell of Courtland’s blood and… Pryce.
“Pryce!” I yelled hoarsely, and a lump in the corner unrolled.
“Dominic?” His voice was a whisper, but it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever heard. I tugged on the door of the cell he was locked in, but it didn’t budge.
Racing back up stairs, I rifled through Washington’s pockets, finding an honest to god skeleton key. I took the stairs back down four at a time, and it was only good luck that I didn’t fall and break my neck. Unlocking the cell, I across the room in a single step, dragging Pryce up and into my arms. “Thank fuck you’re okay.”
He wrapped himself around me like he’d never let me go. “They shot his knees and challenged him to an Alpha fight.”
No. Fuck.
My whole body went rigid, and I squeezed Pryce a little too tightly until he gasped. I instantly relaxed my hold. I had to get out there, had to help him. It couldn’t be too fucking late. I refused.
I passed Pryce gently to Murphy. “Take him and keep him safe.”
Murphy shook his head. He knew I didn’t mean just for now. That if Courtland and I both died, an unmated Omega would be a target in this town, especially with all the new Omega females. “Murphy, please,” I gritted out, and the Manix tensed his jaw.
He huffed out a breath. “You know I will. They’ll have taken the Alpha General to the arena. I’ll drop Pryce off with Merrick and meet you there.” He paused. “We should wait for the vamps.”
I nodded. “You should wait for the vampires.” I leaned forward and kissed Pryce once more. “The babies, plus all the kids, are with Rosa on their way to the Eden Academy in Canada. When it's safe, bring them home. If it isn’t safe, go to them. They’re your responsibility now. You are their family, their Pack.”
