Page 92 of Running on Empty

And somehow the approval of a stranger was all that I needed. I checked my weapons as the men talked strategy, then when I was ready, I strode forward.

Chapter54

Ronan

“Going somewhere without me, beautiful?”

I ran across the field on light feet, taking my rightful place at my omega’s right hand, looking her over with hungry eyes, sucking in the determined set of her shoulders, the way her eyes flashed bright green in the low light.

“Don’t try and stop me. I don’t give a fuck about plans or getting away safe. I don’t care…” Her voice faltered and so did her steps, but she picked up her pace quickly enough, not letting anything hold her back, not even me. But she didn’t know that I was always her dog. I’d move at her pace, right up until I couldn’t anymore. “I don’t care about anything but ending Jack Spencer… All of this.”

“Right there with you, omega, you know that. Ash is no doubt losing his shit right now.” A choked off shout of my name and Stevie’s across the field confirmed that. “But that’s his problem. Now, if I can offer some advice…”

She shot me a dark look.

“You’ve got an army at your back.” I nodded to the space behind her and her steps slowed for just a second, all of Seb Murphy’s boys running over, rifles in tow. “They’re waiting for your order, not Ash’s.” Jax raced over, taking his place on the omega’s left. “We all are.”

She stopped right then, and my heart fucking ached. Part of her expected something different, that this group of alphas would step in and stop her, leave her to fight her way free and do what she needed despite us.

She assumed that no one would have her back.

Stevie eyed the lot of us. Her eyes narrowed as even Ash pulled his head out of his arse to make an appearance, Charlie now being looked after by the Lockwood alphas.

“You want me to be sensible, to plan this all out.”

“It’s—” Ash started to say, but Jax shoved his elbow into our brother’s ribs, and I nodded at that. It was better than what I thought about, my hand tightening around my knife.

“You want this to be a mission, carefully thought out, with every risk accounted for, but…” My girl’s voice broke then and I stepped in closer, no longer able to just stand by when she was in pain andhewas in complete agreement. I brushed her fingers with mine and hers locked tight around mine. “This isn’t some bloodless execution. We’re striking back against the fuckhead who thought I was just meat to do what he wanted with.”

“It’s a hunt,” Lock Murphy said with a slow nod. “Used to drive our beta COs fucking mad, but we know what you mean. Sometimes the wolf has to have his or her head.”

And in answer, there was a series of chuffing sounds that came from everyone that stood by my omega, each one of their eyes shining silver as their beasts stared out. All except ours. Jax, me, Stevie and even Ash. Each one of us had eyes as green as grass right now.

“Trust your wolf to know what needs to be done,” I told her, then my brothers, hoping these strangers we’d brought with us understood.

Her focus jerked around to stare at the wall in the distance, a strange strangled sound building in her throat as she tugged at her holsters, then her clothes, a wolf emerging not long afterwards.

Fuck.

It’s not like I hadn’t seen her wolf before, but somehow it was like it was the first time. Sleek with thick black fur that seemed to soak up every stray beam of moonlight, she was a picture of violent beauty and when she threw back her head, mine did the same. Human throat and wolf howled at the moon, declaring their intent to all and sundry, giving voice to the pain, the anger that lived within us.

But not for much longer.

Fangs flashed in sharp grins around the group, that delicious feeling that came before a fight infecting each and every one of us, even Ash. We shifted restlessly, but not for long, because across the grass my omega streaked, straight for the walls. I scooped up her weapons as I went after her, the thundering footsteps I heard around me letting me know I wasn’t the only one.

Beautiful, beautiful mayhem. I never felt as alive as I did now, the rush of adrenaline pumping through every cell, he and I perfectly meshed as a unit, throwing ourselves over the barbed wire fence without effort, landing on the ground in one moment, then sprinting forward in the next. She raced forward, the leader of our hastily thrown together pack, striding forward in an endless lope, right up until she reached the wall. She hit it at speed, her claws scrabbling for traction on the smooth surface, a small whine escaping her as she struggled to stay upright, but I was there, up and under her butt and pushing her forward, then joining her on top of the wall when the dads struck.

There was no mistaking the MCs now. The roar of so many Harley engines in one small space, away from the steady hum of the city. It was fit music for what was about to happen. We watched dark shapes of men leaving their post, shooting towards the gates, just in time to become an audience for a conflagration. My lips twisted in a smile, becoming wider, crooked,hissmile, when the first thermite grenade was thrown. Men jerked back reflexively, then walkie-talkies were yanked out, hastily worded calls for help uttered as the contents of the grenades hit the gates that the Spencers no doubt thought would keep them safe.

And they were about to find out how wrong they were.

Everyone else scrambled to join us at the top of the wall, giving them a clear view of what went down.

The multiple grenade fire burned white hot, the Spencer bodyguards flinching back with good reason. But we couldn’t hear their response over the roar of the motorcycles and then that of chemical flames that reduced the steel gates to ragged molten lumps of slag.

“Time to move,” I prompted Stevie and her wolf met my eyes for a second, before launching off the wall.

We followed behind, each one a member of her pack for this night. I heard the muffled retort of rifle shots being let off in small bursts of three, the sound of bodies hitting the ground music to my ears. But it was merely background stuff, a prelude for what was to come.

---