Traded (Blood Ties Book 5)

Headlights shone, blinding me for an instant as two four-wheel drives screeched to a stop behind the stolen vans. I raised my gun and lunged around the first one, barrelling into the three motherfuckers hiding behind the clapped-out piece of shit.

“You come after MY FAMILY!” I drove the hilt into the closest bastard’s face.

His head snapped backwards and slammed into the dented driver’s door with a dong.

He wobbled before I grabbed him by the shirt. “No you fucking don’t.” I yanked him in close to snarl. “You don’t go down until I make you.”

Crack…

Crack.

CRACK!

London unleashed, charging forward until I lost sight of him through the van windows. I swung my gaze back and drove the muzzle of my gun into the scumbag’s face. The sight carved into flesh, tearing open his cheek. I hit him again…and again…and again, until white bone splintered.

“You fucking piece of shit!” I snarled.

His head rolled backwards, and the whites of his eyes showed as his buddy lifted his gun, taking aim.

But I didn’t care…

I was past it now.

Rushing headlong into that part of me that fucking liked this as I turned to find the asshole with the gun. Vivienne’s screams resounded in my head, Just like the ones that’d echoed through my phone moments ago. The need to protect her was more elemental than anything I’d ever felt before. God help those in my way.

The ballsy fucker let out a scream and shoved backwards as I charged. But he was too slow. Way too fucking slow. I grabbed his hand, driving the gun upwards.

“Should’ve pulled the trigger, motherfucker.” I pressed my muzzle into his chest and squeezed.

BANG!

He jolted with the impact and slid down the dented side of the van, leaving a smear of blood behind.

Two more came rushing toward me. I took aim.

Crack!

CRACK!

They went down in an instant. I kept moving and rounded the rear of the van as London drove one of the attackers to the sidewalk and stabbed the muzzle of his gun into the bastard’s eye before he pulled the trigger. BANG! He blew the bastard’s brain across the pavement.

I lifted my gaze to his.

Those dark eyes sparkled with rage.

“Colt,” he grunted. “There’s something wrong.”

I lifted my gun and squeezed off a shot at another sneaking figure, then narrowed in on my brother behind me. Colt drove his fist into a bastard’s face on the ground in front of him, then straightened. His hands were bloody and his eyes were wild, but he didn’t turn to face the two fuckers that were coming for him across the street, he was staring into the darkness, watching the sidewalk from the restaurant.

“What the fuck?” I roared, unloading as I charged toward the goddamn thugs.

Crack! I squeezed off a shot and hit one before I lunged and slammed into the second.

“Colt!” I screamed as he just fucking stood there. “COLT!”

He flinched, but still stared into nothing.

Which only pissed me off even more.

I turned back to the dazed fucker I’d knocked to the ground and drove my gun against the side of his head. “Who sent you?”

His eyes were wide and blood smeared from his split lips as he stuttered. “I-I d-don’t k-now.”

“You don’t know,” I repeated.

Adrenaline roared through my veins, making me want to tear the fucking world apart at the seams. But under that rush came something else. That heaviness at the back of my neck. One I knew all too well. I scanned the cars, searching…

“Who?” I snarled again, and lifted my gun.

I scanned the cars across the street, and the alley, too. But I couldn’t find the fucker I knew was watching.

I couldn’t find the Son.

I turned back to the dead man I straddled. “Last chance. Who. Sent. You?”

“I—”

Bang.

His head dropped back and bounced. I rose to my feet. Blood splatter cooled against my cheek. Every breath I sucked in held the stench of blood. But I shoved that all aside and turned, scanning faces. He was here somewhere…he was—

The alley next to the restaurant was empty.

Vivienne…

That sinking feeling swallowed me whole. “No,” I moaned. “No!”

I took a step, then another.

“Carven!” London barked as I lunged, sinking back into that cold darkness.

My boots thundered as I left them behind. All I cared about was her.

Shadows, cold…and him. That’s all there was here. That’s what I hunted.

I raced along the alley to the building at the end. Black on black waited. I blinked while my eyes adjusted to the deeper darkness found a door to the right barely cracked open. The hinge howled as I shoved it open and raced through. I didn’t stop, just kept running, keeping my intuition in the driver’s seat.

A cry tore out in the distance, faint, muffled…female.

I clenched my jaw and kept pushing, as I zeroed in on the sounds just out of sight.

“‘Get the fuck off me!” she screamed, followed by a heavy male grunt filled with pain.

I smirked. That’s the way, Wildcat, kick the bastard in the balls.

“Fuck you!” She fought…

Until her battle cry was followed by a groan of pain.

That wiped the smile from my face.

I lowered my chin and drove forward, scanning what looked like a hallway. I kept my mind fixed on the moment I met up with them.

“You think you’re a big man, huh?”

Her rage grew faint. I scanned closed doors and spied an exit light at the end of the hall. The place was some kind of storage facility. Some of the walls were old and decayed. I slowed, twisted the handle, and shoved through the door at the end into more ruin.

The stench of wet, rotting cardboard was fucking rank. I gagged and tried to breathe shallowly as I charged forward. Movement came through a hole in the ruined wall up ahead.

The bastard’s grunt was audible as were her muffled screams.

He had his hand over her mouth, that was obvious.

He’d touched her…

He’d. Fucking. Touched. Her.

I dropped my shoulder and crashed through the hole in the wall with a boom!

The Son swung his gaze toward me as Vivienne thrashed in his arms. Her eyes were terrified as the black dress bunched around her legs and made her fall back against him. Only then did I see the gun.

Steel glinted in his hand from moonlight that spilled in from holes in the roof.

I sucked in a deep breath as I lifted my gun and took aim. “Let her go.”

“You gonna shoot in the dark like this?” He jerked her around in front of him.

Fear tore through me. He was right, I couldn’t see well enough to be sure of not hitting her.

Bang!

I flinched and fell forward as pain ripped across the side of my head and I hit the filthy floor. A swipe of my hand and I found the shallow gash.

“Motherfucker.” I lifted my gaze to him as he stepped backward, using her as a goddamn shield.

I shoved to my feet. “Last chance. Let her go.”

“I told you before…you and your brother. The Daughter is coming with me.”

I didn’t make a sound, just rushed the bastard, hurled my body through the air, and hit both of them. Air ripped from her with a grunt a second before we all went down.

Dress.

Fists.

Someone kneed me in the goddamn balls…

I let out a growl and shoved forward as he rolled away, dragging Vivienne by the goddamn hair. “Up, Daughter.”

She screamed as she reached over her head to grab his hand.

The sight of that did something to me.

I lifted my gun, took aim, and fired.

BANG!

But the bastard must have dodged at just the right moment because he didn’t seem to be hurt. I lunged and grabbed her as best I could, but the bastard had her hair clutched in his fingers and she slipped from my grip. She screamed again, the shrill sound a fucking knife to my chest.

“Uh, uh,” he taunted, and yanked her backward as I took aim again.

“You gutless motherfucker!” I roared.

He looked around him, searching the shadows, and I knew instantly why…

He was looking for the others.

Once they got here, it’d all be over.

She’d be gone in an instant…and there wouldn’t be a thing I could do to stop them.

He swung her around as I rushed him. I stumbled, but grabbed her again while he scanned the darkness. White teeth shone in the darkness as he reached for her. I caught the glimmer of steel on a blade a second later.

“No!” I lunged sideways without thinking, caught another handful of her dress, and flung her behind me.

The slice was fucking brutal as it tore open my shoulder. A cry ripped from me for an instant, until I swallowed the sound.

“Carven,” Vivienne cried as she wrapped her arms around me.

I pulled her against me, making sure she was safe, not once taking my eyes off the fucking Son. “Stay behind me, Wildcat.”

She moved with me, sidestepping a razor-edged sheet of steel that was a beheading in the making. I tested my shoulder, taking comfort in the gruelling agony that followed.

“You’re fast, I’ll give you that,” the Son murmured. “You sure you don’t want to join us?”

I unclasped her arms from me, but kept moving, making him step backwards, to put as much distance between him and her as I could, and slowly lifted my gun with one hand, watching as he did the same, only using both hands.

My fingers gripped steel and pressed the button of his own blade before one flick of my wrist sent it sailing through the air, flipping end over end.

“I think they call this checkma—” He jerked as the blade buried itself deep into his stomach.

There was a second of confusion. His brows pinched before he looked down.

BANG!

He jerked as the bullet found its mark. But I was already moving as I strode forward, wrapped my hand around the hilt of the knife, and yanked it free.

He unleashed a cry as the steel came away and raised his head.

“I tried to warn you, but you didn’t listen…” I shoved the knife in once more, once…twice…three times, then jerked upwards as I stared into the Son’s eyes. “You touch her and you die.”

Those dark eyes of his sparkled.

Right before his knees gave way and he crumbled to the floor.

I stood over him, sucking in some deep breaths.

I didn’t waste another second on him, just turned around, to find her staring at me in the darkness.

I searched for horror and disgust…I searched for fear.

But there was none.

Instead, she flung herself toward me. I jerked the knife away at the last second before she slammed against me.

Her arms were around me in an instant, her face buried against my neck.

I wrapped one arm around her. The other was shaking uncontrollably. “You’re okay,” I murmured. “You’re okay now.”

She didn’t cry, didn’t scream, just held on tight enough for both of us.

“Vivienne!” London roared from nearby.

She pulled away and for a second, I would’ve given anything to feel her warmth against me and her breath on my skin. But the sound of heavy boots approached.

“We’re here!” I croaked.

The wall crashed in as London tore his way in. His eyes found her, then he shifted his gaze to me.

If that act alone didn’t speak volumes.

It’s how I felt, too.

I looked toward her. She was first. Always and forever.

“Let’s get out of here.” I reached down and grabbed her hand with my good one.

The movement drew London’s gaze. He narrowed in on the shake of my other hand, then met my stare.

One nod was all he needed. He stepped forward and reached for her. “Pet.”

She moved toward him, but turned her gaze at the last minute to mine.

“I’m right behind you,” I assured, and urged her forward.

As they moved, I looked behind me at the dead Son bleeding out on the filthy warehouse floor.

That could’ve been me…

The thought slammed into me. An ache in the back of my throat followed as I turned back to the heavy thud of steps as London led Vivienne out. I’d never allowed myself to think about all the things this man had done for two skinny kids he didn’t even know.

Now I did…

And it hit me harder than I was prepared for.

I tried to take a step, but my knees wouldn’t hold me, and I fell.

Vivienne stopped instantly, as though, somehow, she knew. She spun around and saw me as I hit the floor.

“Carven!” she cried out.

Tears sprang to my eyes at the sound of her rushed steps.

But it wasn’t the pain in my shoulder that had me in its tight fist…it was love.

The kind of love a Son should never have.

And yet here it was, wrapping its arms around me and helping me to stand.

“I got you,” she whispered, clutching me against her side.

I managed to walk, leaning heavily on her as we made our way out of that derelict building and back into the alley.

The sound of sirens was shrill in the air.

“This way,” London called as a door opened to the building on the other side of the alley.

One of our men stumbled out, shining a light from his phone. We followed him and made our way to the back of the building to a parking lot. The Explorer was there, with the engine running and the headlights illuminating the dark.

“Colt?” I croaked.

“Waiting in the car,” the guard answered.

I recognized him now. The smartass guard on duty. He met my stare as he opened the door. Blood splattered his cheek. He wore the same shell-shocked gaze as us now, the same haunted reflection that’d stay with him.

He gave a slow nod as I followed the others to the car. I didn’t even flinch when he opened the door for us. All I did was find my brother sitting in the back seat, staring out at nothing.

“Colt.” Vivienne climbed in and slid over to wrap her arms around him.

He turned at her voice, leaving me to climb in beside her and close the door. But there was something not right with my brother, something that made that broken little boy glimmer in those blue eyes.

She nestled against him as London climbed into the passenger side and the guard slipped behind the wheel. We were out of there in an instant, watching as red and blue lights filled the night as they raced past us.

They’d come for us.

Maybe not tonight.

But soon…