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Flames were following me up the stairs like hellhounds, licking the walls and stretching greedily toward any open windows in sight.
We knew using the Molotov cocktails was a risky choice in a bar where there was plenty of fuel to burn but the effect on a wolf’s basic fight or flight response was too good to pass up. Especially as our people knew it was coming. However, it did not give me a lot of time to clear this fucking room.
After the battle erupted in the auction below, any loitering MC in the hallways must have been drawn to the bloodbath below. I’d stuck around just long enough to get my claws wet and to confirm that Carbon was making his way to our alpha’s side. I also took a moment to enjoy the sight of Silver’s unique contribution reigning down on the melee, causing Chains’ panic to ratchet up a notch and Venom’s face to twist into an ugly mask of rage.
My industrious firebug of a mate sure hadn’t wasted any time.
Ignoring the uncomfortable heat, I smiled grimly as sweat trickled down my spine. This was a fitting end to the filthy Bone Crushers. Not only would we steal their ill-begotten merchandise from under their noses while killing off their shitty clientele, we would also reduce their pitiful existence to ashes.
I only wished a few of the bastards were left alive long enough to see it all turned to dust.
As far as I was concerned, it was high time we put organizations like the Bone Crushers MC in the ground. Once an ally, they’d become our nemesis the moment Grimm had taken control of the Soul Reapers. He’d worked hard to clean up shop and give our wolves a purpose worth living for—making plenty of enemies along the way, both inside and out of the Soul Reapers.
To my mind, the majority of the old guard couldn’t die fast enough. I’d always known my oldest friend was a born alpha and the day Grimm had taken Prez was the proudest of my life, bar one. The day Silver, a mere prospect at the time, had made his bold little claim.
I grimaced as fresh pain lanced through my chest at the reminder. Even now, the mating call was like a knife lodged deep in my soul. The sort of wound that would never heal.
In this respect, the fire and I were kindred spirits. Its unquenchable thirst more than matched my own. Silver was my oxygen now. No matter how much of him I got, I knew it would never be enough. Like a selfish fucker, I’d always demand more. Yet without him, I would shrivel and die.
Fucking hell. The Chaos had turned me into some sort of love sick puppy. The sooner I got in and freed these poor souls, the sooner I could hunt down my mate and forge our bond. Then maybe the insane pull of the Goddess’ magic would wane.
I crept up the staircase on silent feet, careful not to alert any guards in the corridor beyond. The hair on the back of my neck was standing on end. The beast inside caught between wanting to rip a fucker to shreds and the natural instinct to flee the flames.
Ash bit my nostrils and scratched my throat.
Just as I was preparing to launch around the corner, I heard the scuffle of claws scrambling for purchase on the floorboards ahead. I quickly retreated a few steps and trained my piece on the murky doorway. With a rabid snarl, the beast rounded the corner. It’s feral eyes gleamed with deadly intent as it locked onto my own.
Its muscles bunched and it leapt at my face, bloody maw dribbling with a promise it would never deliver on.
I blew out a steadying breath, pulled the trigger and stepped out of the shifter’s way as my bullet hit its mark. Right between the eyes. My wolf howled in triumph, snapping its jaws at the stranger who dared attack us. The mutt’s lifeless body sailed past me, rolling down the stairs like a wet carpet.
I ignored it, my attention already fixated on the next threat. Quickly scaling the last steps, I turned the corner and sighted down the dim corridor. Clear.
Carefully, I counted the doors until I approached the room Benji had described. My cousin and I knew that Chains—a wily fucker and Prez of the Bone Crushers—would shake things up tonight. So we’d decided that a combination of texts and a final hand signal had the best chance of covering our bases.
Given my cover was already blown, I kicked open the door without preamble.
A wet chuckle met my dramatic entrance.
“Took you long enough,” a familiar voice growled.
I ignored it for now, whoever it was sounded like a dead man walking. Where was everybody? For a holding cell, this room was feeling awfully empty aside from the cloying smoke which was starting to cling like liquid death to the ceiling. It was making my eyes stream and throwing a dingy pall over the entire room.
One far-too-young human girl stood between me and the door, claiming the space with a knife clutched in her bloody hand. It trembled with adrenaline but her eyes were filled with ice. I held her gaze for a brief moment and moved on.
Three wolves lay strewn across the room, their bodies ripped apart by a ferocious battle. All strangers and likely Bone Crushers. Only one fresh scent remained unaccounted for and it was a scent I knew only too well.
Crusher. Chains’ right hand man. My beast growled, more than ready to battle that filthy fucker. However, the scent was fading too fast, being buried beneath the fresh tang of iron and ash on the air. The shifter had already either fled or been called away. Pity.
I quickly strode to the bathroom but that was clear, too. The humans had been kept here until recently. The stench of the misery and long-term confinement was unmistakable. But they weren’t fucking here now.
Rage rolled through me, choking off all reason.
Chains had indeed changed up the plan last minute. So where the fuck was my cousin? From the way he’d been texting me, he’d sounded worried sick about his girl. Then my veins turned to ice and my gun fell to my side as the answer hit me like a ton of bricks.
No. Fuck no. Not Benji.
I turned.
