“Be careful,” Gavin whimpered as Marcus opened the bedroom door.
Marcus shot him a cocky smirk.
“Please, I’m the head of the Shadow Vipers. These pussies don’t stand a chance against these guns.” Marcus flexed one of his arms, bringing a smile to Gavin’s face.
God, he fucking loved this man.
With one last wink, Marcus closed the door behind him. Gavin listened as his footsteps pounded down the hallway, ready to defend him and their Puppy.
How had he gotten so lucky?To have a big, strong man run into danger—battling death, gunfire, and god knows what—all in the name of protecting his scrawny ass.
Taking a breath, Gavin quickly ran to lock the door and began barricading it with whatever furniture he could push in front of it.
They just had to survive the next ten minutes.
29
MARCUS
Standing at the top of the stairs, Marcus adjusted the sight on his rifle as he crouched down, ready and waiting.
He figured his best chance of success was to set up at the top of the stairs; this way, he could see the bedroom, the front door, the living room, and part of the kitchen. It was impossible for him to cover all corners of the cottage, but he figured these were the few strategically important places he needed to defend.
He didn’t need to kill them all; he just needed to hold them off until the rest of his crew arrived.
Judging by the sheer number of men coming to attack them, Marcus figured it must be a rival crew seeking revenge or taking advantage of a vulnerable opportunity to take him out.
They must not be aware of the rest of his crew lurking in the shadows and keeping an eye on things.
That only left one question: How did they know that he was out here, alone, in the cottage?
Crouching in the shadows, Marcus waited for his attackers to make the first move.
The cottage was dark except for the tiny slivers of moonlight that streamed in through the open windows. Some might call the lighting romantic. Others, unsettling. To him, it was perfect, offering just enough light to track the shadows while keeping him safely concealed.
A creak on the front porch betrayed someone’s position.
Marcus cocked his rifle and fired. The blast tore through the front door, wood exploding outward as the figure beyond it dropped with a painful cry.
“Shit!” someone said from the other side of the door, followed by what sounded like several men scrambling for cover.
Marcus smirked.That’s right. Who’s next, motherfuckers?
He didn’t have to wait long.
The window in the living room shattered as two men dressed in black jumped through the window and began shooting in all directions.
Amateurs.
Marcus pumped his rifle once again and fired two shots at the idiots currently murdering his living room.Both men dropped to the floor, dead from multiple shots to the chest.
Three down. Several more to go.
The next thing he knew, chaos erupted. Glass shattered behind him, then two more windows exploded in the kitchen below. The front door crashed open, while three men rushed the corner, weapons raised and eyes searching for their target.
Whirling around, Marcus opened fire on two men scaling the upstairs windows. One got hit, dropping his assault rifle and clutching his arm.
The second man returned fire, causing Marcus to leap to the other side of the hallway, ducking quickly behind a small table he used as a decoration.
