I’d love him for that if it was because he was worried about me and not a matter of him thinking he’s above listening to supernaturals.
“Dane?”
Stepping into view of the front door, what little air is in my lungs turns to lead. My brother, with blonde hair longer than I’m used to, but the same amber eyes I once had, stares back at me. I hold his stormy gaze, not wanting to accept that the gun pressing into his temple is real. While there’s a small bit of fear in his eyes, he conceals it well, his rage burning away everything else. He’s never been partial to supernaturals, but now?
Any small tolerance he may have once held for shifters has been completely burned away in the face of one pressing a gun against his head. There's absolute fury emanating from his amber gaze, and plenty of that spills over in my direction as he holds my stare. It’s a punch to the gut as I face the seething hatred he’s clinging to in order to combat the fear, but I can’t blame him. If it wasn’t for me, he’d never be in this position in the first place.
There are two people flanking him, and things start coming together fast enough that I nearly throw up. One of the faces beside him I don’t recognize, but the starburst mark on his neck gives his designation as a mage away. The other? I don’t know his name, but I recognize his face from around the office. My brother might have come here seeking me out after the news story was leaked, but it’s clear the people trying to punish me got to him first.
“Scarlett-” his words are cut off by a punch to his side by the mage, my brother wincing. When he straightens up, his eyes are made entirely of murderous loathing, and I pause in my tracks, not sure if it’s more directed at the men holding him hostage, or at me.
Kasen places a hand on my shoulder, gently restraining me. The others in the house trickle into the room as I remain rooted to the spot, not sure how the hell to proceed. I simply stare at my brother and the men on either side of him, wondering why things have to be so complicated when I’ve already been through enough.
I’ve paid my pound of flesh, I shouldn’t spend the rest of my life being punished for something that was never my fault to begin with.
“Ms. Drake,” the shifter holding the gun drawls, his dark eyes flitting over me with distaste. “I do believe we have something that belongs to you.”
Malcolm’s hand settles on the small of my back, becoming the pillar of support I desperately need when I’m so wildly out of my element. “It would appear so, Samuel. And I suppose that means you intend to return him... for a price.”
My lips purse, the last bit of the puzzle clicking.You own half of a multibillion dollar corporation now; you’d be a target for people trying to make a quick buck even if the vampire thing wasn’t a factor.No one was after me because they hated what I am, it’s because I was an opening to get to Malcolm. A weakness. And when they couldn’t get to me, they moved onto the next sore spot, searching for anything they could exploit for a payout.
“Two mil sounds fair, don’t you think?” the burly shifter rumbles, using his thumb to cock the hammer back on the gun for good measure.
Malcolm is rigid beside me, but to his credit, his voice doesn’t waver. “It’ll take a few calls, but I’m sure we could work something out.”
He doesn’t ask him to lower the gun, well aware it’d be pointless. Keeping his movements slow, he withdraws his phone from his pocket. Bringing up a contact, he flashes the screen at them to prove he isn’t calling the police before hitting the call button.
“Rebecca, I hope I’m not interrupting anything pressing.” Her reply is muffled, my heartbeat thundering in my ears and making it hard to focus on anything other than the scene playing out around me like a surreal dream. “Yes, in regard to funds allocation. I’ve gone ahead and decided we’ll be investing two million into-” he holds out his hand, to which the mage slaps a paper with an account number on it into his waiting palm “- a new reunification program. The families of the freed vampires will require support as we all adapt, but we can’t keep them in safe houses forever and it’ll save us money in the long run. Mhmm, I have an account number for the transfer as soon as you’re ready.”
Beck chooses that moment to interject, biting a hangnail and acting like this isn’t the first standoff he’s been in, nor will it be the last. “You know the second they get the money they’ll kill us all, anyway. We’ve seen their faces, and hell-” he gestures at the shifter “- I’m sure all of this dude’s personal information is on file at the office.”
“What the heck is he doing?”I mentally hiss.
“What Beck does best; piss people off. They’re outnumbered, we just need an opening.”
“Yes, thank you Rebecca,” Malcolm continues as if there wasn’t an interruption, the men across from us sharing a look over Dane’s head, knowing she’ll have overheard Beck’s comment. “Ignore Beck, you know he gets his kicks making my life difficult at any opportunity.” Rattling off the account number, he finishes with, “I’ll wait for the bank’s call, thank you for your assistance, Rebecca. When I return to the office this afternoon, you can give me your pitch for an increase in department funding.”
I have to give him credit; making sure it’s clear to the men across from us that someone will be waiting for him this afternoon, so if they kill him, they won’t make it too far before the police will be on their tails. And they wouldn’t be aware that Rebecca had already given her pitch the day I met her, and from how smoothly she and Malcolm work together, she’ll disregard Malcolm’s brush off of Beck’s declaration. She doesn’t know where we are, but I’m sure she could pull some strings to track Malcolm’s cell phone.
It’s just a matter of holding out long enough for help to arrive.
Swallowing, I latch onto my connection to Malcolm to regain a semblance of rationality. Panicking won’t do any of us any good, and honestly, Beck’s right. The second they get the money, they’ll kill us all to cover their tracks... or they’d try.
Fighting the urge to scrunch up my face, I scan their faces, but there isn’t a trace of fear on either of them. They may have an advantage with a hostage, but if they planned to kill us and make a break for it, I can’t see how they could pull it off, short of using my brother until the last possible moment and jumping in a car. But the minute he shoots, any of the men beside and behind me will be on him.
They have to have something else planned. Malcolm could simply throw a shield over us right now, but Dane would pay the price. He might hate me right now, but he has a gun to his head because of my mess spilling over to him. I’d hate me too.
As Beck continues to goad the men in front of us, Kasen’s fingers tighten on my shoulder, giving away his intention. The second they get an opening, I’m getting shoved into Malcolm to hide in a protected bubble while they risk getting shot to save my brother because they love me enough that they don’t want to see me lose anything or anyone else.
And I can’t be the reason that any of them are killed.
Hyper-focused on the shifter’s hand, the moment his muscle ticks as he begins to lift the gun to aim at Beck, I give myself permission to trust in the instincts that I’ve fought so hard to suppress, allowing all of the fear of being out of control to bleed away once and for all. Even if I unintentionally hurt the guys, I have faith that while lost in the heat of the moment, I’d never kill them. If anything, the connections to my men make me more of a monster. The instinctual drive to protect your mate threatens to overrule sense, and they’re the only things that have managed to keep me sane. Even a mindless plague, I’m too selfish to give them up.
The only thing more dangerous than a feral vampire is one who consciously decides you’re a threat to the people she loves.
Slipping from Kasen’s hold is easy, the man not anticipating me to rush forward. I make it past the threshold in a blink, using my momentum to my advantage as I wrap a hand around the shifter’s wrist and jump, drawing my knees up to my chest. As the gun fires, rather than hit Beck, the shifter’s arm is forced to the side as my feet slam into Dane’s stomach, shoving him out of the way as the bullet goes through the mage’s rib cage instead.
I fall on top of my brother, not surprised in the slightest when the shimmering outline of a shield appears over the two of us. In my peripherals, I see the gun dropping to the ground and Kasen’s fist driving into the shifter’s jaw. Rolling to the side, I have to stay hunched because of the barrier, awkwardly turning around to get my feet out of my brother’s face.
