BOOM!
I was slammed backwards, colliding with something big that gave a heavy grunt before I hit the ground. Car alarms started, the piercing wails barely puncturing the dull roar in my ears. I shoved up slowly, my thoughts scrambled, until a murky sound came.
I lifted my head, watching one of the Salvatore guards raise his gun, take aim, and fire. What the fuck…just happened? Inch by inch, I turned my head, to find a wave of armed men heading toward us. No…not just heading…hurtling our way.
I shoved upwards, panic pushing the muffled pressure in my head away until the roar of the attack rushed in. I grabbed my weapon, scanning those around me as Hunter climbed to his feet beside me. I grabbed his shoulder. “HELENE! FIND HELENE!”
Screams continued to invade as we were slammed by men who moved faster and sleeker than anything I’d ever seen. I wrenched my gun upwards, taking aim as one of the men lunged over the front of someone’s Audi and hurtled towards me.
Crack!
Crack!
My finger squeezed the trigger and the gun bucked in my hand. The shot hit him in the shoulder as he lunged for Kane, spinning the bastard like a top until he slammed backwards.
Crack!
CRACK!
Hunter opened fired as more of the men came, spilling around the cars to attack with a kind of savage ferocity I’d never seen before. Knives whipped through the air, spinning end over end. One flew right past me, hitting someone standing behind me.
I wrenched my gaze over my shoulder, to see one of London’s buddies with the hilt of the blade sticking out of his shoulder. He looked down, snarled, then wrenched the thing free. I swung back, firing shot after shot, and moved with Hunter as he lunged to grab Helene, protecting her with his body and racing for cover.
A flash of neon blond hair tore across my vision as Carven, with Colt close behind him, lunged and slammed into three of the fuckers. At the height of the impact, I saw what was happening…it was Sons against Sons once more.
Hale had sent them.
He’d sent them to kill us.
I unleashed a roar as I strode toward them, emptying the clip before I collided with one. Blows on blows as my head snapped sideways. I couldn’t keep up, couldn’t even protect myself. Agony roared in my side and it was only my sheer self-preservation instinct that allowed me to lash out fast enough to grasp the wrist which held the blade as the savage glare from a Son met mine.
“Going to kill you,” He grunted. “Right before we take what’s ours.”
He meant Helene…
He meant all of them.
Helene.
Vivienne.
Ryth…
And the baby.
The goddamn baby!
BOOM!
The Son’s head exploded in front of me, blood and gray matter splattering my face. I turned and found Hunter starting to lower his sniper rifle, but then he swung around and kept firing. But a sickening feeling washed through me. There was more to this…more to this outright attack.
I spun around, finding Colt and his brother deep in the fray and caught sight of Finley Salvatore, Lazarus Rossi, and Tobias Banks all fighting alongside each other. If they were out here…that only meant one thing.
The women were inside.
I spun around. “ROSSI! He’s after the kid!” I screamed and lunged.
I don’t know if he heard me. I didn’t have time to see, just raced toward the open door of the house, praying to God I wasn’t too late.
Screams greeted me, guttural howls of agony and piercing, shrill, panicked sounds. The kind that chilled me to the bone. I forced myself to move, running for that secured room.
“NO!” A male roared up ahead.
I turned the corner and came face to face with terror as a Son stood over one of the guards, stabbing him in the chest over and over with savage, bloody blows. The poor bastard had never had a chance. Instantly, I raised my gun and took aim as screams came from inside the room, slipping through the barely open door. It was obvious the guard had been trying to close it when he was attacked. Now the poor bastard was dead.
The Son lunged through the open door. I heard the heavy thud of steps right behind me before the bellow came. “KAT! KAAATTT!”
“Laz!” She screamed back as I charged through the door and into the room.
There were two of them. One had Kat separated from the others, advancing as she shielded her daughter, who was shrieking in terror, clinging to her mother’s leg in sheer panic. But the other one had Anna around her neck, strangling her.
“Motherfucker!” Laz roared behind me.
My mind screamed to head for Kat and their child, knowing they were the real reason the Sons were here, but the gurgling, choking sounds from Anna called me. She kicked, her feel flailing in the air as she slowly lifted the gun in her hand.
The Son clenched harder as she dangled in mid-air. Her eyes bulged and her face burned bright red. She had no strength left to stop him as he reached out with one hand and tore the gun from her grasp.
“HEY!” I roared as I charged across the room, slamming into both of them and knocking her free.
Her gasping, choking sounds followed as the Son stumbled, then righted himself before slowly turning toward me. I was in trouble. I knew that even as I swung my gun upwards, my finger, squeezing the trigger. He moved faster than I was prepared for. One second, I was standing, and the next I was flying backwards with agony roaring through my chest.
The slash of a blade came. I did my best to duck and as blood roared in my head I looked up into the eyes of death and prayed please, God…help me.
He lunged, driving a killing blow under my jaw. All I saw were stars until the faint sound of gunfire broke in…then next, there was nothing but the swirling room and dark shadows moving into my view.
“You alive?” Finley Salvatore asked above me.
I tried to answer, but all I could do was stare upwards.
“Blink twice if you hear me.”
Blink.
Blink.
“You’re okay.” Finley reached out his hand.
It took all my damn strength to meet it. One powerful yank and he pulled me upwards. The darkened room sharpened into focus. Anna was doubled over, her hand clutching her throat as she coughed and wheezed.
“He would’ve killed her,” Finley murmured. “That’s what she said…he would’ve killed her if you hadn’t stopped it.”
I kept sucking in deep breaths, the feeling slowly coming back into my body.
“You have my loyalty for that.” The head of one of the most powerful Mafia families pledged.
The weight of that hit me. I gave a nod, glancing at Anna before I turned to Kat and Lazarus Rossi. The Stidda Prince, “now King” flashed across my mind, rose upwards, his fists a goddamn mess…but that was nothing compared to what was left of the Son lying dead at his feet.
He sucked in harsh breaths and lifted that rage-filled gaze to me. Shrill wails came from the child clawing at her mother’s leg, trying desperately to get away.
“Laz,” Kat snapped. “Please.”
In an instant he changed and stepped over the Son’s body to bend and grab his daughter, then coaxed her head down against his shoulder and away from the gruesome sights. He cradled her with bloody hands, moving away from the others.
“Hale…wanted her.” I croaked. “It was her all along.”
Lazarus stopped and slowly turned, those blue eyes igniting.
“He’s never going to stop. You know that, right?” I met that terrifying stare.
“It will,” he answered coldly. “When he’s dead.”
That was the only thing that would stop him.
He left then, still cradling his daughter, and waited at the door for his wife and their son before he stepped through.
“There’s nowhere safe,” I said and looked at Finley. “Not with us or without.”
He scowled, then looked at his wife, who pulled on a shoulder holster and seated her weapon before making her way to the gun safe secured to the wall for more.
“At least with us they have a chance.”
I jerked back to him as London St. James strode through the door. “Vivienne!” he roared, his face smeared with blood.
But she wasn’t there, nor was Ryth.
“In the safe room,” Anna croaked, still coughing and wheezing a little. “We secured them inside before we came back here. We thought they were the ones they wanted.”
London spun around and lunged, heading for the door…and his very pregnant wife.
