Consumed (Blood Ties Book 9)

My knuckles screamed with agony as I twisted my fingers, driving punishing pressure into the joints as chaos filled the room. The moment Anna lifted her head from that keyboard, looked at us and said ‘I’ve got him. I’ve got Hale,’ everyone went into a frenzy.

Everyone but us, that was.

Vivienne stood motionless.

Ryth was the same.

And me.

We seemed to gravitate toward each other, standing in the middle of the room as orders were barked into cell phones and an army of mercenaries was whipped into motion. Like the eye of a violent and terrifying storm, we were silent and still, staring at the heavy steel door, waiting for those we loved to return.

Where is he?

They should be back by now.

They should be well and truly back.

Lazarus gave a snarl. “Answer your goddamn phone, Dad.” He sounded desperate before he ended the call and swiped someone else’s number, who answered. “Where the fuck is my father? What do you mean he’s not with you?”

A faint voice drifted from his cell. One I couldn’t hear well enough to know what was said.

A shiver raced along my spine. Vivienne still held her belly as she slowly took a step forward. The sound of heavy footfalls came barely a heartbeat later, thudding, pounding. A hard thump against the door drew the guard. On the monitor was Colt.

“Open the door.” Vivienne urged desperately. “I said, open the damn door.”

Lazarus’ voice nagged at the edge of my senses as he barked commands into his phone. There was something wrong. Something all three of us felt in the core of our beings. The locks gave a clunk as they withdrew and the heavy steel door swung inwards, drawing everyone’s stare.

Colt was there, striding through, heading straight for the only one he cared about. Vivienne threw her arms around him, burying her face into the hollow of his neck. Only then did I see it…blood…lots of it.

“Colt.” Ryth’s voice shook as footsteps came again.

Only this time there was no waiting. Caleb strode through the door, heading straight for Ryth. His eyes were wide and haunted as he wrapped his arms around her. This time there wasn’t blood just on his shirt…it was all over him. One side of his face was splattered with deep rusted freckles. My knees shook.

“No.” I whispered, knowing in my head it was someone close to him who had been shot. Someone very…very close.

Then he was there, stepping slowly through the open door. But Thomas didn’t come to me. He stopped just inside the doorway, his gaze frozen on Laz. The world slowed down to an aching crawl.

I saw the scowl on Laz’s face as his brow furrowed before grief slammed violently into him. He slowly lowered his hand, the voice on the other end of his cell forgotten.

“No,” Laz whispered and shook his head. “No.”

“Lazarus,” Thomas said carefully.

But the Mafia son just lowered his gaze to Thomas’ bloodstained hands. “Get the fuck away from me.”

He turned away, giving Thomas his back.

“Your father—” Thomas started.

Lazarus just lunged for him, flying across the room. Spittle flew from his mouth as he roared. “SAY ANOTHER GODDAMN WORD AND I’LL KILL YOU!”

Everyone moved. Riven lunged for Thomas and Tobias sprang for Laz, pulling him away.

“Easy,” Tobias growled to Laz before jerking his gaze to Thomas. “You’d better be real right now, Priest. ’Cause you’re about to unleash something that cannot be undone.”

Laz released a sickening, tearing sound, and jerked himself from Tobias’ hold. Then he threw his hand out as his knees buckled. Kat rushed forward, still clutching her baby on one hip, and grabbed him around the waist.

“No,” her voice was raw as she shook her head. “This can’t be happening. This can’t. Be. Happening.”

Approaching footsteps resounded as two guards carried in the dead body of Benjamin Rossi…and the entire room froze. All but Laz.

He tore away from Tobias and Kat. “DAD, NO!”

Finley’s men lowered Ben’s body to the floor. Laz dropped to his knees. The thud as he hit was brutal. His fists were clenched so tightly they were white. His wide eyes stared at the massive exit wound before he reached out with shaking hands and pulled his father onto his lap.

His head bowed as he rocked forward.

A low, keening sound tore free.

“It was a setup,” Caleb said as he stepped near. “There was no way…”

“Who…” Laz stared wildly around. “Who killed him?”

There was silence.

He wrenched his gaze towards Caleb. “I said, WHO KILLED HIM?”

“Alastair,” Thomas answered.

Lazarus bowed his head. “Did you kill him?”

The way he said it was half desperation and half rage.

“Yes,” Thomas answered. “He said it wasn’t personal, that it was business. There’s only one business here…and that’s Hale.”

The answer was a slow, careful nod. “He was so sure, so goddamn sure. If he’d only listened. If he’d only—” He stopped, his fingers shaking as he gently slid his dad back to the floor. He stiffened as he looked down at his father, even his breath slowing. I saw the change, the way his shoulders relaxed as he buried his pain deep inside.

“Laz,” Kat urged as she took a step forward, the look in her eyes tormented.

“Call everyone,” His tone was empty as he lifted his gaze to Finley. “I want that motherfucker dead.”

There was a moment of silence before Finley stepped forward. “I will, brother. I will.”

“Baron and his brothers are on the way.” London strode forward, moving to Vivienne and Colt.

“It’s time,” I whispered. “It’s really time.”

Riven’s dark eyes found mine. “Yes,” he answered. “It is.”

“Ah, guys.” Anna muttered loudly. “You might want to see this.”

None of us wanted to move. Our heads stayed bent, gazes helplessly locked on Benjamin’s body lying on the floor in the middle of the room. But it was Lazarus who turned away first, leaving his father behind.

Only then did we force ourselves to move and head to where Anna still typed.

“So, I was able to find my way in the back door of this network,” she started, lifting her gaze to Lazarus and Finley as they neared. “Only it’s not just a network of lawyers, is it? It’s so much more than that. This, here.” She tapped the screen. “Is a GPS coordinate. When I brought this up, I found nothing.”Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

“What do you mean, nothing?” Lazarus snapped. “I thought you said you had him?”

“I do. But it’s not what you think. The main ping is here…but when I infiltrated this device, it opened a whole network of smaller servers spread throughout the city.”

“The city?” London moved closer.

“Yes.” She lifted her gaze, meeting his. “They aren’t hiding out in some fortress in the mountains. They’re everywhere.”

“Everywhere?”

Anna bought up a new map, one that had bright red dots scattered across the middle of the city.

“He’s been hiding right under our noses?” London snarled. “That motherfucker. I bet he’s been laughing at us. I bet he’s fucking howling with glee.”

“He’s not gonna laugh for much longer.” Lazarus turned his head to Finley and gave a nod. “Is he?”

“No, brother,” Finley answered. “He’s not.”