Consumed (Blood Ties Book 9)

The safe room…get to the safe room!

I plunged through the steel door, slamming my shoulder hard on the edge as I scraped through. But I didn’t stop, not even as agony barrelled through my neck, spearing into my jaw. My boots gripped tight as I turned the corner hard. The child’s screams from back in that room resounded in my head.

“Vivienne!” I roared. “VIVIENNE!”

“London!” Her voice was faint from behind the closed steel door. I stared at the keypad and the red blinking light. “The code…GIVE ME THE GODDAMN CODE!”

Finley’s response was instant, letting me punch the number into the keypad and wait as the door gave a click. Suddenly, my ash-gray world had one spark of color…and it was her. I stumbled into that small, secure room and glanced at Ryth holding the baby before I turned to the woman I loved.

My Wildcat…my future. “Baby,” I choked and lurched forward to grab her in my arms.

She wasn’t real until she was there, all bony limbs and belly. She dropped her head, breathing hard and fast, but it was the trembling in her body I felt more than anything.

“Are you okay?” I pulled away to stare into her eyes.

Tears brimmed, then fell to course down her beautiful, gaunt cheeks. She was still the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen in my entire life. The only woman I wanted more than anything in the world…including my own future. I dropped my gaze as my hand moved to her belly, finding warmth.

“Yes.” She whispered.

“And the babies?” I searched her gaze.

Those tears were still spilling. She couldn’t speak…not for a minute, and it was in that minute that my world ground to a halt. Then under my palm I felt it, a tiny kick. My throat thickened, making it impossible to be anything other than humble.

“They’re okay.” She whispered. “They’re okay.”

“Never again.” I pulled her against me. “Do you hear me? Never. Again.”

The familiar thunder of heavy steps resounded along the hallway outside the room. Carven and Colt yanked the door open wider behind me and hurtled in.

“Wildcat.” Carven groaned, gasping in hard breaths.

He was coated with blood…no, bathed in it. Those deep blue murderous eyes softened as they settled on her, then lowered. “Are you hurt?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“The…the babies?”

“They’re okay.”

“Ryth!” Tobias roared. “Ryth!”

“Here!” she called.

I stepped aside, but the Sons didn’t, causing the hurricane that was Tobias Banks to snarl and shove past them. Carven staggered sideways, slamming into me as Tobias grabbed Ryth and yanked her against his chest. “Jesus Christ. Jesus fucking Christ.”

“T!” Nick’s roar echoed in the hallway.

“Here!” Tobias called, staring down at her as he caressed his son’s face. “She’s in here!”

Then Nick and Caleb flew into the cramped, tight space, pushing us further to the side and against Vivienne. I wrenched my gaze toward them and glared. “Maybe take this outside?”

Caleb was the one who noticed me crammed against my wife’s belly and nodded instantly.

“T,” He muttered. “Let’s take this outside.”ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

We all shuffled, until finally I could breathe and help my wife out of the room.

“Finley!”

I glanced along the hallway to where Finley Salvatore was striding away. He glanced my way before he kept going, but it wasn’t long before I saw her. His wife, Anna, charging after him.

“I’m coming with you whether you want me to or not.”

I winced at her tone, knowing instantly what the poor bastard was in for. One glance her way and that same anger, that same desperate yearning burned in her eyes. We didn’t leave each other behind. Because no matter how many men we had…the ones we loved weren’t safe…anywhere.

Their raised voices echoed along the halls of their home. No matter how firm the ground he thought he stood on, it was quicksand.

“You think I’m safe here? Look at what just happened. You and I are a team, aren’t we?”

“Not in this case.”

“You’ve seen what that…Hale is capable of. You know the kind of men he’s sent after Kat, are you ready to take the chance we’re safe? Look at me, Fin. I said, look at me! I want you to tell me you’re willing to risk my life and Kat and their child’s life on this.”

He was fighting a losing battle. One I knew all too well. I glanced at Tobias, then Nick and Caleb, watching as each of them winced. We’d all fought that war. No doubt the head of the Salvatore Mafia would come to the same conclusion we all had. The only one we knew for certain. We loved, we fought, and we died…together.

“Baby,” I started.

“I don’t want to hear it,” Vivienne answered as she turned and grabbed a black shoulder holster she’d carried with her, then shoved it against my chest. “Just help me put this on.”

I stared down at the fistful of weapons pushed against my chest, then met my wife’s determined stare. “Don’t be a hero, London. Not now.”

One careful nod and I took the guns, then helped settle the thick webbing of the holster in place. The moment she was armed, she gave us a weak smile. From the deep murmurs coming from Finley Salvatore and his wife, it sounded like they’d also come to the same conclusion.

“We stay together,” I murmured, meeting Viv’s stare. “You stay behind me no matter what.”

“I stay behind you,” she answered and for once, I believed her.

I glanced at the Sons, they would be our weapons. “We have a location.” I met their stares. “We know where we’re going. We know now what we’re dealing with.” The heavy weight of dread settled deeper.

Footsteps came from that secured room at the back of the house. Kat, Laz, and the remaining Salvatore guards came out of the room. We all headed toward the front of the house, waiting until the rest of the men came back to advise the coast was clear.

There had to have been fifteen or twenty Sons who’d come after us. How many that left waiting in that fucking warehouse, I didn’t know. I didn’t like it, not one bit. I turned to Baron as he headed toward us, the rest of the Lawlor brothers in his wake.

“Are you ready?” I met his stare.

“Ready,” he answered, then glanced at Vivienne. “We’ll be in the lead.”

They would be. One nod and he turned around and left, taking his brothers with him. Car engines started and we waited for the explosions to come. But none did.

“The Ares’, have you heard from them?” Baron asked.

I shook my head. “No.”

“Maybe someone should give them a call.”

I waited until they’d left before I grabbed my cell.

“London?” Vivienne murmured.

“Just give me a second.” I stepped away and swiped the number for Silas Ares. I was loath to make the call, remembering the blood-splattered study I’d walked into on the day he’d found both his parents murdered. That was barely weeks ago…weeks, and still this fucking thing wasn’t done.

“St. James.” The voice on the other end was empty and cold.

“I’m calling to see if you’ve made a decision. We could do it with an alliance.”

“It’s not our war.”

“It is if you could see how much⁠—”

“No.”

Jesus, he was cold. Cold and hollow.

“The Salvatores and the Rossis are here, they⁠—”

“I don’t care,” he answered. I swore I heard crying in the background, muffled, choked crying before Silas Ares murmured. “Don’t call me again.” And hung up the call.

Then there was silence. Anger burned deep inside me and it had little to do with his tone. It’s not our war. My thoughts turned to his sister and the way his mother had protected her. Not his war? He was wrong…so very, very wrong.