CHAPTER 36

*I crouched, low to the floor, on the balls of my feet my hands against the ground. Long black tangles obscured my vision. My hands were clean though, and the rest of my body, they'd held me down and scrubbed my skin until it was raw.*

*I was in a long narrow room, the lights of which hurt my eyes. It stank of chemical and sterility. Unnatural. At the far end three men stood, they were dressed the same, with similar features, but I could still distinguish each one by their scent.*

*"Do you understand your task?" one of them called.*

*I growled, low in my throat.*

*"One-five-three, do you understand?"*

*"Throw it, she'll learn the hard way."*

*A chunk of metal flew through the air, it smelled funny, one of those scents that often permeated the air here that I'd never identified the source. I watched as the metal flew in a perfect arc, landing several feet in front of me. It made a small click.*

*"Congratulations, you're dead," the first man said.*

*He was obviously delusional. I ignored him, intending to scurry forward and get a better look at the thing and its smell.*

*"Gentlemen, let's approximate what dead will feel like, give her some motivation to avoid it."*

*Thunder exploded from their end of the room, I wasn't sure what was happening but when the first projectile hit I screamed. Time after time things hit me, so fast I couldn't react quick enough to escape them. They ripped into my skin, tearing the surface and bruising, before falling inert to the floor. One after another, again and again, dozens, perhaps more until I curled myself into a small ball covering as much of my skin as I could and just endured the torture.*

*It stopped, eventually. My body was on fire and covered in my own blood. I could feel each wound as clearly as if they'd just happened. The pain was excruciating, but it wasn't death.*

*Three sets of footfalls approached, their boots heavy against this unnatural floor. One boot nudged me in the knee.*

*"Now we know, don't we? Now we know you catch the grenade. You catch it and return it or you die again."*


I shot upright in the bed, my breathing heavy, my mind blank, scrambling to hold onto...whatever it was. My body was whole, mostly uninjured from the day before and yet I still felt the echoes of impact, as if I'd been hit instead of Anthony.

My heart was racing, some distant nightmare still pumping adrenaline through me. I took a moment to orient myself to the unfamiliar room.

The manse had been attacked, enough that a great length of wall had been blown out. The aftermath of which had been enormous. You couldn't have grenade explosions and gunfire in the middle of Boston without alerting the general population.

The organization had mobilized, our legal team hustling our human police contacts until the event was contained as a gas leak and ignition. A tragedy that left several dead. The law looked the other way and our people cleaned up the mess.

Anthony had moved us out to the ranch. A private and well enforced one hundred and fifty acres bordering on the Borderland State Park. It was the pack's old headquarters, which just spoke to Rob's kahunas in taking a less dependable place in the city proper to begin with.

Anthony wasn't in the room with me. He hadn't come to bed at all last night, as far as I could tell. I was pretty sure they'd caught Marcos and he'd been dealing with that.

I lay there, alone for a long time, thinking.

He'd saved my life. I'd been...I didn't even know what I thought I was doing. Catching a grenade? I should be blown to pieces around that kitchen. And then running out of the house, straight into the gunfire. All I know was that it hadn't even been a choice, I'd had to do it.

I pulled back the covers and slipped out of bed. Anthony must have had men go to my apartment and gather my belongings, because they were hanging here, in the closet, staring at me.

I wasn't sure how I felt about that. I'd told him before, I needed my space. And yet, this morning, when I was exhausted and strained, just having a fresh set of comfortable clothes was a relief.

The ranch was less old farmstead and more of a compound. There were six buildings, including the main house. Security had its own and that was used to maintain the entire place including the ten foot high fence that circled the main yard. There was a bunkhouse that could sleep as many as fifty men, in an emergency, a huge garage with enough room that most of the vehicles could be stored inside, an old pole shed that had been converted into a secure weapons locker, and an operations terminal. I'd been mildly impressed when we'd driven in the night before, after dealing with the aftermath of the attack.

The main house was a seven bedroom, ten bathroom wonder on a two levels sprawled out at the center of the yard. It had every amenity one could hope for, including a state of the art kitchen, which is normally where I would go to find Martha.

Except that Martha had been shot in the side. The bullet had penetrated a kidney and torn through some of the lower intestine. A terrible wound, and it would take her more than a single night to heal it.

I went downstairs to the kitchen and began heating up a pan, then pulled out the makings for omelettes.

"Well look at that, the pretty princess lowering herself to menial chores."

I stiffened when Leanne entered the kitchen. She'd been granted a room in the main house, something she hadn't had the privileged of at the manse. It wasn't my favourite development, but she'd truly become integral to the organization and specifically keeping Anthony's schedule intact. It seemed to have given her a bit of false courage.

I forced a smile at her, because the only way to win with people like Leanne was not to play their game. There was something about her wording that bothered me, but it wasn't her meaning.

"Would you like one?"

Her face twisted in distaste.

"Anthony is looking for you, can I tell him you're coming or are you going to have a hissy fit and make his life difficult some more?"

I raised a brow in her direction. She'd come most of the way into the kitchen, up to the long table with fourteen seats at it that currently sat empty. She stood her ground, but my wolf huffed at her refusal to come any closer.

"I'm making breakfast for Martha, you can tell him I'll be there as soon as I'm done, unless it's an emergency?"

Jacob chose that moment to enter the kitchen. His face was hard and drawn. We'd lost four men in the attack, all part of the security team. Tanner had been the first to die and it had sent ripples down the ranks. Jacob had been tasked with pulling everything back together and from the looks of him he wasn't having an easy time of it.

"Omelette?" I offered, lifting the bowl where I was whisking eggs and milk together wildly.

His face lightened a little.

"Please," he managed a slight smile. "By the way, Anthony would like to see you."

"So I've been told. Is it an emergency?" I asked him, cutting Leanne out of the conversation altogether.

He didn't seem to notice her stiffen, or the glare she sent at me. He shook his head.

"Just some things he's hoping you'll look after when you can."

So no reason at all for Leanne to be here harassing me. I wondered what her game was.

I poured the eggs into the pan and added cheese and some chopped veggies I'd found.

"Then I'll head to the office as soon as I am finished."