Claimed (Blood Ties Book 6)

WHERE IS COLT!

I jerked awake with the roar howling in my ears. The sting in my eyes was instant as I blinked, staring at the walls of my bedroom. For a second, there was nothing but the booming of my pulse and the lingering scream…until slowly, the events of last night came rushing back.

He killed her…he killed Ophelia.

The severed thumb on the counter. Bloody and pale. A thumb I’d stared at, instantly knowing whose it was.

Bang! The echo of a gunshot followed and my hands shook, remembering the harsh pattered texture of the grip and the way it had kicked in my hands.

You take from me…so I’ll take from you!

I killed him. I closed my eyes. I killed all of them. Their faces rushed back to me. Wide eyes. Pale skin. The way they’d looked at me…like I was evil.

A sob tore free.

Maybe I was.

Maybe that was what it took to live in this world.

Maybe that’s what it took to love.

I opened my eyes as Colt’s face rushed back to me. His beautiful thick curls, so soft against my fingers. Those dark blue eyes filled with so much innocence. I lifted my head to see the bottom of the barren bed. I’d give anything to see him sitting there with a gun in his hand and desire in his eyes…my silent, sweet protector.

But he wasn’t here…and neither was Carven. I pushed upwards as the realization took hold. Carven was gone…had he left without me? I shoved against the mattress and scrambled out of the bed, hurrying to dress. Was there some news he didn’t tell me about?

Maybe they’d found him? Maybe they’d found Colt.

I yanked on a bra, panties, clean black jeans and a t-shirt before I tugged on the same filthy boots I’d worn last night. Boots splattered and stained. I didn’t want to look at that. Instead, I lunged around the bed and hurried for the door.

By the time I hit the hallway, I was running, tearing along the hallway to Carven’s room. One shove of his bedroom door and I found the room empty. The bed was made. The scent of his soap lingered in the air. He was gone…he was gone without me.

“You fucking promised.” I spun around and ran, heading along the hallway to the main part of the house.

“What do you mean you can’t get involved?” London’s threatening tone reached me as I neared his study. “If you stand with Hale, then you stand against me. What the fuck do you mean you have problems of your own? Dante…Dante! FUCK!”

I slowed at the entrance of the study as movement came from the rear of the house. The door opened and Guild walked in, dressed completely in black, carrying two sniper’s rifles in his hand. That’s what a contract killer looked like. He lifted his head, those kind eyes flaring for a second before he scowled.

He didn’t like me seeing him like this.

Didn’t like me knowing what he truly was.

I guess we’d all shed the masks now, revealing our true faces.

“Vivienne,” he murmured carefully. “Is there anything you need?”

Even now, amongst all of this, he wanted to take care of me.

I glanced behind him as another male followed, dressed the same, carrying the same weapons. “Carven,” I murmured.

“Right here, Wildcat.” Came the croak behind me.

I spun, finding him standing here, freshly showered and dressed in a t-shirt and black cargo pants, holding two cups of coffee in his hand. “Figured I’d let you sleep for as long as I could.”

I lifted my gaze from the steaming cups. “You did?”

His brow tightened before he stepped forward, handing me a cup. “Yeah.”

“Guild!” London boomed, drawing every focus to the open door.

Our butler-slash-mercenary moved, stepping around us to enter the study. Others followed, men I didn’t know. Still, they seemed to know me, giving me a gentle nod as they passed and stepped into the room.

“Ares is out,” London snarled. “I don’t know if Hale got to him, or what.”

I turned at the name and moved in.

“Baby…” Carven called, his tone full of worry.

But I was too far gone to not be a part of whatever they were planning. I had blood on my hands…a lot of blood. And I was prepared for more.

London glanced my way the moment I stepped through the door. Those hard eyes never widened, nor did they show any concern before he looked away. A flare of pain tore through me. Did he just…dismiss me?

“I have someone already intercepting his calls.” One man who’d followed Guild into the room murmured. “If he’s with Hale, then we’ll know soon enough.”

London shook his head. “We can’t wait that long. If the others are involved, then we’ll have no choice but to take them out too.”

“Kill them?” The words slipped out before I realized it.

The room went quiet. All heads turned my way.

“Yes, Vivienne,” London said carefully. “If they’re not with us—”

“They’re against us,” I finished for him.

Meredith’s face rose. A face that was faintly familiar. One I’d seen in that place, and a cold shiver of fear rose. Something was happening at the Ares house. Something dark. Something dangerous…and London was about to make it even more deadly.

“We need to track down the others, as well. Riven, Kane, and Thomas Cruz. They have to be close. They can’t have gone underground. There’s no way Hale would let them. No, he’d hold them close. There’s still value in doing his dirty work. There’s still work for The Principal, The Teacher, and The Priest. We need to know exactly who we’re dealing with before we go in.”

I flinched with the names. I didn’t know their real ones…just The Principal, The Teacher, and The Priest. Those I knew. A shiver ripped through me as it hit me. “Go into The Order?”

Only this time there was no explanation, nor did London meet my gaze. He just looked down. “We have no other choice.”

Carven placed his coffee on the desk behind me, then stepped around, grabbed the bottom of his shirt and tugged it over his head. The same black shirt the others wore settled over his black pants. What the fuck was happening?

I shook my head as I realized. “You…you’re going in there?”

“We have no choice,” London answered.

I spun as that howling terror crawled upward inside me. “No…no no no no no. You don’t want to do that. You don’t want to go into that place.”

The thud of locks sounded in my head.

And the slow, careful steps of the guards followed.

You going to be quiet for us this time? Or are you going to kick and scream?

“Not in that place, London, not in that hell.”

Only then did London look at me, pushing off the desk to step close. “It’s the only place that makes sense, pet. The only place someone like Hale would take him, knowing full well we couldn’t get to him.”

His face blurred under my tears. “They’ll be safe, and in and out before anyone even suspects,” he assured me.

“You don’t…” I forced the words around the lump in my throat. “You don’t understand the things they do there.”

London’s eyes darkened. “I think I have a fair idea.”

“No.” I shook my head. “You don’t. You see what they wanted you to see. You only see the things they do in the light. But at nighttime…when they take you down to the secret rooms, they do things to you that torment you for the rest of your life.”

“Secret rooms?” The man who’d followed Guild into the room repeated. “What secret rooms?”

“The kind only the guards know about…and some of the Daughters.”

London’s scowl deepened. “And are you one of those Daughters, pet?”

For a second, I couldn’t answer. But he knew even before I nodded. “For a while, yes.”

Shh…my own words echoed back to me as I pressed my hand over Ryth’s mouth. You can get out of here, can’t you? I mean, not right now…but soon. Soon they’ll come.

I’d been so desperate to get out that night. Desperate enough to find Ryth the moment she was dragged into that place. Desperate enough to do anything but to be a plaything for the guards for one more night. But as that memory came back to me, I saw, from the corner of my eye, the looks of concern from the men in London’s study. I knew exactly what I had to do.

“You won’t be going in, London. You can’t. One wrong move, one wrong hallway and you’ll kill Colt if they have him. You won’t be able to go in there…without me.”

“No,” Carven growled. “Fuck no.”

It was London who understood what was at stake here. And London I fixed on. “If you know anything about that place, you know I’m not lying. You won’t find him, not alive anyway. Not without me.”

“I swore you’d never go back there.”

“And you’ve held onto that oath.” Revulsion burned in my belly. “But the game has changed now. This is far beyond contracts and loyalties now. This is—”

“War,” London answered.

“Yes,” I whispered. “This is war.”

“If we do this.” London raised his hand as Carven unleashed a snarl. “We do this our way. If you go in…you go in with Carven.”

I swallowed hard, knowing the bloodshed that waited to be unleashed. “Fine.”

“Fine,” Carven growled, coming closer.

The dangerous Son grabbed my chin and turned my gaze to his. There was panic, pure, bloodcurdling panic. “You will not move from my side. Do you understand that? Because…I cannot lose you too.”

That lump in the back of my throat only grew in size until it was all I could feel. “You don’t have to worry about that. You’ll be so close you’ll be my second skin.”

“Good.” His hold eased before he released a hard, slow exhale. “Good.”

“So that’s settled then.” I glanced at London. “I’m going back in…”