Nefertiti

“The plan is in motion for tomorrow night at seven,” my dad says. We all filed into the main meeting room for one more meeting before tomorrow.

I’ve been talking to Zane about the plan and we both know the plan inside and out. We have Zane’s escape plan and my escape plan figured out as well.

“Does everyone understand?” my dad asks.

Everyone’s head bobs up and down.

“Good. You are all dismissed.”

I get up and start walking towards the doors. Someone jumps on my back and I elbow them in the face.

“Damn, Beatrix. You didn’t have to do that. I was just playing,” Kade says, holding his nose.

“Well, you’re the one that jumped on me. What did you think I was going to do, turn around and give you a hug?”

“Yeah,” he whines. “I think I need a hug now after what you just did. You hurt my feelings…and my face.” He pretends to fake cry.

I roll my eyes and walk over to him and wrap him in my arms. He clings to my waist and proceeds to fake cry.

I let go of him but he won’t let go of me.

“Kade, that’s enough. You’re fine.”

He lets go of me and smiles. “You’re the best, Beatrix.”

“I know.”

“Aren’t you excited for tomorrow?” He’s all giddy, like a three year old waiting for a piece of cake.

“Not really. I’d rather stay home and sleep. That’s literally going to take all night and I don’t want to stay up all night.”

“Okay, but you, Talen, and I are going to look so badass. We are going to storm the property together with our weapons. That’s going to look so cool!”

“Yeah, so cool,” I say dramatically.

We find Talen and then go for a horseback ride. We ride, and race each other for a solid three hours. We only stopped to let our horses rest. Then, we went back to my room and now they won’t shut up about tomorrow. I’m laying on my bed with my hands behind my head. Talen is sitting in my chair and for some reason Kade thinks the floor is comfortable.

“You do realize this will be dangerous right?” I ask. “Like, you might get hurt, or even killed. I don’t know why you’re so excited about possibly dying.”

“You were excited about your mission to hunt down the target,” Talen points out.

“But that was one person, not a whole mafia family.”

“We’ll be careful,” Kade says.

“We promise,” adds Talen.

“You better. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost both of my best friends.”

Kade gets up and jumps on top of me. “Aww, Beatrix, you actually care about us.” He continues to give me a bear hug on top of me. Talen comes over and jumps on top of Kade.

“We love you too, Beatrix.” They are both piggy piled on top of me and I can’t breathe anymore.

“Okay,” I choke out. “You can get off now.”

They both roll over and lay on my bed with me.

“But,” I start. “I do love you both, and I just want you two to be safe.”

“I know,” Kade says. “We love you too, and we want you to be safe as well.”

“How about we just don’t leave each other’s side?” Talen asks.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Kade says.

Great, how am I supposed to run away now?

It hurts me to leave my boys. The more I think about it, the more my heart hurts. The only reason I would stay is if they needed me. They don’t need me. If it came down to it, they could even come with me. They could escape too. But what if they don’t? I’m going to live the rest of my life without my best friends.

“Beatrix, are you crying?” Kade asks.

I look at him and both him and Talen are looking at me with a worried look.

“What?” I ask.

Kade wipes my face and I feel how wet it was.

“Why are you crying?”

I didn’t even know I was crying.

“I—uhh—I was thinking about what it would be like to live without you two. I’m scared for both of your safety. I want you both to be safe and if you aren’t then I don’t know what I’d do.”

Kade picks me up and slides me across his lap so that I’m now laying in the middle of them both. They both give me a hug.

“It’s okay, Beatrix. We aren’t going anywhere,” Talen says.

They both lay next to me, and they each keep one hand on my arm to show that they are still here while I fall asleep.

***

A loud knock on my door wakes me up. I jump up and Kade rushes to the door. He opens it and my dad comes bursting inside.

“Dad, what are you doing?” I ask, confused.

“Get your things, all three of you. We are changing up the plans and we are leaving tonight to attack. Get dressed and ready. Meet downstairs in fifteen minutes.” He walks over to all of us and sticks his hand out. “I need your phones.”

“Why?” I ask.

“Because I don’t need anyone tracking your phones. Plus, you will have earpieces to communicate with us.”

He never takes our phones. I’m not sure why he’s doing this. I give Talen a confused look and he has the same look painted on his face. I hand over my phone and soon Talen and Kade do too.

“Fifteen minutes,” he repeats and then leaves the room, slamming the door behind him.

“Umm, that was weird,” Talen says.

“What the actual hell just happened?” I ask, getting mad. “Why would he just take our phones, change the plans, and then tell us to be ready in fifteen minutes?”

“I don’t know, but I guess we’ll be done with this faster then,” Kade says. “Come on, let’s go kick some Mors Navis butt.”

Kade and Talen go back to their rooms to get ready. I’m still so confused but I get up and start to get ready. I strap on my belt and holster my gun. I also attach a few grenades to my belt as well as a dagger.

When I think I’m all set I look around the room and make sure I have everything.

I hope Zane left this morning.

I freeze. Zane!

He’s supposed to leave tomorrow morning, not this morning. He doesn’t know, and I don’t have my phone to text him. My heart starts beating so fast I can’t breathe. What if I can’t save him? How will I tell him that we are attacking tonight and not tomorrow night? Oh my gosh, this plan went to crap.

I make a mental plan on how to save Zane on my way downstairs. I’m going to follow through with the plan like normal at first, and then when it gets chaotic instead of leaving I’m going to try to find Zane. Hopefully he gets out of there once he sees the fires starting in the south. Then, he’ll know it’s us. I’m praying so hard.

Everyone is dressed in black and they are all armed with weapons. My dad says his little spiel, and then we all file into all of the cars. I’m sitting next to Kade and Talen and they both squeeze my hands, letting me know they are here.

When we arrive at Mors Navis, the tech guy talks through his earpiece saying he is going to shut down the security system. After a few minutes he lets us know that it’s done. We all silently get out of the car and search the outskirts of the property for any wanders. Our side is clear and soon we are informed that the other sides are also clear.

My dad orders us to start burning the south side of the property. I’m on the north side so we wait and watch the fire slowly turn into an angry inferno. Soon enough people start rushing out to see the fire. Shouts break through the silence and mobs of people rush out. They are all screaming and shouting frantically.

“Now,” my dad orders.

We take our grenades, unpin them and throw them towards the mobs of people. I throw three out of the five of mine. Explosions go off in every direction. Dirt and debris fly everywhere, and the screams become louder.

“Move in,” orders my dad.

We all move in with our guns firing in every direction. I shoot as many people as I can while trying to look for Zane. I run towards the house. Bullets whiz past me and the sounds of screams fill the air. I faintly hear my name being called from behind me but I ignore it.

I continue to shoot at people and when I get close to the house I go into the garage. I look for Zane by all of the cars but I can’t find him. I hear voices entering the garage and hide behind one of the cars. I don’t recognize Zane’s voice so I peek my head around the corner and see three men standing together talking about what to do. I get out from behind the car and shoot all three of them in the head. The drop instantly.

I run to the door they came out of and it leads to the inside of the house. This is a very bad idea. I’m going to get killed.

Whatever.

I sneak in the house and I don’t hear as much noise in here as I do outside. I run in the house and find myself in the kitchen. When I hear footsteps, I duck behind one of the counters and wait for them to run past me. That could’ve been Zane.

Damn, why didn’t I look?

I continue down one of the hallways, my gun ready.

“Zane!” I whisper-shout.

I run up the stairs and go down another hallway. “Zane,” I say again, but louder this time. A kid comes running around the corner and scares the living crap out of me. I point my gun at him but he freezes. His face is wet from his tears. He looks like he’s only four or five.

“Please, I don’t know where my mommy is.”

I lower my gun and slowly walk towards him.

“It’s okay,” I reassure him. “What’s your name?”

“Kaleb.”

“Okay, Kaleb. Just stay up here in this room.” I open a door to my right and lead him inside. “It’s going to be okay. I’ll try to find your mom and tell her you’re up here okay.”

“Okay,” he says, sniffing his snotty nose.

“I’m Beatrix, by the way. It’s nice to meet you Kaleb.”

“Nice to meet you too.” He runs towards me and wraps his little arms around my legs.

My heart breaks for him.

“Okay, I have to go. Just stay here.”

“Okay, thank you.”

“Of course.” I turn around and walk out of the room. I continue to search the house but no one is in here anymore. He either left or he’s outside somewhere.

I run back outside and the whole place is a mess. Fires, bombs, guns, and dead bodies are the only things I see. I scream Zane’s name but the other noise is drowning out my voice.

How in the world am I supposed to find him?

I look around and see Kade taking cover behind a building. He’s firing at people but he’s not looking at what’s behind him. A man is sneakily creeping up behind Kade with a knife ready. I sprint over to them and before Kade gets stabbed I yell his name and shoot the man. He drops on top of Kade and he throws him off. He looks at me wide eyed.

“Thank you.”

“Anytime. Remember we have each other’s back.”

He nods.

“Any idea where Talen is?” I ask.

“Nope. I lost him and then the shooting got too intense so I’ve been taking cover down here. I never thought to keep an eye out behind me.”

I look around. I need to find Zane.

“I’m going to go look for him,” I say and run off. I hope Talen is okay. I just need to find Zane.

I run back towards the house and hear my dad’s voice in the distance. I look for him and I finally spot him with two other men near the tree line. They have a hostage kneeling down in front of them with his hands tied behind his back. I focus in on the hostage and I recognize those eyes.

His wolf eyes.

I sprint over there and just as my dad is raising his gun at Zane’s head I knock the gun out of his hands and cover Zane with my body.

“Beatrix, what are you doing?” my dad booms. “Get out of my way!”

“No,” I say firmly.

“Beatrix, don’t,” Zane softly says. I kneel down next to him and grab his face with my hands. He is full of blood and bruises. He looks so weak and defeated and it breaks my heart.

“I have to.”

“Why?” he whispers.

“Because,” I give him a small smile. “I love you.”

He gives me a pained smile.

“You love him?” My dad chuckles. “You seriously love this man?”

“Yes, dad. I do.”

“No, you don’t. You don’t know what love is. Just because you hung out with him every night, and kissed him doesn’t mean you are in love.”

My heart stops. “How did you know?”

“I’m your father. I know everything. Oh, and I know about you spilling our plan to him and then making another one. And I also know about your contacts. Loser isn’t a very good name. That’s why I took your phone earlier so that you couldn’t text him.”

I look up at him with hate in my eyes.

“I know about Galveston. I would’ve found you either way and killed you both. There’s no escaping me Beatrix.”

Tears fill my eyes as he leans down closer to my face. “You are stuck here with me. Forever.” He gets back up. “Get her out of the way,” he orders the two men.

They pick me up by the arms and drag me away from Zane. I wiggle and try to break free from their grasp but they are too strong.

“Say goodbye, Beatrix.”

“No, please dad. Don’t!”

He raises his gun and points it at Zane’s head.

“I love you so much Zane.” He looks at me with so much love and compassion in his hybrid eyes. The next thing I know those eyes instantly become lifeless as his body falls to the ground. My ears ring with the sound of the gunshot and my heart stops. Everything stops.

***

He has blonde hair, but that’s not what hit me first. He has two different colored eyes. One is a hazel color, and the other is a sea green color. The wolf eyes.

***

A hint of a smile forms and his hybrid eyes shine. “Do you want me to come back?”

I hesitate. What am I doing?

“Umm, ye—yes.”

***

He hands me my phone back and I look at the name he typed in.

Bestie Boo.

“Absolutely not.” I laugh and delete the name.

***

“I love your eyes, and the way you laugh. Your smile makes me smile and I love when you’re happy. I think about you all of the time, and when we talk about our futures, I always think about what it would be like if you weren’t a part of mine. I want to be with you because Beatrix, over this past week I’ve developed new feelings that I never knew I could have. I like you. I’ve liked you since our first fight.”

***

“Because,” I give him a small smile. “I love you.”

***

“No!”

The men let me go and I force my legs to carry me to Zane. I drop next to him and hold his body in my arms. I cry while holding him, my heart shattering into a million pieces.

“No, Zane,” I sob. “I love you. God, I love you so much.”

“This,” my dad says, lifting my head up by my chin. “is what you get for going behind my back and betraying me you little bitch.”

I force my chin out of his hands and rage fills my blood. I’m like an angry Zeus about to unleash a deadly storm. He turns around and I realize I still have my gun.

Idiots. They didn’t think to take my gun.

I reach for it and cock it.

“Hey dad.” I point my gun at his face and he turns around. “Say goodbye.” His eyes go wide and I give him a second before I pull the trigger.