Traded (Blood Ties Book 5)

Rage ripped me apart and pieced me back together. I climbed back into the Explorer and started the engine. But my fucking hands were shaking…shaking so bad I couldn’t grab the gearshift. I wrapped them around the wheel instead and tried to hold on to my last sliver of sanity.

Still, they stared. Their wide eyes fixed on me from across the street where they spilled around Theo Ares as he watched me. I reached down, shoved the four-wheel drive into gear and punched the accelerator.

The vehicle surged forward, tires howling as I tore past the bar. I needed to get out of there. I needed to…

Tear something apart.

I clenched my grip and turned the wheel to zoom around the corner of the building. Dark, empty streets waited for me. I should be home…I should be anywhere except for here. But I couldn’t go back there, not yet. Not while she…while Ophelia was here.

The green street lights blurred under my vision. I swiped my eyes and exhaled slow and hard. I didn’t know where I was driving, all I knew was I couldn’t go back home…not yet, at least.

Not with that rage so tight and explosive inside me.

I wouldn’t do that…

Not with her.

I pushed the SUV harder, tearing along the city streets until the towering buildings slowly gave way to a star-speckled skyline and boarded-up, ruined buildings. I didn’t know why I was here. Not at this place…

Carven came here.

Carven and his fury.

Not me.

But the wheel turned almost like it drove itself and I found myself braking as three guys leaned with crossed ankles against the fenders of a gleaming black Maserati, watching me as I drove past.

“No,” I whispered out loud as I pulled into the driveway of the construction site and stopped beside the armed guard.

My voice was scratchy and hollow as I gave the code and waited for him to step aside.

A nod was all it took.

One nod and I knew I’d arrived in Hell.

“Don’t do this,” I muttered to myself as I pulled the Explorer alongside gleaming Lamborghinis and brand new Bentleys. “This isn’t me.”

I was under some kind of spell as I killed the engine and climbed out.

“Jesus Christ! HIT HIM, FOR FUCK’S SAKE! STOP DANCING AROUND!”

I flinched, drove my fists into my pockets, and looked to the ground as cries rang out from the rich assholes who’d paid their money to see blood. But I wasn’t here for them…I was here for me.

I knew that.

Even if I didn’t want to admit the truth.

I made my way to where the guard stood at the door as he slowly stepped aside to let me pass. My boots crunched on concrete and rubble. Remnants of bricks were all I saw as I made my way through the construction site and skirted the area where four fights were being held. Cheers followed a brutal thud. Gleaming black paintwork and the license plate ARES1 caught my eye.

I didn’t want to look up. I wouldn’t have, but a familiar snarl drifted to my ears. “Yeah, yeah, I see him. He’s here…no, alone. How the fuck should I know?”

Slowly, I lifted my gaze and met the critical stare of Silas Ares. He leaned against the closed door of his sports car as he stared. But I lowered my head and kept walking to where snarling growls came from the ring in the barbaric spectator sport.

I caught movement at the edge of my view as he tore his gaze from the fight in front of him to glance my way.

“No…fuck no!” he snarled. “I told you before not to fucking step foot in here. What the fuck do you think you’re—HIT HIM, FOR FUCK’S SAKE!” he roared at the fighter.

“It’s me,” I mumbled as I stopped in front of a big man.

Brutal thuds echoed from the fight mere inches away from me. Iron quieted, then slowly turned back to me, leaving me to lift my gaze to meet his stare.

“What the fuck?” He scowled, glancing behind me for the twin that wasn’t here, then turned back. “I thought you were deaf?”

I flinched, then just stared back as he grew awkward before he turned back to the fight. “What the fuck do you want?” he flung over his shoulder at me.

“I want to fight.”

He didn’t shift his stare, but I knew he heard me. His eyes closed for a second as he muttered something under his breath. “Go away, kid. Your brother would fucking murder me if he knew I let you get beaten to a fucking pulp.”

“I’m not here for him. I’m here for me.”

Iron opened his eyes, then jerked that glare my way. “He know you’re here?”

I shook my head.

He licked his lips, then turned to where the guy in front of us was getting annihilated. “Jesus fucking Christ, my sister hits harder than that asshole.” He glanced toward the other three other fights that filled the area. “My sister hits harder than all these goddamn losers.”

I waited…

Waited for him to turn back to me.

He finally did, but still glanced to the doorway behind me. “You sure he doesn’t know you’re here?”

I didn’t answer and he didn’t wait. “How much have you got?” There was a wince as the fighter in front of us dropped like a stone.

“What a fucking waste of money!” Someone called out behind me.

“You know what?” Iron snarled. “You can’t be any fucking worse than these idiots.”

With a jerk of his head, he motioned me in. “Get yourself ready and let’s see what you’ve got.”

I took a step, grabbed the plastic tape that wrapped around the barriers, and stepped in to the ring, where a guy twice my size sucked in hard breaths while he stared at his competitor, out cold on the ground in front of him.

“What the fuck is this?” he growled, glancing at Iron.

“Kid, don’t you want to take off your jacket? Or warm up, or—I dunno, hell, do something?” Iron muttered, his voice sounding warped and strange.

But I wasn’t looking at him, I was looking at the ground.

The building seemed to…fade.

I was slipping back there, to the pain and the rage, to the echoes of my childhood that never seemed to let me go. Roars filtered to me, cheers and calls. But I was standing in a vacuum, one where all the air had been sucked from my world.

My opponent stepped closer, his mouth moving as he lifted his hand, pointing to me then to Iron. But I wasn’t listening, not to the sounds, or the screams. I was listening to my heartbeat, to the thud…thud…thud of life coursing through my veins, as I watched everything.

I saw the moment Iron commanded the big guy.

Saw the moment his look of frustration turned deadly.

The scowl smoothed from his forehead.

His jaw flexed, as did his fists.

I saw Iron motion to the others, and the three remaining fights around me stopped, then they all turned toward me. I didn’t tense, didn’t curl my fists, just stood there as Iron gave a slow nod. Then it started.

The first blow came hard, swinging through the air to land against my cheek with a brutal crack!

I stumbled sideways. My knee buckled for a second before I caught the fall.

Agony ripped through my cheek and radiated along my jaw. Still, I straightened and sucked in hard breaths.

“What the fuck is this?” The guy in front of me glared. “Fight back.”

I said nothing, just waited for the next blow to come. I didn’t have to wait long.

With a roar, he drove his fist upwards, connecting with the underside of my jaw. My head snapped backwards and my teeth gnashed with a crunch. Stars collided behind my eyelids and blazed neon white as I stumbled backwards.

The crowd screamed.

Iron was howling.

But in the middle of the chaos came her.

Beautiful brown eyes.

A smile that made me feel invincible and worthless all at the same time.

“Colt, baby,” she whispered, and it was like I stood in a bubble, one that was entirely made up of Vivienne. Her throaty, erotic tone swallowed everything else around me. “Colt, I need you.”

I stumbled from the blow, then straightened. The big guy in front of me drove his boot against the concrete and charged forward, his eyes blazing with determination.

“Colt. I NEED YOU!” she screamed.

The sound of her fear shattered something inside me. Shackles of my past broke and fell away as I moved at the last second, causing the fighter to pitch forward. Momentum took him and I used that to swivel around to grab him and unleash my fists.

Thud…

Thud.

THUD!

I became nothing but fists, rage, and movement. Blood came, I don’t know from where or who. All I knew was there was movement as others rushed forward. But that same momentum gripped me now…and there was no turning back.

THUD.

THUD.

CRUNCH.

Someone tried to tackle me, but he ended with his back on the ground and me straddling him. Something wet smacked my face as I drove my fist down over and over and over again.

“Colt.”

“COLT!” she screamed inside my head.

And stopped me cold.

I looked down at the wide, terrified eyes of the guy underneath me. But he wasn’t a fighter. Blood streamed from the broken nose of Iron’s bouncer.

“Get the fuck off him!” Iron screamed.

But the rest of the crowd was quiet. Not just quiet…stunned. Deep moans came from behind me. I glanced over my shoulder at the massive guy who, seconds ago, had charged toward me. But he wasn’t charging now. He was writhing, clutching his shoulder, groaning in agony.

“You fucking broke it!” he moaned. “You fucking broke my shoulder!”

“Get the fuck off me,” Iron’s guy hissed underneath me, his voice nasal through his broken nose. “Just get the fuck off me, man.”

I slowly rose off him, my fisted hands bloody at my side. He stared up at me in fear, the kind of fear I knew well.

“You’re fucking broken!” he snarled as he shoved away, cupping his nose with one hand. “Motherfucker!”

I stared at him…at all of them, knowing I’d done this…but I didn’t feel it. I felt nothing.

I felt nothing but her.

Only her.

Iron stumbled forward and roared. “Look at what you fucking did! Get the fuck OUT OF HERE!”

I followed the wave of his hand to where three other guys slowly rose to their feet, each of them staring at me with a look of terror. I stumbled backwards, trying not to look at all the others who sat on their cars, watching me in silence.

But it was Silas Ares that stepped forward. “Colt,” he called as I tried to step around him.

With the movement, came agony. A tsunami of pain slammed into me as I staggered toward the demolished door and the exit. With each wave of pain, those sparks came, exploding inside my head. I groaned as I hit the cold night air and tried to focus…to find the blurred outline of the Explorer.

I took a step toward it, and the moment I did, my knees gave way.

“Colt,” Vivienne called inside my head.

I had to get to her.

I had to get—

I hit the ground hard and agony ripped through my knees. I lifted my head, and surged upward, desperate to get to the car. Shadows shifted, blurring against the neon glare behind my eyes. I took three more swaying steps before I reached out, desperate to grab the handle of the door, but my fingers slipped…

And I fell.

The darkness blurred and shifted around me. I stared up as a shadow moved closer. “You’re reckless,” the shadow snarled. “And so is your brother. I thought you might be different, thought you might be like us, but I can see now you’re not.”

Someone grabbed me and lifted me from the ground.

“No.” I lashed out, trying to fight.

Faces blurred. I looked to the lights and the expensive cars, finding hardly a glance my way. Silas Ares and the others around him stepped back and watched as the shadows closed in around me.

“Get him inside,” the voice commanded.

I bucked and kicked out with my boot. “Get the fuck off me.”

Silas glanced at the men who grabbed me and I caught the scowl in a blur before he turned around, giving me his back…and the others followed, refusing to see.

“Fuck you,” I forced through clenched teeth as that agony continued to roar in my head.

They carried me to a car and pushed me onto the floor. I tried to hold on, fought the wave of darkness. But it was consuming, leaving me to drift into the gloom. Car doors closed with thuds all around me before an engine started.

“Who…who the fuck are you?” I whispered.

But no one answered…

Because I was gone, plunging headfirst into nothing.

“WAKE UP.”

A kick came at my side. Pain followed, radiating as I cracked open my eyes. A stranger stood above me, and stared down. Dark, unflinching eyes pierced mine.

“You won’t just get her taken back, you know that, right?” He slowly squatted onto the balls of his feet. “There’re men out there that make Haelstrom Hale look like a fucking boy scout. They ’ll take her, the ones we call the Others, and you won’t find her again. Do you want that?”

I sucked in hard breaths, staring at him.

My pulse boomed.

He scowled, his lips curling.

He knew about the Order.

You’re reckless. His words echoed back to me. And so is your brother. I thought you might be different, thought you might be like us, but I can see now you’re not.

Like us…

Like us.

I slowly turned my head, finding others who stood in the shadows. “Sons,” I whispered as my stomach sank. “You’re Sons.”

He lifted a knife, the blade gleaming under the light. “I did tell your brother I’d go through him to get to her, but it looks like I won’t need to go to the trouble.” He settled that hostile stare on me. “I’ll go through you instead.”

He lunged forward and drove the knife through the air as I swung. I grabbed his wrist, knocked the blade free, and kicked out.

The sharp blare of a two-way radio sounded, filling the air with frantic chatter. But I didn’t listen. I swung instead, driving my fists into the side of his head.

Get out of here…

Get the fuck out of here now!

This fight was different. It was realer somehow, like everyone else wasn’t a threat, but this asshole was.

“You stay the fuck away from her!” I roared as I drove him backwards.

“We have to go,” came a frantic call from one of the others.

“Kane! We have to go NOW!”

Gunshots came, tearing through the metal shell from the abandoned warehouse, leaving gashes behind, ones wide enough to let the bright glare of sunlight through. Was it morning? How long had I been here? The asshole in front of me shoved me. He sucked in hard breaths as he rose and staggered.

He looked down at me, scowling. “Why the fuck do you fight so hard for her?” he growled as a bang came from somewhere outside.

The others were already moving, grabbing whatever they could and running in the opposite direction.

“Colt!” a familiar voice called.

I tore my gaze away from the retreating group to the team of former Navy SEALs as they headed toward me, their guns aimed at the Sons as they slipped away.

“Harper?” I croaked.

He came closer and reached out his hand even as he had his sights trained on the distance. “It’s me, buddy. Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

I took his hand and let him haul me up to a stand.

But I followed his gaze…to the Sons who’d disappeared.

Sons, who’d warned my brother.

Sons, who wanted the one thing they’d never have.

The daughter who belonged to us.