جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 210

Jaxon“Turn his head to the side and hold him still for me.” Nicolai barks and I immediately follow his orders.Perhaps later I’ll examine later why I so readily bend to his will like a she-wolf under the influence of an Alpha bark. But for now, my focus is too absorbed by the menacing look of the flaying knife in Nicolai’s hand to think too much about it. The man screams and flails at the sight of the knife and it takes all my strength to hold him in place as Nicolai makes a show of slowly edging closer. Ice spreads through my veins as I realize what he’s about to do but I manage to keep my expression blank.I will not pretend I find it easy. I've become someone who is honest about what things cost. This price is heavy—costing me some version of who I thought I was, some comfortable idea about the limits of what I'd do.I stay anyway.“Last chance to talk,” Nicolai growls, “before I skin you alive.”The prisoner pants through gritted teeth, a repetitive grunting sound, but he still d

SkyeThe car park is half-empty when I get back to my car. I must’ve been in that store longer than I planned for. I guess that’s what happens when you word vomit your whole life story to a stranger with kind eyes and a willing ear. My mind drifts as I absently search for my keys, thinking about the drive home. About how I’m going to make it into the room with my bag of lingerie without them seeing it. About the look on Nicolai's face and what Jaxon will say when they see me in it, whether the heat is close enough now that being in the same room with both of them will—I’m completely distracted, lost in thought, and paying no attention to my surroundings. So I miss the scent until it hits me half a second before I register movement in my peripheral vision. Wrong. Unfamiliar. Eastern pack markers that don't belong here.I drop my shopping bag and spin to face the owners of the rancid scent, my arms already moving into a defensive position. My father raised me in an Alpha's house. I spe

SkyeShivers wrack my body as I sit here in my concrete cell. Though if from the cold and dank of the room or the fever from my rising heat, I’m not sure. It’s miserable but I just keep reminding myself I’ve been through worse. I’m not sure when, but I’m clinging to the lie like a lifeline right now. At least my captors have left me alone, keeping to their orders I’m not to be touched. It can’t be easy, given my scent has become so potent it could choke a horse. I guess I should be thankful. Small favors and all that. Just as I’m making some progress convincing myself I might survive this after all, the door to my room opens. The man who enters is not one of the rough operatives who drug me here. It’s not any of the men I’ve been expecting at all.This man is even more polished than Volkov. Gray-templed in the way that makes him look distinguished but not aged. His suit is tailored and his shoes are shined to a high gloss, which tells me something about how far he is from the work h

NicolaiThe plan is as clean as we can make it based on the limited intel we have. Thankfully, It’s not my first time infiltrating a heavily secured building whose layout I know very little about and can only make assumptions. I know what a clean plan looks like. I've run operations with the deck stacked against me before. Against people who were expecting me, with resources that didn't cover the gap between what I needed and what I had. I know the difference between a plan that works and a plan that looks like it works.This one works. It has to. We pull off the dirt road, into an abandoned field near our target but still far enough away not to be detected. It’s where we’ll leave most of our vehicles while we go the rest of the way on foot. Everyone exits their vehicles and crowds around mine for one last briefing before we go in. “Entry will be from the eastern access point.” I call out, pointing at the map spread out on the hood of my SUV. “Secondary team waits on the perimeter—e

Jaxon“Fucking piece of shit!” I growl, barely stifling the urge to rip the failing comm out of my ear and crush it under my boot.The signal died and I'm on the second floor, too far from the action to know what’s happening with any certainty. I can hear movement below me, heavy footsteps pounding the floor, moving rapidly. Shit has obviously gone sideways. I just can’t tell what or how badly. Nicolai is somewhere below them with Skye—I heard her voice, which is, I try to remind myself, the thing that matters. She's alive and moving and giving him grief about something, which means she's okay enough to give grief. I should find that reassuring but the entire facility is mobilizing around a situation that stopped being under our control about three minutes ago.I have no clear path to the basement stairs and Nicolai needs help now. According to the blueprint, I can get there in about fifteen seconds if I go through the room to my left. But there’s three men in the room I’d have to go