The Breed: Nora's Choice (22 page)

            The captain’s
quarters were another place he couldn’t wait to explore once this was all over,
it
had
to contain valuable information.

            He came to
the thick steel door that enclosed the bridge, and hopefully the last of the
Hunters. There was no way to look inside or evaluate the situation without
putting his face in the front windows and alerting them of his presence. There
was no way around it, he would have to bash the door in, and simply meet
whatever was behind it head on.

            To hell
with stealth then.

            Giving one
hard thrust of the foot, the door crumpled like a wad of paper.

            Men jumped
to their feet as chaos ensued. There were too many of them to count so strategy
was out the window. It was time to fully depend on his strength and speed.

            A bullet
shot through his side causing a deep gouge as it exited his flesh, and he
roared with anger.

            Picking up
a solid oak desk he used it as a bat, smacking a group of Hunters to the floor,
then letting it drop heavily on top of them.

            He was
surrounded by men, slashing at him with knives, raining blows down onto his
body. He barely felt any of it thanks to the amount of adrenaline flowing
through him. The very same adrenaline they had over dosed him on when
experimenting on him.

            They had
truly created the mechanism of their own demise.

            He was
pulled down to his knees by the dog pile of Hunters trampling over him. Eight,
maybe ten men, landed on top of his back and attempted to pull him fully down.

            They were
like a hill of red ants swarming him, their fists biting against his skin, and
for every one he seemed to destroy, there was another to take his place.

            With every
ounce of strength in his body he fought them off; wildly his teeth and claws
gnashed at flesh and bone. Blood filled his mouth and blurred his vision.

            Roaring he
pushed them back, breaking them down, one after another they finally crumbled
to his violence.

            The captain
watched on in horror from the mast as each of his men was brutally ended.

            Eventually
Quinn turned to him, blood sluicing down the front of his body and his eyes
glowing red as hell fire.

            Just the
two of them now.

            Without a
second thought the captain pulled his side revolver, but instead of pointing
the gun at Quinn, he placed it against his own temple and pulled the trigger.

           
Fuck!
He roared. He needed that little shit stain alive to get him back to land.

            Breathing
as calmly as he could to slow his heart rate he allowed his body to change.

            Once in his
human form he walked naked, covered in blood and wounds, to the mast of the
ship. A field of controls and brightly lit buttons met his eyes.

            He grabbed
the phone attached to the control panel and dialed out to Memphis.

            On the
second ring he answered, confusion in his voice.

            “It’s
Quinn. I took down the ship, it’s all clear, but uh… does anyone know how to
drive this thing back?”

~

            Memphis’
heart was hammering in his chest as he desperately tried to play cool. Had to
keep it together.

           
Mate
just walked into your life? No big deal tough guy, just keep it calm,
he
lectured himself.

            He and Jax
had loaded the survivors into their SUV, and were now barreling back to the
Embassy to get them medical care.

            Looking
into the rearview mirror he saw her directly behind him with the small child
laid across her lap. In the very back row Jax and Roderick wore grim
expressions as Balor slumped between them.

            In the pit
of his stomach Memphis thought the man was going to die right in the back seat
on the way to get help.

            The loss
would send Quinn into a deep downward spiral. He frowned and wondered if his
bond to Nora was strong enough to help him survive the loss.

            Unconsciously
his eyes floated back to her again. No matter how much he tried to stop
himself, it was pointless; he was drawn to her too strongly.

            She was so
pale and malnourished her bones jutted out grotesquely from her face, and her
veins forged a jagged blue road map across her neck and shoulders. The scar
across her throat was a deep purplish color, and bubbled up from the skin being
healed and re-broken several times.

            Her lips
were colorless and painfully chapped. Up close he could see her honey blonde
hair had patches missing, either from being pulled out, or falling out from
stress.

            The whole
group of survivors was in terrible shape, but her suffering hurt him the most.

            She was a
grown woman, but she was as small as the child cradled in her arms. She was so
fragile, her eyes so dead.

            She stared
forward, her face a frozen mask. If it wasn’t for the occasional movement of
her hand across the little girls hair, she could have been a broken doll.

            Nora had
had more life in her eyes when he had found her after her torture. What had
been done to this woman to break her down so completely as a human being?

            More than
he wanted to know about her past and who she was, he needed to know
what
she was.

            Her and the
child both smelled of human, but he could also scent vampire and werewolf blood
over them.

            What had
those monsters done to them?

         
The
boat had barely even touched the port of land before Casstiel had vaulted
aboard and was in Quinn’s face, blue eyes glowing brighter than the moon above.

            “When
this is over, we will have words,” he glowered down at him.

            More
than
anything
Cass wanted to blast his ass, to tell him off so badly he
would never disobey an order again.

            On
the other hand he respected the kids fight. He had showed extreme determination
in finding his pack, and to stop him from being reunited with them for even one
moment seemed cruel.

            “They’ve
taken the hostages back to the Embassy,” he snapped, “visit with your people,
we’ll handle this mess tonight, just send the rest of the team back when you
get there.”

            The
look of joy and appreciation that crossed Quinn’s features was almost enough to
cool off some of his anger.

            Almost.

            While
Kain guarded the prisoners, he and Ghost would go through the ship, taking
anything worth carrying back with them and hopefully sneaking out with it
before the Hunters got wind of the take over and sent a swarm to defend their
property.

            They
had been lucky that things had worked out for them so far. He wasn’t in the
mood to push their luck.

            Quinn
finished tightening the belt of the captains pants that he had borrowed, before
he took off. Even with the plethora of wounds marring his body from the fight,
he still chose the option of running back.

            “Hey,
wait a second,” Cass called to him as dissatisfaction still tasted on his lips.

            “What’s
up?” Quinn turned around, and was met with an upper cut so forceful it flipped
him over backwards and sent him skittering five feet across the deck.

            “The
next time I give you an order. Follow it,” his eyes flashed an electric shade
of malice, but with every throb of his fist his anger slightly ebbed.

            Quinn’s
eyes rolled to the top of his head, and his body went limp for a second. He had
been knocked out.

            After
a few seconds his eye lids fluttered and finally opened again.

            With
out saying a word he stood up, cracked his jaw back into place, nodded his head
to Cass and took off running.

            Before
Casstiel could even blink, the shadow of his form was gone.

            “He
said the captains room is up here, but there’s some sort of a study on the
second floor that looked promising,” Ghost reported, completely un phased by
Casstiel’s show of force and aggression. 

            He
cracked his knuckles. The kid had a chin like a steel door.

            “We’ll
search all the floors just in case,” he dictated.

            Quickly
they moved through the bottom floor of the freighter, finding nothing but the
mechanical underbelly, and a trail of carnage.

            A
room full of bodies met them at the end of the hall and Ghost let out a low
whistle.

            It
was an impressive victory for one person against so many.

            Moving
to the main floor of the ship they found the strategy room that Quinn had
described.

            The
room was covered in books and maps that would need to be taken back to the
Embassy. There was no time to examine them when at any moment a new hoard of
Hunters could arrive.

            “We
definitely have all of the record books for their shipments now,” Ghost flipped
through a small black ledger before adding it to the pile that needed to be
hauled up the stairs.

            “What
do we do about all this now? That’s the real question,” Cass pinched the bridge
of his nose.

            There
was no way in hell they could leave these docks standing and have the Hunters
go unchecked.

            Battle
plan on top of battle plan cramped his mind. When they were finished with this
ship he needed to call Sebastian and strategize. The options and risks were too
many for him to calculate on his own.

            After
clearing out everything of importance from the study they carried the piles of
books and maps to the main deck and laid them out for the others to pick up.

            Casstiel’s
mind raced with the amount of things that needed to be done.

            The
ship had to be cleared, the prisoners transported and secured, if Balor
survived the night he and Roderick needed to be interviewed, he would have to
conduct a serious investigation on the two women who had also been held
prisoner, and figure out-

            A
small buzzing noise interrupted his thoughts, and he pulled out his phone to
view the text message.

           
Will
you pick me up some cheesy puffs on the way home… I’m dying…
Tessa had
texted him, adding on a smiley face for good measure.

            The
corners of his mouth kicked up into a smile as he thought about his playful
little mate.

           
I’m
in the middle of a battle my love, and you are not dying
, he responded, as
always softer with her than he would be with anyone else.

           
You’re
neglecting your sun
, she texted back rapid fire and he could almost see her
pouting face.

            Laughing
he tucked his phone away carefully into his pocket.

            Now
the only thing left was the upper deck and captain’s room. They needed to get
this last section squared away and then they could finally head back to safety
and analyze everything they had stolen.

            Once
they made it to the upper deck however the both came to a dead stop. There
hadn’t been a battle here, there had been a massacre.

            Pieces
of… God could only guess how many Hunters were strewn about, blood caked onto
the walls, every piece of furniture destroyed.

            When
Quinn had first come to them he’d spoken of his ability to take down entire
Hunter compounds alone, but they had all assumed he had been over exaggerating,
or perhaps that he didn’t know exactly how large a Hunter compound could really
be.

            They
had been very wrong.

            There
had to have been every bit of thirty men aboard this ship, and not only had he
taken them down, but he was still standing after it all.

            The
kid was a goddamn machine.

            With
more training, and learning to hone his skills better, Quinn Roberts could
truly be the most deadly gift they had ever received in the war against the
Hunters.

~

Quinn
pushed his muscles to the absolute brink as he rushed to make it to the Embassy
and check on his pack.

            He knew he
had been injured in the last battle with the Hunters, but he barely felt any of
it. None of it mattered to him. The only thing that was important was getting
to Roderick and Balor and making sure they were safe.

             He skidded
to a halt as he saw an SUV parking and realized it was them.

            Jax hopped
out of the car and pulled Balor’s lifeless body out, carrying him in his arms
like a sleeping child.

            Everything
disappeared around him… had he finally saved his pack only for them to die
anyway?

            “Find
Remy,” Memphis barked, leaping from the car, “the healer is his only chance.”

            Like a
bullet Quinn was gone, racing through the medical building looking for Remy’s
distinct scent.

            When he
made it to her top floor apartment he didn’t even hesitate, just busted through
the door like a swat team. A quick search however told him she was not there.

            Where the
fuck would she be? He panicked. If she was out in the human world than all was
lost and his friend would die today.

            A thin
spike of hope flashed through his mind as he remembered the friendship that had
been blossoming between his sister, Nora and Remy. He took off toward the
defense building and prayed that he could find her there.

            The moment
Quinn began racing through the defense department he became aware of two
important things simultaneously:

            One, his
mate was in agony floors above him, and two, Remy was with her.

            Whoever, or
whatever had done this to his love, was about to get torn the fuck apart.

            He hurtled
up the last flight of stairs with visions of murder dancing across his eyes.

            Flinging
her door open he barged inside ready to kill.

            The two
girls sat at her kitchen table looking equally exhausted. Nora’s hair was
soaking wet and balled on top of her head in a sloppy bun, she wore only a
baggy t-shirt, and her hands shook slightly around the cup of coffee she held.

            Remy’s eyes
widened with surprise at the sight of him bloody and filling the door way, but
Nora didn’t react at all, clearly she had felt him coming.

            “What the
hell’s going on?” he looked around wildly for the source of her duress.

            “We’ll talk
about it later,” Nora dropped her gaze down to her coffee cup, “It’s a lot to
talk about.”

            “But you…
everything’s ok?” he frowned, confused, his fists still raised.

            She simply
nodded and his frown deepened. Why was his mate so hard to read?

            “Come on,”
Remy stood up and took him by the arm, “I think you came for me, you need me.”

            Quinn shook
his head and refocused. Balor. Dying. He needed to go now.

            “Climb on
my back, it’ll be faster to carry you,” he bent at the knees so she could climb
up.

            Awkwardly
she clasped her arms and legs around him, attempting to find a spot to hold
onto that wasn’t either covered in blood or a gaping wound.

            “You,” he
turned to face Nora before he left, “I’ll be back for you tonight.”

            Then he was
gone.

~

            Remy’s
hands shook as she clung to Quinn’s back much the same as a child would cling
to their father.

            Whatever
they so desperately needed her for, she could feel that it was monumental. Her
veins were alive and buzzing with the feeling of it and she couldn’t wait to
get there.

            Who did
they need her to heal and why was that person so important to the Breed?

            All of her
instincts were on fire, dying to know what had happened tonight at the docks.

            Quinn sped
through the buildings so quickly it was almost as if he wasn’t moving at all,
more like sliding through time. Her auburn hair fanned behind her, and her arms
gripped painfully tight around his neck, but still the feeling gave a surreal
sense of stillness.

Nora
had
to try this.

            They made
it to her office in a shorter time than it would have taken her to walk to the
elevator right outside of Nora’s door.

            Inside the
room was as grim as a mortuary. The men that filled it each wore a stony
expression and her heart sank as she thought she might be too late.

            On her
“operating” table laid the broken remnants of what she could tell had once been
a strong and powerful man.

            She barely
noticed the two women huddled in the corner as she felt herself drawn to him.

            His body
was so sad and wasted compared to the man he could have been. The man he had to
have been in the past. Even lying down she could see he was well over six feet
tall. His shoulders were so broad he would have been larger than any other man
on the defense team.

            He had a
raw feral look about him, and she was positive that if he was in his full
health and stature there would be no mistaking that he was a werewolf, even in
his human form.

            Something
large and solid suddenly blocked her view of the patient before her.

            She looked
up and realized that the man on her table was undoubtedly a twin because an
equally feral and impressive man now stood before her.

            The only
difference between the two was that one had long ginger orange hair, while the
other twin, her twin, had coal black.