Simon: Le Beau Brothers: New Orleans Billionaire Shifters with BBW mates Series (Le Beau Series) (22 page)

Simon rested his rifle on his shoulder.
“I know his print. When he came to the plantation I made a point of inspecting both sets of tracks.” He growled as he imagined Rose’s fear. Scanning the area, he zeroed in on a fluttering ribbon. “Rose is close.” He smiled and breathed her name like a prayer.

“Did you find something?”
Isaac asked as he joined him.

“Her mark is on that tree
.” He pointed.

He ordered the men to fan out and search for more
ribbons and tracks. Using his empathy, he closed his eyes…nothing. He knew it was a long shot but he had to keep trying. He looked left and right and saw no sign of the men. That gave him his second small smile since Rose’s disappearance, his team was the best there was.

After returning to the empty cabin for shelter she had managed to sleep for a few hours. With an unsatisfied stomach and no other option, she once again left the cabin to wonder through the swamp praying that today she would find her way home.

She stepped carefully along the trail, through hard won experience, she knew what the edges of a sinkhole looked like. An alligator growled somewhere nearby followed by a splash. She glanced in the direction of the sound, quickly verifying the creature’s location.

Travis waited, out there somewhere and her only option was to keep moving until she found civilization. She had made her way through miles of swamp and bog. A miracle by any standard if she dared look at it closely.

Much more had gone right than wrong, she had found food and shelter and wasn’t dead. She kept telling herself that Simon would be waiting for her. She knew he was telepathic, so why wasn’t he answering her? For the hundredth time she wondered if the telepathy thing had a distance limit.

Rose paused, her body swaying with exhaustion. She went still, a shadow moved in the darkness to her left. She took three steps to her right, ducking into a shadow
.

She had learned patience over the last few days. She pushed her weariness aside and waited. Listened. Watched. There was only the occasional plop of a snake dropping from overhead branches into the murky waters. Still, she waited, knowing movement drew the eye.

Stay quiet and don’t move,
Rose chanted to herself. Her muscles quivered and burned from maintaining her position.

It didn’t matter how many deep breaths she took, she was in serious trouble and would be discovered any second. She heard more than one person or animal
. She wasn’t sure if they were moving close to her. Her only option was to remain hidden until she could verify what moved in the shadows. It could be a threat as easily as a rescue party.

Simon wanted to disembowel the wolf that had taken his mate but they needed
to verify Rose was safe first. He may need to be questioned. Never fear, you bastard, death will shake your hand soon enough. Silently he commanded his team with hand signals. Each wolf or man moved into striking distance with impressive precision. Simon crept forward into position; from there he heard and saw everything that went down.

Birds screeched and rose like a cloud into the air
. Simon looked toward the sound. He shifted his position and peered through a thick hedge of saw grass. He heard the distinct crackle of a radio and instantly dropped to the ground. He remained motionless, barely breathing, until he could determine the exact position of Travis.

Sound carried on
the water making the conversation easy to hear. Simon stiffened, that was one of the men Rose had described for him. One of her muggers. She had called them Dark Hair, Blondie, and Scruffy. Dark Hair’s gaze kept straying toward the old cabin. Rose was in there.

His ears immediately tuned to
Dark Hair's conversation over a static-filled radio.

“
So, did you do it?”

Simon cocked his head at the anxious, unfamiliar male voice. Ah, the beauty of his shifter powers. He had hearing that would make a bat jealous. And he knew the topic of their discussion…

Rose.

“She’
ll never find her way back. I expect the final payment in the account immediately,” Dark Hair radioed back.

“
You’ll get paid once her death is verified and not before. It’ll do no good to have her miraculously survive.”

“That wasn’t our deal,
we drove her into the heart of the bayou. That was our agreement. We want our money or we’ll continue to let her run and she might find her way back to the Le Beaus’.”

“If you want it now, you have to kill her, otherwise
you’ll wait.” The static abruptly went silent marking the end to the conversation.

The muscle in Simon's jaw started to tic in time to his rapid, angry heartbeat as he listened. It took incredible stealth for Simon to get within striking distance of his prey.
He watched Dark Hair rake his fingers through his hair, undoubtedly deciding his next move. 

Time to put
Operation Rose into high gear.

He held his position, satisfied for the moment that Rose was not his captive, and waited for his team to signal ‘all clear
.’ Instead of the birdcalls he heard frog croaks and gator growls. It wasn’t clear. They were in for a fight.

He gave the signal to ready themselves for battle then waited to the count of twenty for each man to get into his best striking position.

Simon rose from the grass hedge like a giant shadow, inches from taking Dark Hair down. At the last heartbeat the man spun to attack.

Simon swept Dark Hair’s legs from under him then struck with his Bowie. Dark Hair dodged the strike and nailed Simon with a right hook.

With a roar, Simon grabbed Dark Hair’s right arm and snapped it above the elbow. The man screamed in pain. Before Simon could subdue him or finish him off Dark Hair pulled a knife and slashed wildly. Simon eluded the sharp blade watching for his opening.

Behind him Stefan,
Thomas, and Jack fought Blondie. Thomas was thrown ten feet and crashed into a tree. Jack crouched, Bowie in hand, as Stefan circled waiting for his chance to strike.

As Blondie lunged at Jack, Rose’s brother made a rapid up-slash and across the man’s mid section before Blondie could disarm him. At the same moment, Thomas fired his rifle, blowing out Blondie’s knee. Blondie screamed and staggered back into Stefan’s waiting hands. One quick twist of his neck and the scream stopped.

To Simon’s left, Cade fought a fourth man with John and Michael. The man swiped at John with a knife but the boy was fast, really fast, and he avoided the blade. Using a spin kick John struck the man in the jaw with a shattering force. The man faltered then regained his balance. Before the man could recover all his wits, Michael struck with his Bowie driving it deep into his belly. As the man doubled over Cade gave his neck a quick twist in the same manner Stefan had.

Simon tired of the knife play with Dark Hair, he flipped his knife so the blade landed in perfect throwing position and let it fly. The Bowie rested in Dark Hair’s heart up to the hilt. Gurgling and drooling blood, Dark Hair crumpled to the ground.

Simon had a reputation before entering the Marines as a man who didn’t lose in a fight, now he was downright lethal. His deadly gaze zeroed in on Travis, held by Etienne and Isaac. Marcus was searching the area for additional men.

Simon roughly snatched Travis from Etienne.
“I want nothing more than to snap your neck at this very moment but that will have to wait,” he hissed into his ear then shoved him back into Etienne’s waiting hands.

He couldn’t kill him until he had Rose in his arms, he might need to interrogate him.
“Father, Et, hold him while I check for Rose.” He raced across the clearing, he couldn’t reach her fast enough. As he neared the cabins door he heard nothing, it was silent. “Rose? Rose are you here?” A quick scan of the one room shack proved it was empty.

A red haze of fury, spread across his vision. He charged Travis, grabbed a handful of hair and yanked his head back. “Where the hell is she, Travis!”

He glared at Simon then spit in his face.

Simon seized Travis from
Etienne’s grasp and smashed his fist into his jaw, a crack rang out as the bone shattered. Rapid blows to his ribs, pulverized half of his rib cage. Until the force of his fists was the only thing keeping Travis on his feet. Simon shoved him toward Cade and watched him fall to his knees.

Bending to snarl in his ear. “I said, where is she
?” The menace in his demand spoke of a long painful death.

“Go to hell, Le Beau
,” he wheezed. Blood poured down Travis’s face and soaked his torn shirt. He spit a mouthful on the ground along with two teeth. Throwing back his head, he laughed a hair raising maniacal cackle. “She’s long gone, and you’re never going to find her.”

With a roar, Simon
slashed his knife across the man’s exposed chest. Blood gushed from the deep cut.

Travis screamed and attempted to shift, nothing happened
. “What the fuck!”

“You can’t shift unless I will it,” Isaac said calmly.

“What does that mean,” he growled.

Shrugging,
Isaac’s lip curled on one end. “I’m king. I control your ability to shift or not as I see fit.”

Enraged by Isaac’s decree, Travis
broke free and lunged at Michael and Jack. A knife flashed.

Michael blocked the initial attack with his arm. A stream of blood painted the forest crimson. Jack put Travis in a chokehold but the blood covering him made his grip slip.

Stefan grabbed Travis but before he could subdue him, Travis spun right and slashed Michael across his mid section then left across Jack’s throat.

Michael screamed in agony and watched in horror as his large intestine spilled into his hands. His face drained to deathly pale and he slid to the ground as he lost consciousness.

With an insane gleam in his eyes Travis turned on Thomas but he was ready and planted a slug to his chest. When he kept coming, he flipped him to the ground.

Travis snarled and got to his knees as he attempted to stand again.

Hearing the commotion, Rose moved from where she was hiding. She reached the edge of the tree line as Travis slashed Jack and all hell broke loose.

Rose's eyes narrowed at the sight of Travis harming her bro
thers. A buzz began in her mind as an unbridled fury boiled deep in her gut. She'd never felt such rage. It rose like a tsunami. She wanted blood. Travis’s blood.

A large rock lay at her feet, much
heavier than she should be able to lift. She scooped it up and bellowed her fury as she launched herself from her hiding place.

Travis turned on her, ready to fight.

For a fleeting instant, fear gripped her, one glance at her brothers and it was gone, washed away by her roiling rage. Raising the rock high she smashed him in the head with it as he was drawing back his knife. His bloody body crumpled to the ground, out cold. Panting from the adrenalin racing in her blood she put her hands on her knees to catch her breath. She didn’t drop her rock though. She eyed Travis, not trusting he was really out.

A collective gasp told her the men had all witness her aveng
ing her brothers.

Large arms came from behind to wrap around her, she reacted on instinct raising her rock to strike. Isaac stopped her at the last second from bashing Simon. “Rose
, dear, please don’t beat your mate.”

It took a heartbeat to realize Simon was really there. She threw her arms around his neck, weeping from relief or loss she wasn’t sure.

Simon couldn’t hold her close enough. She raised her head and his blue gaze collided with her tormented one. Air rushed into his body and for the first time in days he took her scent with it. He should have smelled the swamp, but instead he smelled woman.
Rose
.

Turning in his arms, Rose’s heart ripped from her chest as the life she’d known since she was twelve collapsed. Michael
was bleeding out and Jack clutched his slashed throat. These were her brothers, the only family she’d had. They had created a bubble of safety around her and provided the first place she’d ever felt truly safe and secure. Not a family exactly, but certainly as close as a foster child could come. Now her family was dying before her eyes. Because of her.

Etienne locked gazes with her, his face grim. “I should’ve been able to prevent this.”
He swore. “I am so sorry, mon ami.” He turned to Simon. “What would you have of me?”

“Can you help them? Please
, Simon, do something,” Rose cried.

Simon held her, giving as much comfort as he could. “Etienne, is there anything you can do?”

Etienne felt for a pulse, Michael was white as a sheet and barely breathing. “They are still alive, but barely.” Etienne gazed at Rose with sadness in his eyes.

Rose pin
ned Etienne with her pleading eyes. “Please.”

Etienne stepped forward and gave her one regal nod. “I can turn them but they must choose it.”