The Breed: Nora's Choice (19 page)

            The most
unnerving part of the entire situation was not that it was only the two of them
out there, but the fact that they had no idea what was coming their way. It
could be five armed Hunters and one Breed member, or it could be one hundred
men strong and dozens of captured Breed members.

            Then of
course there was the possibility of the Nine. If the Nine showed up, it would
severely turn the tables and things could go south for them quickly.

Each
member on the defense team could easily be out numbered a dozen to one by the
Hunters, and still be fine. If they were fighting other trained members of the
Breed however, he wasn’t sure they stood a chance.

The
silence stretched on for what felt like eternity, their anxiety just building.

“I’ve
got something big coming in from the road,” Ghosts voice cut in through the
head set, startling Memphis, “looks to be a large truck.”

“Do
not engage,” Casstiel’s voice appeared calm, but they could all feel his
anxiety about the upcoming battle, “we’re still forty five minutes out.”

            In no time
a large refrigerated truck rumbled through the mammoth cargo hold, finally
parking on the edge of the docks.

            From where
they were positioned it was hard to make out details even with the advantage of
their enhanced Breed sight.

            “I’m moving
closer,” Memphis informed them, then grabbing his sniper rifle in one hand, and
the monitor in the other, he began to army crawl across his roof top.

            Silently he
jumped onto the steel cargo hold below then continued his journey for nearly a
mile; crawling, leaping and climbing to attempt a better vantage point without
being seen.

            By the time
he was close enough to get a proper visual on the truck his long dreadlocks
were soaked with the sweat of his back and hands were agonizingly cramped from
clutching the portable TV monitor.

            The truck
sat in idle facing the docks, but was otherwise inactive, the men inside hadn’t
even bothered to exit the vehicle.

            “They’re
definitely waiting for something,” he squinted, trying to see through the
tinted back windows, “I can’t tell if there’s anyone inside the back of the
truck or if they’re going to use it to transport the Breed members.”

            “Cass we
could take this entire truck out right now,” Ghost’s voice was deadly clam,
“Shoot the tires and take out the Hunters inside before you even get here.”

            “No,”
Casstiel was vicious in his response, “we have no idea what’s coming. If there
is another team carrying the Breed members, they’ll be out of there the moment
they realize something is wrong and the entire rescue will be blown. There are
more lives than just our own at stake here.”

            As always,
he was right, but Memphis couldn’t help agreeing with Ghost. It was against
their nature to sit idly by, especially when there could be people suffering
inside of that truck.

            A cold
sickness crept through his veins as a sinister thought struck him.
Why
would they be transporting live bodies in a refrigerated truck? And if the
Breed members were already dead, then what in the hell were those sick bastards
doing with the bodies?

            Any
possible answer to those questions made him ill, so he forced himself to focus
on the task at hand… waiting in agony. 

            Twenty
minutes passed and a limousine pulled up, winding its way toward the end of the
docks, stopping behind the truck.

            “We got
company boys,” Memphis whispered into his head set.

            “Fuck,”
they heard Kain growl in the background, then the distinct sound of a vehicles
engine being pushed to the absolute max.

            “How many?”
Cass grunted.

            “No idea,
the windows are too tinted to count and they’re waiting inside just like the
truck,” Ghost answered, his voice filled with adrenaline and frustration.   

            “I’m
calling in Quinn,” he growled, “your boy has had a long enough date, time to
work.”

            The wait
for the rest of the team to arrive was torture. Sitting in the dark, knowing
your kind was captured near you somewhere, but being able to do nothing about
it was infuriating.

            Shifting
his weight uncomfortably, he kept his eye trained on the lens of the sniper
scope.

            Who was in
the limousine? Were they finally about to find out who belonged to the Nine?
Surely the Hunters wouldn’t waste resources on such a flashy ride.

            “We’re
closing in,” Casstiel muttered and within a few minutes they heard the SUV
finally swerve from the highway, then off the road and eventually the engine
was killed.

            The sound
of men loading up gear filled their headsets. From the sound of it, the boys
had brought some heavy shit.

            Silently
they swarmed their way through the labyrinth of cargo containers. Instead of
taking the fastest and most direct route to the Hunters, they took longer, but
more isolated and hidden paths.

            “Cass
what’s the plan? Don’t leave me up here man,” Memphis needed a fight so bad he
could taste it. Every muscle in his body was begging to go out and deliver some
pain.

            “Alright,
Ghost you stay in the nest, Memphis come around the other side so we have them
surrounded,” he replied.

            Jumping the
twenty foot drop as if it were nothing he jogged to meet Jax on the opposite
side of the docks as Casstiel and Kain, then loaded himself down with every
weapon that was handed to him.

            The tension
was thick as everyone waited for Cass to make the call to storm the vehicles.
Their lives, and the lives of the captured Breed members all rested in his
hands and the fate of his judgment.

            For the
first time in her entire life, Nora felt safe after sleeping with a man.

            Quinn had
pulled her into his arms so tightly that the warmth of him spread into her
bones.

            Every part
of his soul had touched every part of hers this night, even the dark parts she
tried to hide, and it gave her a feeling she would never be able to describe.

            He hadn’t
come to her soft and sweetly in the night, he had cannon blasted every wall she
had attempted to put up, and then drug her out of her solitary fortress kicking
and screaming.

            She had
fought him tooth and nail, but he persevered and was slowly bringing her into a
place of beauty and happiness.

            Surely
nothing could be this simple and peaceful and wonderful? Had she really found
someone to care for all the shattered pieces of her soul? A man she could trust
and rely on?

            “Tell me
what you’re thinking,” he smiled down at her, clearly knowing exactly what was
on her mind.

            Now that
the lust was gone, all that was left in his eyes was love for her.

            “Just…” she
looked away, romance was
so
not her thing.

            “About how
completely amazing I am,” he bumped his forehead against hers, “about how
you’ve
totally
fallen for me in every way.”

            “Cocky
bastard,” she laughed and rolled out of his arms.

            He grabbed
her around the middle before she could get away and pressed her back against
his front.

            “I know
what it really was,” he purred against her ear, “you were shocked at how good
the dick was, because I know no one’s ever laid it down on you like I just
did.”

            “Are you
ready to go again? Because talking like that is how you get things started up
again,” she wiggled her butt playfully into his crotch.

            “You just
let me know when you’re ready for round two, because I can go all night,” he
bit her shoulder softly.

            “Can it
really always be like this with us?” she asked, closing her eyes and feeling at
peace.

            Now that
she wasn’t staring into those dark green eyes of his she felt bolder.

            “Nora it’s
all about me and you,” he squeezed her tightly, “we make the rules, we set the
standard.”

            “This just
isn’t what I thought it would be like,” she relaxed against him.

            “Well stop
assuming how things are going to go, and start looking at how they
are
,”
he molded his body against hers and let her feel all of his strength, “look at
how happy and at peace we are when we’re together. Not once when I’m with you
have I ever thought about being captured by the hunters and the shit they did
to me.”

            She
swallowed hard and forced herself to listen to what he had to say and not run
from it like she usually did.

            “Don’t you
feel less tense like this?” he asked, “less like the world is a steaming pile
of shit and more like things might really be ok?”

            That was
exactly how she felt, but she still wasn’t ready to start hoping that something
like this could really happen to her, so she stayed quiet instead.

            “It’s ok,”
he rubbed her arm lovingly, “until you’re completely sure, I’ve got enough
faith for the both of us.”

            She
couldn’t think of anything to say so she just nodded her head dumbly and hoped
he understood.

            “And when
you’re ready to talk about whatever it is that happened to you to make you lose
your faith in humanity, I’ll be ready to listen to that too,” his voice was so
gentle, his words so kind, he was forcing her to fall for him.

            Staying
silent she snuggled deeper down beside him and hoped he could hear all the
words she couldn’t bring herself to say yet.

            A
comfortable silence stretched between them, and she enjoyed the feeling of
comfort and rightness that it contained.

            “Hey boy
genius,” she smirked to herself as a thought eventually struck her, “tell me
something.”

            “What is it
smartass?” he nibbled her ear lobe affectionately.          

            “Tell me
more about those Gods and Goddesses you love so much,” she smiled. For some
reason the idea of listening to him excitedly banter on the way he did in the
restaurant was highly appealing to her.

            “Greek
again?” he asked, “Once we get through all of those, I’ll start telling you all
about the Roman, Egyptian, Hindu, and Nordic Gods.”

            “Sounds
like we’ll never run out of things to talk about,” she laughed and the
comforting sound of his voice filled the room.

            He had such
an amazing way of informing her, but keeping her entertained at the same time.
Within a few minutes she had to turn around to watch his facial expressions.

            The way he
wove the stories through humor and seriousness, she knew if she closed her eyes
a movie would play in her mind following his words. She couldn’t close her eyes
however, couldn’t pull her sight away from the beautiful animated man in front
of her.

            He had
started the story off with odd sounding creatures’ call the Titans then had
made his way to Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon, when a funny noise broke her
concentration.

            “Is that
Tetris?” she frowned looking around.

            “It’s my
ring tone,” he laughed not bothering to pull his arms from her body.

            “Between
you and your sister, I don’t know who the bigger dork is,” she rolled her eyes,
“shouldn’t you answer that?”

            “That would
require taking my hands off of you, which is never what I should be doing,” he
pulled her against him tighter.

            “They keep
calling,” she frowned deeper as the sound started up again, “it’s got to be
something important.”

            “Alright,”
he sighed, “don’t you move though.”

            She wiggled
her butt playfully at him and he groaned.

            “Yeah mom,”
he sighed into the phone, not bothering to take his eyes off of her and check
the ID. The only person who ever called him like this was his mother.

            The call
was short and direct, but it was enough to rock him to his core.

            “What is
it?” Nora was instantly concerned by the change in his facial features.

            “There’s a
battle tonight, a big one,” he swallowed hard, “they need me, they might even
have found my pack.”

            “Then you
have to go,” she replied simply.

            “I don’t
want… that’s not,” he scrubbed his hand over his face and let out a frustrated
sigh, “I don’t want our first time together to seem like a hit and run.”

            “A hit and
run?” she giggled, “Come on Romeo get outta here, our people need you. Ghost
has got a huge collection of crotch rockets; they’ll get you there fast.”

            “A
motorcycle?” he scoffed, “A vehicle would just slow me down.”

~

            “Ghost, hit
the tires,” the order sounded and not a moment later the shot lit through the
night, so silent as it left the rifle that only members of the Breed would be
able to hear it.

            There was a
confused rumble from inside both vehicles before the Hunters erupted from them,
guns drawn and looking for a fight.

            The
bewildered looks on their faces were priceless as they were met by absolutely
no one.

            “We have
you completely surrounded,” Casstiel’s strong voice broke through the night,
“if you come quietly with us now we will not take your lives. We will bring you
in for questioning and your leaders can negotiate for your lives. You will not
be harmed.”

            The idea of
bringing all these Hunters in alive and unharmed didn’t sit well with Memphis,
but he accepted that it was the best way to get out of the situation they were
in. They needed their people alive, and trading the lives of the Hunters was
the best way to accomplish that.

            Though the
situation was rife with tension, a feeling he couldn’t describe was crawling
its way into his belly. It was like a combination of nerves and excitement, but
so strong it made the breath catch in his lungs and nearly brought him to his
knees.

            Shaking his
head hard, he told himself it was just adrenaline from the pending battle.

            The eerie
sound of laugher ripped through the night, drawing his attention.

            “Bargain
for our lives?”One of the men screamed while the others cackled around him.

            The Hunter
closest to the back of the truck violently banged his fist against the door.

            Immediately
it slid open to reveal four Hunters, each holding a hostage by the neck, guns
drawn at their temples.

            The two men
they held were immediately recognizable as Balor and Roderick, the leaders of
Quinn’s pack.

            Roderick
had been forced onto his knee’s and was badly beaten, blood pouring from
multiple gashes, his right arm had been broken so badly the bones stuck out of
his skin in more than one location. His lips were dark blue from the cold, his
body sickly emaciated, his eyes lifeless.

            Out of the
two brothers however, he was by far the one in better shape.

            Balor, if
not for the ever so slight rising in his chest, would surely have been mistaken
for a corpse. His neck lolled morbidly to the side, his spine protruding as
though it had been broken several times over and allowed to heal. His body so
weak, if not for the Hunter holding him up he would have crumpled to a heap on
the floor.

            His body
was so thin and starved, so very different than his normal ‘larger than life’
stature, that his only identifiable feature was his nearly elbow length black
hair.

            Besides the
two brothers, there were two females he didn’t recognize. He sniffed the air,
but their scent was confusing. He could smell
something
Breed about
them, but they also smelled human. What the hell was going on?

            One of them
was small, child sized, her frail body being carried by one of the Hunters. She
had shock white hair and aside from her overly thin body, and appallingly
ragged clothing, appeared to be unharmed.

            The last of
the four hostages was also just a tiny wisp of a thing, but as he looked over
her body for injuries he could see she was a woman, not a child. If she was
standing on her own, instead of leaning exhaustedly against the Hunter next to
her, she would be only an inch or so over five feet tall. Just like the others,
her body had wasted away, and was hidden under the rags she wore.

            The only
injury he could see on her physical person was a large angry scar that wrapped
around her throat, as though someone had strangled her repeatedly. Anger rose
through him as he thought about all the horrors she had probably endured at the
hands of the Hunters.

            Then from
hundreds of yards away she looked up directly at him.

            Her brown
eyes were so light, it was like looking into liquid gold, and in the very
depths of his soul he knew his whole world was about to change.

~

            Moments
after Quinn left, a PTSD attack came on so strong and so overwhelmingly fast,
she tried to scream for him to come back and help her, but her voice choked in
her own throat.

            Now she was
alone again with nothing but the hallucinations.

            Cold
darkness crept into her heart, destroying all the light that had been there
mere moments ago, and all around her she felt that presence.

            Billy. The
man who had destroyed everything.

            She rubbed
her palms against her eyes hard enough to make her wince, but it wasn’t enough
to take away the mental images in front of her.

            She knew
that she was safe at home in her own bed, where she had recently made love to a
man who would do anything to protect her, but that didn’t stop the memories
from flashing around her.

            Slowly her
own bed died away and was replaced with an old wrought iron frame and a
mattress that was soaked through with her own sweat and blood. She had been
tied down and gagged with thick ropes that dug into her skin and refused to
budge, though she twisted and bucked with all of her strength.