Bound to Kill

Theo

The Deputy Director calls me into headquarters, but it doesn’t ruin my good mood. Even the obnoxious elevator music I’m subjected to for twenty-five floors doesn’t wipe the grin from my face.

I received word from my operative—he’s back, Alexa is dead, and Darius will be soon. It’s a good day.

With a pep in my step, I exit the elevator and approach the boss’ PA. “Hey, Tiff. Is he—”

“Murray,” Richard barks. “My office. Now!”

My jaw ticks, but I remind myself it’s a good day. Forcing a smile and ignoring his glare, I enter Deputy Dick’s office and settle in a chair.

He rounds his desk. “Why am I hearing you put a hit on our Fae Agent?“

Shit. The chief ratted me out. I need to visit his wife to remind him who’s in charge.

Face neutral, I lie. “Unfortunately, the Fae went rogue. Tried to take out Shadow Creek’s Alpha.”

“Why the fuck would he do that?”

“You’ll have to ask him that, sir.”

“Oh, I plan to. But it’s a bit hard if he’s dead. Call off the hit. I want the Fae brought in without a scratch or hair out of place.” My fists clench at his tone. “Chief Gilmore is suspended. You come to me for authorisation from now on.”

Goddammit! Feigning indifference, I say, “Of course. Will that be all, sir?”

“Yes. Get your sorry ass out of my office! This better be the last time I hear about you pulling this shit. Stay in your goddamn lane, Agent!”

If only my magic wouldn’t trip the alarms, I’d rid the world of this wankstain. It would be so easy. I could cut his air supply with a snap of my fingers. Instead, I exit his office without another word. My magic thrashes inside me like a caged bull.

Once back in my car, I call the hybrid. It rings out, so I leave a voicemail. “Kill the Alpha and Fae by the end of the day.”

Anger simmers in me. Needing an update, I message my informant.

Theo: I heard Alexa’s dead. Any news on the Alpha?

Unknown: You’ve been misinformed. Alexa is alive and well, as is Darius. They returned to the packhouse an hour ago and made a show of killing your assassin.

“Fuck!”

My rage boils over—magic blasts from my body, smashing my car windows and setting off alarms. “Can’t anyone do their goddamn job?”

I angrily tap on my cell, booking a flight to Scotland. Tomorrow, I’ll end the Alpha and his bitch myself.

Darius

Lexi pulls my head to her chest. “I’m sorry, Darius.” Her fingers trail through my hair in soothing strokes, comforting me.

“Let’s get dressed and deal with it.” I head to my walk-in closet and throw on sweats while Lexi suits up in her leathers. “You go on ahead. I’ll meet you there.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I’m right behind you.” After a brief kiss, I hurry to my office to pour a Scotch and get my emotions in check.

Three shots later, I link my Beta and lead enforcer. Come to my office.

It doesn’t take long for them to arrive. I meet them at the door.

“Everything okay, Alpha?” Amanda asks.

“It will be,” I state. “Once we eliminate our rodent problem.”

Neil’s eyes widen. “You found the traitor?”

Amanda is just as surprised. “Who is it?”

“You’ll see when we get there. Let’s go.”

We walk to the interrogation room in silence. Three enforcers already stand guard at the door. Amanda and Neil enter first. After a deep breath, I follow.

Stacey

Michelle and I share a bottle of wine in the lounge, neither of us eager to retire to our rooms after being confined for so long.

“Thank the Fates Alpha finally came to his senses and released us.” She swirls the wine before taking a sip.

“It’s Lexi’s fault. She has him so pussy whipped he’s not thinking straight.” Just the thought of her has me seeing red. “It was all her idea. She set us up.”

“She must not like competition,” Michelle smirks.

“Too bad I never back down.”

Laughing, we clink glasses. Our laughter dies when three enforcers head our way.

I hold my breath. Fear roots me to my seat. I can’t get locked up again.

But they walk past without sparing us a glance. I release the breath I’m holding. “Christ. Every time I see guards, I freak out.”

“Same. It’s PTSD.”

Rattled, I polish off my drink and turn in for the night.

Alexa

Of all the people I suspected, I never saw this coming. My heart aches for Darius. This betrayal hit him hard.

I sit on the edge of the table in the interrogation room, awaiting my mate. Adrian sits in a seat to the side of me. Finally, the door opens.

In walks Amanda, Neil and the Alpha. Darius closes the door and leans against it. His steely eyes meet mine, then fall on Adrian.

“Adrian’s the traitor?” Amanda gasps.

I can’t help it. I laugh hard. “Bitch, drop the act and sit your ass down.”

Amanda’s eyebrows practically shoot off her head. “Excuse me?”

“Cut the shit. Hunter is dead because of you.” I clasp my hands to stop myself from snapping her neck.”

She scoffs. “Is this a joke?”

Neil’s claws shoot out, his wolf fighting to shift. “You filthy snake. My cousin is dead because of you.”

Amanda looks around frantically like she expects a magic escape route to appear. “It isn’t me. I swear.”

Her heart rate elevates, and the room reeks of fish. Liar!

“Sit. Down.” The air gets thicker with the Alpha’s command. Amanda immediately complies.

All three males now stand in front of the door. Their eyes trained on Amanda. Adrian is here to see the traitor punished, as requested.

Knowing how much this hurts Darius, I conduct the questioning. “Why did you do it? Why betray your pack?”

She grits her teeth. “This is ludicrous. Yer wrong. I’m not the rat.”

“Hmm.” I pull out my cell and find the message from my hacker, then dial her number. “That’s funny cos my hacker retrieved the number of Theo’s informant.” Her face pales as her cell rings. “Are you gonna answer that?”

Amanda looks to her left, finding something fascinating on the concrete wall.

I lean over the table, harshly grabbing her chin and making her face me. “You disgust me.”

She glares back with hatred in her eyes.

Releasing her, I snatch her phone and sit in the chair opposite her. “Start talking, or I’ll introduce you to my mean side.”

Amanda gives an air of defiance, but after a moment, she begrudgingly starts to talk. “I didnae mean for Hunter or the others tae die. I didnae ken Paul had magic explosives.” Her voice breaks.

“Purposefully or not, those deaths are on you.” My hands tremble as an image of Hunter, burnt and lifeless, flashes in my mind. “What about when Lakeside attacked us hours after we lost wolves to the feral? Did you mean for that to happen?”

Her posture changes—back straightening and mouth clamping shut. She crosses her arms defensively.

I arch a brow. “If this is the part where you ask for a lawyer—request denied.” My expression sobers. “Are we doing this the easy or hard way?”

She rolls her eyes. “Took ye long enough to figure it out. I laughed so hard when he made me Beta.”

If her reaction to my smile is any indication, I look as crazed as I feel. “The hard way it is.”

I catapult over the table. Amanda tries to stand, but I’m faster. I knock her to the floor and wrap my hands around her throat, squeezing and crushing.

Amanda partially shifts—claws come at my face. My hand catches her wrist. Blood trails down my arm as she tears into my flesh until I bend her wrist so far back it snaps. She screams, fuelling my blood thirst.

Jumping to my feet, I lift and toss Amanda across the room, slamming her into the wall. Her eyes are unfocused and her curly hair sticks to her head, soaked with blood.

My blood pumps with adrenaline. I walk toward Amanda and wrap my hands around her throat again, cutting off her air until she passes out.

“Take her to the dungeon and restrain her,” Darius orders.

Neil and Adrian do as told while Darius holds me for a moment. His heart races as fast as mine.

When we gather ourselves, we follow the others to the dungeon. Amanda is already in manacles.

A few minutes later, she comes to. “Do yer worst. I’m not telling ye a damn thing,” Amanda croaks.

“They always say that.” I smile as I kneel beside her, digging my fingers into her head wound.”

“Ahh! You fucking bitch!” she hisses.

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk? I have a hundred ways to make you wish for death.”

“Go fuck yersel!”

“Maybe later.” I grip her hair, pull her head forward, then slam it into the brick wall.

Amanda cries out, her eyes losing focus. I slap her hard so she stays with me.

Her threat to stay quiet doesn’t last. “Please. Stop. What do ye want tae ken?”

Standing, I tower over her. “Why did you betray the pack.”

Amanda looks at Darius. If looks could kill… “It was neva about the pack. It was about hurting him,” she spits.

My fingers twitch. I clench my fists. “Why?”

“My da is dead cos of him!” she yells.

Shock crosses Darius’ features. “Who is your dad?”

“Dylan.”

Recognition sparks in his eyes. “My da’s Beta was your dad?”

“Aye. Only after the SEB killed yer da, mine dinnae have time for his secret love child.” Amanda narrows her eyes. She peers at Darius through slits. “He was too busy consoling the new Alpha. And that made Ma jealous n depressed. So she poisoned them both. I’m an orphan cos of you!”

Amanda’s frothing out her mouth. I’m surprised she kept the sweet, innocent act up for so long. She despises Darius.

“I’m sorry your mum didn’t get the help she needed, but Darius isn’t to blame.” My wolf comes to the surface, needing to eliminate the threat to our mate.

Darius approaches her, body rigid and eyes hardened. “That’s no excuse to betray the pack. The pack that helped you deal with your loss. That treated you like family. I treated you like family. All those deaths are on you!” he roars.

Her anger fizzles out. She bursts into tears. “I didnae mean for them tae die. I only wanted tae punish you.“

Darius’ chest heaves. His wolf demands retribution. I can feel he’s seconds away from doing something he’ll regret. I need to get him out of here before that happens. We need answers before he kills her.

“Let’s leave her to stew in her guilt. I could use some sleep, and so could you.” Pulling him out of the cell, I lock it and lead him upstairs with Neil and Adrian in tow.

“We’ll reconvene in the morning,” Darius tells Neil and Adrian.

“Yes, Alpha,” says Neil.

Adrian pats Darius’ back. “Goodnight, Alpha. Luna.”

I get Darius back to our room. He’s on edge. The fact he hardly slept the last six days doesn’t help.

“You shouldn’t have pulled me away.”

“We’ll think more clearly after sleep.” I undress and slide between the sheets. “We’ve crossed worlds and almost died. We need rest.”

He doesn’t respond but lays beside me. Minutes later, his exhaustion wins.

Finding it hard to switch off, I grab my laptop and scour through the file I have on the rogue vamp, who claims the SEB put a hit on the Supernatural Council mage. I look for clues on where the proof is.

Oliver Johansson, Age unconfirmed

Turned at age 32. Originally from Sweden. Currently living in Hungary.

I already searched his addresses in Sweden and Hungary. They were clean. Skimming the irrelevant information, I zone in on anything I think may be helpful.

Went off the grid in 2011. Picked up on CCTV in Holland in 2018.

If he lived in Holland all those years, he must have a residence there. This is our break.

Relieved to have a lead to share with Leslie, I close my laptop and snuggle into my mate.

We have the rat. Theo and the SEB are next. With that happy thought, I drift off.