The Falcon Ridge Series Book 3 If Looks Could Kill

(Chapter song ‘In The End' by Linkin Park)

LUKE

I really can’t believe I found sleep. Between Alexi and my dad, I should be a chronic insomniac at this point.

Of course, someone banging shit outside my house is making that difficult.

I snort awake and look around my room. Another sound like a can or something came from outside and I turn to my window.

As I sit up and rub my eye, I turn to my nightstand and lift my phone. It's just after 2 in the morning.

“What the hell?” I whine as I throw the covers off.

I rub my face as I get up and head downstairs.

Once at the front door, I grab the handle and pause. I lean my ear to the door and listen.

I know that sound.

I shake my head, close my eyes and slowly open the door.

More bikes pull into the driveway behind Ian standing in my driveway with eight other guys. All of them with weapons.

I stand in the doorway with my fists balled and my lip curled.

He laughs as he looks to his men then back at me. I take a step out of my house and ready myself for a fight.

"I'm sorry, Alpha. Did we wake you?" Ian laughs.

He raises two fingers and crooks them. His men raise their weapons and my brows shoot up. “SHIT!”

The eight men open fire as I dive for cover back into the house.

Wood splinters and glass breaks as the house is riddled with bullets. I get as low as possible on the patch of wall beside the door. Covering my head, I feel bullets fly through the wood just above my body.

At a small pause, I get moving.

I crawl as fast as I can, dodging debris, to a cabinet where we keep a small stash of weapons.

I grab a 9mm and turn back just as a concentration of silver came through the wall ahead of me. I flop to my stomach and blow out a breath. “Fuck!” I shake splinters out of my hair as I slide on my ass to the front window. I check my clip, cock my gun and hold the barrel up to my nose. I close my eyes, pray to whoever cares then rise to the broken window. I shove the gun out the hole and fire a few rounds before ducking back down.

They continue to spread a rain of gunfire into the walls, laughing and cackling.

I rise up again and fire. I duck down as I hear screaming coming from outside. I nailed a fucker in the thigh. Good.

I hold my gun up in front of my face as I pant. I'm sweating and fucking raging as I wait for the next round of bullets. I look up at the window when I suddenly notice it's quiet.

Thumping down stairs has me whip my head. Gavin and Terry run down the steps and freeze when I frantically motion them to get down.

More people descend staircases and I wave them all to back the fuck up. “Stay back!” I order then flip my head to the window.

"Luke? Where are ya, Luke?" Ian taunts. "I have a welcome home present for you. Hope you like it."

I hear the rumble of motorcycle engines start and I take a peek over the window ledge.

Two of Ian's men pull up to the porch stairs. They cackle at each other as they toss round objects in the air and catch them in their hands.

I watch as they pull their arms back and throw the objects through the front door.

The objects hit the floor beside me and roll into the house. As one metal ball spins then stops, I see the blinking red light that’s speeding up.

My wide eyes meet Gavin’s.

“OH, FUCK!”

“BOBBY DOWN!!”

Gavin dives down the hallway as I grab Bobby and we run for the bar, diving behind it.

The balls explode with deadly force. I cover myself as the entire house shakes and I feel my world rip apart. Heat and flames fire out in all directions over our heads as the bar gets beaten by the blast.

The ceiling, with everything above it, caves in and smashes across the common room.

The pressure from the explosives fireball takes out the entire front of the pack house.

In a fraction of a second, half my house is reduced to splinters and gravel.

****

‘I want to help you, Ian!’

‘I don’t need your help! I never asked for your help!’

‘You can’t think the lycans can do better for you than me. I’m your best friend.’

‘They…they…’

‘They what? Give you money? Stuff? I can do that.’

‘They respect me, Luke. They like me for who I am and don’t want to change me like you do.’

‘Ian…I don’t want to change you, I want to save you.’

‘That’s the other thing…They don’t want to use me for a fucking medal like you do. You want to save me for your image. You don’t care about me. You care about looking good. Save the poor kid from the bad guys and watch the girls swoon, right? RIGHT?!’

‘No, Ian…’

‘Bullshit, Luke. I heard you talking.’

‘Shit…Ian…’

‘Take your heroics and shove them up your ass, Alpha.’

‘IAN!’

****

My throat feels like it’s on fire as I let out burning, hoarse coughs.

The air is filled with smoke as small fires burn. I shakily, raise my head and look above the bar.

The ceiling hangs in bits and pieces and I can see wires sparking. The walls behind the bar and ahead of me are ripped apart and the bottom of the bar is blown out.

Through the hole, I see a mountain of debris that was the ceiling. The stairs are tore up and everything is black.

I cough more as I start to rise to my feet. Pieces of wood and sheet rock fall off my back as to crawl out of my hole and then over the debris covered floor.

Pieces of the ceiling break off and add to the mess as I maneuver around the sparking house wiring hanging down.

With my arm covering my mouth and nose, I carefully stumble through the pile of junk and see a crater in the middle of my foyer. It’s about as big as a small car and goes into the basement. There’s a pipe burst down there judging from the sound of rushing water.

My ears are ringing and my head is throbbing. My body aches all over. I turn to the gaping hole that was my front door. Carefully, I climb over the roof of the porch and slide down it to the driveway.

Walking backwards, my fucking heart breaks. Half of the two stories was on the ground. I hold my hair as I try not to lose it.

The sounds of motorcycle engines turns my grief to rage and I whip my head to the driveway entrance. I see Ian’s back turn down the road.

I break into a mad sprint and stop in the middle of the street. I watch them drive off, their cackling laughter mocking me as they leave.

"YOU DONT FUCKING SCARE ME, IAN. THIS IS MY PACK. I'LL KILL YOU, IAN! I'M GOING TO FUCKING SHRED YOU!!" I scream into the night as neighbors show up on their lawns with concern.

I look at them then the ground. Without saying a word, I limp back up my driveway to the my failure as Alpha.

As I go to climb back in to start searching for people, I feel a sharp pain in my side. I lift my shirt and see blood. I took a bullet to the meat of my side. I slide a hand to my back and feel it. I wince in pain as I feel that the bullet went right through. I’ll heal, but I'm bleeding bad. I lower my blood-soaked shirt and climb back up the porch roof.

Once inside, I start searching the debris.

"Gavin! Bobby!" I search the floor, throwing stuff to the side as I do.

I see movement under some ceiling material and hear tiny whimpers.

I rush over and start digging whoever is under the pile out. After moving a piece of drywall, I see golden brown hair.

"Lucy?" She's on her stomach as I throw more stuff off.

"Lucy." My eyes sting as I fall to my knees beside her and lean down to her head. “Luce? Come on, Swift. Answer.” I choke as I move her hair out of her face.

She’s cut up and her eyes are closed. I lean to her mouth, but I can’t tell if she’s breathing.

“Lucy, open your eyes. Please.” I whisper as I rub her cheek.

"Luke." She groans as her open a tiny bit.

I’m flooded with relief and smile. “Yeah, Swift. I got you.”

Her room was right above the common room. She's lucky to be alive.

“What…”

“Don’t worry about that. I gotta get you out.” I throw the rest of the debris off her back and legs. I go to move her, but she screams out. “What? What is it?” I look down to her side and see a piece of metal sticking out of it.

“Fuck.” I sniff as I wipe my nose with the back of my arm. I lean down to her eyes as she starts to cry. I wipe my sisters tears away. "Ok. Swift. You have a piece of metal in you, ok. I've got to pull it out."

I pat her head as she nods. I bend down and kiss her cheek. "On three.” I place a hand on the metal piece and one on her side next to it. One...two... three..." I yank the twisted metal out of her side and she lets out a gut wrenching scream.

I quickly find a piece of cloth and tear it up. Blood is pouring out of her as I press it to her side. "Ok. I got you. Hang on." I lift her up and cradle her in my arms. I carefully carry her out as the Red Rock Medic Unit and Fire Unit shows up, sirens blaring. The Security Unit also showed up, but with Terry and Madison in the house, they’re not as organized as they should be.

As I slide down the roof and hit the driveway, medics rush to us.

"Alpha. What happened?" One asks.

"Later." I pass Lucy to a medic as another drags a gurney over. "She has a wound that needs stitches on her side and there's at least fifty people still inside." I growl as I walk to the medical until truck.

“What’s the integrity?” A Fire Unit guy asks as I grab a medic bag and pull out two bandages and some tape.

“Not great, but it was concentrated to the front of the house. I’m not sure about the floor.” I tape the bandages over my bullet holes and throw the tape back in the bag.

“Alpha, you need to have that looked at." One medic motions to my gunshot.

"Later. I'm going back in." Before I can hear their protests, I'm already half way back to the house.

Trying not to get electrocuted, I call out to the first of my friends who was in the hallway on the other side of the crater. “GAVIN!”

As I hop over the outer edge of the hole and hit the hallway floor, I see a toppled cabinet lift.

“GAVIN!”

I rush to him and lift the cabinet up and rest it on its side against the wall.

He groans as he slowly picks himself up.

"Gavin. You alright, bud?" I ask as I help him to his feet.

He holds his ribs and looks around the dark. "I'll be fine. Where's Bobby?"

“By the bar. I’m headed there next.” I say as I look him over.

“Go. I’m ok.” He taps my shoulder as I grunt in response.

I carefully leap back over the pile and make my way over the piles. “Bobby?!” I call out as I get close, expecting him to stand up. “Bobby!”

I rush around to the backside of the bar, shove wood and bottles off him and go to move a large shard of glass, but it doesn’t move. I clear off stuff around it and find his back. “Oh, God.” I choke.

Clearing him out, Bobby is on his stomach. He's quietly whimpering and trembling with the shard from the bar mirror sticking in his spine.

I look the triangle shaped piece of glass over and I'm afraid to touch it.

I drop to my knees like I did Lucy. As much as I don’t want to, I can’t leave it in him. "Bobby. I'm gonna a pull it out."

He's going into shock and becoming unresponsive. I grab the shard and carefully pull it out. All he does is whimper more.

"Ok. Bobby. Hang on. We've got help. Emergency crews are right outside. Gavin!" I yell into the darkness.

Gavin makes his way over to me.

"We need the medics. He took glass to the back. He can't walk." I clear the rest of the debris off Bobby's body.

Gavin nods and makes his way outside.

"Luke! Lucy!” My mother and father are at the banister upstairs.

I come out from the bar and peer at them through the dark. "Mom. I'm here. Lucy's Ok."

"What happened?!” Her sobs punch me right in the chest.

"I'll tell you later." I'm trying to remain as calm as I can, but I really want to flip out right now. "Right now, I need you both to go to the emergency escape in the back. Grab as many people as you can. I don't know how long the house will remain stable."

My father pulls her away and they get to work to rescue those at the back of the house.

The medics come into the house with a stretcher and take Bobby out. I help the search crews rescue more people until it’s clear everyone was out.

As I walk out of the crumbling mess that once was my home, the fire Unit sets up the water trucks to put out the fires.

When I'm satisfied that everyone is Ok, my rage starts boils over.

My family was almost killed tonight.

Ian's going to hell and I'm giving him his first-class ticket.

I walk across the driveway to the med station temporarily set up to treat the wounded.

"Uncle Luke!" Joshua runs to me crying.

I turn and a solid lump hits my throat. I bend down and wait for my little dude to run into my arms. I pick him up and bury his head in my shoulder.

He's the only child that lives here. The only son of our head chef. He's been my little buddy over the last 7 months.

I hug him tight as he cries. His body is shaking bad in my arms and he can barely breathe through his tears.

"Thank God. Shhh…It’s ok…Calm down, buddy. Breathe…That's it. It’s over.” I coddle him and rock him as he grips my shoulders like life line.

When he starts to calm, I pull his head back and push his brown hair out of his face. “You, ok? You hurt anywhere?" He shakes his head as I hold his cheek. He slams himself back into my chest.

"It's alright. I got you."

His father holds his mother as she cries into his chest.

I pull Joshua back so I can see his face. "Your mom could really use a big hug right now." I smile at him and fix his hair. “You want to see her?”

He whimpers a nod and I walk him over to his parents. I hand him off to his mother and rub his back.

After, I join Gavin, my father and a few others. "Is everyone out?" I ask.

My father nods. "Yes. As far as we know. You're mother’s with Lucy. She took some internal damage, but she should be OK. They're transporting her to Falcon Ridge for surgery.”

I look at the stars, biting my lip, still trying so hard not to freak out.

Gavin places a hand on my shoulder. "Bobby's paralyzed until his spine repairs. Should be a few days."

"Ok." I look at the ground.

"Son. We can't let this slide." My father crosses his arms.

"No. You're right." My jaw ticks as I feel my red hot anger. "I'm not going to. The Lycans are going to fucking pay for this if it the last thing I do."