Page 51 of Flawed Revenge

Each one of them had more than enough reasons to loathe the Gardner family. Well, the family minus Rose. Steel hated that Rose’s entire childhood had been filled with abuse. Dragon hated that Cassandra had been dragged into this mess just because she was linked to them. Blade hated that Whitney’s genius had been used against her. Voodoo hated that Indigo had been experimented on, and Thunder hated that Maya had been bought like she was less than human.

As for himself, well, he hated that Kate had unknowingly been watched for the past decade.

Which was why when he spotted a man dressed in black, attempting to hide behind a tree as he fired at the farmhouse, Lion grinned as he slunk toward him. How did these people think they would come out of this firefight victorious? Hadn't they been warned about the advantages he and his team had? With his sight, Blade’s hearing, and Dragon’s smell, they were easily pinpointing where each shooter was hiding and giving directions to the others.

It was why they’d already eliminated half of the men. Now that the threat was greatly reduced, he knew he wasn't the only one who had lost interest in using his gun to kill. He was ready to unleash that pent-up rage.

Rage that had been created when those drugs first hit his system. Grown when he realized it was taking over and he’d been forced to give up the girl he loved. Deepened in three years of captivity and experimentation. Promised retribution in the seven years after they escaped.

Now it was time to let it fly free.

Shifting his position, Lion circled the shooter, who seemed completely oblivious to being stalked, which did not speak highly of the kind of people River Gardner hired. When he was close enough to strike, Lion grinned. Just because this man might not have personally hurt Kate and Ariella, he’d made himself part of this. He was shooting at the building where his girls were huddling inside, scared and injured. He deserved whatever he got.

“Hi,” he drawled, smirking when the shooter startled, spun around, weapon aimed at him.

Acting before the man could get off a shot, Lion snapped out a hand, grabbed the weapon, shoved it up so any bullets fired would fly uselessly into the sky, and shoved it backward, so the weapon slammed into the man’s face, shattering his nose and knocking out a few teeth.

“I don’t think so,” Lion rebuked, tutting as he yanked the weapon from his hands. The man howled in pain, which, quite frankly, he found pathetic. If he couldn’t even handle a broken nose and a few lost teeth, he had no business being in this line of work.

While it would be fun to take his time, allow his fury off its leash for a little while to work off a decade’s worth of restraint, there were still more threats out there, and he wouldn't risk his girls’ safety by losing control. When they found River Gardner, then he’d let himself let go of that control. They’d wound up deciding as a team to just kill Ridge without a lot of fanfare, thinking they were ending things. But now they had a second chance at getting the revenge they’d originally planned on, and he wanted to follow through this time around.

To that end, he allowed his fists to fly, breaking bones, sending blood spraying everywhere, relishing those screams, which soon turned to whimpers, and then nothing at all. Only once it registered that no sounds meant the man was dead, did he stop.

Breathing hard, Lion turned and spotted a man slinking his way.

Not one of his teammates, so he didn't hesitate to launch himself at him. Apparently not realizing he’d been spotted until it was too late, the man was powerless to protect himself as Lion slammed his fists into him over and over again until he had another dead body lying at his feet.

The night had fallen silent.

Did that mean they’d killed everyone who had gone there tonight intending them harm?

Lion scanned the forest, his enhanced vision searching for anything out of place. When he didn't find anything, he headed back toward the farmhouse. Seemed he wasn't the only one who had also determined that they were the only ones left breathing, because the rest of his team were emerging as well.

“Don’t hear anyone still alive,” Blade told them.

“I don’t smell anything but death,” Dragon agreed.

“And I can't see anything moving,” he added.

While they’d been out there killing, they’d all been making sure that no one got close enough to the farmhouse to enter it, so now he was anxious to get to his girls. He needed to feel them wrapped up in his arms, to know they were safe and sound.

But as he approached the front door, something shifted.

Something felt wrong.

Apparently, he wasn't the only one who felt that because the others stiffened too. All of them were as anxious as he was to get inside and check on their loved ones. No one had moved toward the house, he was sure of it, he’d been making sure of it. Any movement toward the house had been quickly eliminated.

So when he stepped through the door and saw only five figures waiting for them instead of seven, it felt like his heart dropped right out of his chest.

“Where are they?” he growled, praying that Kate and Ariella had just gone upstairs to the bathroom, even as he knew they wouldn't have done that. He’d told them to stay there, and he and his team had been out there for maybe fifteen minutes killing off the intruders, there was no need for them to have needed to leave the stairs.

“I'm sorry, Lion,” Rose said as she lowered the weapon she’d had aimed at the door.

“They’re gone,” he snarled.

“Ariella freaked and ran. Kate went after her,” Cassandra explained.

He hadn't been looking for anyone leaving the building, hadn't thought he needed to. He and the others had all been too focused on anyone approaching it. But that failure had given his girls time to get away.