AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Robert has Frankie and Allyson. Old warehouse in Honeoye.”
David swore.
“We need to gonow.” Jace grabbed David’s jacket off a nearby coat rack and threw it at him. “Shane, get your coat on.”
Shane’s eyes widened. “What do you need from me? I can—”
Jace let out a low growl. “Get your coat on and get in the damn Chevelle. Pronto.”
Two minutes later Jace was speeding full-throttle toward Honeoye.
Frankie.
She was his sole focus, the only thing he wanted to live for. He imagined her face in agony as Robert drew his knife across her skin. The image sent his blood boiling. That sick fuck would pay. He would die the slowest, most painful death Jace could think of.
My fault. All my fault.
The words echoed in his head. Frankie. Allyson. The countless bodies piling up in filthy alleyways. All his fault. He choked down a battle cry that would have shattered the windows.
Shane cleared his throat and leaned in between the two front seats, his face hovering between Jace and David. “We need a plan.”
Jace growled. “I’ll tell you the damn plan. We kill that motherfucker and then carve his eyes out with a dull blade.” Jace’s grip tightened on the steering wheel. “No one touches my mate.”
My mate.
He thought of the first time they’d made love, the way he had slammed into her and she had taken every inch of him and reveled in it. Being inside her had felt like coming home, the way her lips had sweetly caressed his.
Damn right she was his mate.
Because even when she was ripping out his heart and stomping on it, unable to choose him, he was still fucking in love with her. A weight lifted off his chest. Yeah, he could admit it. She was mate. He loved her. He didn’t give a flying shit if she was a wolf shifter, if she were packmaster, if she’d lied about her name and who knew what else. He loved her, and he would be damned if he was going to let anyone hurt her.
“If either of you wants this to be successful, weneeda plan,” Shane said, raising his voice louder. Colder and more calculating than usual.
“What’s the point of making a plan?” David said. He twisted around to look at Shane. “We’re going to be massacred. Robert has been a berserker longer. He knows his abilities and how to control them. He has the upper hand, and there’s no way Jace can ever one up him, because with his father dead, he’ll never be able to access his Berserker powers.”
“Dead?” Jace asked, stunned. “What the hell are you—”
“Sorry to be the bearer of bad news,” Shane said, coolly from the backseat, his voice filled with that eerily calm detachment than made him so good at his job, “I did some online research after you ran out like the hounds of hell were after you, and… I’m sorry, Jace, but David’s right. He’s dead.”
Jace felt as if the world had been placed on pause. There was little room for anything in his mind except for the news David had delivered and Shane had confirmed—and his fear for Frankie, his love for his mate. His drive to save her and her friend. He continued speeding toward the warehouse, but his vigor and anger flickered for a moment before reigniting.
His father was dead? The old bastard was finally dead? He wasn’t quite sure how to feel. Sadness—that was what he should have felt, if he’d had a normal childhood. Instead, all he could feel underneath his drive to kill Robert was a sense of relief.
Coupled with fear for the woman he loved.
The rest of David’s words finally penetrated his brain then.
He shook his head to clear it. “Wait. Is that true? That no matter what I do, I’ll never be able to use any of the Berserker powers?”
Shane sighed. “Unless you can go back to the otherworld again and find a different solution, yeah, it’s true. You’re the last of your bloodline. There’s no one else left for you to kill, even if you wanted to. And even with your current abilities, Robert still has the advantage, because he’s been using his gifts so much longer, and you still can’t shift at will.”
The tension filling the car was staggering. Jace felt suffocated. Several minutes of silence passed before he finally let out a long sigh. This was it, then. He was almost certainly going to die. But that was okay. He would do anything, give anything—even his life—if he could just save Frankie. Finally, he spoke.
“Here’s the plan. We do whatever it takes to get Frankie and Allyson out of there. Shane, your job is to get them to safety by whatever means necessary. I’ll give you the keys to the Chevelle. David, it’s your job to get them out, then go with them and Shane and make sure they’re safe. Don’t even consider coming back to help me. There are demons in this city you need to take care of. The brotherhood can’t lose you, and once I’m out of the picture, Headquarters will see that they can’t either. I’ll take care of Robert. No matter what it takes.”
David shook his head. “Are you sure, J? Can you do this?”
Jace nodded. “I have to. All I can do now is pray it’s my lucky friggin’ night and I don’t go down with him.”
