Chapter 37 - A World of Hurt

— Kaden —

Once Eva has been secured. It took us around eight minutes to rush the fortress and take it. Vanargand was with us, and guided a team to where there could be survivors. He'd been good to his words.

Before we went in, Rayner—who was the man who secured Eva in the woods—told me how Eva pleaded with him to return Mads' body. I would have done it regardless, but still. It didn't help to ease the pang I felt in my chest when I saw his broken form discarded on the floor. So were others. It was a massacre. I don't know how much of this Eva witnessed, but I'm not letting her get back to her life without some serious counseling.

Mishka had given us information before we moved in. All that he had, or so I thought. Even pictures of the main crew and their personal information. He had done some digging of his own before he came here. He even had social security numbers and bank accounts.

Some of my men took Mads' body away, and that of the Luna and her children to bring them to their people. The rest of the bodies were subsequently taken out too. The attacker's bodies, put in a different place than their victim's.

A few of the perps had been taken alive, and except for those holding them, and those on body duties, all my men joined me after their assigned job done.

The broken body of the Alpha was found in the kitchen. No survivor had been found.

"I think John gave the order to wipe everyone. He did that on another job. That's probably when he sent men to take your sister too," Vanargand told me.

"What happened?" I asked, careful not to let my rage seep into my apparent detached tone.

"I killed them all but one."

"He escaped?"

"Your sister killed him," he said casually.

It took me a lot of efforts not to let my steps falter.

She killed someone.

I'm glad she's alive. I'm glad I insisted on her being trained, but still. There was something wrong in that statement. It was irrational really. I don't control my sister, but I feel like it shouldn't have been here to do it. I don't want to look down on her or her capabilities, I don't think I am. But it still feels wrong.

I could picture her face as she was this ditsy teenager, and barely more together as a young woman. This image clashed with that of a killer. It was dissonant. She should have been safe. I sent her here. It was my responsibility.

I'm not arrogant enough to believe I can control all possible outcomes, went given her position, her work, her relation to me, she should've had more than one body guard at least.

She'll probably never want to leave again. Darren will probably insist on it himself. I'd understand. I'm not going to impose anything on her, to stay or to go. It's her decision, it has to be. But it doesn't mean that it's not tearing at me right now.

There will come a time when she will probably have to make some decisions for her to overcome the trauma. But I doubt I can guide her much along that path.

I finally reached where the last men were held.

"This is him?" I asked Vanargand signalling the brown-haired man in the middle that I suspected was John Bishop, the leader of this group.

"Yep," said Vanargand.

That's when they noticed him, and they began spitting insults his way. Of course, my men knew the only one I wanted was Bishop, so they shut them all, but him.

The gun shots resonated in the room, and that pretty much shut Bishop up.

The bodies fell on the ground where they were kneeling, the blood pooling on the hardwood floor. Then my men walked forward and double tapped all the corpses in the face, for good measure.

I walked to Bishop, his eyes were a little wild and he jumped at every gunshot until the men returned to their position behind me as I walked to him.

He was kneeling too—like the others had been—, his hands locked behind him.

I would have towered over him had he been on his feet. Now he had to turn his head upward like a child to look at me, and I wasn't that close yet.

"I will say this only once," I told him in a calm voice. "You can give me any useful information about this hit and the one calling the shot or you can refuse. Once your decision is made, I don't care what you have to say. The only thing this will change is how you die. Quick or slow."

"You think I'm gonna just tell you?" he spat.

I turned around and walked to the door. "Make it last." I told my men, and saw them move in to deal with him. He'd killed one of ours. They will be creative enough to entertain Bishop for a while.

"You're not trying to get more out of him?" Vanargand asked me. He was the only one here who would ask me such a trivial question.

"Torture doesn't work," I told him.

"Your sister said that too."

"She's more clever than she looks," I told him.

"She looks fine enough."

"Thread carefully here." I didn't change my tone, but the message got across.

"Don't worry," he told me unaffected. "I'm more interested in Vanessa," he said the name in a sing-song way.

"Be careful what you wish for," I told him as we crossed the lawn.

We reached Lorcan Murphy as he was accounting for the bodies of his people.

"You found the Alpha?" he asked me as I came to him.

I nodded.

"Where is he?" he asked carefully. He knew the man had been severely hurt.

"They're bringing the body, he'll be here soon."

He looked down at the bodies before him. They were his family. No matter what people say, no matter the size of a pack, packs are family. He was on the verge of breaking. I'm sure if I hadn't been present, he'd already be crying.

"That makes you Alpha now. You will need time, but you can't take too much. They need you now," I said, nudging my head toward the other packs member present. They had kept everyone but the warriors indoors, away from the carnage where they would be safe. It was better this way.

"I know of the deal Killian made with you," he told me.

"I will hold my end of it."

"You'll take the shield with you. We need to rebuild. We might not be able to protect it here for a while."

"Are you sure?" I asked him.

He was still not looking at me. His eyes moved from the corpses on the ground to the last one that was brought in, their former Alpha.

"The deal was for a year. Before then, we will take it back."

"Understood," I told him. "I will leave in a few hours with my sister, if you can send it by then, it would be safest this way. I will leave a skeleton crew to help for the following week. My sister has asked information to be given to us. Details about the Faes' matters."

"I know of it," he told me. Still looking at Byrne.

"I will get the information before the end of the week," I said it as a fact. He nodded.

"If you have any needs or questions, feel free to contact me. My sister mentioned Alpha Byrne wanted alliances. I'm still open to the idea. As a sign of good will, along with the crew I leave you with, you will be allowed to deal with the invaders as you see fit. None survived, the last one will die soon enough. Any information we have about them can be forwarded to you if you want it."

He nodded again. "Thank you." He finally turned to me. His eyes wet. We shook hands and I left him.

"Is it him?" I heard Ylva say as I got to the cabin we used as HQ. She was speaking of Vanargand I was sure. He was among the men coming in with me.

I acquiesced.

"You're Vanargand?" she asked him, looking him up and down, not exactly impressed.

"You can call me Mishka," he said beaming at her.

"You have a cute name?" she said it as if it was the most disgusting thing in the word to have.

"Why, thank you, Vanessa," he said still sing-songing the name.

She kicked him in the balls.

I saw him tense a bit just before the hit. I think he might have been able to stop it, but he didn't. Interesting.

He bent in a sigh of pain and said in a choked voice, "I like her."

This guy is in for a world of hurt.