| |
Amelia
After my attempted abduction, Liam insisted I stay at his apartment so he could protect me. I knew it was a bad idea with our shared feelings, but Liam made me feel safe even after everything. The first two days he didn’t leave my side, but on the third evening, he was called into work he couldn’t get out of. I dozed off on Liam’s couch watching some singing contest, waiting for him to get home from his late night. A loud knock jolted me from my sleep as I jumped up and ran to the door.
“Who is it?”
“Amelia? Amelia, it’s Olivia. I need you to let me in.”
The first day after my abduction, Liam had admitted to me that Olivia had tried to strike up some sort of relationship with him. Nothing had happened but he’d been tempted, and while it was painful to imagine him with someone else, I understood the desire to find something to dull the pain. My heart ached at not being with Liam, but I was the one who had broken things off. He was merely respecting my wishes.
All the same, I wasn’t sure why Olivia would be at his apartment in the middle of the night when he was at work. I opened the door and looked her up and down. She had a professional look in her pinstripe navy skirt and white blouse with her hair tightly bound in a bun.
“What’s going on? What are you doing here?”
“Something has come up at the office. Liam sent me to come get you.”
“Liam sent you?” That didn’t sound right. He knew how I felt about her.
“Yes. It’s urgent. Grab your coat and throw on some shoes. We need to hurry.”
“Why didn’t he send Chase?”
“Chase is handling something else right now. Hurry, we need to go.”
I rushed to the bedroom to get dressed and grab my coat. In the living room I slipped on my shoes without bothering to untie them first and we hurried to Olivia’s car.
We rode in uncomfortable silence to an old warehouse where Liam worked. I wasn’t sure why he needed to see me there. I assumed it had something to do with finalizing the case he’d been working on. Or perhaps his captain needed another statement. They’d already given me roughly three interviews that felt a lot more like an interrogation to me.
We arrived at a different warehouse than the one Liam had taken me to before. It made sense to assume Liam’s agency might have more than one location for security reasons, but I’d never put much thought into it. The parking lot was dark, and the deep shadows added to my anxiety about being with Olivia.
She guided me inside, opening the door and allowing me to enter first. When I stepped into the entryway a man’s pain-filled cries echoed down the empty hall. I ran as quick as I could to find where the screams were coming from. All my worst nightmares flashed before my eyes. I had to help Liam. As I neared the room, I realized it wasn’t Liam’s screams I was hearing.
I burst through the door to find a poor haggard-looking man chained from the ceiling by his wrists while the cruel sadistic torturer held a knife to his throat.
“Stop,” I cried and gasped as the man turned around revealing himself to me. Liam.
“Amelia what are you doing here?” He threw down the knife and ran to me.
I pushed out of his arms feeling every bit of blood drain from my face. “You—you were causing those screams?”
“Amelia, let me explain.”
“This is what you do? This is your job?” I stammered as I backed up, almost running into Olivia as she entered the room.
“This is only a small part. I don’t do this anymore.”
“Well, it sure looks like you do.” My stomach rolled and I felt like I might be sick.
I tried to run to the man to help him, but Liam grabbed my arm and pulled me back so that I collided into his hard, muscular chest. He pinned me against the wall with his body. Gripping my chin, he forced me to look into his eyes.
“You need to get out of here. Now.”
I yanked my chin out of his grasp before looking him square in the eyes. “I’m not going to leave this poor man here to be tortured.”
“Damn it. Fine. You want to be stubborn. I’ll show you stubborn. I let you go once, and you saw what happened. I refuse to let you go again. You’re mine, Amelia. You’ve been mine since the first time I saw you. You just didn’t know it yet. Now, sit down, and listen to what I have to say before I tie you up. You know I’m not above it.”
He stepped away and released me but didn’t move far. I sidestepped him slowly and moved to the chair in the corner of the room. He relaxed slightly when the threat of me running faded as I lowered myself into the seat.
“You torture and kill people for a living. That is something I will never be okay with.”
“I hate torturing those people. I’ll admit when I was just starting out, I used to enjoy it, because it was something I was good at, and it let me release all the built-up frustrations from my days of dealing with my abusive asshole father. It was a way to fight back like I couldn’t back then. But not anymore. Now, I hate it.”
“You still kill people.”
“I get rid of people who are ruining our society, people who threaten innocent men, women, and children.”
“That’s what the police are for. That’s what jail and prison are for.”
“We’ve tried it that way. These people find ways to get around it, to put themselves above the law. That is when they call me in. I do the things that everyone wants to pretend doesn’t happen so that they can continue on with their safe pretty little lives and act like these ugly horrible things don’t exist. I save lives by taking the lives of evil men.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. As much as I hated what he did for a living I knew deep down that on some level he was right.
I let out a heavy sigh of resignation. “I don’t like it. But I get it. I trust you. If you say this is for the best, then I believe you.”
“Thank you.”
“Very touching,” Olivia said from the edge of the room. I’d forgotten she was even there. “Amelia and I should leave you to your work. I’m sure you have a long night ahead of you with Agent Williams.”
“Actually, Olivia, I'd like for you to stay for a minute.”
“Oh? Do you need my help? I’ve always said we make a good team.”
“I won’t be needing your help. You see, Williams already gave me all the information I need.”
“He, what? I mean that’s great. What intel were you able to extract?”
“It was interesting, actually. Once I explained to him how helpful you were in his capture, he became very forthcoming about your involvement in leaking intel to our enemies in Russia.”
“He blamed me?”
“He did,” Liam said matter of fact.
“Well, you know how some people get during these interrogations. They will say anything to make the pain stop.”
“That’s true. Except I wasn’t inflicting any pain on him at the time of his admission. We were just chatting.”
“He’s clearly lying to blame an innocent agent as retaliation for his capture.”
“You see I would think that too except for the fact that he was able to offer some very convincing evidence in the way of video and voice recordings he had uploaded to his private cloud.”
“But when we came in, you were torturing him. Amelia saw it and so did I.”
“Security alerted me the minute you drove onto the premises. They failed to mention that you had company with you.” Liam cast me a quick glance. “I was surprised to see Amelia, but I have to admit Agent Williams really missed his calling in theater.”
“That’s not true. You’re lying. You’re making this up.” Olivia backed away toward the door like a panicking animal.
“Security’s already waiting outside. You’re not getting out of here,” Liam said, taking a step closer to her.
“Traitor!” Olivia pulled her gun, seemingly from nowhere, and shot Agent Williams in the chest. He cried out but his bound arms didn’t allow him much movement. Liam ran to him and applied pressure to the man’s chest as he called out for backup. I jumped from my seat to help.
Before I could reach them, she fired again, hitting Liam’s arm.
Liam shifted into his wolf right in front of my eyes and I shrieked, jumping back against the wall. He lunged toward her, but she was quick to shift too. Her fur was lighter than Liam’s with a distinctive red tent especially on her head and legs.
The two wolves met in the middle of the room, clashing together. Olivia snarled. Her sharp teeth bit into Liam’s front leg. He yelped before letting out a fierce growl and biting her near the nape. I couldn’t keep up with who was winning. Everything was fur, teeth, and claws. .
I wanted to help but wasn’t sure how. I glanced around the room, spotting Olivia’s gun strewn on the concrete floor. She must have dropped it when she shifted. I glanced back at the two battling wolves who didn’t seem to be paying me or the injured man on the floor much notice. I dove for her gun, quickly lifting it to aim but the wolves were going around and around.
Olivia went for Liam's neck, giving me an opening and I shot in her direction.
Olivia fell back against the wall, blood staining her fur.
Liam shifted back into his human form and I dropped the gun to the floor as Olivia's wolf shifted back to her human, unmoving form.
He kicked the gun out of reach. I stood there staring. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak. I just stared.
Liam crouched and pressed two fingers to the side of her neck. He shook his head with a solemn look on his face.
As much as I was against using my gun on another person, I was surprised that there were no regrets as I looked down at her lifeless eyes staring back at me. I had killed a woman. But I had done so protecting the man I loved. I didn’t just cross the line, I leapt over it willingly—without regret.
As the adrenaline left my body, the gravity of what I’d done sank in.
The sound of rattling chains finally cut through my shock. From my peripheral vision, I spotted Liam releasing the captive man and lowering him to the ground with a rag pressed to his chest.
“Amelia, are you okay?” Liam called to me.
“I’m fine. But I—I...” My lip trembled and tears ran down my face in hot streams.
“I know, baby. I know. I’m sorry you had to go through this but right now we need to get him some help.”
Liam was right. Whatever I was going through could wait. I would process what happened later but right then there was another life at stake. The last thing I wanted was two people’s blood on my hands.
I didn't think a bullet could fatally injure a wolf,” I said as I rushed over to them.
“Olivia must have been using silver tipped bullets. We need to keep pressure on the wound. Can you handle that while I call for help?”
“I got it.”
Liam moved his hand out of my way andI pressed on the blood-soaked cloth. The man winced but I held strong. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. It just hurts a lot more than I thought it would.”
“My name is Amelia.” I forced a smile hoping to offer some comfort to him.
“I’m Sean.”
“Nice to meet you, Sean.”
“You too. Just wish it were under better circumstances.” I could hear the hurt and struggle in his voice.
He looked worried. His eyes were heavy and pained. “I don’t want to die here.” His sudden confession caught me off guard.
“You’re not going to die. Liam’s going to get help and I’m going to stay right here with you until they get here.”
“I wish I could go back in time and change things that I’ve done. I wish I could take back working for Olivia. I betrayed my pack. The other wolves. I deserve to die.”
He was giving up. Giving up was the most lethal decision anyone could make. I had to convince him that there was something worth fighting for.
“Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone does things they wish they didn’t at some point in their lives. It’s how we go on after those mistakes that make up for it. I’m not saying you’re not going to be in trouble for the part you played in all this, but you helped Liam a lot with the things you told him.”
“If you hadn't given him all that information, he wouldn’t have known about Olivia and things could have been a whole lot worse.”
“Thanks.” He chuckled weakly and winced.
“You just have to hold on and be strong for a little longer.”
I kept pressure on the wound, but the blood continued to flow. The color of Sean’s face faded and the light in his eyes dulled.
“I’m cold.” Sean barely got the words out as he struggled to breathe.
“You’ve lost some blood. I think that’s normal.” I tried my best to keep positive.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For being here with me. For staying with me at the end.” He nearly choked on the last words and a single tear ran down his cheek until it hit the cold concrete floor.
“This isn’t the end. Sean, look at me.” I spoke to him gently as his eyes began to close.
I cupped his cheek in my hand and forced him to look into my eyes. His skin was cold as ice and just as pale.
“Sean?”
He opened his eyes again but only for a moment before his head dropped to the side as his strength drained from him.
“Sean?” I raised my voice urgently. There was no response. “Sean,” I yelled but there was nothing.
I lifted my fingers to his neck and felt at his pulse point the way I had seen people do. There was no pulse. His heart didn’t beat.
Liam rushed in. “Amelia, I’m sorry there’s no cell service in here so I had to go all the way outside. They’re on their...”
“He’s gone.” I let my hand drop from his neck to my side.
“Shit.”
Liam grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me into his arms. I rested my cheek on his chest and sobbed.
Liam didn’t say a word. He just let me cry. The sound of several footsteps echoed down the hall, growing louder as they neared the interrogation room.
When the door swung open, I expected to see EMS and police. But what I saw instead was a group of special agents who rushed in to examine the scene.
A couple of agents went for Sean while three others hurried to Olivia. Once they confirmed both were dead, they slowed down slightly, wrapping the bodies in black bags and carrying them out without saying a word to me.
I sat to the side, numb and silent as they worked. Liam talked to an agent from time to time about the events of the night. The door swung open again and Chase rushed straight to us.
“What the hell happened?”
“Olivia came to Liam’s apartment and told me he needed me right away. She brought me here and that’s when all hell broke loose.”
“No kidding. The boss called me personally and filled me in. Told me to get my ass down here ASAP.”
Liam held me tight. “Olivia would have killed me. Amelia saved me.”
“Amelia made the kill shot? Damn, remind me not to get on your bad side.” Chase tried to lighten the mood.
The blood drained from my face and a chill ran up my body at the mention of what I’d done. Chase must have noticed the change because his smile dropped, and he pushed all teasing aside. “Shit, Amelia. I’m sorry. That couldn’t have been easy. Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I—I just... All I knew was that she was going to kill Liam and I had to stop her.”
“And you did,” Liam spoke softly against my hair and kissed the top of my head as his arms tightened around me. “You did what you had to, to save me.”
“I know and I’d do it again without hesitation. She was a killer.”
“Then why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost?”
I tilted my head back to look up at Liam. “You could have died tonight.”
“But I didn’t, thanks to you.” He squeezed me tight.
“Am I going to be in trouble?”
“Trouble? For what?”
“Killing her?”
“No. You only acted to save me. I’ll make sure it’s all cleared.”
I nodded and at that moment I understood. I got it. Liam didn’t kill because he was evil or because he found some sick joy in it. He was a good man. I hugged him tightly, burrowing into his chest as tears streamed down my face.
“What’s wrong, Amelia?”
I shook my head from side to side. “I get it. I finally understand. You’re a good man, Liam. I wanted a normal life, and I tried but I couldn’t get you out of my head. I love you.”
“I love you too. But you deserve normal. I ripped you out of your life. I tried to give you what you wanted—the life I messed up for you, no matter how much it killed me to be away from you.”
“You didn’t mess up my life. You helped me see that there was so much more—so many things I never realized I wanted. I thought I wanted an ordinary life but with you, it would be extraordinary.”
He pulled me to him, crushing my body into his as his lips met mine. I melted into him and parted my lips, welcoming him. Life with Liam wouldn’t be what I originally had planned for myself—it would be so much better.
Liam and Amelia finally got their happy ending but what about the rest of the team?
Chase had gone on countless assignments around the world, but nothing could prepare him for her. Tension is high after a cyber-attack exposes Director Stone’s personnel files to enemy hackers. When Chase is assigned to security detail for the Director’s stubborn twenty-three-year-old daughter, it could be an assignment from hell, especially once Chase gets a look at the gorgeous woman with her perfect curves. Keeping his hands off of her may be his most challenging mission yet.
Read Chase’s story next in The Alpha’s Daughter!