His Hostage

“They lied to us,” Iago says. “I thought we could trust them. I’m sorry.”

“Fuckin’ Hillbillies,” Jeffco mutters.

Caroline steps out from the room and runs over to me, throwing her arms around my body. For the few seconds she’s around me, I feel warm again. I actually feel happy and good, and all that frilly type of crap you see in those romance movies.

I get a surge of energy. “We can’t give up,” I say.

Iago looks at me as if to say, “Come on, man. We gave it our all. Can’t we just admit that we lost this one?”

But in that second of doubt comes a triumphant sound. A horn is blown, and I hear the sound of high-caliber bullets shooting off from above us. I glance at the mountain and see a small army of bikers, picking off the Hunters, one by one.

“They came!” Caroline screams.

“Holy shit,” I whisper. “They actually came through.”

Another small group comes around the side of the mountain, riding in on their brightly colored bikes.

“It’s a fuckin’ miracle,” Jeffco says.

He laughs loudly, hoarse in the throat. I toss him a cigarette, and he lights it.

“Let’s fuck them up,” I tell them. I turn my head and kiss Caroline one more time. We all grab our guns and take aim.

The fight lasts another hour as the Hell Squadron quickly surrounds the compound. Kaine is near us, and he’s not laughing anymore. His face looks pained and confused, mixed with a definite amount of fear.

I look at him and he looks at me, and we both know the outcome of all this.

He will die.

I ditch my gun, switching it out for my blade. I run full speed at him. He takes his shot, but I dodge and dive behind one of the burning vehicles. He wastes his whole clip and screams with anger, “Face me, Rowan. Come out like a man.”

I jump out as he’s reloading his clip, and I run as fast as I fucking can. My throat is burning, my heart is pounding, and I have all the confidence in the world that I can end this right now.

“Kaine,” I command. “You’re mine.”

I run and extend the blade I have gripped tightly in my hand. I drive it into his leg. The inches slide in effortlessly.

He lurches forward and screams, grabbing me by the throat. He struggles to kill me.

Jeffco calls out, “Stop moving. I can’t get my aim on him!”

But I can’t stop moving. Once I do, his hand will crush my throat.

I manage to spin him onto his back. I twist the knife from side to side and his hand softens. I drive the blade out and try my best to stab his chest, but his hand blocks me from doing it. He pushes me off him.

The knife slides across the dirt.

I roll across the rubble and reach for the blade. He hits me, but it doesn’t stop me from taking my weapon.

“You killed Ash, you bastard,” I mutter. “Why?”

“Because The High Priests were getting too big to handle,” he says, groaning. He wipes the blood from his thigh, but more comes out. He must know that he’s dying.

“You were cocky,” he says. “We didn’t need that. I wanted to destroy you. I wanted to take your place.”

“We could have existed together,” I say, moving forward slightly. He takes two steps back and collapses.

“You had the best product,” he says. “There was no doubt about that. “You held the keys. It wasn’t fair to my men. We needed to take back what was owed to us. That police ambush was the last straw.”