Bought By The Beast

CHAPTER 9: Breaking Point

Caspian's phone rang at three in the morning.

I jerked awake, disoriented, reaching for a gun that wasn't there. The safe house bedroom was dark except for the glow of Caspian's screen as he answered.

"Talk," he said, voice rough with sleep.

I couldn't hear the other side of the conversation, but I felt Caspian's reaction through the bond. Sharp focus. Cold rage. Lethal intent snapping into place like a blade locking into position.

"Where?" He was already getting out of bed, pulling on pants. "How many? And you're sure it's them?"

A pause while he listened.

"We'll be there in forty minutes." He hung up and looked at me. "Get dressed. We found four of them."

"Four? Together?"

"Holed up in a warehouse near the docks. My contact says they're planning to hit us at dawn. Figured they'd catch us sleeping." His smile was vicious. "Surprise, fuckers."

David was already awake when we got downstairs, shoulder freshly bandaged, loading weapons like this was just another normal stuff.

"Heard the phone," he said. "Four targets, one location. That's efficient."

"Or a trap," I pointed out.

"Probably both." Caspian strapped a knife to his thigh. "But we're going anyway. Can't pass up four for the price of one."

"Your optimism is inspiring," David said dryly. "Let's try not to die, yeah?"

The drive to the docks was tense and quiet. I sat in the back cleaning my gun, trying not to think about the last person I'd shot. Trying not to think about how easily I'd pulled the trigger.

Through the bond, I felt Caspian monitoring me. Checking to make sure I wasn't spiraling. Making sure I was solid.

I was. Mostly. The killing bothered me less than it should. And that bothered me more than the actual killing.

"You're thinking too loud again," Caspian said.

"Can't help it."

"Try. I need you focused, not lost in your head." He glanced back at me. "You good for this?"

"Yeah. I'm good."

Through the bond, he felt the truth of it. I was scared but steady. Nervous but ready.

"Good girl."

The warehouse was exactly what you'd expect. Abandoned industrial building near water, broken windows, rusted metal, the kind of place where bodies turned up and nobody asked questions.

David parked three blocks away. We approached on foot, moving through shadows, three predators hunting four who thought they were the hunters.

"East entrance," David whispered, pointing. "Two guards outside. Probably two more inside with the targets."

"I'll take the guards," Caspian said. "David, you circle around back. Rielle, you're with me."

"I thought I was taking point," I said, remembering David's challenge from earlier.

"Not on a warehouse with unknown variables." Caspian's tone left no room for argument. "You stay behind me until we're inside and I know what we're dealing with. Then you can shoot whoever you want."

Fair enough.

We moved closer. The guards were smoking, relaxed, clearly not expecting trouble. One was on his phone. The other was complaining about the cold.

Caspian didn't give them time to react.

He moved fast and silent, knife in hand. The first guard died without making a sound, throat cut, body lowered quietly to the ground. The second looked up from his phone just in time to see Caspian's blade coming.

Two down.

David appeared from around the corner, gave a thumbs up. Back entrance secured.

We slipped inside.

The warehouse was mostly empty. Shipping containers stacked along the walls, open space in the middle, and toward the back, light and voices.

Four men around a table covered in weapons and maps. Planning their attack on us while we were already here planning theirs.

The irony would've been funny if I wasn't terrified.

Caspian hand-signaled to David. Classic pincer movement. They'd done this before.

I stayed behind Caspian like he'd ordered, gun raised, finger on the trigger, trying to remember everything David had taught me about breathing and aim and not panicking.

Caspian moved first.

He stepped into the light, gun raised. "Evening, gentlemen. Planning something?"

All four spun toward him, reaching for weapons.

"I wouldn't." Caspian's voice was dead calm. "You're outnumbered and outgunned. Drop your weapons and maybe you walk out of here."

"Bullshit," one of them said, a massive guy with a scar across his face. "There's four of us and one of you."

"Two," David said from behind them.

The hunters spun, realizing they were surrounded.

"Three," I said, stepping into view.

The scarred one laughed. "You brought a girl? That's your backup?"

"This girl killed two of your friends yesterday," Caspian said. "So maybe show some respect before she adds you to the list."

Through the bond, I felt his pride. His absolute confidence in me. It steadied my shaking hands.

"Last chance," Caspian continued. "Drop your weapons. Tell me where the other five are. And maybe I let you live."

"f**k you," Scarface said.

He raised his gun.

Everything exploded.

Scarface fired at Caspian, who was already moving. David took out the guy nearest him with two quick shots. The third hunter dove behind a shipping container. The fourth ran for the back exit.

"Rielle, runner!" Caspian shouted.

I didn't think. Just moved.

Chased the hunter toward the back of the warehouse, gun raised, heart hammering. He was faster than me, longer legs, already at the exit.

I fired.

Missed.

Fired again.

Hit him in the leg.

He went down screaming, and I was on him before he could recover, gun pressed against his head.

"Don't f*****g move."

He froze.

Behind me, gunfire had stopped. Either Caspian and David had won, or I was about to have bigger problems.

"Rielle?" Caspian's voice.

"Back here! I got one!"

Footsteps, then Caspian appeared. Bloody but unharmed. David right behind him, looking worse for wear but alive.

"Well, well." Caspian looked down at the hunter I'd shot. "Look at you, taking initiative."

"He was running. You said to stop him."

"And you did. Good girl." Caspian crouched next to the hunter. "Now. Where are the other five?"

The hunter spat blood. "Like I'd tell you."

"You will. Question is whether you still have kneecaps when you do." Caspian's smile was terrifying. "Your choice."

I should've been horrified. Should've stopped what was coming.

Well, I just watched.

Watched Caspian work the hunter over with methodical efficiency. Watched him break bones and extract information with the casual brutality of someone who'd done this a thousand times.

The hunter screamed. Begged. Finally broke.

"Baltimore," he gasped. "Safe house in Baltimore. All five together. Address is in my phone."

"See?" Caspian stood, wiping blood on his pants. "That wasn't so hard."

"You said you'd let me live," the hunter wheezed.

"I said maybe." Caspian raised his gun. "I lied."

The shot echoed through the warehouse.

David was already going through the other bodies, collecting phones and intel. "Baltimore's three hours. We could hit them before sunrise if we leave now."

"Too risky," Caspian said. "We're tired, you're injured, and walking into a house with five hunters is suicide without proper recon."

"So we wait?"

"We plan." Caspian pulled out the hunter's phone, scrolling through messages. "Figure out their setup, their defenses, their escape routes. Then we hit them smart instead of fast."

I stood there holding my gun, covered in blood spatter that wasn't mine, listening to them plan the next attack like this was normal.

And the scary part?

It was starting to feel normal.

"Rielle." Caspian's hand on my shoulder pulled me back to reality. "You okay?"

"I shot him in the leg. Held him at gunpoint while you tortured him. Then watched you execute him." I looked up at Caspian. "And I'm fine. I should be freaking out but I'm fine. What does that make me?"

"Alive." He cupped my face with bloody hands. "It makes you alive. And smart enough to do what needs doing."

I felt his approval. His pride. His absolute certainty that I was becoming exactly what I needed to be.

A survivor.

A killer.

His equal.

"Come on," David called from across the warehouse. "Found their vehicle. Let's get out of here before the cops show up."

We left four more bodies in the warehouse and drove back to the safe house as the sun started rising. David crashed immediately, exhausted and hurting from his shoulder.

Caspian and I stood in the kitchen, both of us too wired to sleep.

"Five left," I said. "Then Marcus."

"Then Marcus," Caspian agreed. "And then you're safe."

"You really think killing twelve hunters and Marcus ends this?"

"No." He pulled me against him. "But it sends a message. That you're mine. That anyone who comes for you dies badly. Eventually people will stop trying."

"Eventually."

"Eventually." He kissed the top of my head. "Until then, we keep killing anyone stupid enough to take the contract."

I should've been horrified by the casualness of it. The acceptance that our life was just going to be periodic murder sprees whenever someone got greedy.

But, I wasn't. I simply wrapped my arms around him and held on.

This was my life now.

Blood and violence and a mate who'd burn the world to keep me safe.

And I was okay with that.

More than okay.

I was ready for it.

"Baltimore," I said against his chest. "When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow night. Give David time to heal. Give me time to plan." His arms tightened around me. "And give us time to do other things."

I felt his arousal through the bond. Felt my own body responding despite the exhaustion.

"We just killed four people and you want to f**k?"

"I always want to f**k you. The killing just makes it more intense." His hand slid down to grip my ass. "Adrenaline's still high. Blood's still hot. And you're standing here covered in other people's blood looking like the most dangerous thing I've ever seen."

"That's f****d up."

"That's honest." He lifted me onto the kitchen counter. "Tell me you don't want it too. Tell me you're not wet right now thinking about what we just did."

I couldn't tell him that.

Because he was right.

I was wet. Soaking wet the moment I felt his arousal after the whole chaos. I did want it. The violence and fear had twisted into arousal somewhere along the way, and now I needed him with an urgency that bordered on desperation.

"f**k me," I said.

His smile was pure sin. "As you wish."

He f****d me right there on the kitchen counter, both of us still covered in blood and gunpowder residue, the bond amplifying everything until I couldn't tell where violence ended and pleasure began.

And when I came screaming his name, I realized something important.

I wasn't broken by what we'd done tonight.

I was free.

Free from guilt. From hesitation. From the girl I used to be.

Now I was something new.

Something dangerous.

Something that could stand beside Caspian Valdyr and not flinch at the darkness.

And that scared me less than it should.