Page 15

15

BOAZ

Gods, I had to get Keane away from that creep.

My shallow breathing rattled up my throat, my poor lungs acting like bellows being squeezed. My chest hurt, and I paused, weighing up whether my beast should tear the guy’s head off and take my skin in the middle of the club or if I should shoot him in the heart.

Neither option was keeping things on the downlow, but to heck with that. This was my mate. No one and nothing stood between him and me.

But someone wrenched me away from the VIP entrance. More than one someone.

My five brothers' faces resembled the sky before a thunderstorm.

“Don’t.” It was Maynard’s hand holding me back.

I tried to fling him off, but he and his wolf had strength I could only dream of.

“Let me go.” My teeth had been replaced by my beast’s canines. Fur, ears, tail, and muzzle would be next. I didn’t care if I lost my place in the pack, if I was outlawed and had to live the rest of my life in a cabin on a remote mountain.

None of it mattered, only that Keane was safe and he and I were together.

“We need a plan.” Ezra showed us the layout of the VIP suite that he’d downloaded. Or hacked into, because the club owners didn’t advertise that.

I shoved his hand away. There was no need to see the sofa placements, the bar, expensive coffee tables, or private booths. I shuddered at the last one, thinking Keane might be there serving drinks and getting groped.

“He’s with that fucker, Cassian. The Ironclaw Alpha.”

“Who has his goons at the door.” Riggs jerked his head toward the entrance. “And probably more inside.”

“And they are packing,” Lake noted. “Obviously.” He put his hand on his own gun.

Ezra stabbed the phone. “But there are private entrances here and here.”

“So?” My voice was louder than intended, and heads swirled in our directions. More than one drink spilled on the expensive carpet. “What use is that?”

We huddled together, keeping our heads down.

“True, but there will only be security at the private entrances and not a club full of people with phones videoing you with your gun blazing.”

“I would hope you’d be at my side, so it’s guns, not a gun,” I huffed.

“Look.” Maynard steered us into a corner. “We don’t know there’s a problem other than Keane is with a drug lord.”

“Do you hear yourself, dude?”

“Okay, that came out wrong.” Maynard chewed his lower lip. “Not sure how to make it sound right. But Keane isn’t doing anything wrong. He’s working and has no idea who Cassian is.” Maynard crossed his arms.

I gulped in air, trying to tamp down my rage at Cassian and my annoying older brother. Maynard was the suave one who could pretend to make sense of the most ridiculous garbage, while I was all bluster.

Glass splintering had us whirl around. The humans who were laughing and drinking nearby hadn’t picked up on the glass shattering, but every shifter was staring at the VIP entrance.

One guy, with a deep cut on his brow and a blood-spattered shirt, swayed and slurred his words, saying there’s been an accident with one of the hosts.

“That’s it. I’m going in and not through the back door.” My reasoning for charging in the main entrance was the staff would be distracted, and I was convinced whatever had happened involved Keane. And to heck with starting a war or continuing one. No one toyed with my mate’s safety.

“Right behind you.” Thiago reached for his gun, but Riggs hissed at him and said we’d never get through the door if we brandished our weapons.

I strode toward the door, and a security guard shoved his arm out, smacking me in the chest. I paused, glancing down at his burly arm, and raised my head, allowing my beast to shine through my gaze.

He was a shifter, and I expected him to return the favor. If his wolf resembled his human, he’d crush me, but his attention was diverted by another VIP staggering out. I took advantage of his distraction and barreled past him, my brothers at my heels.

The dim lighting inside had me blinking. While my eyes adjusted quicker than a human’s, I inwardly raged at the delay.

My gaze alighted on Keane. He was standing—barely—his head lolling forward and his tongue hanging out. Oh shit. This was how the staff at Pulsepoint had described the shifters who’d been drugged. He was anything but fine.

Cassian was leaning on the bar, a cocktail to his lips, and for a second I wavered. Help my mate or kill Cassian. I could do both but not at the same time. I chose Keane, even though this would give Cassian and his drug-spiking thugs ample opportunity to kill us.

He caught sight of us, and the lazy conceited smile on his lips faded.

“Ezra and Thiago, with me.”

I needed my remaining brothers to fan out around the club and hoped Maynard and Lake were surrounding Cassian.

“My darling, I’ve got you.” I steadied Keane as he studied me with glazed eyes. A crushing of bones and a crack, along with grunts and thuds, alerted me my brothers were engaging with the security guards.

“I don’t… don’t feel so good.”

“You’ve been drugged, but you’re going to be fine.” I hoped that was true.

“I don’t feel furry l-l-like the last time.” He hiccuped.

A body collapsed at our feet, blood gushing from a head wound. One less to worry about.

“Ezra is going to take you to the doctor.” I hated not being with my mate, but he needed medical attention, and I had to be here.

My mate looked over my blood-spattered shoulder as a man was flung against a wall. More blood spurted from his neck, but his eyes told the true story. He was dead before he hit the floor.

“Go, and I’ll see you soon.” Ezra put an arm around Keane and led him out. Our own bodyguards would drive them to the doctor.

I whirled around now that my beloved was safe. “Where is he?”

The VIP room, which minutes earlier had been pristine and sumptuous, was now splattered in gobs of flesh and fluids. But I wanted Cassian. Whether he administered the drug or gave the okay for someone else to, he was responsible for my mate almost dying. And many others. Not that I knew the quantity of the drug Keane had ingested. But I had no doubt if left unattended, he would’ve suffered severe, maybe life-threatening consequences.

Maynard was bent over catching his breath while Thiago and Lake inspected the bodies, making sure they’d stopped breathing. One guy pleaded for his life, but Riggs took aim and put a bullet in his head.

“That’s all of them,” he said as he walked toward us, climbing over bodies.

“All but one.”

I headed for the back of the club. The exits were almost invisible, covered in the same garish wallpaper as the walls. Flinging open the door, I caught sight of Cassian hemmed in by bodyguards making his way to a car.

Not giving a shit about being outnumbered or whether my brothers were with me, I charged out, fur rippling over my arms. My clothes vanished, and my wolf raced as if he had the wind behind him. Leaping over one car, he landed on Cassian, and the guy went down, splatting on the concrete. Nasty. Squashed Cassian.

The bodyguards shrieked and fled. So much for loyalty. They’d be dealt with later.

Cassian was still breathing, and I took my skin, much to my wolf’s annoyance as he wanted to finish him off. Grabbing him by the neck, I hauled him to his feet and flung him over the car hood.

He grinned, blood staining his teeth. “You’ll never win. You can’t stop us. I’m just one man.”

“One man less.” I gave my wolf his fur, and his canines ripped through Cassian's throat. A gurgling was the indication he was dying, no cry, no whimper, just blood oozing.

“This needs a clean-up crew.” Thiago was on the phone while Maynard gave me his coat. It was huge and covered my butt. It’d do until I got to the car.

“We’ll stay and deal with the police, and I’ll call Alpha. Go to Keane.” Maynard waved me away.

My mate was at the clinic, adjacent to the doctor's office. It was for shifters and manned by shifters.

“Hey, how are you, Kitten?” The doctor had already told me Keane was doing well.

“What happened?” My mate picked dried blood off my face. “I hope the other guy is worse off.”

“Depends which one you’re talking about, but Cassian is dead, along with his bodyguards and some hangers-on in the VIP room.

“Cassian. Cassian. Shit he was the one who drugged me. I should’ve known. He tipped so well, and I poured the wine, but…”

“Judging drug lords by how well they tip is not a reliable scale.” It was my fault because everyone was aware Keane was my mate. That made him a target.

“I’m glad you killed him. Wait, it was you who ended his life, right?”

I nodded.

“Good riddance. The world is better off without him in it.”