Chapter 21
Bellis stormed down the third-floor hall of StoneCrow Manor. His eyes were narrowed into thin slits on the door that led to Monroe StoneCrow’s office. In falcon form, he’d made the flight in record time, and he was positive that the rage surging through him had something to do with it.
Monroe! He growled, long and deep. Fucker’s dead! He didn’t even try to talk himself out of his course of action, because one thing kept playing over and over in his mind. Samantha’s softly spoken words. ‘Since I was seventeen. Nine years.’ A fucking child! Monroe had used a goddamn child to gain leverage in his war against the Megalya, and now he was going to pay for it.
Bellis’ boot hit the door so hard that it crashed inward, ripping from the top hinges and slamming in, only to bank off the wall before falling loudly to the floor.
Monroe sat behind his desk, eyes on the Bellis, no shock registering as if he’d expected the sudden violent intrusion. Fucker had no idea. The violence was only starting, and Monroe’s personal guard, King, was nowhere in sight. No one to save his ass!
Hunching his shoulders, hands balling into shaking fists, Bellis opened his mouth wide, and roared his rage.
The quirking up of one eyebrow was Monroe’s only response. He should’ve known better.
Bellis threw himself across the room and launched himself over the Dominant’s desk. He’d been dying to try Monroe, but hadn’t had an excuse until now. Dominant his ass. Bellis was a fucking Demon, and it was time to find out who was tougher!
With unbelievable speed, Monroe was up out of his chair. Partially shifted, elongated incisors at either side of his mouth matched Bellis’ own. The two collided with the force of Mack trucks smashing into each other. The desk shattered beneath them as they crashed down on top of it, and then the fight was on.
All Bellis could see in his head was a teenage Sam stuck in a hell not of her making. A hell Monroe could have rescued her from, but hadn’t. His fist connected with Monroe’s face with a viciousness that surprised even him. Good!
His celebration was short-lived, as the Dominant punched him so hard that he heard a crack as all the air left his lungs in an agonizing whoosh. Dropped to his knees, Bellis was left vulnerable as Monroe jerked one of his knees up and connected with Bellis’ nose. Oh, Hell No! The demon Walker leapt back into the fight, blood spraying everywhere.
Lunging up, Bellis tackled Monroe around the waist, slamming them to the floor as they battled, snarling, bleeding, and shifting. When Skin Walkers battled each other, the fight got ugliest when they shifted. Their animal instincts tended to take over, and it was hard to convince the beasts that killing a fellow Walker would be frowned upon.
Now, with Bellis in giant panther form, the teeth of Monroe’s massive Bengal tiger were sunk into his shoulder, and the Dominant wasn’t holding back. Monroe’s teeth sank in until they hit bone, and then tightened further. Using his back legs, Bellis kicked up, shredding the soft underbelly of the tiger. It was enough to force Monroe to loosen his bite.
Pain was pulsing through Bellis something fierce, but he ignored it. This was his chance to avenge his Sam, and he was going to do it right.
“ENOUGH!” A voice boomed from the door, but both Monroe and Bellis ignored it as they circled each other, lips curled back, animal teeth dripping crimson, snouts scrunched up exposing lethal intent in their animalistic fury.
Suddenly, the room darkened as the world outside was cast into shadow. A loud clap of thunder sounded, and both Monroe and Bellis jerked their gazes to the window before turning to stare at a clearly pissed-off RedKnife KillsPrettyEnemy.
He stepped into the room and crossed to place his body between the two beasts. “What in hell are you thinking?” He was looking at Bellis. “You attacked the Dominant?”
“He found out.”
All heads turned to find King leaning against the wall beside the door, arms crossed over his chest, and a bored expression on his face as if he’d been witness to the whole brawl. He pinned Monroe with a dark look. “Told you there’d be hell to pay once he did.”
Bellis changed back to his human skin, his clothes regenerating with the shift that blasted through him. Slowly, he turned and faced King. Blood dripped from his nose and mouth, and several wounds were already beginning to heal. “You knew,” he accused.
King shoved off the wall and held up his hands. “I just found out too.”
Turning, Bellis found Monroe had shifted back to his human self as well. There was a smug satisfaction in seeing the Dominant mussed and bleeding from his mouth and nose, his crisp business shirt soaking through with blood.
“You’re a sick, demented, selfish prick!” He hurtled the hate-filled words at Monroe, who simply nodded as if accepting the titles. “She was a fucking child, Monroe! A kid. Just a damn teenager!”
“I couldn’t pull her out. I tried. It was leave her there and let her live, or attempt to get her out and know that we’d fail.” He threw a hand toward the window. “I didn’t have an army then. They did! It was me and my dollars, and my intent to build this place.”
Bellis’ eyes remained cold, filled with disbelief. “She seduced Remy for access to Apex. When she was in, why not keep her in?”
“Because by then they’d hurt her, and she wanted her revenge. She deserved to have it, and who was I to keep her from it? She’d grown into an assassin in her own right. By the time I could get her out, she wanted to stay in. We weren’t helping her anymore. She was helping us.”
“You never helped her!”
“I gave her what she wanted.”
Taking a threatening step closer, Bellis growled, “You should have given her what she needed! She was a child!”
Done with the argument, Monroe asked, “Where is she, Bellis?”
“Safe!”
“Bring her in.”
Bellis took another step toward Monroe, but RedKnife’s hand on his chest halted him. He flashed the Sentry a heated look, but turned back to focus on Monroe. “And why in the fuck would I do that?”
“Because she’s not yours.” Now Monroe was inching closer. “Because you work for me, which means you take orders from me!”
Bellis was shaking his head with a disgusted smirk on his lips.
“And most importantly, you’ll bring her in because only the three people in this room, Jenny, and Fatal know the truth about Sam. Everyone else still thinks she’s the traitor, and that’s the way we’re going to keep it.”
“Again, why in the fuck would I let you do that?”
For the first in a long time, Monroe’s expression morphed into one of genuine concern. “Because there’s still a traitor among us. If that traitor thinks we’re focused on Sam, then he or she will relax, slip up.”
“The fucking gall of you!” Bellis snorted in disgust. “You’re still trying to use her!”
“I’m trying to save her!”
“THE FUCK YOU ARE!”
King shoved off the wall as if he thought the two men would go back at it again, and now RedKnife had a hand planted in the center of both Bellis and Monroe’s chests.
“You think that attack on the transport was a retrieval mission? Or do you think it was an assassination attempt?”
Honestly, Bellis had wondered the same thing himself.
“You don’t know, and neither do I,” Monroe argued. “But the best way to keep her safe from the Megalya plant is to let that bastard believe she’s still one of them!”
Bellis hated this. He hated every fucking second of Sam being in the crosshairs because of Monroe’s scheming. “What if they’re already on to her?”
“I’m not going to lie, they could be.” Monroe’s eyes turned imploring. “But what if they’re not? If they’re on to her, she’s already in danger, and you’re going to have to protect her. If they’re not onto her though, and you make it known that she’s working for us, then you put her in danger.”
Spinning away, Bellis buried his hands in his hair and barked, “FUCK!”
Seeing the fissure, Monroe went in for the kill. “If she’s here in a cell, then you can keep an eye on her. Guard her. If she comes out as one of us, and goes traipsing around the Estate, then how do you ever hope to keep her safe when we know there’s a shark in our waters? How, Bellis?”
Goddamn it, scheming little uppity fucker! Heaving a great sigh, Bellis stormed for the door. Monroe was right. Sam had to stay in her role, but he’d swallow his own fucking tongue before he told Monroe that.
When he stomped out of the office without so much as a word, Monroe’s eyes slid to RedKnife. “And what in the fuck do you suppose that means?”
RedKnife’s lips tweaked. “It means he’ll keep her safe, no matter the cost.”
Across the room, King agreed. “He’ll bring her in.”