Page 22 of Sweet Revenge

At this point, I still had no idea where Daemon was, but I knew I had to warn him. If he was just outside doing something, he needed to know that danger lurked inside. I could see the van parked outside as I ran toward the living room, so I had a feeling he was around here somewhere.

The door was unlocked, so I flung it open. “Daemon! Run!” I screamed before a hand grabbed the back of my head, pulling me into the room.

There’d be no escape for me, but I prayed he’d heard me and would actually heed my warning this time. At the very least, when he came for me, he wouldn’t be caught completely off guard like I had been.

Now, I just needed to stay alive.

CHAPTER14

DAEMON

I’d just finished moving the majority of the deer meat into the freezer when I heard Elisa’s voice cut through the stillness of the forest. “Daemon, run!”

A cold chill went down my spine as I tried to assess the situation. What was going on back at the house? With blood from the deer staining my hands and arms up to the elbow, as well as plenty of splatters on my clothing, I moved away from the sink where I was about to clean up. I looked out the window, back toward the house.

Twilight settled over the forest, casting my surroundings in a golden glow. From the tops of the trees, outfitted in autumn colors, to the house itself, everything rested in a veil of shadow with highlights of auburn and yellow radiating from the skyline down.

While it made it difficult to pick up the fine details around the house and the large trees that stood as sentinels around it, the fading sun left just enough light for me to see shadows moving around the perimeter. The human forms carried guns, big ones, and there were plenty of them.

Before I made a move, I did a quick head count. I could see three husky outlines on the left side of the house and four on the other. The front was clear, but then, they probably expected me to come traipsing up to the front or back door to gain entry if I wasn’t already inside. I had to expect that meant there was someone posted at the rear of the cabin. I’d be cautious in my approach.

Still covered in blood, I grabbed the knife I’d used to slice up the doe and my bow. My quiver was still full, only the arrow I’d used to take her life missing. That one was still usable, but I hadn’t cleaned it yet, so it was lying on the table. I wouldn’t need it now.

It seemed odd to me that they hadn’t bothered to check this building. If they had, I’d be dead already. I supposed it was far enough away that it seemed like someone else’s property. I had no idea who the enemy lurking in the house happened to be, but so far, I wasn’t exactly impressed with their tactics.

Closing the door softly behind me, I glided through the shadows, my knife at the ready. I imagined this must be what it was like to defend these lands five hundred years ago, before rifles and muskets were plentiful, or even invented. Sparks ignited within my blood, filling me with a sense of power and dominance unlike I’d ever felt before. Whenever I found myself on the brink of battle, I always felt a surge of adrenaline. This was different, though. My instincts kicked in like they never had before, the knife in my hand vibrating as if it had taken on a life of its own.

The first man I came across was standing too close to the trees for his own good. His buddies were far enough away that when I grabbed the top of his head and ran the blade across his throat, they didn’t even hear the slight gurgling noises he made. He was still gasping for air when I tossed his body aside into the trees.

The second man turned in my direction just as I lunged for him. I plunged the knife into his chest, grabbed an arrow, and fired it through the neck of the third man, leaving just one.

The commotion had him spinning around just in time to catch the gleam of the knife blade as I came for his throat. One quick slice, and he was on the ground as well. This side of the cabin was clear.

Now that I was closer to the house, I could see inside and noticed that there was more than one person in there with Elisa. She was in the living room, but other armed guards circulated through the rooms. Next to where Elisa was perched on the edge of the couch, in obvious pain, I saw a figure that looked familiar. I had a feeling it was that same bitch who had shot me. Either way, this woman was about to go down.

I moved to the other side of the house and took those guards out just as easily as I had their counterparts. I wanted to make sure there was no backup in the wings when I moved inside and started hacking away at those bastards. When the last body hit the ground, I did a quick survey of the area. I saw vehicles parked in the trees in the distance, but I couldn’t see anyone inside moving around and assumed that they were clear.

Black SUVs didn’t give me much of a clue as to how Raven La Rosa had been tipped off about my location. None of it made any sense to me. We’d been in the cabin in the woods for almost two weeks without a peep from any of our enemies. Now, here she was, ruining date night.

Why? If she had known where we were all along, wouldn’t she have come for me already?

I hadn’t told anyone where we were. The only people I’d communicated with were my brothers, and while they might’ve been able to figure it out based on our FaceTime conversations and the scenery, they sure as fuck wouldn’t have told a La Rosa. None of our warehouse guys had been around while we were talking. It just didn’t make any sense.

Was it possible Raven could’ve gotten to Drake? Could she have somehow figured out that he’d rented a van and then tracked it somehow? It was a stretch. I was confused and puzzled as to why the bitch was suddenly here, but at the moment, I had to put those thoughts aside. My woman was in there. She was in pain and in danger, and I needed to help her out. Maybe if I could keep that bitch alive long enough, she could give me some answers. Really, all I wanted to do was burst in there and chop her head off.

I probably wouldn’t be able to control myself once I had her in my clutches. I just needed to break into my own house. Thankfully, I wouldn’t have to go in the front door.

If I’d learned anything from the way my old man had gone down, it was to always be prepared. When my father had died, groveling on the floor of his office in his own cabin in the woods, I might’ve felt sorry for him if it weren’t for the way the miserable bastard had killed a young woman just to keep her away from me. He definitely deserved to die, but I had a hard time understanding how he put himself in a situation where he was trapped in his own home. So, when I’d had my cabin built earlier in the year, I’d overseen every aspect of the construction, making sure that there were plenty of hatches, escape routes, secret doors, and tunnels. It would be very difficult for me to find myself in a similar situation where I was stuck inside and couldn’t get out.

Likewise, having all of those secrets inside the walls of the house made it easier for me to get in undetected as well.

Nearing the house, I got a good look at one of the guys inside. They weren’t just armed to the teeth. They were wearing tactical gear. These were definitely professionals, and if I was right about who the woman was, then they were La Rosa’s men.

Unless they were somehow our own. Had he turned Ma so far against me that she’d send our own guys out here to get me? My stomach turned over at the thought. It was clear my mother was in the middle of a confusing point in her life where she wasn’t sure where her loyalty should lie. I couldn’t negate that. But she wasn’t pure evil like my father.

The idea that she could somehow have something to do with this was ridiculous. No, there had to be some other way that La Rosa had discovered my location and sent out his assassin. Well, I’d taken down her twin, and I’d take this bitch down, too, whether it was my own men he was trying to use against me or some of his bastards from Boston.

Dropping down on my chest, I crawled under the back porch, memories of the peaceful times Elisa and I had shared here recently flickering in my mind before I forced them aside. I needed to focus, not reminisce about the good old days of a few hours ago when all was right with the world, even if she had gotten awfully pissed at me about the death of her mother. Rightfully so.