Vindicator

Chapter 52

Seeing Karma was laughing, Steve frowned and glanced back. Realizing the men who entered were not his own, his eyes widened and he spun around to face the two new threats. Likely from his misogynistic attitude, he released his hold on Karma, seeming to deem the new arrivals a greater threat.

Wanting to avoid a bloodbath, and knowing that none of the men in the room would likely keep the humans in mind once a battle broke out, Karma took her opportunity. She jumped on Steve's back and wrapped her arms around his neck in a secure chokehold. Instantly the man began to try to rip her off of him, but she had her legs locked around him to ground herself better which made it harder for him to pull her off. He hurled himself backwards at the nearest wall to try to crush her against it; but her brother realized what she was doing and joined in to help. He tackled Steve to the ground, unfortunately taking his sister with them, but he effectively stopped Steve from executing his plan.

Now on the ground, Steve tried to roll away from the twins. He was punching and pulling at Karma's arms and legs in a desperate attempt to get her off of his back. Theo grabbed his arms and pinned them down from one side, while Karma remained in place and only tightened her hold.

Chance and Tom were ready to fight, but deflated a bit on seeing that Karma and Theo ahead already taken control of the situation. Within a few moments, Steve was unconscious and the twins released his unmoving form to stand.

"Great timing, your highness!" Karma said with a big grin, her hair sticking up in places due to the struggle.

"I'm relieved we made it in time to help...You were surrounded. How could you let that happen?" The Prince demanded in an admonishing tone, irritated his mate had been so close to danger yet again.

Karma's grin fell and turned to a scowl. "And I suppose you would have preferred we left the town I'd told you to meet us at, and lose contact? We had everything under control, or did you forget who you're talking to?" She snapped at him.

Chance growled at her, displeased by her disrespectful tone once more. Xander cautioned him, though.

"She has a point, she is a capable she-wolf. Mate is also her brother, she would have protected him with her life" Xander said, being an unusual voice of reason when he was typically the one to fly off the handle.

"She should have got him out of here at the first sign of danger" Chance argued with his wolf.

"We would have lost the girl to give us clues" Xander retorted. "And revenge" he said with a sinister undertone to his voice.

Chance had to agree he was glad that Karma had kept Tiffany under control, so they could imprison her. The thought calmed him down, but not enough to apologize to Karma.

Seeing that the Prince had nothing more to say after growling at her, Karma scoffed and crossed her arms. "You came here to bring us back to the palace right? Let's go" she insisted, walking out of the diner instead of waiting for a reply. She figured since she and Theo had taken Steve down, Chance and Tom could deal with him.

Theo, not wanting to be left alone with Chance, hurried after his sister before Tom could excuse himself. He didn't even make eye contact with Chance, and gave him a wide berth so he couldn't reach out to stop him.

Chance huffed in annoyance when the twins were gone. "What was that?" He asked Tom.

"That was two people who don't want to deal with you" Tom said with a snicker. He walked over to the unconscious Steve and hoisted him up over his shoulder. "Hope you weren't planning to travel back with either of them."

Irritated by Tom's statement, Chance turned around and stormed out of the diner. He followed Theo's scent back to where his men had congregated. As he approached the vehicle that Theo's scent lead to, the window of the backseat rolled down to reveal Tiffany's face.

"This one's full, you'll have to find another" Karma said with a fake smile.

"Then get out" Chance said with a frown, not wanting to be away from his mate any longer.

"That's going to be a big no from me" she said with a laugh and put the window back up.

Chance glared into the window, and tried the door handle but as expected, it was locked. He walked to the front passenger seat and wrenched the door open, nearly taking it off the vehicle. One of his warriors had been sitting there, waiting for the Prince to return so they could leave. Upon seeing the angry face of his Prince, the man's eyes widened and his face paled.

"Out" Chance said angrily.

Unsure of why his Prince was angry, but not wanting to anger him further, the man tried to scramble out of the vehicle only to realize he was already buckled in. He fumbled with the seatbelt due to his anxiousness, only irritating Chance further.

The partition between the front and the back at this point had been left open, so Karma was experiencing this exchange. She rolled her eyes and leaned her body through the partition entirely, placing a hand on the warrior's arm to stop his movement. The warrior looked up to meet Karma's green eyes with his panicked brown ones.

"It's okay" she said with a genuine smile, patting his arm. "I won't let him hurt you" she added with a wink, then swiftly unbuckled the seatbelt for him.

The warrior blushed and gave Karma a sheepish smile, nodding his head in thanks. He was quick to escape the awkward situation, leaving the seat vacant for Chance. Karma was glaring at him once the man left, and she found that Chance was glaring back at her.

He couldn't explain why, but seeing the exchange between his warrior and Karma had irritated Chance even further. Just as he was opening his mouth to say something that would no doubt piss her off further, Tom appeared beside him with the unconscious Steve slung over his shoulder.

"Ah, this our ride then?" Tom asked loudly to draw everyone's attention. "Where should I toss this one?"

"There's space back here with us, we can keep an eye on him" Karma said, smirking at Chance before disappearing into the backseat again.

Chance ground his teeth together, furious that she'd told him there was no room just moments before. She was blatantly disrespecting him, and disregarding his wishes!

"We could drive, and tell Tom to stay in back so mate isn't near the danger" Xander suggested.

Chance considered it briefly before nodding. "Tom, you and Spectre stay back there with him. Trade places with Theo, he's been through enough at the hands of this monster...And I'm certain it's not easy staring into the face of the woman who abused him" he said, a low growl escaping him during his last sentence.

Tom raised a brow. "You want to drive?" He asked.

"Didn't I just say that?" Chance bit back.

"Nope, you just implied it" Tom said with a chuckle.

"Just get your ass back there" Chance said with an annoyed sigh.

"Yes, sir" Tom said, saluting.

When Tom opened Theo's door, Theo looked up in confusion.

"Sorry Theo, his highness wants me to stay with the prisoner. Do you mind sitting up front so Spectre and I can guard him?" Tom asked apologetically.

Theo's face turned murderous. He just wanted to get back to safety, though, and try to restore some normalcy in his life again. Recognizing that the Prince wasn't budging if they weren't at least within sight of each other, Theo sighed and gave up his seat to Tom.

Once everyone was in the vehicle in their respective seats, the journey back to the palace was an awkward one. Theo wouldn't so much as look at Chance, and ignored any attempt at conversation the Prince made. Karma was steaming mad at how little regard Chance had for her brother's comfort, so spent most of the ride glaring at him. Tom simply sat in silence, feeling like the tension in the air would strangle him if he dared speak.

Needless to say, everyone was relieved when they made it back to the castle safely.