Fury and Flame | 3

6 | 1

D E L P H I N I U M

  
      I swung both my knives in the air to block Jake's, metal scraping metal. Though I was better at fighting with blades, he was stronger, meaning I couldn't hold the position for long before he overpowered me. So I feinted left, made him lower his guard on his right, and held the tip of my dagger inches from his throat.

      "Not bad," I said with a grin, for he had put up an entertaining fight. "But still not good enough."

     He hit my dagger away and stepped back. I relaxed into a casual stance.

     It had been nearly three days since the escape from Krasowski and the ONNT. There had been no sign of her since. I figured she was dealing with the Imperium operatives who had arrived to my empty cell.

     Jake was planning something large. He hadn't gone anywhere since I'd spied on Hundsen the other night, but I knew him well enough to tell when he was going to strike. Something told me he was going to go for the kill shot soon.

     "Again," he said, this time casting his knives to the side. So there would be no weapons. Interesting.

     I threw my daggers on the table. "Why are we doing this?" He'd insisted on fighting me like this for the past two days since I'd come back from his job.

      "Practice." Faster than I'd been expecting, he swung for me and I dodged it, stepping to the side. With a grip on his wrist, I tried to force him away under the threat of a broken wrist.

      We carried on like that, exchanging punches and showing off our skilled moves until he dodged a blow I was positive I'd land. Because I was slightly off-balance for a split second too long, he saw the opening and went for the throat.

     With his hands around my neck, he pushed me back and my head hit the wall first. Head tilted back, I looked at him through lowered lids. He immediately released me and stepped back, having won that round.

     Gingerly touching my throat, I said, "You know I'm not actually an enemy, right?" And then I folded my arms, having not bought his earlier answer. "Who exactly are you practicing to beat?"

      "You already know the answer."

      I did, but getting him to tell me anything about his plans was like pulling teeth. I figured I'd start out slow. "So you're going to engage Hundsen in a fistfight," I said drily. "That'll certainly be the devastating revenge you want."

      "What I have planned is far more devastating." He glanced at the clock on the wall.

      "So tell me." He didn't answer, but I hadn't been expecting one. "I did that job for you. You owe me one." I began strapping my daggers in again.

      "Hundsen sent a message to me that offered a deal: I fight all the men who want him as leader and if I win, I get the Club back." I immediately stopped strapping in my last dagger. "He gave me an address of some place near the docks."

      A cold sense of dread settled in. "Tell me you didn't accept the deal."

     "It's the only way I'll get everything I want."

     "No." I was shaking my head. "No, you can't. This is a trap. There's no way he'll hand the Club over to you."

      "You don't think I realized that?" He wasn't worried in the slightest, but I was. Hundsen had given Jake an offer he couldn't refuse and he was going to take it, no matter the cost.

      "He'll kill you." Nothing I could say would stop him, I knew it. But I'd still try.

      "I know."

      "And you're still going?" I always knew he wanted Hundsen dead, but it was now dawning on me the extent he'd go to in order to see the Club leader burning. He'd give himself up if it meant that Hundsen would die too. He would kill himself for this vengeance.

      "Yes." He was pulling something calmly out of the desk drawer.

      "Don't." I was getting desperate. "Don't go, you know what he'll do."

      "Williams," Jake called to Jaxon, who was in the other room. "Come here."

      Jaxon took one look at the two of us—me, furious and Jake as cold as a corpse—and said, "I'm not sure I want anything to do with this."

      "Make sure she stays here," Jake commanded. There was nothing on that cruel, beautiful face but a stony expression. And when he turned back to me, I fixed begging eyes on him. He couldn't do this to himself.

      To my surprise, he took my shaking hands in his own freezing ones. I looked down to see if it wasn't just my imagination.

      And then he forced my hands behind my back and pushed me backward, his larger, stronger body blocking my attempts to get away.

      Rope. That was what he'd been pulling from the drawer. Weaving it around my hands and arms faster than I thought possible, he tied me to a thick support post. If he thought that could stop me—

      "Don't go. You're going to end up killing yourself there—you're not going to come back, and I can't—"

      Jake stepped back and nodded to Jaxon, who hesitantly put his hand on my shoulder to keep me in place. I instantly went silent. "Why should I do this for you?"

      "Because it's your fault we're even in this mess," Jake replied, cold eyes flashing. "If you hadn't intercepted that message that you thought was from your family, we never would have been captured by Hunt and my plan against Hundsen would already have been complete."

      Jaxon fell silent, but I saw the sparking anger in his eyes. I knew he'd obey for my own sake, but he wasn't happy to do it for Jake.

     "If you try and pull that post down, the entire roof will instantly collapse," Jake told me, making his way to the door. "I doubt even you can protect our crew from something that massive, Tesla. I'd advise against it if you want everyone in this building to live."

      I'd never hurt them, especially after the trauma of my brainwashing. Even if I could break through my ropes, Jaxon would stop me. I couldn't bring myself to fight him or any of the others. Not again. And Jake knew that.

      My hands shook with fear, thinly masked with a layer of anger. Was this what it had been like for him to watch me be dragged away in the Russian forest?

      "Don't you dare," I said to Jake, Jaxon angrily holding me back as we both glared at his retreating form. "If you ever felt anything for me—if you ever cared—you wouldn't do this."

      He didn't give me a second glance as he walked out the doorway.