Vance by Sandra R Neeley
Chapter 2
Jared moved the pool table back in place over the safe room Kassidy was now ensconced in, then took the time to grab the broom she’d swept with earlier and drag it quickly over the tracks the table had made when he’d moved it out of the way the first time. Satisfied that there was no indication that the table had been moved at all, he quickly swept his way haphazardly across the room before leaning the broom against the bar, and shifted into his lion. If hell was coming to collect for what was believed to be disrespect, so be it. He’d meet hell’s messengers with his own brand of welcome. He was prepared. He knew he probably wouldn’t walk away, but neither would they.
He turned his large head, his thick mane shifting softly across his shoulders as he cast a glance back toward the pool table covering the floor Kassidy was hidden beneath. He sent her waves of love and comfort for maybe the last time before he went out to greet those who thought to take the life he’d built from him. As long as she was safe and alive, everything would be alright. He’d made provisions in case he didn’t survive, because truth be told, he always knew it would come to this. Either at the hands of someone he’d angered, or someone who simply wanted to be in his place. No one remained at the top without having to continuously fight for their place. But there were others he could trust. And if he died this night, someone would make the call for him. After the smoke cleared, both figuratively, and literally, she’d come out of this to live her life as she deserved to before he so selfishly pulled her into the mess he’d made of his.
The call of a lion not too far away from the building broke through his thoughts of Kassidy. And the answering call from the opposite direction had his lion incensed at the realization that he’d been betrayed. He knew these males. They were his own circle. Trusted friends. And they’d joined the ranks of those who came to make him pay for his actions. So be it, Jared’s lion thought. You’ll die with me. His lion padded toward the front door, knowing the back door was watched — expecting him to exit that way — and slipped into the shadows of the predawn darkness. He flattened his belly against the gravel of the parking lot, crawling slowly toward the place he knew they were waiting for him.
When he finally got eyes on them, he no longer had any doubt at all. This wasn’t his father come to make him pay. This was about the resentful Alpha of a neighboring Pride. This was about power. This was about taking over the Pride he’d started building and removing it from the face of the earth while absorbing his Pride members into his own community. This was about wanting everything he’d built for himself. His name was Laighin, and he’d once been one of the heirs to the powerful Laighin Pride. Though he was no longer an heir, even without his father’s support, his name tended to make people stand up and take notice. It also made some of them feel threatened. Hence the males out here tonight, determined to make sure his newly formed Pride didn’t ever become a threat.
Jared took a few seconds to assess the situation from his vantage point. The three males waiting for him were lion shifters, almost as big as he was. Whichever was successful in taking his life, would also take his place as Alpha, and everything else in his life. Honor was never a question for Jared. He’d fight honorably, and he’d die honorably if necessary, taking as many with him as he could. He let out a slow growl, a last warning to those who thought to challenge him, and also an attempt to let Trent know they’d been infiltrated.
From the absence of the male he’d left on guard duty that night, either Trent was lying in wait to attack at the same time Jared did, or they’d already killed him.
A threatening roar met his warning, letting him know there’d be no scaring off danger this night. They were prepared, they were ready.
Now, his lion whispered in his mind.
Thankful that he’d never, not even once given an indication of the safe room beneath the floor of the barroom to a single soul, he let go of the thought process of the man, and gave himself over fully to his lion. A deafening roar filled the air as he rose to his feet and charged at his challengers, launching himself at the last moment toward the largest of the three, just as the largest of them leapt toward Jared in return. Multiple shots rang out from his right, and almost simultaneously Jared — the huge lion with the blackened mane — dropped out of the air, slamming lifelessly to the ground.
A male walked out of the shadows, laughing as he carried the rifle he’d just fired as Jared’s lion launched itself toward his challengers. “Oops. That’s gotta hurt. Or it did,” Trent said, laughing even harder as he kicked the lion’s head with the toe of his boot to make sure it was unresponsive.
The lions who’d attempted to fight Jared shifted back to human form. “I told you I could win! Your father said to challenge and win. Not murder him in cold blood!”
“Why bother? Nobody got hurt. Nobody has to nurse any wounds. It took ten seconds and the fool is dead.”
“For honor! There’s honor to be won when unseating an Alpha. You can’t take his position and power with a cowardly kill! And when his family hears of the way he died, they’ll come for us, and you and your father and the rest of the Falwell Pride!”
Trent only heard the part of the male’s comments that he took offense to. All the rest were completely tuned out. “Are you calling me a coward?” Trent asked.
“Yes! He was prepared to fight with honor! As were we. If you planned to shoot him, why did you order me to challenge him? You want me to tell you why? Because you couldn’t have won on your own. You don’t have the integrity to take his place! And that is exactly what I will report to our Alpha!” the male said, his voice full of rage as he stood naked, staring Trent down.
Trent shrugged, swung the rifle he still held with one hand up and pointed it at the male confronting him. He pulled the trigger and killed Jared’s challenger, then turned to face the other two lions who’d stopped mid-step as they approached the confrontation. Quickly firing, he killed them where they stood, leaving them all where they lay to brazenly stride into the bar, stopping to flip the breakers mounted on the back of the building on along the way.
Stepping inside the barroom, he turned on all the lights, both inside and out, turned on the music tracks that played nonstop during business hours, and cranked the sound to its very limits. He walked behind the bar and laid his rifle on the bar top, before pouring himself a whiskey and shooting it back, enjoying the burn as it tracked down his throat. He had another shot of whiskey, then slammed the glass down on the bar before pounding his chest. “I’m your new fucking Alpha, bitches!” he proclaimed to the empty room, just barely able to hear himself above the sound of the music filling the space.
Having killed all his accomplices, he looked around again, realizing he had no one to share his success with. “Somebody ought to be telling me how fucking fantastic I am. I mean, who the hell fights a lion, even if they’re a lion, too, when you can just shoot their ass?” His gaze wandered to the back staircase that led to the small bedroom Jared and his girlfriend lived in. “Yeah, you’ll do nicely,” he said. “Time to see if you’re as fucking good as I think you are.”
He headed across the barroom, and up the stairs, thinking he’d find his target. Reaching the small landing at the top of the stairs he whistled sharply. “Hey! I know you’re not sleeping through all this loud-ass music! Get up! Get up and welcome your new king. For the night anyway. Once I find somebody better, you might have to share,” he said, laughing as though someone had told a joke. When he recovered from his bout of laughter, he focused on the still closed bedroom door. “Woman, wake the fuck up!” he bellowed, stepping up to the door and finding the door locked.
He sighed irritatedly. “See, now you’re just pissing me off!” he yelled, as he stood back and kicked the door over and over again, until the door jamb finally gave way, allowing him to force his way in. “I was going to at least let you pretend to enjoy it. Now, though, you’re getting it hard and mean, just the way I like it,” he said, unzipping his pants and shoving his hand inside them to grasp his hardening dick in preparation of forcing Kassidy to get on her hands and knees to submit.
He stopped in the middle of the room and looked around. “Where the fuck are you?” he asked, as he moved back to the switch on the wall to flip it on. Light flooded the room and his gaze fell on the bed, then the only other door in the room. “Really? Think you can hide from me in the bathroom?” He walked over to the bathroom door and swung it open. Checked in the shower, then behind the door. “This is bullshit!” he shouted. “Fucking bitch,” he mumbled as he left the room, and went back downstairs, all the while cursing Kassidy for not being where the fuck she was supposed to be. “Alright, that’s it. You pissed me off! Now I’m beating your fucking ass, too!” he shouted, his voice was nearly silenced by the still pounding music vibrating through the building.
The moment his feet hit the floor, he realized he wasn’t alone any longer.
The males standing across the room from him, wasted no time. They took in his demeanor, the threats he was spouting, and his boner clearly showing through his unzipped pants.
Connor lifted a hand and gestured toward the bar.
Trent’s eyes grew wide, and he lifted both hands, as though to ward off what was coming. “No! You don’t understand, I’ll let you join me!” he promised.
Squeegee already had the rifle leveled and pointed at him. He didn’t hesitate. He pulled the trigger three times in quick succession, all heart shots. The man fell dead at the foot of the stairs, his unseeing eyes focused on the ceiling above him.
“Turn that fucking music down,” Connor ordered.
One of the other men hurried to do just that, as Squeegee rushed across the room, paused long enough to shoot the now dead man in the dick, then ran up the stairs. “Kassidy?!” he screamed as he went. “Kassidy, it’s okay! We’re here. You’re safe, you can come out now!”
It only took a few minutes before Connor was standing in the doorway of the upstairs bedroom. “Any sign of her?”
Squeegee shook his head almost desperately. “None. But I don’t think he found her, either. It don’t look like a struggle in here.”
“No, it doesn’t. Wherever she is, I think she’s safe,” Connor said. “I’m sure Jared got her to safety.”
“Maybe. These fuckers were supposed to be waiting for them at the campsite. They were supposed to be loyal, part of the few Jared could trust!”
“Obviously, Jared was wrong,” Connor said with no emotion at all.
“How can you be so calm, just standing there like it’s no big thing?” Squeegee demanded.
“You stand in a place of power, others want what you have. As good a man as Jared was, he was always a little too sure of himself. He should have played it closer to his chest, Squeeg. It sucks, man, but you show your cards to too many people, they start wondering why they don’t have what you do.”
“You think he told too many people about himself?” Squeegee asked.
“No. He just let the wrong people get too close. He assumed because they were like him, they’d respect him.”
Squeegee made a last fruitless sweep of the bedroom and bathroom, and turned back to Connor. “She’s not up here. Now what?” he asked.
“Now we have a mess to clean up. We gave him our word. It’s time to honor it.”
“But what if she’s hiding somewhere?”
“We’ll make a thorough search first. But we promised, and after we’re sure Kassidy’s not here, we have to follow through.”
Squeegee nodded and turned his body sideways to get past Connor who was partially blocking the doorway.
“He was our friend. We owe him what we promised him,” Connor reminded him.
“We should have come sooner!” Squeegee burst out belligerently as he turned to face Connor.
“I wish we had. There was no reason to come before we did. If we hadn’t come back after your bike, we wouldn’t be here at all.”
“We should have checked on them…”
“For what? How were we supposed to know he needed help?” Connor asked.
“I don’t know! We just should have!” Squeegee insisted.
“Hey!” Connor yelled, taking a step to get closer to Squeegee, grasping his arm as he looked him in the eye. “I’m pissed, too. He was my friend, too. And she doesn’t deserve any of this shit. Neither one of them do! But getting pissed off and not thinking straight isn’t going to help anything. We have a job to do. A last request we agreed to a long time ago. Let’s get it done for Jared. Can you do that? If not, get on your bike and ride away. We’ll take care of it.”
Squeegee blinked away the tears he wanted to shed, but seemed to pull himself up. He straightened his shoulders and pressed his lips together. “I can do my part.”
“Let’s do it then. Search for Kassidy, then follow through.”
“Alright,” Squeegee answered, going back inside the bedroom once more to search again.
Connor left him to it, knowing that until Squeegee had personally seen every inch of the building, he couldn’t move ahead with what they had to do. And Squeegee wasn’t completely wrong. Until they knew that Kassidy wasn’t in the building, they couldn’t follow Jared’s wishes.