Soul Avenged (Sons of Wrath, #1) (46 page)

A shot
followed, and Kane could barely hold on to consciousness any
longer.

~

Footsteps
reached Logan’s ear. Softly trodden. Coming from the side.

In a hair of a
second, he was clutching a head with his dagger at the intruder’s
throat.

“Damn you,
Gavin, I almost sent you to Obsidius.” Logan released his brother.
“Don’t sneak up on me like that. What the hell are you doing
here?”

“What the hell
are
you
doing here?” Gavin rubbed his neck where the blade
nicked his skin; it healed instantly. “I gave you an order to kill
the lycan, earlier.”

Logan grinned.
“Come on, brother, you know I don’t take orders. Tell me you didn’t
expect this.”

Crossing his
arms over his chest, Gavin scowled. “I thought your distaste for
this lycan would have surely overruled your urge to defy me.”

“He’s not so
bad.” Logan shrugged. “For a filthy piece of shit lycan.”

They turned
back toward the compound, both males taking a seat in the snow.

Gavin ran a
hand through his hair. “Have you seen anything?”

“Not since he
went in. Heard some screams, though. Maybe they found him.”

“I can’t
believe you sent a lycan off to scout.” Gavin rubbed his hand down
his face and across his jaw. “Any chance you may have given thought
to him taking off?”

“Yep.”

“And what
makes you so sure he hasn’t yet?”

Logan smirked.
“Because I told him not to. What the hell are you doing here?”

He shook his
head. “Ayden went inside to get the antibody. We must’ve given good
ole’ Wade a bad vibe the other day,” Gavin said, dragging his
fingers across the fence. Sparks flew and he rubbed his fingertips
together.

“The
antibody?” Logan scratched the back of his head. “Fuck.”

“What?”

“About thirty
lycans are inside right now.” Logan swiped his thumb past his nose.
“I’ve watched each one pull in and go to the back of the building.
What the hell is this place, some kind of wolf lodge?”

“No. It’s the
Alexi compound. What the fuck are lycans doing inside of it?”

“I don’t know.
But I suddenly don’t like being stuck outside, pacing like a
goddamn lion on the wrong side of a cage.”

Gavin withdrew
his cellphone from his pocket. He dialed a number and placed his
hand over the receiver. “Try to get Zeke on the phone if you
can.”

Logan nodded
and reached to retrieve his cellphone … the one he’d taken out of
his pocket and left in the car. “Bro, I left mine.”

Gavin frowned.
“No wonder you didn’t pick up, asshole.”

“I buy a new
phone every week doing this shit. Asshole.”

“Here, Zeke
should be at Sanctuary. Use the two-way,” Gavin said, reaching into
his pocket and tossing a smaller phone at Logan.

It buzzed
three times before Zeke picked it up. Loud chatter and music blared
in the background, forcing Logan to pull the phone away from his
ear for a moment and turn the volume down. He put the speaker to
his mouth. “Zeke,” he said, speaking low. No good. He raised his
voice, tried again.

Zeke rambled
in flirtatious conversation on the other end, undoubtedly unaware
he’d picked up. A couple of women giggled like clucking hens.

“Zeke’s
answering service, how may I service you?” came one of the female
voices down the line.

“Put Zeke on
the phone.” Logan’s tone remained flat, the irritation shadowing
his words. “Now.”

She cleared
her throat and a brief moment of silence followed before Zeke’s
voice came on. “Why do you have to be such a dick all the time?
You’ve hurt Jen’s feelings.”

“I don’t give
a fuck. You need to get your ass down to Wabash and Bagley
now.”

“What? What
the hell is going on there?” Zeke’s voice slurred through the
phone. Clearly, he’d gotten into the sauce.

“No questions.
Hurry up.” Logan handed the phone back to Gavin, who still had his
own to his ear. “He’s on his way.”

“Dammit.
Zayne’s not picking up. Neither is Calix.”

“Calix is
probably chasing that skirt in demon town, and Zayne’s probably
locked in his room, as always.”

“I need you to
do something for me, Logan. And please, just follow my orders on
this one.” He held his hands up to his face, as if to beg. “Go back
to the manor. In my library, there is a book. The one with the
Wrath symbol on the front of it. I think there’s a chapter on
hexes. I need you to grab it for me.”

“Fuck that.
I’m not going anywhere.”

“I’m ordering
you. The only way we’re getting into this hellhole is breaking the
hex, somehow. I promised Ayden I wouldn’t leave her. Please do
this. I don’t think you want to spend the next century of your
prime demon years getting your ass kicked in Obsidius again.”

Logan remained
silent for a moment. “Where’s the goddamn thing?”

“It’s a thick
black book. You can’t miss it. Hurry.”

“Don’t you
start shit without me, hear? The big biker’s my kill. You hear?
Mine.”

“He’s Ayden’s
attacker?”

“Yes.” Logan
leaned down, pointing to his chest. “Fucker’s mine.”

“No worries
brother. I’ve got my eye on one.”

Logan trekked
back to his McLaren parked between the buildings. The ghoul inside
was bumpin’ to ‘
Welcome 2 Detroit
’, sitting in the driver’s
seat, pretending to be rollin’ when Logan got there. He scrambled
to turn off the radio and sat up, as Logan opened the door and
peeked inside.

Logan cocked a
brow. “What’s this?”

“Sorry man,
just having some … I was just.”

“Move.”

The ghoul
floated to the passenger seat. His clothes, barely clinging to his
body, didn’t appear to be in the same state of decay as the other
ghouls’ in the catacombs.

“What’s your
name?” Logan asked.

“Wyatt.”

“You new?”
Logan noticed he looked young, maybe seventeen.

“Yeah, just
kicked it last week.”

“How?”

“Aww, come on
man.” Wyatt looked away. “It’s embarrassing.”

“How?”

The ghoul
slumped his shoulders and huffed. “Shit. My brother left his gun
out. I found it.” He shrugged. “Went off in my hand, and poof! Here
I am.”

“How old’s
your brother?”

“Nineteen.”

“What the
hell’s a nineteen year old doing with a gun?” Logan shook his head.
“Don’t you kids learn a damn thing in school? Watch videos and shit
on this?” He cranked the engine and stepped on the gas.

“Nah, man, I
didn’ go to school.” Wyatt’s arms motioned a dismissive gesture in
Logan’s periphery. “Shit’s for collas.”

Logan glanced
over, one hand on the steering wheel, the other rubbing his chin.
“Collas? What the hell is that? English, brother.”

“Collas, you
know, those highbrow, Abercrombie-wearing mothafuckas.” The ghoul’s
hands flew up in the air, emphasizing his explanation. “Kids that
go off to college and get jobs an’ shit.”

“Yeah, when I
was in school we called them smart.”

“Psh.
Whatever.” Wyatt shook his head. “My brother made more money in a
day than any of those coll … kids made in an entire year.”

Logan glanced
back to the road. “You look up to your brother, then?”

“Yup.” Wyatt
crossed his arms over his chest. “People respect my brother. If
not,”—he motioned as if he had a gun—“they get smoked.”

“You think
your brother would give all that money away to have you back?”

Wyatt
shrugged. “Probably not.”

“That’s too
bad.” Logan kept his eyes to the road. “Because I’d trade my soul
for any of my brothers. I know they’d do the same for me.”

“Yeah, well.
My brother wouldn’t. He was glad what happened to me.”

“How do you
know that?”

“He told me.”
Wyatt scratched the back of his head. “Whispered it to me at my
funeral. Said he was glad he didn’t have to look out for me no
more. Told me I was too much trouble for him.”

“Sounds like a
shithead to me.” Logan glanced over. “No offense.”

“You ever
fight with your brothers? Get in their faces and shit?”

“We’re
brothers. What the hell do you think?”

“I think it’s
cool that you would still take a bullet for them.” The sadness in
Wyatt’s voice was a contrast to his attitude. “Even if you hate ‘em
sometimes.”

“Ever think
your brother might feel like shit for what happened to you?”

“I guess. I
don’t know. I never went back after that. Saw the job for security
ghoul and took it.” Wyatt shifted in his seat. “Hey, no hard
feelings about the music earlier, right? I really want to keep this
job. It was this or scrubbin’ souls, and that shit’s just
nasty.”

Logan frowned.
“Don’t tell me you’re afraid to get a little blood on your
hands.”

“Look, man,
kickin’ some ass is one thing. Strippin’ souls from dead bodies in
graveyards is another.”

Logan raised
his brow and pointed at the kid. “You ever mess up my shit and I’ll
see to it you’re polishing the walls of the catacombs for the rest
of eternity, feel me?”

The ghoul sat
stiff against the seat and nodded.

“But I’ll
assign you to my car. You can listen to your music whenever you
want.”

His face lit
up. “Yeah? I promise, Mr. Logan, I’ll take care of it for you.
Ain’t no mothaf … person gonna touch it while I’m on it.”

“Good. You
don’t want to see me when I’m pissed.”

The car rolled
into the circle drive and Logan bolted out of the driver’s seat,
tossing the boy the keys.

Wyatt reached
through the glass and caught them.

“I’ll be back.
Wait here for me.” Logan pointed at him. “And keep the sound
down.”

Logan took
three steps at a time, shooting up the staircase to the manor.
Shouting and scuffling caught his attention on the way toward the
library.

Diverting, he
followed the sounds to the dark hallway at the back of the manor.
His eyes focused in the darkness, everything coated in a reddish
haze.

Two bodies
struggled on the floor. “You wanna fucking stay with them? You were
supposed to be mine!” he heard one of them say.

Logan snuck
up.

The sound of a
male groaning stopped Logan in his tracks. The scent of arousal
penetrated his nose and turned his stomach.
Human sex.

“What’s this
shit?” Logan asked.

A scream
pierced his ear. Familiar.
Calla?
The Alexi female that
Gavin had brought home from the underground party.

On top of her
a kid, maybe twenty, had her pinned. Who he was didn’t matter.

I don’t have
time for this.

Logan spun on
his heel and made his way to leave. His brother awaited his
return—and Ayden’s life hung by a thread.

“Help m—”
Calla’s plea cut off.

Logan
hesitated and slumped his shoulders.

Damn. Don’t do
it. Go. Now.

He would have
done exactly that.

If the little
assclown on top of her hadn’t opened his mouth. “Get the fuck out
of here, demon. No one invited you to sit and watch, you perverted
prick.”

Logan turned
slowly, that familiar rush of pure adrenaline coursing like a drug.
“What the fuck did you say?”

“I said get
out, you cock-sucking bitch.”

Damn the
sensation. Once set into motion, nearly impossible to escape. Like
an old friend had come to visit him. Logan scratched his jaw with
his thumb then rested both hands on his hips and shook his head.
“See, I don’t take orders well. Especially from sissy fuck humans
who get off on raping women.”

“I’m not
raping anyone. She loves it.” He grabbed a handful of the girl’s
blonde hair. “That’s why she came here. So she could be fucked by
every one of you pricks. Nothing but a cheap whore. Loves it so
much she wants more of it.”

Calla
whimpered, and it was clear the kid had smothered her with his
hand.

“I don’t have
time for this shit. Let her go and get your ass out of my house
before I break your spine in half for holding me up this long.”

“Piss off,”
the boy said and went back to fondling the girl.

Logan could
have left her.

Should
have left her.

Hell, he had
zero interest in saving her.

Even if the
kid intended to kill her, it was of no consequence to him. She
meant nothing.

Except
something about the way the little shit dismissed him sliced
through his veins. It raked inside his body, infecting him with
rage so strong, it guaranteed pure ecstasy just to see the boy
suffer.

Logan’s eyes
glowed, creating a haze even more difficult to see through. He
strode across to the two of them and lifted the boy up by the back
of his jacket.

Logan threw
him across the hall into the wall, creating a hole in the drywall
that Gavin’d give him a ton of shit for. “Get out,” Logan gritted.
“Before I decide to finish you off.”

The fight
wouldn’t be fair, anyway. Logan’s strength couldn’t be matched.

The boy stood,
his movements slow. His eyes glowed a golden color that Logan
recognized from when Ayden fought.

“Don’t even
think about it. Leave.”

Calla,
trembling, sat up and slid against the floor, out of the way. Her
stockings were torn, and her top had been ripped open, revealing a
black lace bra beneath. Had it been one of his brothers, the sight
of her would have spurred excitement. They would have gone into
protect-mode for her. Aside from the anger of being challenged,
Logan felt nothing. Not for her.

The weakness
inside of her sickened him.

The boy
remained standing against the door, testing Logan’s patience. In a
blink, Logan had the boy in his grips, pressed against the wall as
he dangled by his throat. As his feet kicked, and he tugged at
Logan’s unyielding grasp, Logan’s chest heaved, his fury brimming
over.