Page 114 of Never the Same

“Alpha Three. Tower four clear,” Griffin from Falcon Falls added.

“Alpha Four here,” Jesse from Falcon spoke up. “Towers two and three are down. Seven tangos exiting the main property, moving fast.”

“This is Alpha Three. We’ll intercept and handle them. Go ahead and breach.”

“Roger,” we transmitted back.

Explosives thudded, rattling the ground. Lightning flared white-hot as Sebastian’s League operators blew the wall.

“Stack,” Ryder ordered, and we slid into position. Me up front, Hollis at my six, and Ryder covering flank.

The wall went inward with a muffled crack, smoke and rain sweeping through the gap.

They want a legit fight. It’s who they are. It turned my stomach, fighting men who’d once been guardians for good, now corrupted by oaths and bloodline bullshit. Proof enough why no one should wield mind control drugs. Neither presidents, nor kings. No one.

“Move!” Ryder commanded, and I nodded to Hollis. She tapped my shoulder, locked in, covering my six as we flowed through the breach. “Delta Two, do you copy?” he tried again.

Static hissed back.

I scanned the grounds, thankful we had three sniper angels overhead now in those towers to cover us. Through the green hue of my night vision, I identified a few of the bodies they’d already dropped to clear our path.

I went still when catching a shadow by one of the garages. I went to one knee, yanking Hollis with me, and fired.

Tango down.

Glass shattered above, and Hollis pivoted. One clean headshot to the guy in the window. The man toppled, rifle clattering.

Carter nodded a quick thanks to Hollis for saving his ass since the barrel had been aimed at him, then he breached the side door before Ryder and Sebastian cleared ahead of us.

Once Hollis and I made our way inside, the world remained green under my NVGs. The lights were out, corridors narrow.

Ryder and Carter announced they’d be pushing to the basement, and Sebastian and Gideon joined them.

Over comms, Sebastian directed his two other men to the second floor to clear it, which left Hollis and me to sweep the first-floor halls, my trigger finger poised.

Not even thirty seconds later, two hostiles burst from the left. I drove one back with a controlled burst to the chest.

Lightning spilt through high windows, momentarily flooding the hall in white, revealing blood on the tile.

Hollis pivoted, boot snapping into the other one’s knee. He went down hard, her muzzle pressed to his visor as the guy begged, “Don’t shoot.”

“I have visual confirmation on Delta Two,” Julian shared. “He’s alive and being dragged out the rear door.”

“This is Alpha Four. Eyes on Delta Two,” Jesse let us know. “Taking out the marks now.”

Gunfire barked from all around, and my pulse picked up as I waited for news.

“Delta Two here.” Alex popped over comms, and I’d never been so grateful to hear that man’s voice before. “I had to get grabbed to buy you time. Offer a distraction.”

Of-fucking-course. Typical of him. I owed him an ass kicking for that once we made it out alive.

“Where’s my family?” Hollis demanded, fury bleeding through as she pressed her knee into the throat of the man she had beneath her while I swept the hall to cover her.

The man gagged. “It’s Kylo.”

“What?” She shoved up his NVGs, staring at his face. Searching for a truth she couldn’t remember.

“I’m not one of them. Not involved in this. I just escaped when your friends showed up in the basement, and this asshole”—he nodded with his head toward the body I’d dropped—“was trying to take me out. I wasn’t expecting to run into you.” He held his hands out and open at his sides. “I’d never hurt you. I love you like family.”