Quintessentially Q (Monsters in the Dark #2)(71)

When the naked * who’d raped the blonde girl walked past, Franco slapped him around the head. I’d never seen such a black look of rage in Franco’s eyes. He’d always been so good at hiding it, but I guessed tonight was a first for all of us. He would kill and love it and I’d let him. There were enough for both of us to sate our murderous hunger.

Violence was permitted when such f*ckers existed as these.

“Where do you want them?” Franco asked, looking at me with anger glowing in his eyes.

I jiggled Tess in my arms, positioning her higher all the while I itched to go and finish what I promised.

Surveying the best place for a massacre, I pointed with my chin. “Line them up over there.” Directly in the middle of the factory floor, with the conveyer belt to their backs and spray-painted windows to the front. No one would see and at two a.m. in the morning, I doubted anyone would hear. But just to be sure.

“Gag them. All of them.”

Franco smiled tightly. “No f*cking problem.”

I stayed frozen with a fitful, unconscious Tess in my grip while Franco ordered everyone onto their knees and directed his team to stuff old packing material into their mouths before sealing with duct tape.

“Take the women outside,” I ordered one of Franco’s men. They shouldn’t have to see this.

The man nodded and motioned for the women to leave. They shuffled away, looking over their shoulders, seeing their kidnappers for the last time.

Once they were gone the naked rapist tried to stand and fight. “You won’t f*cking get away with this. People will come and slit your throats in your sleep. They’ll put a bounty on your head.”

Franco pushed him back, almost forcing his fist inside his mouth as he stuffed him like a Christmas turkey. “We’re counting on it, you dickshit. The more of your kind we can cull the better.”

The man in the blue shirt and jeans—obviously the f*cking ringleader—said softly, “You’re making a huge mistake, my friend. Just take your girl and go, but leave the rest with us. I’ll pretend this never happened and I won’t tell the Wolverine a thing.”

My hands clenched around Tess. This was the bastard who ordered every diabolical thing that’d been done to my woman. I trembled with ferocity, forcing myself not to break Tess’s fragile form.

“You’re not my f*cking friend and I will take my girl and leave, but I’m not leaving you alive.” I took a few steps closer. “The Wolverine is already dead. Just like you.”

A woman whimpered; my heart hardened to rock. Her long black hair was tangled, her cheeks stretched with the duct tape over her mouth. A woman involved with trafficking women? I couldn’t think of anything more traitorous. She’d be the first to die.

Some men cried, some moaned, others pleaded, warbling around their gags, but it fell on deaf ears.

Not one of my team held any compassion. We were there to do the human race a favour by obliterating such evilness.

My jaw clenched. It was time to get dirty. Time to bloody my hands in honour of the woman who owned me.

I moved toward Frederick. He gave me an understanding nod as his eyes fell on Tess.

Her head lolled like a floppy doll against my shoulder. I couldn’t bear the thought of putting her down. But I had no choice.

Frederick made eye contact, asking silently to take her.

I looked away, wanting so badly to kiss Tess and make everything disappear from her mind. I wanted her to wake up whole and undamaged. But I would never live with myself if I didn’t kill every last bastard. I had to relinquish her…for now.

Slowly, I angled my body toward him. Frederick moved closer, brushing my arms with his as he readied himself to take her weight.

“Wait,” I snapped.

Frederick didn’t say a thing, stepping away. I rolled my neck, centring myself.

I cleared my throat, facing the men and women who made their living stealing the lives of others. Police hadn’t punished them. Karma hadn’t cared. But me? I cared a shitload, and they were about to get their just rewards.

“See this woman?” I held Tess higher, raising my arms like she was on a pyre ready to burst into flames. “You did this to her.” My eyes glazed recalling the fighter, the amazing woman who captured my heart, and not the flightless bird in my arms. My voice came thicker, roughed with hatred. “You stole everything from her. You stole her entire life not once but f*cking twice. I don’t know what goes through your head. I don’t f*cking want to know. I’ve always classified myself as a fair man even though every day I battle black desires. I see the satisfaction such a trade can bring. I see the temptation for money and the dark call of lust. But what I don’t see is how you lost so much of your humanity that you let yourself give in. You sicken me. You disgust me, and I promise no one will care when you rot in your unmarked graves.”

The line of ten or so men squirmed on their knees, testing the ropes around their wrists, working the gags. The woman hung her head, but kept glaring at me with black evil. She was a true psychopath. No feelings or sense of right and wrong.

I motioned to Frederick to take Tess. He came forward and opened his arms, easing them beneath mine. My body ripped into pieces as Tess’s gentle weight transferred from my arms to his. He cradled her with such compassion I suffered a bolt of hot green jealousy.

I lashed out, clamping my fingers around Tess’s arm.