Beast, Part Two (The Church #5)

Corbyn

chapter Twenty-two

Beast

I watch her as she sleeps. Her mouth open slightly, her braids scattered across her pillow like a waterfall. She is my peace.

“She is a whore,” Mother says in my head.

Hearing her voice is the sweetest sound in the world right now. I shut my eyes and take it all in.

After fucking Summer to sleep, I went out and talked to Alicia for a bit. She gave me the basics of my condition. She also told me I had a long road ahead of me but she believed I’d be alright. Basically, the voices are my conscious. My mother’s voice is the voice of the things I was taught. They are the impressions of the beliefs and lessons I learned from her. Priest’s voice is my true feelings. His voice is the beliefs I’ve established myself. Which is why most of the time those two voices are combative and disagree.

The demon in my head is the subconscious part of me. The part that does not feel or have emotions. It’s always been there. It is the part of me that will require the most work.

Another thing I asked Alicia to do is speak to Gabe. When Priest told me I was misdiagnosed, I thought of my son. Not always, but sometime the disorders I have can be passed down. I think mine are a combination of getting it from my mother and the condition in which she raised me. Either way, I want to make sure my son is okay.

Summer moves in her sleep, alerting me that she’s going to be waking up soon. Her eyes pop open and she looks right at me. She smiles before yawning and stretching.

“How long have I been sleep?”

“Five hours.”

Her eyes widen and she sits up in bed. “Seriously? Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“Because you needed the sleep.” I stand from the chair I was sitting in and climb into the bed with her. She scoots over making room for me.

“You might not want to get too close,” she giggles. “I haven’t brushed my teeth.”

I don’t reply. She narrows her gaze at me.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t think you believe me when I say I’ll stay.”

She watches me for a second without a word. It feels as if she’s studying me, trying to see where my thoughts are.

“I mean, you’re right. You did make a promise to me once before and broke it.”

The guilt of her words hits me hard. The night I made love to her before I killed Andrew, I did make that promise. And at the time I had no intention of ever breaking it. But I did. I broke her trust in me.

She continues. “But I am a believer in second chances, so I have to believe what you say is true.”

I nod. “Or, I can prove that it will never happen again.”

Her brow pinches. “How would you do that?”

“Because you’re going to marry me.”

Her mouth falls open, but no words come out. I lift her hand and show her the solitaire five carat pear-shaped diamond ring I’d placed on her finger. She gasps at the sight.

I never had plans of getting married. I never had plans of having a kid either. Never knew either of those was an option for me. But as I watched Summer turn away from me and nearly walk out that door, I knew then that I couldn’t live without her. I knew I would fight every instinct in me that told me to run in order to be with her. I want to belong to her and only her.

One day, when is gone and we’ve been reinstated into the Church, I will have to go back to reality. I love Summer and I would give her the world, but I have to feed. That will always be a part of my life. But even then, I need her in my world. I will not give her or my son up.

“How? When did you get this?”

I shrug. “Today, while you slept. The ladies and Maksim helped me pick it out. The women thought you’d like the shape, and Maksim suggested the carat size. We picked it out online, and I went and got it.”

Her eyes water as she looks down at the ring. “Gabriel, it’s beautiful.”

“What do you say?”

She stutters for a moment. Her mouth opening and closing. “I mean, it didn’t really sound like you gave me an option.” I pull her into my chest.

“I’m glad you know.”

“I swear, Gabriel, if you try to walk out on me after we’re married, I’m going to pull a you on you.”

I chuckle before flipping her over and lying her underneath me. She squeals, but it quickly turns into a sigh when I brush my erection against her pantie-less mound.

“Gabriel,” she moans.

“I will teach you how to do it. That way you will know I’ll never leave.” With one hand, I free my erection from the confines of my pants. I barely get them to my ass before I push into Summer.

She digs her nails into my back as she gasps beneath me. I would stay here for the rest of my life if I could. Wrapped between her thighs, buried deep inside her.

“I found him,” Lucien’s voice yells into the intercom in the room. “I found .”

I look down at Summer. Having her tight heat wrapped around my cock has me second guessing if I want to stop or not.

“You should go,” she says, touching the side of my face.

“Fuucckk,” I growl as I pull out of her.

Climbing off the bed, I pull my jeans back up on my hips, readjusting my still hard cock, so it won’t be as obvious. I wait for Summer to dress and brush her teeth before leaving the bedroom.

Summer and I both walk into the dining room. When I got up the first time, I noticed that they had fixed the table and put the room back in place. I apologized to everyone for the destruction. Thankfully, the laptops weren’t damaged due to my outburst.

Already in the room are Lucien, Malia, Hawk, Brooklyn, Many, Arie, Zel, and Sim.

“Did she like the ring?” Maksim asks as soon as he spots Summer.

She holds up her hand with a huge grin on her face. “I love it. Thank you guys for helping pick it out.”

“We’re glad we could help. Congratulations.” Malia sings as she walks over and hugs Summer. Brooklyn is the next person to hug her, then Ari takes her place.

My brothers all congratulated me and patted my back.

“See, I told you. The bigger the carat, the more the forgiveness,” Maksim says in my ear.

I dip my chin to my chest at him. To be honest, he’s turned out to be not too much of a bother. I’m kind of starting to like the guy.

“Thank goodness you guys worked it out. I don’t think that table could’ve survived another argument,” Hawk’s wife says.

Her comment makes Summer laugh, so I don’t take offense.

Just then Albany and Priest walk in together. Both are looking frazzled and disheveled.

“What took y’all so long?” Lucien asks.

“We were fucking. You think you kids are the only ones that can get some pussy in my house?”

Summer buries her face into my arm. Embarrassment. The emotion pops into my head instantly.

“Ugh, please spare us the details of your elderly activities. Your grandchildren can’t stomach it,” Hawk’s wife says turning her nose up and rubbing her stomach.

“Don’t you two start,” Albany stops them with a hand up. “What do you have for us, Lucien?”

“He just showed up on my radar. He’s back in the states attending a fundraiser tonight. This is our chance.”

“I didn’t tell you to start tracking him yet,” Priest says rubbing at his chin.

Lucien shakes his head. “Look, I understand your concern, but we have him, Priest. We can take him out tonight and get our lives back.”

Priest shakes his head. “It’s too soon. We need more time.”

Lucien scoffs, tossing his arms up in the air.

“More time for what?” he argues. “To sit in this house and drive each other crazy?”

“I’m with Lucien on this,” Zel adds. “For the last two months, we’ve been chasing after these leads, only to find out we have to go after . I think this is our opportunity.”

“This feels like a setup,” Maksim says. “He knows you’re looking for him. Why would he come back?”

“Exactly,” Priest states. “He seems smarter than this. More calculated. I think we should stick with my plan of sending the women away and then figure out the best approach.”

“We’ve already told you we aren’t sending the girls away,” Hawk says with a shrug.

“Exactly,” Lucien adds. “Plus, I’m tired of waiting. There isn’t enough space in this house for Emory to run around. Malia needs to see a doctor, and Brooklyn has had to miss her last check-ups. We can’t keep living in hiding. I think underestimates us. That’s why he’s come out. He doesn’t think we can take him. This is the right time.”

“I’m with brother Lucien on this,” Many says in his deep voice. “This is the time.”

“And you all agree?” Priest asks.

“Yes,” Hawk says. “It’s time.”

“What about you, brother? What do you say?” Sim turns his attention to me.

I can understand everyone’s side. My brothers were ready to be done. But, Priest is correct. was too smart to make this so easy. However, even I know how much they underestimated us. This could be just another example of being cocky. And we can’t waste an opportunity like this.

“I say we strike.”

Summer’s grip on my arm tightens.

Priest sighs, shaking his head. “I guess no one is listening to their old man. So, let’s do it.”

The energy in the room shifts. We all go from family men to killers in a split second. Lucien takes off his glasses letting us know Seth is now with us.

Tonight, we were taking back our lives.

We are across the street from the fancy ballroom the fundraiser is held in. Priest rented a room under an alias. Right now, we are checking our weapons.

“What do you see, Fem?” Priest’s voice comes over our earpiece.

We sent Fem in before us to scout out the place.

“Your guy is here,” she replies. “He has a lot of bodyguards with him. They are wearing suits with red ties. There’re at least fifty of them all around the room.”

“Those are his regular guards,” Sim says as he places a .45 in his back holster. “They’re ex-military. We need to take them out quickly. Do you see anyone with tattoos like mine?”

I wait for Fem to reply. I still owe Yohan for taking that shot at Albany.

“No. no one with tally mark tattoos,” Fem says.

I look over to Maksim. His brow is bunched up.

“I’m not liking this,” he says. “ always travels with at least one of us.”

For the first time, I’m starting to get that feeling too. Maybe we are moving too fast.

“No way we are backing out now,” Seth says. “We’re too close.”

“He’s right, new brother Sim,” Many adds. “We have to at least try.”

Maksim looks over at Priest who shakes his head. He still isn’t trusting this decision, but he’s going through with it. I can see it all over his face. He’s doing this for us.

Maksim nods his head, then places a knife in his side holder. “Okay, I’m with you guys.”

“Alright, boys,” Priest says to everyone in the room. His gaze rakes over Many, Hawk, Me, Seth, and Maksim. “We make this quick. In and out. No showboating. Do you understand?”

A chorus of yeses goes up. After making sure we had all our weapons, we filed out of the room. Priest has the duffle bag with extra guns. We take the stairs down to the lobby.

“Alright Zel, you’re our eyes at this point,” Priest says into the earpiece.

“I got you. Good luck in there, brothers.”

He’s on top of the roof of the hotel we just exited. He has a perfect view into the ballroom.

We step outside onto the sidewalk. The street is busy. We aren’t worried about cameras catching us because none of those work. Kyra and Ari are back at the ghost house manning those. Our black suits allow us to blend in with the other attendees of the party.

“Alright, Fem,” Priest says. “Time to clear the room.”

“You got it, baby,” She purrs.

“Won’t we have to worry about the fire department coming?” Maksim leans over and asks me.

“No. Lucien cut the connection between the sprinklers and the fire alarm.”

As soon as the sentence is out my mouth, we hear the shrill of screams coming out of the building.

“That’s our cue. Let’s go,” Seth says.

We all cross the street and enter the building before splitting up. The sprinkler system makes it slightly hard to see. We fight through all the people in their fancy suits and gowns rushing out of the building. Maksim is right on my heels.

“’s on the move,” Zel says in the earpiece.

“Keep him in here,” I growl out.

I spot the first of ’s bodyguards out in the hallway. Our gazes lock at the exact same time. He reaches for his gun, but I’m faster. I shoot him in the neck, and he goes down. Chaos ensues after that. Gunfire goes off everywhere.

I rush into the actual ballroom. Quickly scanning the room, I take note of all the exits. Hawk and Many are on the farthest side of the room making sure no one makes it out the back entrance. Seth is behind a table and firing off rounds. I lost track of Fem and Priest. But if I know him, he’s with her.

“On your left, brother,” Maksim yells as he fires at someone in front of us.

I turn and fire at the guard coming up on my left. He goes down quickly. Maksim and I move further into the room. Our guns aim in all directions scoping out the scene.

One of ’s guards runs up on me from my side. I spin in time to dodge the bullet whizzing by my head. Maksim, fires and kills the man that attacked me. I turn just in time to shoot at the guard behind Maksim. We quickly move through the room gunning down guards that cross our path. When we run out of bullets in one gun, we toss it and grab for another.

I aim at the man in front of me and fire, but the gun clicks. I’m now out of guns. Tossing the gun to the ground, I reach for the knife at my back. Before I can pull it out, a harpoon shoots through the guard’s body, impaling him. He falls to his knees. Across the room, Many waves at me before going back to shooting.

I duck my chin at him, even though he can’t see me.

“Here you go,” Fem says as she rushes pass, tossing me another gun.

She fires a shot at one of the guards, rolls across the floor at the feet of another one and comes up behind him, putting a bullet to the back of his head.

“That is a very talented woman,” Maksim says behind me.

“You got no fucking idea,” Priest says through the earpiece in our ears.

Maksim and I get back to work clearing everyone on our side of the room. Guns are not my favorite weapon, but Priest made sure we were all good with them.

“ is on the run. He’s heading to the parking garage,” Zel warns. “I’m going to lose sight of him if he gets that far.

“Beast come with me,” Priest yells. “The rest of you finish up here and clear us some space.”

“You got it,” Seth adds.

“Be careful, brother,” Maksim warns me.

I take off back out the way I came in. Maksim fires shots over my head clearing my way.

I run into another guard, but easily dispose of him. As soon as I step back out to the foyer of the building, I meet Priest.

“Let’s go,” he says. We both take off in the direction of the underground parking garage. We take the stairs two at a time.

As soon as we come out of the doors and enter the garage, a bullet whizzes past our heads. is in front of us with his weapon drawn. He turns and takes off running. We follow.

“We see . We’re on his tail,” Priest says.

Running through the garage, we reach a point where there's nowhere else to go. There is a wall in front of . He stops and turns around with his hands above his head. A smile planted on his face.

“You’ve reached the end of the road, .”

“That I have. But I must admit, I’m glad to finally meet the great Nathaniel Otello.”

I keep my gun aimed at . It’s startling to see how similar we look. I’ve met some of my siblings and none of them resemble as much as me. Even his dark blonde hair matches mine, although not nearly as long. The eyes are the exact same.

“My brother talked so highly of you. That should have been my clue to what he did. I guess I should thank you for raising my son.”

“I didn’t raise your son,” Priest argues. “I raised mine.”

The smile falls from ’s face for only a moment before he plants it back in place.

“I hope there are no hard feelings about the whole excommunication thing. Really, you guys had outgrown that organization. Honestly, I did you a favor.”

“If you wanted to do us a favor, you and your royal club would keep your hands out of the Church.”

laughs. “You think it would make a difference? Even if we left the Church to its own devices, we would still have power over you. Money rules the world, Nathaniel. Have you not realized that? Your own government is run by the Royal Crown. The American people haven’t picked a president since Washington.

“The Crown has always handpicked your leaders. When you get in that booth to decide Democrat or Republican, it never matters because we have already chosen. We have always made the laws and the rules. We are the power behind the world. Even if you kill me, we will still reign supreme. You are fighting a losing battle.”

Nothing said came as a shock to me. I’ve always known money and power ran the world. is correct, the Royal Crown will always have a hand in the Church. There is nothing we could do to change that. Even if we killed and got reinstated, we can’t take down the Royal Crown.

So what do you do?

“Priest, we’re heading to you,” Seth says in the earpiece.

“Your time is up, ,” Priest announces. “I hope your money serves you well in hell.”

I go to pull the trigger, but something catches my attention out of the corner of my eye.

“I think you might be mistaken, Priest,” sneers as I spin around.

“Priest get down,” I shout the words as Victoria fires her weapon.

I fire back at her, hitting her in the chest. She stumbles but doesn’t fall, letting me know she’s wearing a vest. The sound of screeching tires has me turning just in time to see a red Hummer nearly barrel into me. I jump to the side to avoid being hit.

and Victoria run to the truck and jump in.

“You should have stuck with me, son,” shouts before shutting the door.

The truck pulls away. I leap to my feet and fire the gun at the back window. The glass doesn’t even break. I chase after the Hummer.

Just then, Seth, Hawk, Maksim, Many, And Fem run around the corner. They see me shooting and fire at the truck as well. It never slows as it disappears out of the garage.

“What the hell happened?” Seth shouts. “I thought you had him?”

I ignore him as I spin on my heels and rush back to Priest. I come up short when I spot the blood surrounding his head.

I freeze in my spot. My body becomes numb. It’s almost like I’m having an out of body experience. It isn’t until Fem screams beside me I finally rush back to myself.

“What’s going on? What’s happening?” Zel pleads through the earpiece.

“It’s bad, brother. It’s really fucking bad,” Seth replies somberly.