Darling Wildfire (Red Rabbit #2)

2

ATLAS

DUBAI

Send it.

I glanced at the text from North out of the corner of my eye; it was go time. The hot sun beat down on me from where I lay on the top of a terracotta tiled roof but I hardly noticed, too wrapped up in the man sitting in my crosshair. He was seated at a busy cafe, sipping an espresso, his tailored suit at complete odds with the local garb. He stuck out, which told me he didn’t have a care in the world—he thought he was untouchable. Two bodyguards stood a few feet away and while they were dressed like the locals and trying to blend in, they weren’t doing a very good job of it.

Sweat beaded on the man’s forehead and I could feel my own sweat dripping down my face as I made one last adjustment, and with a squeeze of the trigger I set one part of the bigger game in motion.

The man dropped, a dead shot straight through his eye and then I was up and running as the cafe descended into chaos. I jumped a few rooftops before sliding my gun under my robes and dropping into an alley where a bike rested in the shadows. The motor rumbled to life, and I took off through the city, merging into traffic and leaving the crime scene behind.

Exhilaration rushed through me—this is what we’d been working towards for the last ten plus years, and five bullets into the five board members of Atrox, had just set everything in motion.

Part of me wished it would have been Vetticus in my sights but that would have been too easy. Plus, he was a hard man to find and trust me, we’d tried. We’d found his company but he was always doing everything by proxy and so the plan was to incite him to act—to draw him out.

Although, even if we could find him, a quick and unexpected death was not what that bastard deserved, and not what we had planned. He had taken so much from me—from North and Nyx too—and after the horrors we’d all gone through at his hands, we were about to make the bastard regret it all.

Despite all of that, the thought of Nyx brought a stupid smile to my lips, hidden by my face covering but still there all the same. We’d found each other in the darkest of places and I wouldn’t have survived it all without him. It was strange not to be on a mission together after all these years. I was eager to get back home where he’d stayed behind with North.

Leaving the traffic behind, I pulled the bike on to a small airstrip on the outskirts of the city where a jet was waiting. A familiar face appeared at the doorway and Lachlan descended the steps, an unlit cigarette held between his lips.

“Successful hunt?”

He asked as we clasped forearms in greeting.

Lachlan Frey, our Austrian ex-Jagdkommando—Austria’s Special Forces, and one of the most unhinged people I knew besides maybe Nyx and North. He hid it all behind a sunny disposition but I’d known him since the beginning of everything, when we went to Austria for our first job after escaping Vetticus’ clutches. This man may look like a blond surfer, especially now that he kept his hair long, but his eyes gave him away—dark blue pits of chaos and death.

I pulled the bullet casing from my pocket and tossed it to him as I went to board the plane.

“Wouldn’t settle for anything less,”

I said over my shoulder.

“Aw a souvenir. How sweet.”

Lachlan lit the cigarette and went to do his walk around. “Oh, and text your boyfriend will you? He’s been bugging the shit out of me!”

I chuckled and entered the cabin, pulling my rifle case from an overhead bin and pulling off the local robe in favor of jeans and a black t-shirt I’d stashed there too. Then I sat down and shot off two quick texts—the first one to North.

Confirmed.

Then to Nyx:

Me: Stop bothering Lach

Nyx: Tattletale.

Me: I’ve barely been gone two days.

Nyx: Yeah, but North has been insufferable.

Nyx: I need backup.

Me: North? Doubtful.

Me: I think you just miss me.

Nyx: That too *devil emoji*

Me: Did the others confirm yet?

Nyx: Yup. All five dead.

A smirk pulled at my features and I muttered an excited fuck yeah. We’d just waved a huge red flag at the bull and now just had to wait for him to charge. It wouldn’t take long for Vetticus to find out it was us behind the kills—it was kind of the point seeing as we were hoping to draw him out.

Me: So satisfying, yeah?

Nyx: Wish it was Vetticus

Me: Well, he needs to suffer first

Nyx: Yeah, yeah…

Nyx: and I did miss you

Me: I missed you too

I heard Lachlan board the plane and the door get pulled shut behind him.

“Wheels up in two!”

He called out.

Me: We’re taking off. Be home soon.

Nyx: Can’t wait *black heart emoji*

I smiled as I put my phone away and turned to my gun, taking it apart to clean. Even after ten years, I was still stupidly in love with that man. I was looking forward to the day we didn’t have Vetticus’ shadow haunting us at every turn.