Darling Wildfire (Red Rabbit #2)

101

KAELIN

TWO DAYS AGO

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

I drew my gun as I stormed into the War Room, leveling it at Demetrius who was sitting at the table like he owned the place. Viktor moved towards me but Demetrius held up his finger, his hands resting calmly on the table. His lips twitched, and he had the balls to look at me like something was amusing him.

“You betrayed, Theron!”

Tears clouded my eyes and my voice wavered. “You–you killed Nyx!”

How did I know this? I’d gotten curious. I wanted to know where Theron and the other guys were going. So I did what anyone with my skill set would do. I hacked into their trackers, found out they were going to Elysium and then watched the entire thing go down. Unfortunately, it wasn’t live—or I might have done something reckless.

Afterwards, I was devastated and pissed to say the least. I’d gotten up to search out West only to hear the front door open and see on the security feed it was none other than Demetrius himself. Now, here I was, gun leveled at the person I saw kill Nyx and give Theron up to who I can only presume was Vetticus.

Kon edged his way around the table, and my eyes flashed to him.

“Don’t even fucking think about it,”

I snarled.

“I assure you, my dear, I did nothing North didn’t ask me to do,”

Demetrius stated. “Although I will admit, killing Nyx was not part of the plan—”

“I can’t believe you’d do this—”

Before Demetrius could respond, the front door slammed open.

“Honey, I’m home!”

I recognized Knight’s voice and a moment later heard him speak from the doorway.

“Whoa, Killer—maybe not a good idea to take out the leader of the Russian mafia, yeah? We need him. Also, we’ve grown kind of fond of him—”

I turned just in time to see him wink at Demetrius.

Then another familiar face rounded the corner.

“Why is it every time I see you, you have a gun pointed at one of our own?”

Cal’s dimples popped as his gaze swept me from head to toe and back again. Ghost appeared behind him and gave a little wave.

“He killed Nyx and betrayed Theron,”

I snapped, not finding any of this amusing.

“He did what now?”

Knight looked over my shoulder.

“He betrayed Theron—”

Knight waved his hand, disregarding my words.

“I know that part. What’s this about killing Nyx?”

“If I may—”

Demetrius stood up but a voice from the doorway interrupted him.

“Man, I’ll admit, it’s very flattering to see you avenging my death, Killer.”

I whirled around and there was Nyx, standing in the doorway, drinking a beer and looking at the gun in my hand with a crooked grin on his face.

“I’m very much alive, baby girl,”

he said with a wink. “You can put the gun down.”

“Oh my god,”

I exclaimed. I rushed into his arms, colliding with him so hard he stepped back into the wall with a chuckle. I buried my face in his neck.

“Thank god,”

I breathed, my voice breaking. “Oh my god—fuck—Atlas must—”

His face fell as I disentangled myself from him.

“Yeah, no help for that I’m afraid. I just hope he doesn’t do anything stupid until I can get to him.”

“Okay, I missed a lot apparently,”

Knight said. “But now that we’ve established everyone is alive, we have some logistics to go over.”

“Care to fill me in so I don’t accidently kill someone I’m not supposed to?”

I said dryly.

The men exchanged looks.

“Oh no—don’t you fucking dare shut me out,”

I said. “We’re all going to sit down at this table and you are going to fill me in on everything because I’m involved now. We’re beyond pretending I’m some damsel you need to protect behind your fortified walls.”

“North will literally kill us if something happens to you,”

Knight said. “And I wish I was kidding.”

My jaw clenched. “I don’t think anyone here really understands what it is I do.”

I looked around the table in annoyance. “For example, how were you planning to combat the massive fleet of drones Vetticus has? I’d like to remind everyone that I designed them. West can’t hack them. You need me.”

“It’s not that I can’t,”

West said indignantly as he appeared behind Knight. “It would just take me more time than we have.”

“There you have it,”

I said. “You’re stuck with me.”

I sank down in the nearest chair at the table and looked across at Demetrius.

“I'm sorry I almost killed you.”

Demetrius inclined his head, letting his grin appear. “I expected nothing less from you.”

“Fine, fine, I always did like living on the wild side,”

Knight huffed, slipping into a chair next to mine. Cal shook his head in resignation and together with Ghost, Nyx and West, everyone took a seat around the table.

I pulled up a screen on a monitor on the wall and showed them a bunch of glowing red dots.

“Those are all drones,” I said.

“Wait—”

Knight said. “You mean to tell me you already hacked the drones?”

I just stared at him until he ran a hand over his face and looked over at Cal.

“He’s going to kill me,”

Knight grumbled.

“Okay, so that means you’ve found where Vetticus is holding them?”

Cal sat up straighter.

I nodded. “Yes—”

I turned back to the screen.

“Were you able to gain control of them?”

West asked.

“Not exactly.”

“What does that mean?”

Knight asked, looking suspiciously at me.

“I can track them and hack into their live feeds, but—”

“Why do I just know I’m not going to like this,”

Knight said.

“I have to be on the inside to deliver the kill code,”

I admitted.

Knight looked over at West who held up his hands in surrender.

“Don’t look at me, she designed them.”

“They’re military—they are meant to be impenetrable. Even my back door doesn’t have the ability to deliver a complete kill code. It would take me a lot longer to truly hack them. It’s faster if I can just get inside and take control there.”

“No,”

Cal stated.

“Yeah, I have to agree,”

Knight said. “North will kill us. Have I mentioned that already?”

“And then Graham will come down to hell and resurrect us and do it again,”

Cal agreed. “Ghost can do it.”

Ghost nodded. “Just show me what I need to do.”

I stared at the men around the table. There was no use fighting against the resolve I saw on all of their faces. They wanted me to stay home.

Fine. I’d let them think that. But there was no way I was going to leave this up to someone who didn’t know these drones. I didn’t doubt Ghost’s ability, especially once I put the kill codes in his hands, but it was the principle. I wanted to help. I wanted to show Vetticus that when you mess with one of us, you got all of us.

“Sure.”

I pasted a strained smile on my face and while Knight looked at me suspiciously, I pushed my computer closer to Ghost to show him what I was doing.

Several hours of planning and coding later, Demetrius looked at his watch and stood up.

“We have to get going.”

He nodded to Viktor and Kon. “Vetticus is expecting us shortly.”

Cal and Knight stood up and shook his hand.

“Good luck in there,”

Knight said.

He did the same with Viktor and Kon. I stood up and nodded to Demetrius but I gave Viktor a hug.

“Be careful.”

I looked up at him in concern. “You too,”

I said to Kon, grabbing his hand.

“We will, lisichka,”

Viktor said. Kon tapped me on the nose with as much of a smile as he usually had which was more of a twitch of his lips.

“Be safe,”

Demetrius said as he passed me.

The look on his face was one of knowing and he had a sly glimmer in his eyes as though he could see the plan I had to sneak off and join the fun. He placed a hand on my shoulder and winked. Nyx met him in the doorway.

“Thanks for the save,”

he smirked. “I owe you one.”

“Just make sure you find Atlas before he finds us,”

Demetrius said in amusement as he shook Nyx’s hand and then he was gone.

“Alright team,”

Knight said. “Let’s get organized. We leave in a few hours.”

I raided Theron’s room, finding another shoulder holster as well as ones to go on my thigh and boot. Along with my gun, I snuck down to the armory and loaded up on another two handguns, a few knives and enough ammo in case I ran into trouble. I covered it all up with a leather jacket, threw my hair up and made sure I stashed my drives where I wouldn’t lose them. I didn’t necessarily need them, but it would make everything faster if I had them.

I’d made a show earlier, going on about how I was mad I didn’t get to come. I stormed off in a rage and locked my bedroom door so the men would think I was holed up sulking. Instead, I’d hopped the fence and was currently in an Uber to the airport.

Thankfully when we pulled up to the airstrip, I didn’t see any of the men’s SUVs. The pilot was busy doing pre-flight and it was the perfect opportunity to sneak onboard. I hid in the closet in the back cabin and waited.

It felt like forever, but it couldn’t have been more than an hour before I heard the SUV approach and the men got out. I could hear Knight bantering with Nyx and Cal’s occasional laugh but otherwise they worked quickly to load the plane.

Once we were airborne I tried to relax for a bit, knowing the flight would be a few hours. The airport we were flying into was small, private and remote so I’d called in a favor to an associate and had him leave a car for me. Perks of having contacts with PMCs—they didn’t ask questions.

The flight went off without a hitch and soon I was off the plane and in the car. I pulled up the men’s trackers and followed them at a comfortable distance in order not to be noticed. A mile out from the staging area, I ditched the car and hiked the rest of the way in. My plan was to stay hidden nearby until the last second and go in without anyone noticing, but that all went to shit a few hours after my arrival.

Creeping through the trees in the dark, I went into the woods to take care of business. It was on the way back a hand closed around my mouth and I was yanked hard against a very solid chest of muscle. I quickly realized who it was and elbowed him lightly in the side.

“I knew you’d pull some shit like this,”

Knight complained.

“I couldn’t let you guys have all the fun,”

I said, once he’d dropped his hand.

He huffed a laugh and let me go. When I turned to face him, I could see the humor in his eyes.

“I don’t blame you,”

he said. “You’re gonna get me in trouble though.”

“T doesn’t have to know,”

I said, folding my arms across my chest.

Knight scoffed and nodded his head for me to follow as he exited the treeline and made his way towards the main tent. “That’s cute—this is his deal, of course he’s going to find out.”

I entered the tent behind Knight.

“We have a stowaway boys,”

Knight announced.

Cal looked up from the gun he was cleaning and groaned.

Ghost just laughed and West didn’t even turn around from his computer.

“And you’re surprised she’s here, why?”

West grumbled.

“You’re off the hook, Ghost,”

I smirked.

“How’d you even get here?”

Cal asked, then turned to Knight. “She’s not going in there.”

Knight ran a hand over his face and threw up his hands. “Then you’ll probably have to tie her to something, Cal, because there’s no way she’s going to listen. It’s probably better if she comes, that way we can keep an eye on her.”

“Or we could put her right back on that plane,”

he grumbled, fixing me with a look.

“Now that’s just silly,”

I scoffed. “I’m here and I’m not that girl you found in the forest, Cal,” I said.

We stared at each other for a long moment. I’d been a wreck when they’d found me and Graham. That had been a dark time for me. Nearly two years later I was stronger and much more capable than I was back then.

“Fine—but you stick with one of us at all times,” Cal said.

Nyx walked into the tent and stopped in his tracks when he saw me. “Oh hey, baby girl, fancy seeing you here.”

A slow smirk took over his features. He chuckled and looked at Knight. “He’s definitely going to kill you.”