Javier (Alpha Heroes #12)

Chapter Two

Missy

When I was a kid, the mere sight of my raging, smoldering father made me tremble, cower, and cry. Sometimes, I even fainted. This was exactly what I wanted to do when the armed bastards showed up. It was as if I’d been programmed to fear powerful men, to shrink and dissolve while waiting for rescue.

But not today. Nuh-uh . No way. I might be naive, but I wasn’t an idiot. Violence radiated from these thugs, and my sisters weren’t around to help me like they did when my father raged. Today, I was on my own. Somehow, I had to face my fears and make my stand. My friends’ survival depended on me.

The beast dragged me across the yard as if I were a trash bag. The terror squeezing my throat was real, but I dug my heels in the dirt and wiggled out of my backpack. It hit the ground as I lunged away from the brute.

The swine reached out and grabbed me by the back of my jumper. I gagged as the coarse fabric dug into my throat. Reaching over my head, I clutched the man’s beefy wrists, kicking and screaming as he hauled me across the courtyard.

“No!” Horror had my heart battering my ribs. “Stop!”

He barked a cruel laugh. “No chance of that, princess.”

As if I weighed nothing, was nothing, he tossed me onto the ledge that supported the building. I winced as my butt hit the concrete. He came to stand before me. I was now dangerously sprawled at the level of his thighs. His leer iced my blood and sent dread shuddering through me.

Was this how my life ended? Would my sisters ever find out that I lived and died here, so far away from them? Would I leave this world without saying my last goodbyes to the women I adored?

“It ain’t every day a guy can ride a virgin on her way to paradise.” The poor excuse for a human flashed his yellow teeth. “I’m gonna do you a big fucking favor before you leave this place for good.”

“Don’t touch me!” I flinched away from him.

“You don’t have a clue what you’re in for, do you?” His malicious smirk chilled my spine. Keeping his leer on me, he hooked his rifle over his shoulder and unzipped his pants.

Heart stuck in my throat, I turned around and scrambled on all fours in a desperate attempt to escape. The bastard caught my ankle. His hand’s crushing vice made me cry out in pain. Snickering, he yanked me back toward him. My fingernails scraped against the cement but found no purchase. I twisted my body and kicked him in the belly.

“You’re a feisty one.” He reached out and snatched the veil from my head. “I like feisty.”

The veil flew off. His rough grip sank into my skull and undid my bun. My hair tumbled down and spilled over my shoulders.

“A redhead, just as expected,” the monster announced to his minions with glee that spiked the terror twisting my insides. He tightened his clutch on my leg and groped up my skirt. “Let’s see if you’re a ginger everywhere.”

I kicked, dodging his filthy touch. I was distantly aware of the nuns pleading for my release and their lives. They were getting pushed and slapped around for the deed. The more I fought, the more the beast’s sneer widened on his face.

I loathed the tears stinging my eyes and blurring my vision, the terror that threatened to shut me down altogether. I wanted to roar like a lioness, and yet only small whimpers and yelps made it out of my throat. I hated that I was weaker and smaller than the stinking brute. The helplessness burning in my eyes robbed me of hope. Announcing the approach of oblivion’s seductive escape, the familiar darkness began to gather at the edges of my vision, and the cold sank deep into my bone marrow.

Missy Astor, never give up. The voice of my big sister Thena echoed inside my head. If you faint, you die . You’re not going down without a fight .

I swung my free leg. The swine’s cackles turned into a grunt when my foot connected with his groin. Take that, you filthy pig . I hadn’t been a college track and field All Star for nothing.

He smashed a hand on my chest, a violent shove. The breath shot out of my lungs. I smacked the back of my head against the hard floor and saw stars. My skull throbbed from the blow, but I swung my other leg and caught him under the chin.

Snap .

His head flew back and his fingers loosened. I snatched my foot from his hold and dragged myself backward, away from him.

“You little slut,” he snarled. “I’ll teach you a lesson you’re gonna take to your grave.”

Crack, crack, crack .

The sharp reports interrupted my path to death. The sounds echoed in the clearing—curt, brisk, and startling. The bastard whirled around and whipped his rifle into his hands. Floundering on my hands and heels, I scuttled backward until my back hit the wall. I caught a glimpse of the other thugs, falling like dominos around the nuns, one after the other.

My attacker ducked behind the stairs, lifted his rifle, and scanned the hills. When he didn’t find a target, he whirled around, pointed his weapon straight at my face, and muttered through his teeth, “Change of plans.”

Thena, Cece, Affie. I love you . I shut my eyes and conjured an image of my sisters’ beloved faces. Goodbye.

Crack.

The sound thundered in my head. For a moment, it drowned out the frantic pounding of my heart. I opened my eyes. Time slowed to a crawl. The side of my attacker’s face caved in. His rifle dropped out of his hand, clattering to the ground with a distinct clank .

Crack, crack, crack . More shots rang in the courtyard.

Everything happened in slow motion. The brute pitched forward. His fall lasted forever, until he finally landed at my feet with a thud. By the time he hit the concrete, he didn’t have a head anymore. Blood pumped from his neck as if his body had turned into a spigot.

A scream caught in my throat as an atmospheric haze swooped down, muting most of the noises around me. My vision tunneled, and the black veil began to pull over my eyes again.

Don’t pass out, Missy. Not now .

I blinked hard to dispel the darkness. My blood swished in my ears, louder than anything else. I couldn’t breathe. Or move. Somehow, I was still alive.

How? Why? Who?

The yard whirled around me. My stomach distended and contracted like an accordion. Trapped in a time warp, the nuns’ voices filtered through, low and warbled as they stretched out in my head.

“It’s… a… miracle!” Sister Janet made the sign of the cross in slow mo.

“Thank… the… Lord!” Sister Elsa lifted her arms to the sky and joined her hands in prayer.

The seconds stretched out. My limbs weighed a ton. Gravity squashed me down. Through the haze, I squinted at the surrounding carnage. All that blood. All that death.

I was in shock, trapped inside the shell of my unresponsive body, fighting not to pass out, a witness to the deadly morning with no will of my own. The questions crawled out of my brain one word at the time, as if hammered out by an old-fashioned dot matrix printer.

Who were these men? Did they work for my father? And if they did, why did they want to kill me? Was my control freak of a father so furious with me that he wanted me dead? Most pressing: who had killed the killers?

From the corner of my eye, I caught a blur of movement. It took all I had to turn my head. I blinked to clear the haze. The rustle of my lids sliding over the balls of my eyes sounded like sandpaper scraping on wood to my ears. When at last I was able to squint beyond the courtyard, a man stood at the center of my vision’s tunnel.

A formidable warrior stepped through a slit in the fence and broke through an exuberant tangle of magenta bougainvillea. I opened my mouth to warn the nuns, but no sound made it out. Danger sparkled in the air as he crossed the yard, advancing with his rifle tucked against his cheek and his finger on the trigger.

He swept the space with his weapon several times before he lowered it. His attention turned to me. He pinned me down with fierce brown eyes that made me want to burrow underground and hibernate until the world became a better place.

The man stalking toward me wore military gear and was armed to the teeth. He was impossibly tall, big, and menacing. He sported muscles everywhere, a thick corded neck, wide shoulders, ripped arms, powerful thighs, and an unwavering stride. I was trapped like a deer, caught in his headlights.

He was terri-freaking-fying.

His well-worn boots crushed the mud. The earth seemed to shudder beneath his feet. I knew without knowing that he was here for me. There was no running from him, no escape. Whatever happened next, this man was inevitable to me.

Oh, God . I covered my mouth with my trembling hands.

Death had arrived for an encore, and this time around, we were out of miracles.