Page 9 of Hard

Caleb knew his brother had been in agony when he’d gone missing for two years, and it had taken a long time for Lash to stop blaming himself. While his brother had felt in debt to Wolf for finding him, Lash had exploded at the thought of Wolf and Caleb being together. All in all, it had worked out once Caleb had put his foot down.

Caleb was good at that. He wasn’t a pushover, and they all knew it. He’d learned through the school of hard knocks, if you will.

Fear and Lash seemed mollified that he and Wolf were on the mend and moved on to get coffee that someone had thoughtfully supplied.

Caleb closed his eyes when he felt Wolf behind him. The man was scary quiet. He drew in the slight woodsy scent and leaned back against the man’s muscled chest when Wolf’s arms closed around him.

Phoenix hit the ground running.

By Caleb’s calculations, it took the unit forty-three minutes to breach the upper floor of the building due to the number of suspects guarding the outside and stairwell.

Wolf tapped Caleb on the shoulder and his husband moved, leading the way up the stairs. The gun leaped in Caleb’s hand when a perp came down around the corner firing on them.

The fucker went down, but two suspects were on them before he knew it.

Wolf lunged to the side and Caleb dropped low.

A bullet whizzed past Caleb’s head, punching a hole in the wall and Wolf fired, dropping the sucker dead.

Caleb was too close to the other suspect for Wolf to risk a shot, but he didn’t need to. In typical Caleb style, his husband slashed his knife, opened the man’s upper throat, and then jammed the blade into the man’s clavicle. The suspect fell and when Caleb pulled his knife free, the man rolled down the stairs.

Caleb was on the move and Wolf stayed hot on his husband’s ass.

Upward, the odor grew stronger as if those who inhabited the building forgot what a shower was. That stench was also mixed with mold. Wolf grimaced.

Reaching the top floor, they stepped into the hallway and took out the perps waiting for them before they started to clear the floor.

The door at the end of the hallway was closed, like a sinister portal waiting for them to breach.

They moved as one.

Toward that door. Toward Carl Grant.

Toward evil.

Phoenix converged stealthily behind them, Noah aka Ghost, Fear, Lash, and Storm brought up the rear.

Their fearless leader, Roscoe was somewhere outside, securing the perimeter along with Seth, Asher, and Wild.

There were victims somewhere inside and they took turns simultaneously kicking in doors as they went down the upper-level hallway.

Coming to the door at the end, Wolf took the lead, but there was no way in hell Caleb was sitting this one out. He stood on the other side of the closed door and met his husband’s silvery gaze.

With a wink and smirk, Caleb nodded and Storm kicked the door in with his reinforced steel-toed work boots. It caved like a toothpick, the sound loud.

Gunfire within the room echoed and bullets flew at the opening.

Storm was already on the move, dodging back and out of the way, but a touch too slow, and the big man grunted under the impact of a bullet. Ghost lunged after Storm and grabbed the giant beneath his arms and pulled him back out of the way completely.

Caleb went low and dodged out taking a look inside the room.

Sure enough, their main suspect held a slender girl in front of him. The fucker should have chosen a bigger shield.

Firing, Caleb’s bullet hit the man in his gun arm. The suspect yelled and the girl screamed. Wolf’s bullet caught the man in the throat and arterial spray showered the kingpin and the girl.

At a run, Caleb entered the room, sliding across the floor on his knees. Wolf was right behind him. Caleb snatched the girl up and kept going until he took shelter behind a large over-stuffed recliner.

Two gunshots came from someone near the far end of the room. One bullet hit the wall and the other the floor as a second perp opened fire.

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