Chapter 7 - The Bloodline's Fury
What happened next was a storm of raw, terrifying violence.
The cage door exploded outward as 140 pounds of muscular apex predator hit Marco Valenti full in the chest. Marco let out a high-pitched scream as he went down onto the concrete floor, his submachine gun flying into the darkness. Nero’s massive jaws clamped onto Marco’s shoulder, shaking him like a ragdoll with bone-crushing force.
"Shoot it! Shoot the fucking dog!" the second intruder yelled, raising his rifle.
Before the gunman could pull the trigger, a dark figure materialized behind him from the hallway.
Gabriel Thorne stepped out of the shadows like an angry deity. In one fluid motion, Gabriel grabbed the second intruder’s wrist, snapping it backward with a terrifying crack, disarming him and driving a heavy tactical blade straight into the man's chest. The intruder collapsed without making a sound.
The third intruder panicked, turning his weapon toward Cora.
"Cora, down!" Gabriel roared.
Cora dropped flat onto the concrete. Gabriel fired two suppressed rounds from his custom sidearm—phut-phut. The third intruder dropped dead instantly, pooling blood into the drainage channel of the floor.
Nero released Marco’s bloodied shoulder, standing over the groaning, shattered man, his jaws dripping, waiting for the command to finish him.
The kennel fell into a heavy, suffocating silence, broken only by the patter of rain against the high windows and Marco’s frantic, pain-filled whimpers.
Gabriel stood in the middle of the room, his black suit splattered with rain and blood, his chest heaving slightly. His eyes swept the floor until they found Cora.
In a second, Gabriel dropped his weapon, crossing the room and dropping to his knees beside her. He pulled her up into his arms, checking her face, her shoulders, her wrists with frantic, desperate hands.
"Are you hit? Did they touch you?!" Gabriel demanded, his voice cracking with a raw, terrifying terror Cora had never heard from him before.
"I'm okay! I'm okay, Gabriel!" Cora cried, throwing her arms around his neck, holding onto him tightly. "Nero took them down! I'm not hurt!"
Gabriel pulled her so tight against his chest she could feel the thunderous, frantic beating of his heart. He buried his face in her hair, breathing her in, his body trembling with the aftershocks of sheer adrenaline and fear.
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"If they had touched you..." Gabriel whispered, his voice dark and deadly, "I would have burned Chicago to the ground."
Nero walked over, sniffing the blood on Gabriel’s coat, then let out a soft whine, pressing his broad head against both of them, offering his protection in the dark.
