Fighting For My Love(Freya Series Book 3)

“Oh, my goodness, Freya. What happened?” She asked while ushering for me to place Freya onto the bed.

“Your daughter stabbed her!” I snapped at her.

I really didn't mean to take it out on her. Freya was her niece and I could tell she had a genuine concern for her, but I just couldn't believe what Carmen had done.

“Carmen!” She spoke in a hushed voice laced with disappointment.

I didn't feel the need to add any more. She needed to concentrate on helping Freya, so I let her know that I was heading back out to assist Mason. Without even looking up at me, she just lifted her hand and gave me a thumbs up. As I left the clinic and walked back through the dining room, I had the opportunity to take in my surroundings. The whole room was filled with wounded hunters. Some had deep lacerations, others had oozing puncture wounds. Most of them were minor though, and were just being disinfected, bandaged up and sent back out to fight.

We couldn’t be turned by a werewolf bite, or scratch. Well, as long as we’d had our hunter’s initiation ceremony that was. We also healed really fast, so unless you were like some of the other poor guys with limbs torn off, then you were patched up and sent on your way. I hurried through the cabin and back towards the front door, making sure to ascend as I exited the cabin. I was ready to kick some hideous werewolf butt. I skidded to a stop and looked around at the scene that was unfolding before me. Mason was levitating in the air. He had his wings and arms spread out, his head tilted back and was screeching into the night's sky. My eyes trailed down towards the floor and instantly fell upon the smoking remains of five chargrilled wolves. They were spread out in a semi-circle beneath Mason.

The only conclusion that I could come to, was that the wolves must have had him surrounded, so he doused them in electrical flames. Some of us hunters were lucky enough to get the extra gift of electrical fire. Mason was the only one I'd ever met, until I saw Freya use it at her eighteenth birthday party. They really were a match made in heaven.

Once Mason had cooled down enough, he lowered himself down to the ground and descended.

“Please tell me that one of those, is a nicely barbeque, Tristan?” I asked with hope in my heart while pointing at the smoldering corpses.

“Nope, the son of a bitch ran away the second my body burst into flames. He jumped into his car with that hippy chick of his and sped off. The coward left his own pack behind to fight his battles for him,” he spat out in frustration.

I put my arm around his shoulder and guided him towards the cabin.

“Don't worry, Mase. We will kill that bastard at some point. Now, let's go and see how your Fianna's doing.”

I kicked on the door twice, then waited for the guards to open it for me. Just like I did every morning for the past two months.

“Morning, Evan,” one of the guards greeted me as he opened the door and stepped out.

He was always so chirpy in the morning.

“Morning Trent,” I replied with a smile and he strolled off into the kitchen whistling to himself.

“Hey, Ev,” the other guard greeted me when he emerged from the basement yawning his head off.

“Hi Brad.”

He glanced over at Trent and shook his head.

“How the hell is he so cheery? I always finish a shift feeling like death warmed up.”

I shrugged while laughing as I watched him drag himself towards the kitchen. I took in a deep breath and prepared myself for my descent into the basement. I was hoping that today would be the day that she woke up, but as I reached the bottom of the stairs, the all too familiar sight greeted me. Freya laid motionless on her bed, while Mason sat asleep in a chair beside her, cradling her hand. I'd tried every way I could think of to convince him to sleep in a proper bed, but no matter what I suggested, he refused. He finished his Fionn work at ten o'clock every night, then came down to Freya and held her hand. He would talk to her all night, until he couldn't talk anymore and eventually, he’d pass out. It was absolutely heart-breaking to watch.

I shook my head to trying to ignore my thoughts and placed the two coffees on the table beside him. While gently touching his shoulder, I tried wake him up.

“Mason? Mason?”

He stirred a little, then jolted up to check on Freya.

“There's no change, Mason. I brought your coffee.”

I hated seeing him wake up like that. He was so full of hope that I was going to tell him, she was finally awake. Sadly, I never had that news to give him. His face grew sad yet empty again, as he replied in an exhausted and scratchy voice,

“Thanks, Evan.”

I walked around the bed and bent over Freya to kiss her forehead.

“Morning, Angel cakes.”

I used to have full conversations with her, but lately, I had been struggling to find anything to say. I pulled up a chair and placed it next to Mason's. We sat there in silence drinking our coffee and watching Freya sleep like an Angel.

“Fionn! We have a problem.”

We both shot our heads around when a panicked Trent and Brad came hurtling into the basement.

“There better be a good fucking reason why you would come barging in here screaming your damn head off like that!” Mason snapped and the guards shrank back at his outrage.

I placed a hand on Mason's shoulder, urging him to calm himself down.

“Go ahead guys,” I said politely and Mason huffed at my politeness.

Lately, he had been ruling with an iron fist. I was trying my best to be peacekeepers, but with him not getting a decent night’s sleep, it had really been taking its toll on him. He was so damn angry and agitated, that all the other hunters felt like they were walking on eggshells. The only one who was able to calm him down or talk any sense into him, was me.

Trent and Brad both tentatively lifted their heads to look at me, their eyes huge with fear. I went to speak, but Mason snapped before I had the chance to say anything,

“Spit it out!” Mason bellowed, making Trent jump.

They both began to stutter, but Brad finally managed to blurt it out,

“Ssss, Sir, Finnley has broken out of his cell. He's killed two guards and escaped into the woods!”

Mason Hart

Evan and I followed Brad and Trent out towards the purpose-built holding cells in the woods. It was a brick and steel-built building that was nestled between the trees. We slowed down as we approached the building and I instantly noticed that the security door was slightly ajar. Hesitantly I peered down towards the floor to see what was stopping the door from closing. My face screwed up with disgust when I saw that it was crushing a dead guard's hand.

I could tell the door had tried to slam shut with some force, because the guy's hand was almost sliced in half. I cautiously stepped over the pool of blood and tugged on the heavy door. I was quite surprised that the door hadn’t amputated the hand completely. As I pulled it open, the guards mangled hand fell apart onto the floor. With the door now open, I could see the full extent of what Finn had done to the poor guy. Scanning over his torn-up body, he was unrecognizable. His face was completely gone, left in its place was just mangled crimson flesh and veins.

His unsightly and gruesome smile will haunt my dreams forever. You don't realize quite how many teeth somebody has, until they don't have their skin or lips to cover them anymore. One of his eyes was hanging down his face and it was just dangling there still attached by his optic nerve. That injury stood out to me the most, because his eye just laid there perfectly intact against the backdrop of his destroyed face. I glanced over the rest of his body and saw that his stomach had been gouged open, causing his intestines to spill out of his body and onto the floor. All I could think was that, I hoped he'd died quickly and didn't go through too much pain. Evan followed in behind me while I knelt down to check the guard's security badge.

“Dude it's like a fucking slaughterhouse in here!” Evan said in astonishment when he walked by me to inspected the rest of the corridor.

I watched him as he entered the cell that Finn had been kept in. The cells were made from four walls of bulletproof glass that sat caged within solid silver bars. The glass of the cell was covered in the second guard's blood, making it impossible to see the carnage that laid within it.

“Wow, you thought that guy had it rough? You should see the guy in there,” Evan said while pointing over his shoulder with his thumb at the cell behind him.

“Is it that bad?” I asked while standing up.

He sighed and replied,

“Well there's not a lot left of him, let's just put it that way.”

I screwed my face up in disgust, I had seen a lot of gory scenes in my time as a hunter, but this was by far the grossest.

“I'm guessing that Mr. bones in there,” he pointed back towards the cell again,

“for some stupid reason opened the cell door. Finn killed him. Then, face off guy here,” he pointed towards the guard on the floor, “has come to investigate. He's seen Finn chowing down on bones, so he's sprinted like Usain Bolt, but Finn's mauled him before he could make it out of the building. Then face off guys hand stopped the door from closing properly, so, Finn got his born free moment.”

I nodded in agreement then turned to face Brad and Trent.

“You two!” I shouted and snapped my fingers at them to get their attention.

They both just stood there with their mouths open and eyes wide, taking in every little bit of horror that laid before them.

“Yes Fionn, what do you need us to do?” Trent asked as he stood to attention and waited for my orders.

Brad was still in shock and didn't acknowledge me at all. I huffed in annoyance, then yelled at him,

“Brad!?” He quickly glanced at me, then replied,

“Sorry Fionn, I'm listening.”

“Good, I need this place cleaned up as quickly as possible. Under no circumstances can we have the other hunters finding out what unfolded here today, do you understand?”

Turning to Trent, began to give him his orders,

“Trent, you're going to need to bag up both of these bodies. I then need you to carry them to the incinerator and burn them. Can you do that for me?” He nodded and immediately headed for the supply closet to fetch the body bags.

Brad looked troubled, so I gave him a questioning look.

“You can't be serious Fionn? What about their families? They'll want a funeral, or at least to say goodbye,” he snapped at me.

I furrowed my brow at his outburst.

“I know that Brad, but what do you suggest we tell them, huh? No doubt they told their Fianna's who they were guarding down here. Do you want to be the one to tell them that Finn ripped them apart?”

He didn't reply, he just lowered his head to the floor and shook it slightly. I moved closer to him and put my hand on his shoulder and spoke in a slightly kinder tone,

“Look, I know this is a tough situation, but right now we need to focus on cleaning this shit up and finding Finn before he kills anyone else. Then we can work out what the fuck we're going to do about this entire mess, before figuring out how to explain it all to the guard's families, okay?” He looked back up at me, smiled slightly, then asked,

“Okay Fionn, I understand. What's my orders?”

“Right, I need you to help Trent bag these two up and carry them to the incinerator. If anyone asks what you're doing, just tell them we found two more werewolf carcasses out in the woods, okay?” I waited for a response and he nodded in compliance.

Trent had come back out with the two body bags, so I then addressed them both,

“Once you've finished, I need you to meet the rest of us at the armoury hut in the woods. Once there, we will load up with equipment. Then we will hunt down Finn and bring him back here, understood?” They both stood to attention, and replied in unison,

“Yes Fionn!”

I nodded at them slightly, then ushered for Evan to follow me out of the building.

“We will send down some of the girls shortly, to clean up the blood. See you guys in a bit,” I said before we exited the building.