Chapter 9 Nine
Elara's POV
My hands clenched at my sides as I stared at Cyric. He was standing over the third one of my officials, the three best after Thorne, Aria, Darius, and I.
“Is that it?” He walked to the ropes at the side I was standing. “Are these your best men?” He tauntingly asked. Thorne stepped up beside me. I could hear his teeth gnashing against each other.
“Step outside,” I commanded. His eyebrows rose. Anger flared through me at the scorn he was displaying, but I controlled it. He climbed out of the ring and stepped in front of me.
I glanced towards Thorne. “Find him a room and everything he needs.”
Cyric smirked. Thorne fumed. “My queen—"
“Just do it, Thorne,” I sighed. I would rather not give Cyric more reason to scorn me. I didn't want to have to harm him because there was a chance that he would be useful to the Syndicate.
Thorne nodded and looked at Cyric. “Follow me,” he said.
“Trouble in paradise?” Cyric kept his eyes on me and smirked. “You need to shut your mouth and follow me,” The threat in Thorne's voice was unmistakable.
“Go with him. Clean up. You're going on a mission later tonight,” I stated. Cyric nodded and looked at Thorne with a smirk. Thorne was vibrating with rage, but only I could tell that. I liked his ability to keep his emotions under control.
I watched both of them leave the building. I looked at the health watch on my wrist. One hour left for training.
“Go on, everyone. One hour more,” I yelled, and they all dispersed.
I ran my hand through my hair, wondering if I should skip on the rest of training. There was nothing that the rest could do to fight against me if I did, but I preferred to lead them in a way that would not leave them asking questions.
Besides, I could not stop training without visiting the shooting range. I headed there and grabbed a pair of earmuffs. I would get some sleep later.
—
“Are we ready?” Thorne called out to the two other trucks that were in front of and behind the truck I was about to climb into.
Someone yelled a response from the truck behind, and Thorne walked in that direction. I caught sight of Cyric coming towards me. He looked a lot more decent. His hands were tucked in the pockets of the weapon vest he was wearing, and he had a shit-eating grin on his face.
I rolled my eyes. “You clean up nice,” I told him, staring him down. His smirk managed to widen.
“You do too. I prefer you worked up and sweaty though,” he leaned closer to me.
I stayed rooted where I was. I pulled my knife from its sheath in my waistband and held the pointy end below his jaw. I kept my eyes on the blade until I saw blood run down the edge.
“You will be careful and respectful in the way you speak to me, Cyric. I will not hesitate to end you, if I see it fit,” I looked at him. His smile was gone.
“Did you understand me?” I asked, keeping my eyes on his.
“Yes,” he muttered.
“Yes, my queen,” I emphasized the last two words.
“Yes, my queen,” he answered, and I pulled my knife away from him. Thunder rolled in the distance, and I glanced up at the sky as I sheathed my knife.
“It’d be in your best interests to prove yourself useful during this mission, or I'll have your head. In every sense of the word,” I climbed into the truck and slammed my door shut.
“Let's go over the plan,” Aria said from beside me. She spread a scroll of paper that contained a physical manifestation of the plan that Darius and I had made earlier in the day, based on Cyric's description of the Kordova warehouse.
It sounded irrational to be infiltrating their territory, but they had not expressed their recognition of the Syndicate as a one of the Mafia groups in Nightshade City. I was going to give them all hell until the Syndicate received the recognition it got.
I also planned to blame this infiltration on Luca.
“The second you notice that he's acting up or things are not going according to this plan, you blow his head,” I reminded Aria. It was her main duty during this infiltration. She smirked and nodded. Thorne got into the front seat and glanced back at us. “Ready?” He asked.
“Yes,” Aria spoke on behalf of both of us. He started the car and turned on comms with Darius. “Do you have the visual?” He asked Darius.
“I do. There are guards around the warehouse. I have studied their shift formation all day. You have exactly five minutes to get in, grab the crates, and leave,” he said.
He was leading most of the tech stuff in the Syndicate. He was one of the most important people, and he had little to no fighting skills when compared to the rest of us. Those were the main reasons he was back at the syndicate instead of with us here.
He had been monitoring the Kordova warehouse with a drone, and he was going to be our backup in case Cyric turned out to be a fraud.
We pulled up at the end of the largest sewers in Nightshade. It would create a safe option for escape in case anything went south. Not that I planned for it to. Rain began to pelt down in large, heavy drops.
Thorne, Aria, and I climbed out of the truck after plugging in earbuds where we could hear Darius's directions from. He had given us the direction to go. Thorne headed towards Cyric, and Aria followed after giving me a nod.
I headed towards the tall abandoned building with my sniper in its bag. I would silently and quickly take out anyone who would cause a distraction to the operation.
I hurried up the stairs and made it to the third floor. I assembled the sniper and set it on what used to be a wall-to-ceiling window. I looked through the scope and very quickly found Cyric. He looked like he was doing a good job of pissing Thorne off, from the way Thorne was shaking his head.
I surveyed the surroundings, shifting, and looking at different angles through the scope.
Two minutes later, the other men we had come with were hurrying towards the trucks with crates that contained the sedatives and restraints, a part of the things that the Kordovas specialized in manufacturing.
Suddenly, several chills ran down my spine, and I lost focus on the gun. I mistakenly pulled the trigger and shattered one of the bulbs that illuminated the outside of the wareouse.
Someone was here. Luca fucking Blackstone was somewhere here.
I managed to get control of myself and looked through the scope. I found him immediately. A black wolf with green eyes whose fur was soaked from the rain. He was looking at me. And he was right on the grounds that my men were.
I didn't hesitate to pull the trigger. I missed him by the width of a fur. He ran off. I grabbed my pistol and stuck it in a holster in my waistband.
He was going to ambush them and hurt them. I could not think straight through the anger and adrenaline flooding through me.
I was out of the building in the blink of an eye, just in time to catch him go into the sewer.
I immediately went after him. The bullets in my pistol were laced with wolfsbane. I wanted to see him dead.
“Stop running, you piece of shit,” I said loud enough for him to hear over the sound of rushing water. My composure and reasoning were gone. Going in here was risky because there was a storm and I could not be too sure what to expect with the water.
I heard a movement from behind me, but it was too late by the time I turned around. The front part of my body was pressed against the cold concrete walls of the sewer.
“Call me that again, Elara. I dare you,” he growled in my ear. I inhaled sharply and tried to get him off me.
Why was he everywhere all of a sudden? Was he following me? Was he monitoring me? Was he trying to kill me?
“You're a piece of–” I seethed through clenched teeth. He cut me off by pressing harder against me.
“I'm going to get you to call me something else one of these days,” he whispered in my ear.
I got what he implied, and I was hit with a confusing mix of revulsion and desire. “I would rather die, Luca.” I told him with conviction.
“We'll see about that,” he responded. All of a sudden, the pressure of his weight was off me and I could breathe properly again. I knew he was gone, but I still liked around.
I headed towards the entrance we had come through, trying to rationalize how he had been able to get me to react so viscerally.
It was my hatred for him. He had no power over me.
Thorne came running towards me. Two trucks were gone.
“Are you okay, boss?” He asked. I nodded in response.
“I'm fine. I thought I saw someone,” I said and walked past him, heading to the building. Leaving my weapon would be a giveaway of the role I had to play in the looting that would very soon be announced by the Kordovas.
All I could do was hope that Luca would keep what he had seen quiet. I would kill him if he told the Kordovas. I would kill every last member of the other mafias, and I'd let the rogues live freely because it would make them roll in their graves.