With the Colonel’s Help: A Pride and Prejudice Variation

River and I were already poised at the window and Kane was at the back door when the hum of motorcycles penetrated our ears.

It was our cue to move.

Knowing the second Gideon heard them coming he’d be set off balance.

Caught off guard and unprepared. Thinking he had only a minute to get ready before we came busting through the door.

And that was the minute we were using to our advantage.

But that was only going to last for a beat.

Acting while we had the chance.

River smashed the lock on the window with a rock. It gave easily, and he tossed it wide open. The second it was, I dove through the narrow opening, and I tumbled into the house, rolling twice before I pitched onto my feet.

I remained low, two guns drawn and pointed at the motherfucker who flew around Raven with shock and rage littered across his horrid, disgusting face.

River toppled in behind me, guns drawn, too.

Didn’t know if it was relief or rage that I felt when my gaze fell on Raven.

Raven who’d already been battered.

A stream of blood trickled from a cut on the side of her mouth, but what lurched my heart was the thick pool of it that had gathered on the floor beneath her from a gash on the top of her thigh.

But she was alive, and she looked at me with those inky eyes. Dragging me down into the depths. To her love and her belief. To her strength and her vulnerability.

To every complex, beautiful, perfect thing that she was.

I hoped mine conveyed everything that I felt inside.

That I’d live for her. Die for her. Shout for her. That I loved her with every fiber of my being. That she was the light that called me from the darkness, and I was ready to bask in it.

But I couldn’t relish in it since that bitch Sienna screamed as she jumped off the couch, and Gideon yanked Raven up from a chair. The ropes that had bound her had already been cut and fell to the ground, fucker likely doing it when he heard us coming and thought he was actually gonna drag her away.

Now, he hauled her back against his chest and pressed a knife to her throat.

Sienna hovered just off to the side, antsy as fuck as she looked between me and Gideon.

Trepidation had my insides quaking, but I refused to let it show as I ground out, “Drop the knife.”

A crazed smile pulled across Gideon’s face. “Yeah, that’s not goin’ to happen.”

“She doesn’t have anything to do with this. This is between us, so drop the knife and you and I will hash this shit out.”

Derision rocked from him, and he yanked Raven harder against his chest. “This bitch killed my brother, and she’s not going anywhere until she gets what’s coming to her.”

It was my turn to be unprepared. The stake of questions that arrowed through me and pinned me to the spot.

What the fuck was he talking about?

I didn’t have time to contemplate it before the roar of a motorcycle revving from outside rang in the atmosphere.

It was the second cue. The one that had the front door busting open with Cash and Theo banging through, at the exact same time as Kane burst through the back door.

My whole crew piled in, guns drawn, hostility vibrating from their beings. Theo went for Sienna, pushing her down onto her knees before he turned his attention to Gideon and River.

“Now!” I shouted, praying to God Raven would get that single word was meant for her.

Since the woman knew me better than anyone else, she did.

She angled an elbow into his gut and took all the weight from her feet at the same time, using one of the techniques we’d taught her when she was a teen, tearing herself free of his vicious hold and dropping to the ground onto her knees.

It left him exposed.

He shouted, “You fuckin’ bitch.”

Last word barely got out of him before I squeezed the trigger, letting the single bullet fly.

My whole family would have been firing if it wasn’t for the fact that Raven was in a ball with her hands over her head in front of him.

I was aiming for his heart, but was too far to the left, and I hit him up closer to his shoulder. Roaring, he stumbled back a step, and the knife slipped from his hand.

That was all it took to send me running, raging across the room, throwing myself on top of him to keep him from coming back for Raven. I hit him with a thud, and the two of us toppled to the ground. We scrambled around, trying to get on top of the other.

A grunt heaved out of me when he got a punch in low at my ribs, bastard thinking he was gonna get the upper hand when he tossed me just to the side. Only I threw a fist at the same time, clocking him in the jaw. In a flash, I was right back on top of him, pinning him down while I pressed the barrel of a gun to his temple.

Teeth gritted, I pulled the trigger.

And somehow, I recognized it didn’t have a thing to do with the hate. No bearing on the thirst for retribution that had consumed me for so long.

It was for Raven. For the simple fact that I’d give anything to keep her safe.

He went limp below me, and I was washed in a vat of relief.

Only it didn’t last because a feral scream cut through the air. A pain so great as Sienna jumped to her feet and came running across the room with a knife held in one hand above her head.

And she was coming for me.

I could feel the reservation pummel the air. The way not one of my crew wanted to take her down since they’d committed their lives to helping women in need.

“Get down on your knees!” Theo shouted at her, but she kept coming.

A single gunshot popped off. I saw her stumble when it struck her low in the back of the leg, no doubt, Theo trying to injure her rather than end her.

Only she was already right there, refusing to let it stop her as she went to drive that knife straight into my back where I was still straddling Gideon.noveldrama

Only Raven had pushed to her knees, and I saw a flash of metal.

A blade.

She had Gideon’s knife, and she drove it straight into Sienna’s stomach right before she got to me.

Shock dropped Sienna’s mouth open and froze her to the spot, her knife toppling to the ground as her hands went to the hilt of the blade that was buried in her abdomen.

Two seconds later, she dropped to her knees as a gush of blood poured from her mouth. Her eyes were wide as she gurgled and wheezed, before she faceplanted against the floor. Sprawled out dead in front of Raven.

Discordant breaths raked from Raven, horror tearing through her as she scrambled away. Only she was scrambling for me, throwing those arms around me as a sob erupted from her throat.

“Are you okay?” I begged. “Baby, tell me you’re okay.”

She could barely nod, sniffling as she rambled, “You came for me. You came for me.”

Relief sped through my veins, and I curled my arms around her as I pulled her onto my lap. She kept wheezing through the disorder, through the trauma and shock, and I was pressing a thousand kisses to the top of her head, murmuring, “I will always come for you, Little Moonflower. Always.”