Free Hawk's Revenge: Lone Pine Pride, Book 3 by Vivi Andrews

through the halls of the Organization base. He’d been so sure she would be here. It was the biggest target they’d struck so far and from the schematics, it seemed to be the most scientifically oriented. When she hadn’t been at either of the first two prison-like holding areas they’d taken out, Adrian had become convinced she was being forced to work at one of the labs. Today, when they’d surrounded the building, he’d felt that itch, that little scratch between his shoulder blades that screamed to him that she was here.
    He’d been so fucking sure. So where the fuck was she?
    He strode past Grace, who was baring all-too-pointy teeth at any of the scientists who threatened to step out of line as she herded them into an office. In another office, Mateo, their computer specialist, was mining the system for information while the team leader Kye guarded his back, keeping track of the rest of the team via his earpiece.
    “Hawk,” Kye called out as he passed. “Dominec isn’t reporting. He was supposed to be checking the maintenance area on the lowest level for stragglers. Go check on him.”
    There was a particular weight behind the words that Adrian didn’t have to question. Dominec was unstable on the best of days and the last few missions had only widened the visible cracks in his sanity. Adrian didn’t know how the tiger had gotten his scars. He didn’t particularly want to know—but he knew Dominec personally blamed everyone and anyone related to the Organization for what had happened to him.
    If he wasn’t also a one-man SWAT team, they never would have brought him with them on the missions, but he was too much of an advantage to leave behind.
    Adrian jogged down the stairs to check on their resident psycho. From the stairwell, he could hear the distant pop-pop-pop of gunfire and he swore under his breath. “Shots fired,” he snapped into the coms, doubling his pace.
    The hall below was no maintenance area. Clearly another research area that hadn’t been on the schematics, it was painted in orange fluorescent light and blood. Dominec stood halfway down the hall over the remains of a door, covered in a fine red mist that indicated he’d taken the time to get up close and personal with at least a few of the bodies lying lifeless on the floor. He hadn’t noticed Adrian yet, too fixed on whatever target he’d spotted inside the room he’d just breeched.
    “ Please .”
    A sudden surge of adrenaline made Adrian’s muscles twitch. He knew that voice.
    He couldn’t have flown down the hall any faster if he’d gotten his wings back.
    “Sorry, sweetheart. I don’t do requests,” Dominec sneered—
    And Adrian slammed into him broadside, striking the wrist of his gun arm with enough force to shatter the bone of a human. It wouldn’t break Dominec’s, but it did force his hand to open so Adrian could strip him of the weapon, before they hit the ground. He twisted quickly, pressing the advantage surprise had given him, and planted his knee on Dominec’s carotid artery, the gun shoved hard against his temple.
    “This one is mine,” he snarled, with all the animalism of a rabid wolf, the calm, distant hawk totally subsumed by the need to stake this claim. “Understand?”
    Dominec gurgled unintelligibly—he probably couldn’t say much with Adrian kneeling on his larynx—but his claws snapped out.
    If he chose to use those claws, this could go to hell in a hurry. Adrian couldn’t win against the enraged tiger. He knew that. It was only because Dominec had been distracted by his own bloodlust that he’d managed to take him down at all. If the tiger went on the offensive, Adrian would have to pull the trigger—and while he might not like the crazy bastard, he didn’t want to do that. Especially since he wasn’t sure what that would do to his relationships in the pride. He couldn’t afford to piss off the Alpha. Roman had recently taken over the top position in the pride and while he thought