felt than he did. This was new for him and not exactly welcome timing-wise but he couldn’t and wouldn’t turn back the clock.
“Wanna go crack some skulls?”
Jack looked down at Alex, who was watching him with barely veiled anger himself. He hated the idea of any woman getting hurt and still had issues with Bás because of what he’d done to Evelyn. Jack now understood it more than ever.
“Yeah, let’s do that.” And maybe he’d get some information out of them too. Reid was seated outside the door to the secure room where the men were being held, or at least the four who had lived were, his booted feet up on chair opposite.
“Boss man.”
“Jack wants to play with his victims.”
A wide grin spread over Reid’s face. “Awesome.”
Reid keyed in the code, the door released, and he stood back allowing Jack to go first. The room was dark, with only minimal lighting and the men were hung by their arms from the ceilings with only the tips of their toes touching the ground. Hence, it gave the illusion of control when actually, by trying to keep their feet on a solid foundation, they were tiring their muscles more. The cellar ran the expanse of the property’s ground floor, and as was protocol for Eidolon, the men were kept as far away as possible from each other and gagged so they couldn’t communicate.
Jack glanced at three of the men before his eyes landed on Iago, who was glaring at him with hatred and arrogance in every pore. Jack sauntered towards Iago, wanting nothing more than to put his fist in the asshole’s face and knock his ridiculous teeth down his throat. Any other mission he’d curb that desire and try to lead his men, but this was personal. “Cut him down.”
Reid stepped up, taking out his tactical knife and cut Iago loose. The man grabbed his arms close to his body as the stress position being loosened let the blood flow back to his arms, the pain awful.
Jack bent down and ripped the tape from the man’s mouth. “We need a little chat, Iago.”
“What we need is for that puta to choke on my cock.”
His words followed by an arrogant smirk made Jack see red, his legendary control failing him in the face of this disgusting human being’s insults towards Astrid. “Shame, I liked this suit.”
Jack lunged forward. He wanted this man to feel pain, and he wanted him as far away from Astrid as he could get him—preferably via an unmarked grave. Grabbing the front of Iago’s dark shirt, he hauled him up and let go with a right hook that spilt blood from his nose, the crack satisfying.
“You broke my nose, motherfucker, and now you’ll pay for that insult.”
Jack almost laughed at the indignation the man showed, along with the fact he didn’t seem to realise he was in the presence of men who had killed for far less than the crimes he’d perpetrated against Astrid, and so many other nameless women no doubt.
“Cut his feet loose, let’s make this interesting.”
Reid bent and cut the ties that kept Iago’s feet together, and the man scrambled to stand, putting space between them. The next second Iago did what Jack had expected and lunged for him. He let him get in a couple of hits, feeding off the pain, welcoming it even as he thumbed the blood from his lip and smiled.
Then he took Iago to the ground, kneeling on his arms as he used his body weight to pin the man down. His next punch was to the man’s jaw, and he heard the bone crunch as he wailed in pain.
“You’re gonna break my jaw.”
Reid stepped in and looked over Jack’s shoulder. “Nah, he’s gonna break both.”
Iago screamed and tried to get free, bucking his hips to knock Jack off, but he’d spent years in hand-to-hand combat, and nobody beat him. He made it his mission to lead by example and made sure he never expected anything from his men that he couldn’t do himself. It was why he spent extra time training with Sensei Dave on new techniques and perfecting the old so they were as natural as breathing now.
Jack kept going until the screaming stopped, and Iago had passed out. He sat back, his shirt soaked with blood and his knuckles raw from the power of the punches he’d rained down on the weak human being who only preyed on women, it seemed. Iago hadn’t even put up