Chapter 23: Fire in the Pit
The old butcher shop on 9th Street had been abandoned for years.
To anyone else, it was just rotting brick and rusted chains.
To Kieran—it was a cage from his past.
He kicked the door open.
No more warnings.
No more waiting.
---
Inside, shadows shifted.
Four members stood guard—but none of them were Rael.
Kieran moved like lightning.
A punch to the gut. Elbow to the temple. One kick shattered a knee. The fourth tried to pull a blade—Kieran disarmed him and turned it against him in one smooth twist.
He didn't kill.
But they'd remember him.
He stormed deeper into the lair, past blood-stained floors and hollow laughter in the walls.
And there—
Under the single flickering light—
Leo stood, wrists zip-tied to a beam.
Unharmed. But shaken.
"Kieran?" he breathed.
Kieran didn't answer.
Didn't speak.
He ripped through the last two guards like fire through dry leaves. Leo had never seen him like this—eyes cold, movements precise. Efficient. Terrifying.
Rael appeared at the top of the stairs.
Slow clap. Mocking grin.
"Well, look at that. The beast woke up."
Kieran's chest heaved. "Let him go."
Rael shrugged. "He came willingly."
"I'm giving you one chance."
Rael smiled wider. "Or what?"
Kieran's foot hit the gas canister behind him—sending it skidding forward. The flick of a lighter followed.
Rael's grin vanished.
"You wouldn't—"
"Try me."
---
Minutes later, smoke poured into the night sky.
Kieran carried Leo out in his arms, heart pounding—not from exhaustion, but fear.
Fear of losing him.
Fear of becoming that person again.
Leo stirred. "You didn't have to burn it down."
"I did," Kieran said quietly. "To keep you safe."
Leo looked up at him. "I'm not afraid of you."
"You should be."
Leo touched his face.
"Then don't give me a reason to be."