Jones falls to the floor and takes Diah and the other vamp with him. I’m distracted by their fight, but I tear my attention away and look behind me for Declan and Franklin. Just as I do, searing pain shoots up my arm and I look down as another vamp secures what looks like a silver handcuff around my wrist.
My skin sizzles and cracks, and I slam my arm into his face. The silver burns his cheek and the corner of his lip. The pressure is burning my wrist too, and I go light-headed from the pain. I shove him into the ground, using my arm to muffle his cries, and I look up to search the room again.
That’s when I see him.
Declan is secured to a chair with silver. He’s naked. He’s covered in blood. And he’s not conscious. His chin lolls against his chest and his beautiful blue eyes are closed tight. Blood is steaked down his stomach and his dick is blistered and soft against his bare leg. Franklin stands behind him, studying me with a smirk on his face.
I put a bullet into the vampire I’m fighting and stand. My brothers are fighting their own battles, so I stalk toward Franklin, trying to shake the cuff around my wrist to get any relief from the burn. Franklin watches my eyes trace over Declan’s battered body and he laughs at me.
“I fucked his piss hole with silver sounds,” Franklin announces, dragging his hand down Declan’s chest to his cock. He strokes it until Declan pulls himself into consciousness with an agonized cry.
“You’re done.” I jump at him and wrap my arms around his neck, ready to obliterate the smug look on his face.
It was stupid. My vision was blurred from rage and I didn’t even see the blade in his other hand, but it’s lodged firmly in my stomach now, and it’s like a volcano has exploded inside of me. The silver slices through my flesh and my muscle and I scream when he twists the blade. I drop my gun and we topple to the floor.
“I’m gonna kill you.” I spit on him as we wrestle around the dirty ground. The knife is sticking out of my stomach and I pull it out. I’ve never been silvered before, and I never want to be again.
“You can try,” he laughs and curls his fingers around mine, fighting me for the knife. Franklin flips me onto my back and presses the edge of the blade against my throat. “You should have seen him, Ezra.”
Franklin drags the blade across my neck, a trail of flaming ache in its wake. I dig my fingers into his sides until I puncture his skin. Hot blood drips down my hands and arms and I twist, gouging his flesh with my bare hands. He hardly flinches, but leans down and breathes against my face.
His breath is disgusting, and he exhales loudly into my ear. “He’s a real pain slut, that mate of yours. You should have seen the way he came for me.”
I yell and fight my way out from beneath him. I yank him up and throw him into the wall, but he’s not as injured as I am and he quickly turns the tables, shoving me against the concrete.
“You’re a weak leader. You’re thinking with the wrong head, and you and your pretty little mate are going to die because of it.”
“Ezra,” Declan’s voice is weak, but his thoughts flood my mind like a shot of energy through my entire body. He’s awake.
“I’ll make him watch when I kill you,” Franklin whispers. “Then I’ll make him mine.”
I struggle against him and he stills me with the press of my own gun against the base of my throat. I don’t know where he picked it up. I don’t know how. All I know is my life is about to end.
I love you, I think to Declan.I love you so fucking much and I’m so sorry.
This isn’t how our story ends.
I wish he were right, but the silver bullet about to fire into me says otherwise.
“I’m not malicious,” Franklin says with a laugh. He tears me away from the wall and shoves me to my knees between Declan’s spread legs. He presses the gun against the base of my neck. “I’ll let you say goodbye.”
Declan is so weak and tears slide down his face. His eyes are barely open and he’s in so much pain. I can see it. Feel it. It’s mine and I’d gladly take it from him if it would give him a minute of peace.
It’s fine. Close your eyes. I don’t want you to see this anyway.
Where the fuck are my brothers? The room is silent, except for Declan’s whimpers, and I worry that they’re both dead, but I can’t look because if I move, I’ll end up with a bullet in my brain and my brains all over the person I love.
I don’t want him to remember me this way. The idea of it makes me sick. I take a deep breath, searching out the familiar clove of Declan’s scent, then gunshot shatters the silence. Blood splatters Declan’s face. My body is overtaken by a pain so great I can’t remember anything that existed before it, and then everything goes black.
Declan
I wake up in a comfortable bed, wrapped in blankets that smell like home. I roll over and bury my face into the pillow, breathing deep. Ezra’s smell fills my nose and I stretch my arm out, searching. The other side of the bed is empty, the sheets are cold, and I reluctantly pry my eyes open.
There’s no sign of Ezra in the room, but my chest aches like I’ve been shot through the sternum. I roll onto my back and rub at my chest, and my gaze lands on thick white gauze wrapped around my wrist. I study the soft material and touch it with the tips of my fingers. The skin beneath the bandage hurts, and I pluck at the tape so I can unwrap it and see the damage.
An angry, welted, red blister circles my wrist, and smaller, less scarred lines and bumps dot their way up my arm. My mind is flooded with memories and they push at the glaring pain of Ezra’s absence in my thoughts. I squeeze my eyes closed and tears leak from the corners. I swipe at my cheeks until they’re dry.
I sit up and kick the blankets out of the way, then jump out of bed. I cover my mouth with my hands and look around the room, desperate to find any sign that Ezra has been here recently.
