“Adam, they’re coming for me.”
“Christ.” He grabbed my hand. “Come on. We need to get off this property. What’s the quickest route to the safe house?”
“This way.” We circled the outskirts of the battleground. I glanced over my shoulder every few steps. The sensation of bloodhounds chasing me proved impossible to shake.
“If you get a shot, put a bullet in that fucker’s brain,” Adam said.
My cumulative injuries had begun to wear on my strength. My bad leg smarted like it had been wrapped in barbed wire, and I limped as I ran.
Isaac leapt into view. “Where’s Scott?”
“Going after Miller,” Adam said.
Isaac cursed a thanks under his breath, and Devon appeared at his side. “Wow. I can’t believe he left her.”
Adam laughed without humor. “Yeah, help me keep her uninjured, will you? Otherwise, I’m dead.”
Massaging my leg, I ignored them to take in the chaos of battle around us. A series of explosions erupted, and we ducked. Grass and dirt sprayed into the air as, one after another, smallgrenades burst through the crowd. Screams followed, and then a metallic thunk landed next to my feet.
The four of us glanced down. Wild fear swept through me. We scattered, and I pushed my aching legs to run. The blast rushed past me, lifting me into the air. Shrapnel embedded in my back. Something hard knocked my head, and I crumpled as I fell, stunned, barely conscious.
Violent hands dragged me across the dry grass. A throb at the back of my head pulsed hard. Explosions continued to erupt behind me, but they drifted away. Bursts of agony snapped my eyes open as I was thrown to the ground, blinking at the slatted ceiling beams of another cabin near the edge of the property, identical to the one I’d shared with Lucas.
A face swam into my vision…sandy hair, mint-green eyes, straight crinkles across his forehead.
“Hello, sugar.”
I whimpered, sliding away from him. The red scar I’d cut into his cheek pulled his mouth higher on one side when he smiled.
I crab-walked away from him until I hit an armchair. Four Hunters stood behind him.
I didn’t have my blades anymore, but the pistol still pressed into my back, hidden beneath my shirt.
Miller strolled toward me. “I was hoping I’d find you here.”
Heart in my throat, I said nothing. I was scared to blink, to breathe. Shivers racked my body. My gaze darted across all five men, trying to find a way to the single door behind them.
“You and me got some unfinished business.” He withdrew a knife I recognized. The twisted blade sparked silver in the low light, same as it had before Lucas stabbed it into Miller’s chest.
He ran a finger along it, smiling, and glanced over his shoulder at one of the men, who nodded and left the house.
“You went through all this trouble to kill me?” I asked.
Miller clicked his tongue. “You’re just the bait, sugar. I came here to tear the heart out of that traitor’s chest.”
Eyes wild, Miller closed the distance between us and tugged me up by my arm. I considered reaching back for my gun, but didn’t trust myself to be quick enough. Before I’d hashed out a plan, Miller sheathed his knife and extracted a length of rope from his belt.
The sight unlocked a vault of fear inside me. Heaving to get away, kicking at him, I yelled when he wrenched hard on my pinky, snapping a bone. I fell into the chair, tears falling, but he bound my hands, the ropes digging into the scars left from his handcuffs.
Where the hell was Lucas?
Miller withdrew the knife. “I just need a siren’s call.”
He jerked on the pinky he’d broken, forcing my bound hands down on the armrest, and drove that wicked, twisted blade through both hands, pinning me to the chair.
I screamed—a harsh, inhuman noise that pierced the night.
I tried to yank, but the exquisite torture split my vision into black spots, and I swam at the edge of consciousness. Fury kept me tethered to the present.
