Kellanhad killed the man in the basement.
He looked up, and I could see that the bloodlust hadn’t entirely left him. “Your turn for honesty.” Kellan’s green stare was uncomfortably piercing, and I realized Hunter’s instincts had been on point. It wasn’t just his eyes, which no longer held the playful twinkle that made him easy to trust. Kellan’s entire demeanor had changed. “Why do you think I want to kill you?”
“Because Hunter thinks you’re Malcolm’s spy.”
Laughing at that, he shook his head. “Of course she does. Malcolm has many spies, but I’m not one of them.”
“Then why are you really here, Kellan? Or is that even your real name?”
Suddenly, I heard movement nearby. Judging by the way Kellan’s jaw clenched, he’d heard it too. He looked around, searching for the next threat, but the only one I cared about right now was the one standing in front of me.
“We need to find Hunter and get the fuck out of here. More may come.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I replied. “But feel free to leave. I’ll find Hunter on my own.” I kept the gun on him as I put more distance between us.
Kellan looked like he was considering doing just that.
Hunter had said he’d come to Black Veil looking for revenge, and now he’d found it. Nothing was keeping him here anymore.
“Sorry. Not happening,” he said while following me across the patio. I placed my finger on the trigger, but he didn’t slow his pace. “I’m a liar, not an asshole. I won’t leave until I know you and Hunter are safe.”
Gunshots erupted nearby, sounding like they had come from the living room.
“Hunter!” Heart plummeting, I ran across the patio with Kellan hot on my heels. We’d made it within steps of the doors overlooking the pool when the glass suddenly shattered from the masked man falling through it.
He was dead before he hit the ground.
Hunter was inside, already fighting another and winning, but she didn’t see the others pouring into the room.
A whole lot fucking more than eight.
I raised the rifle and started laying down fire.
Too many.
There were too many of them.
Kellan barreled into the first of those who’d escaped my untrained aim, neutralizing him and then picking off the rest. Meanwhile, Hunter took down the goon she was fighting and immediately turned to the next. I was amazed at her speed and skill as she tore through one after the other before they could get a shot off.
Still, it wasn’t enough.
The room was quickly overrun, and Kellan and Hunter were surrounded.
Still shooting, my lips parted to scream for Hunter, but the sound never made it out because I spotted something being tossed inside the room. I was forced to lay off the trigger when thick, white smoke began to fill the room, and I lost sight of Hunter and Kellan.
The hitters began to panic, while some even ran.
I couldn’t think about that as I searched blindly for Hunter through the smoke, ignoring the screams of the masked men as they fell around me like flies.
Crouching, I made it to the open archway by the kitchen where the smoke was thinnest when I was yanked backward by my hair, my scalp screaming in pain as I was forced to my feet.
“Hurry! Shoot her!”
Another hitter whirled to take aim, but I was faster. I raised the stolen rifle and shot him in the foot. The goon screamed in pain and hopped around while the one holding my hair ripped the gun from my hands and tossed me to the floor.
He raised the rifle, and I glanced past his shoulder before quickly closing my eyes and waiting for death to collect. A moment later, I felt the warm, thick spray of blood, and the wet sound of flesh tearing open. When I opened my eyes again, Ocean stood between us like an avenging knight.
The goon was staring down at what was left of his stomach, his intestines spilling onto the floor faster than he could futilelystuff them back in. When I felt a laugh bubbling up at the sight, I clapped a hand over my mouth and started to fear for my sanity.
