The words blurred, burned into her vision at the same time.She had a bad feeling earlier that the Iron Serpents were involved but receiving this text felt like a finality.
“No,” she whispered, horror crawling up her throat like bile.
Her pulse thundered in her ears as she slowly lifted her head and scanned the alley.It was eerily empty and that unsettled her.
The trash bins sat unmoving.There were no footsteps or voices.No movement at all and the silence felt wrong and charged.Like the air itself was holding its breath.
Her instincts, usually so calm and measured, finally screamed.You’re not alone.Cold dread flooded her veins.Every nerve ending lit up.She felt it then.
A pressure at her back, prickling at the nape of her neck.Invisible eyes locked on her.Prey doesn’t see the predator until it’s too late.
Tessa turned and ran.Her lungs burned instantly as she sprinted toward the mouth of the alley, fear ripping through her so violently her vision tunneled.
Her shoes slapped wildly against the pavement as her coordination unraveled under panic.She stumbled once, barely catching herself on the brick wall, skin scraping painfully against rough stone.
Tessa didn’t look back, she couldn’t.Her heartbeat thundered so loud she was sure they could hear it.Tears blurred her vision as she burst out of the alley and into the street beyond, night swallowing her whole.
For half a second, she thought she might make it.Then an engine roared, the sound startlingly close.Headlights flared from the side street, blinding white.
A black van fishtailed into view, tires shrieking as it cut her off with brutal precision.She skidded to a stop, terror locking her muscles.
“No!”Tessa yelled, hoping that someone was nearby and would hear her.
Too bad it was just her and the van.She spun, desperate to flee back the way she’d come, but someone reached out for her, their grip strong and ruthless.
They slammed into her from behind, knocking the air from her lungs in a strangled gasp.She screamed, the sound raw and animal, and fought with everything she had.
She kicked backward wildly, heel connecting with a shin.Someone swore viciously.Her fingernails raked across flesh and leather, drawing a howl of pain.
“Bitch!”her attacker yelled.
Tessa wasn’t planning on giving up easily.She twisted violently, elbow striking ribs, teeth snapping inches from a man’s cheek.
Still, it wasn’t enough.An arm locked around her throat from behind, iron-hard, cutting off her air.Stars burst across her vision as pressure crushed her windpipe.
Her scream collapsed into a thin, broken wheeze.
“Quiet,” a voice hissed into her ear, breath hot and foul.“Or the kid dies screaming.”
The words slammed into her harder than any blow.
Dillon.Her body went instantly rigid.
Every fight drained out of her in a rush of cold terror.Her hands fell uselessly to her sides as the weight of the threat crushed her spirit far more effectively than the arm at her throat.
The world tilted violently as they dragged her backward.Her shoes scraped uselessly against the pavement.The van door slid open with a metallic snarl.
Darkness yawned wide.She was thrown inside hard enough to knock the breath clean out of her lungs.Her body slammed into cold metal, pain blooming through her side as the door slammed shut with a final, brutal echo.
The lock clicked and she swallowed.Tears gathered at the corner of her eyes.How did things end up this way?
The van lurched forward.Tessa curled instinctively, gasping in ragged, panicked pulls as her lungs struggled to relearn air.The floor vibrated beneath her with the engine’s growl.
Rough laughter bounced off the metal walls around her.Shadows shifted, men looming indistinct in the dark.
Tears spilled down her face, hot and unstoppable.This was all her fault.She’d gone alone.Brick had told her to wait.To call him.To never chase danger by herself.
Now the Iron Serpents had both her and Dillon because she thought she could handle it on her own.Her chest hitched with silent sobs as terror hollowed her out from the inside.
