Ember
The trade-off happens a six-hour drive from the compound. I sit in the backseat with Tobias, who—for once—isn’t on his laptop. Cain sits in the passenger seat, doing something on his phone, and Greyson’s behind the wheel.
I’m surprised he didn’t stay behind with Scarlett.
But then, why should I be? Max didn’t even say goodbye to me. I don’t think Scarlett’s worth as much to Greyson as either of them believe. Just like I wasn’t worth shit to Max.
Good fucking riddance.
“So, Alina,” Toby says after the first few hours. I turn slowly, my glare making it perfectly clear that I’m in the mood to rip out his eyeball with my teeth. “You, uh…”
“If you’re going to put me through the misery of hearing your voice, at least have the courtesy to formulate full sentences.”
Toby’s jaw tightens. “You knew Alina?”
“What gave that impression?” I ask sarcastically.
“You knew Alina,” he says more carefully. “And you protected her.”
“No shit, Sherlock. Are you done? Can I please go to my death insilence?”
“JesusChrist, you don’t have to be such a bitch about everything,” Toby snaps.
In return, I wrap my hand around his neck and slam the side of his face against the window. Hard enough that the glasswouldcrack, if it wasn’t bulletproof.
“You want to see me being a bitch?” I ask quietly. “For every sound you make for the rest of this ride, I will break one of your fingers. You need them for your work, don’t you? Maybe I’ll evencut them off.”
“That’s enough,” Cain says. “If your concern is Alina, I can assure you she’ll beverywell taken care of. I suppose there’s no harm in telling you now: Tobias has selected her as his Chosen—”
He doesn’t get to finish. The words register faster than I can truly process them, and something inside me justcracks. After everything I’ve done is to protect Alina from men like Dagon, she’s beenearmarkedby one?
Tobias will have a hard fucking timeclaimingAlina if he’s dead. I might not have my weapon in hand, but after years with the man I’m about to be handed back to, I don’t need one. Iamthe weapon.
I slam Toby’s head against the window two more times in rapid succession. I’m going to cave his fucking skull in. If this is my second-to-last act in this world, I’ll die at peace.
I’ m going to–
Then, I hear theclickof a gun cocking. I turn my head, seeing Cain pointing the pistol at me. “I said,” he repeats slowly, “that’senough. I don’t like having to say things twice.”
“You won’t kill me,” I say with a sardonic laugh. “You need me alive, or Dagon will kill your precious Chosen.”
“I need you alive—nothing was ever said about you being unharmed. I expect walking over to Dagon will be quite painful with a bullet in your kneecap, and he doesn’t strike me as the sort of manto carry you.” Cain lowers the weapon until it’s aimed at my knee. “Enough.”
“If you shoot me now, the bullet might hit him.”
“I’m an extremely good shot.”
Reluctantly, I release Toby and scoot back to the other side of the car. I can’t very well execute my plan with a bullet in my knee.
Which means I’ll have to find some other way to ensure Toby can’t get his hands on Alina. I might have to resort to becoming a ghost and pulling aPoltergeiston him. Cain doesn’t move the gun. “Next time, I won’t warn. I’ll shoot. I’m not Max—I don’t give a fuck about you. Got it?”
“Yes,” I hiss.
“Good.”
The rest of the ride is taken in silence.
The meetup is at an abandoned bridge in the middle of absolutely fucking nowhere. I suspect that we’re at a state line right now; a lesser known one marked only by the rusted grates at the midway point in the bridge.
