I didn’t know what to say to that. It wasn’t often someone caught me off guard.
Clearing my throat, I reached down and took her hand. Turning, I pulled her behind me.
“Let’s see how you feel after a few blades hit the target,” I muttered under my breath, not caring if she heard me.
I draggedLucy across the yard, her feet stumbling to keep up with my long strides. She didn’t complain. She just let me yank her further and further. When I realized I was gripping her small hand with full force, I loosened my fingers.Why though? Why did I care if I hurt her delicate body?
I could have used the heart necklace. I could have made this hurt more. What was wrong with me?
We pushed into the storage building, its dim lighting making me blink rapidly to adjust focus.
Pulling us to a stop, I breathed heavily, gathering myself.
I’d been giving my pack brothers shit the past couple days. They were all acting so fucking strange. Focused on the task of driving her out one second, then acting protective without warning. Not me though. I was consistent.I wanted her gone.
Lucy’s fingers fluttered in my grip.
That small touch sent electricity through me.
Not me.
I didn’t waver.
I wanted her gone…didn’t I?
42
LUCY
My breathing was erratic, heart pounding. My lungs ached; the Nevada air Nitro just yanked me through sticking to my insides.
Not for the first time, I berated myself for not putting on the second suit after the first was ruined in the fire. Not that I knew where the hell it was. I hadn’t seen it or the suitcase since my arrival. Should I ask them? I warred with this question every time my body tried to rebel.
Again though, I rationalized that the light had already turned orange, and it would have turned green in no time.But really?I just couldn’t face stepping into that layer of synthetic skin again. It was its own kind of prison. If my lungs ached every now and then and my pulse lost rhythm, that was a small hurt to pay for a little freedom.
But I did need to get up the nerve to ask about my medicine bag. When Xander had pulled me back to the bedroom by the heart necklace, I hadn’t seen it anywhere. The only thing in the room—aside from the reek of smoke and the blackened floors and walls—was a camping cot.Had it been burnt to a crisp? Were the men going to contact Eros for a new supply?
Nitro finally stopped dragging me, halting with zero warning inside a shadowy building. As my eyes adjusted, indistinct outlines filled in, taking full shape. The piles of broken props, mangled bikes, and promotional posters—featuring the Alphas in various stages of undress and bloody, bruised brokenness—stretched back into the shadowy corners of the high-ceiling space. We were standing in a cleared area, the dusty floors sporting dozens of drag marks.
I wanted to pull my hand free, but Nitro's grip was firm, unwavering. He’d looked wild-eyed when he’d yanked me from the house, and I didn’t want to stoke that darkness. I knew it didn’t take much to set him off. He seemed to ceaselessly teeter between cocky jokes and cruel jabs.
My mind flashed back to last night.
To Xander’s yell of frustration when he’d discovered a shredded sofa cushion. To Nitro’s sarcastic quip about flipping the cushion over and it would be good as new. To Fallon doing just that and discovering the other side was also ripped to shreds.
“I’m so fucking sick of replacing shit, Nitro,” Xander bellowed. “This is getting goddamn ridiculous!”
“If you’re pissed about the couch, better not look at the Triumph’s driver’s seat.” Nitro was flipping his knife, gentle tosses that rotated it halfway, so he alternated catching it by the hilt or the blade.
“You didn’t touch my car,” Xander said the words slowly, each syllable pulled from his throat with surgical precision.
“Someone should touch it. Damn things been sitting in Kane’s garage for a fucking year. Can’t even see the paint color beneath the dust anymore.” Nitro’s tone was dismissive; he didn’t even look at Xander.
Xander who was getting angrier by the second.
Xander who suddenly stalked across the room, wrapped his hands around Nitro’s throat, and lifted him off the floor.
Xander, who ended up with a slash wound across his chest.
