Another gunshot.
I convulsed—
Metal suddenly pressed against my throat as Rook wrapped her arm around me, hauling my lifeless bulk against her. I collapsed into her hold, her coolness colliding with my heat, keeping me awake, stopping the flames mid-lick.
“Shoot Whisper,” she yelled. “And I’ll kill him!”
Everything froze, even the rain.
“I’ll kill him,” she screamed. “I swear to God, I will. If you don’t leave Whisper alone and let all of us go, I’ll...I’ll...I’ll slit Lucien’s throat and spill the rest of his blood myself!”
My heart kicked in disbelief as the dagger broke the first few layers of skin. Pure adrenaline kept me awake long enough to suffer yet another crush of very inconvenient and highly complicated feelings.
What was she doing?
This wasn’t her fight.
She should’ve run—
“Don’t be stupid, Rook.” Marcus throttled his umbrella with shaking fists. “You didn’t want to harm him in Cinderkeep and you won’t harm him now. Besides...” He shrugged and cocked his head. “If it’s true that youarepregnant, who cares about him? You both carry the R gene which means your child will be even more potent than he is.”
R gene?
What the fuck is the R gene?
“So go ahead.” He shoved one hand into his trouser pocket. “I’ll wait.”
Whisper folded himself over my legs.
And Rook...ruined everything.
Repositioning the dagger over my jugular, she said ever so calmly, “I’m not pregnant.”
Marcus stiffened. “What?”
“I said there’s no pregnancy. We haven’t slept together. There is no child.” She laughed a little psychotically. “He lied to protect me from you, don’t you see? So if I kill him, there’s no one else.” Her voice turned so cold, a blizzard blew down my spine. “No more blood. No more whatever it is that you’re doing with it. Everything dies with him and you lose it all. So go ahead and test me, you bastard.” She shifted closer as if she would happily slit my throat. “Push me and you’ll see just how far I’ll go to ensure Lucien is never tortured by you again.”
My heart fuckingached.
Silence stretched for a moment before Marcus sucked in a furious breath. “Fine. What do you want? Money? Your freedom? Let him go and I’ll letyougo. How about that?”
Her arm trembled and the blade stung as she cut me by accident. With a soft groan, she shut everything down. “Allow those two doctors to help him.”
“Done.”
“I wasn’t finished.” Her heart pounded against my back as she scrambled for a way out of this mess.
Her shaking increased and I wondered how much longer she could withstand the stress before her little habit of passing out appeared.
“You and your guards are going to let us leave. Whisper, me, and Lucien are going in one of those G-wagons with the two doctors. They can work on him while I drive us to the nearest hospital.”
“Ah, see that’s going to be a problem,” Marcus muttered. “No hospitals.” Pointing at the doctors who acted as if they wished they were invisible, he added, “They’re fully qualified to operate and save his life. They don’t need a hospital.”
“Fine.” Rook moaned a little, fighting her own misery. “We’ll go to the nearest hotel then. Somewhere public.”
“Fine,” Marcus echoed, his grimace turning into a sneer. “Anything else?”
“Yes.” Her chin tipped up. “You’ll stay the hell away from him. You’ll let him go and—”
