My teeth ground together. He wouldn’t tell me where she was; hejustwanted me to play his fucking game, a game I had no choice but to play.“Why are you here?”
Smugness washed over his face.“I’m glad you asked. I warned you not to go to James, yet here you are, in his house while he is…I’m guessing he’s off trying to play the doting hero uncle who saves Billie.”
“I didn’t have a choice-”
“Yes, you did. There are three other board members you could have approached,”Alec hissed, his amusement turning to fury.“But no, you had to go to the one person you knew wouldn’t accept me into Legion, so now you’ll pay the consequences.”
“Alec, please-”
“Uh-uh, Kiera. You can beg me all you like, but it won’t work. Clearly, Billie wasn’t enough bait to convince James to accept me into Legion, but perhaps he’ll be more convinced when I take his wife hostage.”Willow gasped as my stomach clenched.“You know, before your dad died, he told me James had fallen quite hard for this one,”he said, nodding to Willow.“But do you think he loves her enough to save her from death? Because I assure you, Kiera. If I’m not acceptedinto Legion by the end of the day, both Billie and Willow are going to get bullets planted in their heads, and I’ll make damn fucking sure you’ll never find their bodies.”
Panic raced through my body. James had said it wasn’t as simple asjustletting Alec join, but with the threat to Willow’s life on the line, wouldthatchange his opinion? It hadn’t been enough to convince him with Billie’s life hanging in the balance.
I didn’t know what the hell to do. My gaze fell to Willow’s, her tears now falling down her face. It was obvious how damn scared she was, andthatmotherly instinct kicked in again with the need to protect her.
But how?
“Alec, Legion doesn’t work likethat. James can’tjustlet you become a member,”I said in a hope to buy myself time.
I subtly glanced around the kitchen, looking for a weapon. To my frustration, though, James didn’t have any knife blocks on the sideboards. The only item I could potentially use was a saucepan on the stove, but it was behind Alec, and I couldn’t get to it.
“You think I give a fuck about how the society works, you stupid fucking bitch,”Alec snarled viciously.“Your father promised me a place for putting up with you for the last six years, and I want my place! I don’t care how James makes it happen, but if he wants to see his wife and niece again, he’ll fucking make it happen.”Slightly calmer, he added.“You’ve got until the end of today.”
Withthat, he tugged Willow, making the mistake of turning his back. I didn’t give myself a chance to think of what could happen, my body powering forward before I could consider the risk of the gun to Willow’s head.
My piercing shriek reverberated around the kitchen as I launched myself at Alec’s back, reaching for the hand holding his gun. He hadn’t expected my attack, so used to me taking his abuse, and never fighting back.
But not this time.
Catching him off-guard, I sank my teeth into his neck, his hand dropping the gun and sending it clattering to the floor. With my legs wrapped around his waist,he had no choice but to release Willow as he spun around and around with me on his back in an attempt to fling me off.
I bit harder until the metallic tang of blood filled my mouth.
“Get the fuck off me, you whore!”he roared, slamming me back against the wall and knocking the air from my lungs.
I dropped to my feet, and Alec pounced, wrapping his hands around my throat and squeezing the life out of me. I fought against him, digging my nails into his arms in a bid to get him to release me while kicking my legs against his shins.
“I’m going to fucking kill you,”Alec hissed, spittle flying from his mouth.
My lungs began to burn, deprived of oxygen as fear thrummed through my body. Managing to get my knee up, I crashed it into his balls. Alec howled as he fell to the floor, taking me with him.
My aim hadn’t been hard enough to get him to release me, though. In seconds, he pinned me to the floor as he straddled me, his hands still wrapped around my throat and squeezing harder than ever. Harder than he had in the hallway of his house the day before.
Darkness clouded my vision, my eyelids slowly closing as energy drained from my body. A high-pitched scream sounded from nearby, and through blurry eyes, I made out a blackthingsmash against Alec’s head.
His hands loosened around my throat, his eyes wide and startled. I sucked in a deep breathjustas the black object slammed against his head again. And again.
Blood splattered my face as Alec slid off me. NowthatI was able to breathe again, I pushed myself up in time to see Willow bring the saucepan down on Alec’s head once again.
For someone of Willow’s petite frame, she hit Alec with remarkable strength, screaming at him to leave me alone as the pan split his head apart, blood gushing from the wound.
His body slumped onto the floor, and as Willow brought the pan down a final time, this time smashing it into his face, I forced myself to stand against the pain in my throat. I grabbed her arm, preventing her from bringing the pan down again.
Her unfocused eyes met mine, and like she’d been stuck in a trance, they cleared. She looked from me to the body on the floor, her features twisting in disbelief.“Oh, god.”
“It’s okay,”I cooed, prying the handle of the pan from her fingers.“It’s okay, you’re okay. We’re okay.”
“I…I killed him,”she whispered, horror lacing her soft voice.
