Blood freezes in my veins as I watch my hellcat retreat into the helpless little thing that fucker loves.
She looks so small. So fragile...
“Shh, it’s okay, sweetie. I’m here now. You’re safe.” He holds out his free hand. “Come here, petal. Come here.”
Time slows to a fucking crawl when everything happens so fast my brain can barely keep up.
Leilani twitches toward Anton, and Octavius lunges for her, grasping her upper arm. The other’s halfway to his holster.
My heart fucking stops when I realize he’s about to put a gun to her head. Adrenaline rips me out of Ryder’s grasp.
A gunshot tears through the air.
My heart soars.
Leilani screams.
And Octavius Grey falls to the ground, blood seeping from his head.
Gunfire detonates all around us.
Anton’s men shoot anyone who moves... andeveryonemoves. The noise is deafening. Bullets chew through glass, wood, and flesh as the auction implodes into chaos.
Leilani drops to her knees beside Octavius, and my stomach free-falls. I can’t fucking tell if she’s scared, in shock, panicking, or still playing her role.
Is she still mine, or has Anton got her back?
“Move! Move!” Blaze’s voice cuts through. “Kill them all!”
His men fan out. Carter’s already in the epicenter with Broadway at his side. Arthur and Apollo crash through the main entrance, a dozen of our soldiers forming a rough line.
Time fucking stops and accelerates at the same time. Every second feels like a year, but bullets speed past faster than light.
“Get down!” Ryder yells, yanking me lower.
I wrench free, every nerve ending like a live wire as I dart forward, eyes on Leilani. She’s shaking, hands on the floor, hair falling forward and sticking to her wet cheeks. Anton’s rushing toward her, blood staining his arm and shoulder.
Chairs and tables topple, liquor spills, men shout above the roar and I can’t tell who’s firing at whom.
I promised.
I fuckingpromisedI’d keep her safe.
I promised she wouldn’t get hurt.
One of the endless cavalcade of bullets narrowly misses my head. I dart behind the nearest column, my boots skidding through a bloody river. I duck, then fire two rounds toward Anton’s men. One goes down and I take aim at the man himself, then dart back when another bullet almost removes my right arm.
Blaze and Carter bark out orders, their voices clear, but the words not registering. I break from cover, sprinting between overturned tables.
Someone screams behind me. Someone falls in front of me. A bullet grazes my sleeve and burns the skin beneath as my shoulder hits another column. I peek around, gun raised, waiting for a window, for a clear shot I’ve been praying for.
My breath’s knocked clean out of my lungs.
Anton’s got his hand on Leilani’s wrist. He’stouchingmy girl, his lips moving as he pulls her toward his embrace.
No.
No, no,no.
