“You sound insane.” Her voice is rising, and I start to fear she’s going to draw attention to the men who are on their way or to her family that’s still sleeping or to whatever security cameras might be facing our direction. “You need to leave. Right now.”
The men are getting closer. And I can feel the shift in the air as they take the final turn toward this neighborhood.
“You don’t understand what they are,” I say.
“You are a crazy person. Leave right now.”
“You aren’t being chosen for marriage,” I say, forcing the words out clean. “They just want to use you. Destroy you.”
Her spine goes rigid. Her eyes wide.
But the sound of an engine reaches the edge of my hearing, and I know the gofers are hardly a minute away.
“If you go with them,” I say, “you won’t come back the same. You might not come back at all.”
“I’m going inside,” she says in a rush. “I’m calling the police.” She starts to turn for her parents’ big fucking mansion, but the engine hum reaches the driveway before Blair reaches the door.
A black Escalade with tinted windows rolls through the open iron gates and slows near the front steps.
“Thank God.” Blair exhales, relief flooding her features. “They’re here.”
Two men step out, and I know them immediately.
Mark and Evan—Holland’s buddies and hockey teammates from the league my brothers and I play in at Concordia Rec Rink. Well, hockey league weusedto play in. There’s not much hockey-playing happening at the moment. We’re apparently a little busy saving women from the fucking elite and trying not to get killed in the process.
They don’t recognize me at first, but that’s because they’re focused on Blair and getting her where their masters want her to go.
But when their eyes shift past her and land on me, everything changes.
“What the fuck?” Evan mutters.
“Fucking Kane Slater?” Mark breathes.
“Surprise, motherfuckers,” I say. I’m smiling on the outside. Though, on the inside, I’m definitely on edge. Two against oneisn’t easy. Not impossible—I’ll fucking kill them if they try to touch her—but not easy.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Evan lets out a short, humorless laugh. “You got a death wish or something, Slater?”
“Wait…” Blair looks between us. “You know him?”
Mark’s mouth curves slowly. “Oh, we know him.”
Evan shakes his head once. “Every elite in the area is looking for you and your idiot fucking brothers.”
“You’re bold showing up here,” Mark adds. “Thought you three were hiding.”
“Thought you’d be smarter than this,” Evan says, eyes narrowing. “After what your brother pulled.”
Kylie. They mean Kylie.
“By the way, not only do the elites want you three dead, they want her dead too,” Mark says casually, like he’s discussing the weather. “Whole mess goes away that way.”
“What are you talking about?” Blair goes rigid beside me. “Want who dead?”
“It’s nothing for you to worry your pretty little head about,” Mark reassures, a slimy smile intact on his lips. “But let me guess, sweetheart, this man here was bothering you, huh?”
Blair looks at me again, her eyes searching my face and her mind trying to understand who to believe. But when Evan takes it upon himself to step toward her, I can’t hold myself back.
“Don’t fucking touch her,” I say.
