“Don’t worry, Corinna,” he continues like Cole never spoke. “We’ll get you back where you belong. You’re safe now.”
“Does he honestly think that would make me feel better?”she thinks, the three of us having open access to her thoughts whether or not she means to send them our way.
I’m right there with her as she wrestles with the best way to walk away from this without anyone getting killed. Thank fuck she realizes if she were to go with him, he’d still kill us, so she doesn’t entertain the thought of sacrificing herself.
“She’s staying with us,” Ares declares, drawing the focus of several of the humans spreading out to surround us. The mage pales, looking like he’s about to puke as guns are turned on him next.
There are few enough of them that I know we could tear our way out if it were just my brothers and me, but not while trying to protect Rin and the mage. Our attention would be split and with this many guns in play, someone will undeniably end up dead. It’s just not a gamble any of us are willing to take when the stakes are so high. There has to be a way out of this, I just need some time to think.
“Just what the hell are you even doing?” another man snaps, seeing the way the mage is bound. “You sick fucks just collecting people now? Not enough bitches to rut out here in no-man’s land?”
“That’s not it,” Rin starts, but her dad cuts her off. “Let the men speak, Corinna. You’ve caused enough trouble already, don’t you think?” His voice barely holds the illusion of fatherly concern, the façade falling away faster than usual. “Making us chase after you all the way out here when you were so close to home?”
“Something’s different this time,”she mentally whispers and I look closer at the man holding our fate in his hands.
His hand is trembling slightly, a crack in his typically stoic control. It’s the only thing I can see at first, but I trust her instincts. I may not have had many interactions with him face to face, but I heard his voice, and it was always stern, yet not as angry as this. Not that any other person would find that unusual in this situation, but the only thing Carson Harlow keeps a tighter grip on than his image is his emotions.
He knows.
“You’re just like your mother, aren’t you?” he spits and she rears back as if he’d slapped her.
“What are you talking about?” Rin asks, heart sprinting with fear, but facing him with courage despite it.
His eyes harden and for the first time, I think she’s seeing what kind of person he actually is. She may have gotten a glimpse in recent weeks, but the darkness that’s been lurking beneath the surface all of these years runs deeper than anyone could have anticipated.
“You want to embarrass me too, is that it?” he seethes with his rising anger, gesturing with his gun to the bruises on her shoulders. “You and your whore of a mother, making a goddamn fool of me!”
One of the men snorts and Carson doesn’t even hesitate, stretching his arm to the side and lodging a bullet in his skull with practiced precision. The human crumbles in a heap, gone in a blink as heavy silence presses on us in his wake.
“Get over here, Corinna,” Carson commands, voice cold. “We’re going to put this behind us. I’ll fix the mess with the Caswells and find someone else befitting my daughter’s name to pawn you off on. I’ve put up with enough of your nonsense over the years; you can be someone else’s problem from now on.”
She doesn’t follow his demand, but she does inch her way in front of Cole. “If you don’t want me anyway, why drag me back? Just let me go and tell people I died if it suits you. I have no intention of stepping foot in another city so long as I live.”
“Who do you think you’re talking to?” one of the humans snarls, breaking rank in his aggression to try and get in her face. “You think you’re in the position to make any sort of demands after we had to come out to the middle of fucking nowhere for you? Selfish bitch.” He spits on the ground at his feet.
The only thing keeping me from lunging is picturing tearing his throat out the same way I did to the Jax-ass that tried to force Rin through a shotgun wedding. They call us savages, the filthy hypocrites. But if they keep pushing, they’re going to force us to show them the truth they don’t want to accept.
We know damn well how to slaughter animals while keeping our honor intact. We aim to be better people than these monsters that only have courage while in a crowd hiding behind their guns and using their ‘friends’ as living shields.
“Easy,” Ares warns, eyes flashing bright in the dim lighting. Mentally he projects,“Take a deep breath and tell me if you smell the same thing I do.”
Confused, I follow his instructions, knowing that of any of us, Ares stands the best chance at getting as many of us out of this mess alive as possible. We might end up maimed, but so long as at least Rin survives in one piece, I’ll take it at this point.
“Shit,”Cole breathes, summing up the sinking feeling in my gut better than I can.
“When I say drop, fucking drop,”Ares commands before cutting the conversation, keeping the feebs’ attention centered on him.
“Filthy mutt,” the human sneers, aiming the gun at Ares’ chest.
He’s as well dressed as her father, so I guess it just goes to show that even the most stuck-up people will risk getting their five-hundred dollar shoes muddy for the sake of good old fashioned violence. You can put a suit on a demon, but it doesn’t make it any less evil, and that’s the exact reason the world went to shit.
Rin, start walking towards your father.It’s the last thing I want, but we need just a little bit longer.
She doesn’t question or hesitate, trusting me implicitly. “I’ll go, I’m sorry,” she begs, putting her hands up in surrender while keeping her steps slow and measured. “Nobody else needs to die.”
Most of the attention stays focused on Rin and Ares, though there are two mens’ guns trained on Cole and I each. It doesn’t give us the chance to do anything more than breathe and listen, but that’s all we need.
“Drop!”Ares shouts in silent command and we all dive to the ground as the mage sends a pulse out like an air wave, knocking the feebs back a step.
