Page 54 of Where Angels Fall

Now I turn, ready to get the fuck out of here. I avoid the grey zone at all costs, mostly because I have no interest in being civil with men who aren’t my own. Kai and Kaleb wait until I’m past them before I hear them following closely behind me.

“Oh... Ash?” Zeke drawls from behind me.

I inhale slowly, my patience drawing thin, before my head turns behind me, my brow raised in question.

“How’s the new toy going? Maddison... If I’m correct?” Her name on his tongue sounds wrong. “What a beauty she is...”

The night seems to still.

The sound of the harbour fades, the distant creak of metal and water dropping away until all I can hear is my own breathing. Slow, deliberate, and leashed with effort.

My jaw tightens as my teeth grind together.

Hearing her name on his tongue, knowing that he is aware of my angel. Something ugly coils in my chest, sharp and angry. The beast inside me roaring to be freed.

I turn back to face him fully. The twins shift with me, subtle and lethal at my side. Zeke notices, of course, his smile widening a fraction, pleased with himself for finally landing a hit that matters.

“Say her name again, I dare you,” I mutter with cold fury. My hand slides down to the gun at my belt, muscles taut with restraint.

He chuckles, low and amused, and it takes everything I have in me not to fire a bullet between his brows. Because the minute my hand touches the cold metal by my side, I’ve declared war. War against every criminal in the country. If I made it that far. I doubt I’d take a step with it in my hand before I’m shot at from above.

But redness blooms in my eyesight, and fury has me wondering if it’d be worth it. Noone threatens my angel.

Zeke’s dark eyes scour my reaction. “How interesting,” he murmurs, a smile curving onto his face. “She’s going to make a fabulous date on Friday night. I heard her daddy dearest lets his associates get really familiar with his only child.”

His words barely register, before my legs work to carry me to the dead asshole. Because that’s what he is... fucking dead. Two strong arms grip mine, stopping me from declaring war, and I struggle against them.

“Fuck you,” I spit, straining against the iron grip on my arms.

Zeke laughs, quiet and satisfied.

“There he is,” he murmurs. “Just like your father. You’re the spitting image of him right now.”

My vision tunnels before I take a step back. The sudden stillness makes the twins tighten reflexively, ready for another surge, but it doesn’t come. I go cold instead, calmness settling into my bloodstream like ice.

Zeke clicks his tongue softly, disappointed, but I don’t wait around, spinning towards my bike. My seconds follow, their boots crunching the ground behind me. Every step towards my bike locks something into place inside me.

Death warrants.

For Zeke.

For Howard Dally.

For anyone who threatens my brothers and my angel.

The engines roar to life moments later, tearing us out of the dock and back into the night. Wind slams into me, the city rushing up fast.

It’s time to prepare for war.

Chapter 21

Maddison

Ash: What are you doing tonight?

Maddison: You’re alive.

Maddison: Smashed at work.