Page 56 of Love & Power

Someone pulled the shower head from my hand as another set of arms pulled me from the tub. Immediately, I thrashed, my wet feet slipping on the tile floor until I was scooped up bridal style.

“No, you have to keep the water on him,” I cried, panic clawing at my throat.

“Shh, baby girl, Atticus is taking over so we can get you out of these wet clothes,” Luca said, trying to soothe me, but I wouldn’t stop fighting him until he turned around for me to see.

There, just as Luca said, was my Atty sitting on the edge of the tub slowly moving the water over the burns. The whole picture looked pathetic with Atty’s left arm in a sling attending to a man slumped over a damn bathtub.

“Twenty minutes or more,” I whispered when Atticus’s eyes met mine. “No less, or it might not stop the chemical reaction.”

“I’ll do thirty just to be sure,” Atticus decided and began the timer on his watch. “Go, Asta, you’re shivering. The last thing we need right now is for you to get sick. I promise we will make sure Boykov is taken care of.”

If there was a group of people left in this world I trusted to keep their word, it was the seven men I gave a piece of my heart to. They would rather shoot themselves in the foot than lie to me about something this important.

“Okay,” I conceded. “I love you, Atty.”

His expression softened at my words. “I love you too, Asta, more than anything in the world.”

twenty-two

Chaos is the only way to describe what just happened.

One moment, Astin and Atticus were talking to a couple who seemed a little odd but nothing that made me feel the need to worry. Boykov was with her, and Atty-boy was far more capable than people gave him credit for. Jace and I had been talking about the best way to handle the information we’d be getting from Ivy when everything went south.

What caught my attention was the surge of people who dove out of the way of the man who’d been talking with Astin as he crashed into the table. Instantly, I was on my feet with Jace right behind me. It might be nothing, or it could be something, but I’d learned a long time ago to trust my gut. Pulling my gun free, I vaulted over the table, running up the space between the two rows. I spotted Boykov as he slammed his fist into the man’s face, sending him flying over the table to flop on the other side.

A shriek only a woman could make was cut off midscream, and I knew what that meant. Whoever that was wasn’t alive anymore. The man Boykov punched stood and grabbed something round from his pocket and hurled it at the bodyguard—or that’s who I thought he was aiming for. Raising my gun, I shot the man in both knees dropping him to the floor. That was when I looked up and saw Boykov’s body shrouding Astin and realized what the man threw.

Acid.

The chemicals were already eating away at the man’s clothes, but it was almost as if Boykov didn’t realize what was happening. No sign of pain registered on his face as he scooped Astin up and booked it out of the hall. Ryker had set up a protocol with all the bodyguards who’d be watching over our queen. Get her the fuck out of danger and up to the third floor. The security in the house would lock it down, ensuring no one tried to follow them. Knowing Astin would be safe and out of danger allowed me the chance to figure out what the fuck was going on.

“Who are you?” Jace demanded, kneeling next to the man I’d shot.

Our traitor responded by spitting in Jace’s face, which earned him a good pistol whip to the cheek.

Jace grabbed the man’s jaw and snarled. “Try that again, and I’ll do more than break your fucking face. Now tell me who you are or who sent you. If you do, I’ll make sure your death is quick. Keep dicking around and drawing this out, and we’ll just see how many holes we can put in you before bleeding out.”

“She is an abomination who must be cleansed from the earth,” the man yelled so everyone in the hall could hear him. “We cannot permit that demon to gain more power… she will be the ruin of us all. Only holy water or fire will save our souls from this evil.”

It was clear to me this man was stark-raving mad, but I couldn’t tell is if he believed what he was saying or had been brainwashed. Nothing he was saying made sense. Holy water certainly wasn’t a chemical like he’d thrown, so who was the puppet master?

“Jace, move,” I barked, seeing the man slip his hand into his pants pocket.

I don’t know why I assumed it was an explosive or something equally as damaging, but he’d already brought acid to a gunfight, so I wasn’t ruling anything out. Jace looked up at me as if he knew he couldn’t move out of the way fast enough and mouthed the word go. The internal battle waging war between going for safety or saving Jace was ended when Atticus appeared out of nowhere. The same moment I dove under the table, Atty slammed into Jace, sending them rolling away from the man and under the table opposite me. Acting fast, I tossed the table, creating somewhat of a barrier between me and whatever was about to happen.

The whole building shook from the blast, but by some miracle, it was a rather contained explosion. Peeking over the table, I found what remained of the body, along with cracked, scorched stone where he’d detonated. Confident the worst was over, I stood, looking around the room, taking in the damage. Tables had been blown over and pushed out from the blast, creating a void that was covered in blood and body parts. While people seemed rattled and pretty terrified, it didn’t look like many had gotten hurt.

“Luca, thank fuck you’re all right,” Hound said before grasping me in a quick bro hug. “I saw Jace get knocked out of the way by Atticus, but I lost sight of you. What the fuck is going on?”

“I don’t know,” I answered, looking around for my gun that I’d dropped. “He was rambling about Astin being a demon and needing to cleanse the world. I should have made Jace double-check he wasn’t booby-trapped. The fucker had an acid bomb in his pocket, so why wouldn’t he have a real one?”

“Did you say acid?” Liu asked from behind me.

Whirling to face him, I sighed seeing him hold out my gun. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure he was aiming for Astin, but Boykov got there first. Took a direct hit to his left side, but it didn’t slow him down one bit. That beast of a man picked up our girl and hauled her ass out of here.”

“Guys, I’m gonna need a little help here,” Jace called from across the room, waving us over.

Kicking a table out of the way, Hound cleared a path through the bloody blast zone. That was going to be one hell of a cleanup job. Braxton was already there with Atticus’s head resting on his lap. It was pretty obvious to tell what the problem was seeing the way Atticus’s left arm hung oddly.