CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CARA
Idon’t know how long I lay here like this, resting against Ezra’s chest, foggy headed as my brain relays the memory of his steady heartbeat to comfort me, but the hit I took to my head begins to spike with pain as the initial shock of it subsides, my adrenaline waning.
The monotonous wail of an alarm from the floor above us only proves to annoy an already frustrated Lenora as she prepares the table with plastic sheeting, wiping her sweaty brow with the back of her hand still gripped around the handle of her gun.
“You two find out what’s going on,” she barks the order at the twins, who seem oddly relaxed considering everything that has happened. When they don’t jump into action, Lenora levels the gun their way. “You’ve come this far. I have no problem adding two more bodies to the pile.”
“Understood, ma’am,” Caleb snickers as they tip their hats her way and stroll out of the room.
“You just can’t find good help these days,” she tiredly remarks, glancing down at me. “Where were we?”
I don’t have time to process the shift in my equilibrium when I’m hauled away from Ezra’s body and held against Simon’schest, his mangled hand snaking around my waist as he carries me across the room.
“NO. PUT. ME. DOWN. FUCK!” Each word is punctuated with a grunt, his grip tightening as he presses painfully against my sore ribs. The garbled groan from Simon when my foot connects with his shin feels like a win as he drops me to the ground. The overhead bulb pops, and the room is suddenly steeped in darkness. I scurry over towards the fire, the only source of light now, my throat dry with fear as I try to steady my breathing.
“Now what?” Lenora kicks the table in frustration like a toddler being threatened with nap time, and the metal tools clatter around noisily.“Do I need to do everything myself? Go and check the switchboard.”
“What do I do with her?” Simon replies.
“How would you ensure a mutt stays where you put them?”
I foolishly don’t see the hit coming, but as Simon holds onto the crumbling brick fireplace and kicks me full pelt in the gut, I slump against the floor, my vision fuzzy as bile rises in my throat. Spit dribbles from my mouth and onto the dirty floor as a fiery heat sears my lungs with every brutal breath I inhale.
“Good work,” Lenora praises him as he hobbles past her. Turning to me, she adds, “I wanted to bring you into the fold, Cara, that had always been the plan. But you had to go and fall in love.” She snickers teasingly as she strolls towards Ezra’s body, leaving her gun on the table.
“Don’t you fucking touch him,” I bite out as she lowers herself down beside him, pushing his hair off his face, a move that would by anyone else be considered affectionate. Lenora Blackwood is dead inside, a heartless machine that uses and discards people to get what she wants.
A feral possessiveness grips my heart, and I struggle to my knees. My desire to protect his body outweighs the slicing pain ofmy injuries as I climb to my feet on shaky legs, holding onto the brickwork to steady myself.
A squeak of terror bursts from her mouth, and my eyes go wide. Goosebumps skitter up my spine as she fumbles with her words, shock stealing away her voice as his grip tightens on her wrist. His eyes snap open, filled with cold fury as the firelight flickers against his features.
“She said, don’t touch.” He grins wolfishly as he gets to his feet. He cracks his neck, Lenora wincing as he tightens his grip on her.
“You…you were…” she stutters, slowly backing away.
“Dead?” he offers with a gruff chuckle. I’m rooted to the spot as I watch him stalk Lenora until her back is pressed up against the wall. Securing his large palm around her throat, he grits his teeth and squeezes, lifting her off the floor with ease as she claws at his tattooed arm and kicks her feet, her precious heels falling from them as she thrashes. Her face flushes red, her eyes bulging as he cuts off her air supply. “You should have picked someone easier to kill,” he whispers, his grin splitting his face as her eyelids flutter closed. Her body goes limp, and he removes his hand, letting her slump to the ground at his booted feet. He hasn’t killed her; I can see her chest rising and falling as she lays there unconscious.
Still unable to move, my mouth agape as he approaches me. “I thought I’d lost you. You—I felt—you were cold,” I trip over my words, my voice small as I apprehensively lay my hand on his chest over his heart, worrying that he’s not really here and this is all some fucked-up consequence of all the knocks to my head. That familiar thump beneath my palm has my knees buckling as I whimper in relief. Tears cascading over my cheeks as he catches me.
I punch weakly at his chest as he holds me to him, stroking my hair as I let out the heartache I’d thought I would have tolive with forever in his absence. My throat tightens painfully, not knowing if I want to cry, curse, or kiss him as the emotion of having him here, breathing beneath my touch, hits me anew. A raw and dizzying relief so intense that it hurts.
“You’re mine, sweetheart. In life, in death, in every bloody second in between.”
I gaze up at him bleary-eyed, raking my thumb over his lips.
“You didn’t think I’d leave you alone in this nightmare, did you?”
With a shaky smile, I chuckle, “You’re insane.”
He brushes a scarred knuckle down my cheek and affectionately dips to meet my lips for too-brief a moment, before pulling back and resting his forehead against mine. “Only for you, Red.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CARA
The lights groan as they sputter back on, the electroshock machine in the corner buzzing to life. Lenora struggles as much as her restraints will allow as Ezra places the circular pads of the paddles against her temples—too softly for what he’s intending, but I can see it’s to amp up her fear, and boy, does this man know how to instil fear. A psychologist would have a field day with the mental gymnastics going on in my head right now because watching him this way is riling up the feral need I feel to jump into his arms. He makes it an art form that I can’t help but admire.
