“Told her brothers I’d wade through rivers of blood for her.” I squeeze my eyes shut, acid eating at the back of my throat.
He grins, an animal baring of teeth. “Then that’s what we’ll do. Rivers of blood.” He lets me go, wraps a colossal arm around my neck, jerks me into a hug. “We just won’t actually kill ’em.”
Kane wedges himself into our hug, his equally massive arms going around us both. “You sappy fucks think you’re gonna have fun without me, you best think again.” His hazel eyes meet mine, serious, deep. “Never had a sister. Now I got one. Those cunts think they takeourgirl? No fuckin’ way.”
I bring my arms around them. “What the fuck would I do without you?”
Chance thuds his head against mine. “Never gonna know, brother.”
Kane shoves us away. “Enough of this girlie shit. Let’s go get your woman, Rev.”
Ice surges in my veins, my skull aching with the frigid, barely restrained fury. I follow Kane with Chance at my side as we go gear up.
Inez’s voice stops us. “You realize it’s a trap, right? This is what they want.”
I turn, glance back at her. “No shit.”
“Rev?” Her voice is low, and as gentle as she gets. “Hold to your oath.”
“Not gonna kill anyone. Just gonna make ’em wish I had.”
Her smile is so predatory it sends shivers up my spine. “That will do.”
19Rivers Of Blood
Myka
My scalp hurts. Funny, of all the ways they’ve hurt me, it’s the scalp that lingers. They yanked me around by my hair, first to get me into the SUV, then yanked me out of it again by my hair. In fact, whenever they want to make me go somewhere, it’s with a savage yank of my hair.
I do not go quietly. Yes, they have guns, but if they were going to rape or kill me, they’d have done so already. So, I fight. Kick, scratch, head-butt. They have to fight me for each and every inch they haul me, and there are four of them. I manage to break a nose, leave bloody claw marks on more than one face and down more than one forearm. There are definitely some bruised shins.
I don’t know where I am—underground, somewhere. There was a parking garage. We’re currently in a hallway, they’re dragging me toward an elevator, and it’s taking all four of them to get me there, because I’m thrashing, kicking, screaming—connecting, too. There are grunts and growls of frustration.
Finally, one of them slugs a fist into me, on my right side, near my back, an upward punch under my ribcage toward my shoulder blade. Just once, but viciously hard. A bright, sharp lance of pain unlike anything I’ve ever felt makes me go limp, unable to catch my breath.
They let me fall to my kneess, but my legs won’t hold me. That grip on my hair, again, yanking my head back on my neck, hard.
The one who hit me puts his face in mine. Swarthy skin, evil dark eyes, swept-back black hair, hard jaw. Terrible breath. “Bitch, youbetterquit.” His fingers grip my jaw at the hinge, pinching hard. “Can’t kill you, can’t fuck you. Nobody said I can’thurtyou.”
Rev is coming. And I find I can take the pain, as long as I hold on to that fact.
I spit in his face. “Fuckyou.”
He turns away, wipes his face. Stands facing away, head down, shoulders hunched. And then he spins on a heel, backhanding me. I taste blood, feel my teeth rattle, loosened.
He glances at one of the men holding me by the arm. “Better be fuckin’ worth it, this bitch.”
“I hope he knows what he’s doing,” the other says. “I watched Rev work, back in the day. Cold-ass motherfucker.”
“Javier says he took some kinda oath, can’t kill nobody.” This is from the one who hit me.
“We took his woman.” The one behind me, who watched Rev work, whatever that means. “Not sure an oath is gonna stop him, José.”
José pulls a disgusted face. “Shit, man. You scared?”
“Of Rev?Fuckyeah I am.”
“Pussy.”
