35. Prudence
I’ve never been so scared out of my mind in my entire life, and really, after the shit hand I was dealt, that’s saying a lot.
“Please,” I croak as I look into my father’s eyes, hoping beyond all hope that I might find some kind of hesitancy. But no, there’s nothing there. No sympathy or guilt or remorse for what’s to come. He simply tilts his head as he studies me and then smiles.
Fine, then.
I drop my gaze to the ground at my feet, shutting out all these white-robed fuckers. Not a single one of them deserves my attention.
Creed shifts on his knees beside me and I glance down to check him over. When we’d walked in and found them, I thought my heart fell right out of my ass. My guys were hurt and bloody, and for a second, that was all I could see. Not that they were struggling to get free, not the ragged rise and fall of their chests, just all the blood, and I thought… I thought I lost them.
“Eyes on me, Prudence Cate,” Asher’s father coos, and when I look up, he’s standing several feet closer. My muscles twitch with the urge to run in the opposite direction, but with that gun aimed my way, I don’t dare move an inch.
“It’ll be okay, baby,” Asher promises fiercely, his eyes shining like he”s got a secret weapon, but fuck if he”s let me in on it. “He won’t shoot you because he knows if he does, he’ll be guaranteeing his own death. It won”t end well for him.”
I swallow thickly, nodding to let Asher know I heard him. Both our fathers chuckle like we’re just silly children playing at grown up games, but little do they know, none of us will give up this fight so easily.
“Is that so?” Asher’s father steps closer still, close enough that I could touch the gun if I reached out. ”Shall we test that theory? See what”s faster? You or a bullet,” he muses, and then with a wild glint in his dark green eyes, he swings the gun at Asher and pulls the trigger.
My world stops.
The shot rings out in my ears on an endless loop, so loud that it takes me a few seconds to realize I’m screaming. I press my hand over my heart, positive it’s stopped beating as I stare at Asher lying on the ground on the other side of Griffin. My giant of a man is blocking most of my view, made worse by his wild thrashing while he tries to break his binds, but I see Asher’s legs and the top of his head, and it’s clear enough that he’s not moving.
He’s… gone. Right as we had found our way together. I didn’t get enough time with him, and now I never will.
Grief hits me like a ten-ton truck, making my knees weak, but I manage not to collapse. Just barely because right on the tail of my grief is another, all-consuming emotion that swirls in my stomach and shoots outward, filling me so completely that I’m not sure I’ll ever feel anything else.
Pure, lethal rage.
“You bastard! How could you shoot him?! Your son, he was your fucking son!” I shout, lunging forward to wring his goddamn neck. Griffin and Creed are both speaking urgently, trying to tell me something, but I can’t make out a single thing aside from my sudden violent need to choke this motherfucker until his face turns blue.
But then several things happen within seconds of each other.
Asher’s father turns to me before I can reach him and whips the pistol across my face, knocking me to the ground as blood fills my mouth and stars dance in my vision.
Creed launches to his feet with an almighty roar, grabs the asshole’s head, and twists. His neck breaks before any of the other elders realize what’s happened, and his body hits the ground before the gun does.
And last, but not at all least, an FBI tactical team storms in through both passages leading into this hellish room, so many that I can’t easily count them. All the Celestial fucks in the room pull guns or knives from their robes and then an all out war breaks out.
Creed dives on top of me, cradling my head in case of stray bullets while I shriek in alarm. “Ember, breathe. Breathe for me, baby, calm down. It’s all gonna be fine. I”ll get you out of here,” Creed whispers urgently in my ear as bullets fly around the room and men grunt and groan in pain.
“N-nothing is f-fine,” I stutter out, shaking like a fucking leak now that my rage doesn’t have an outlet and the overwhelming pain of losing Asher is seeping back in. “He’s dead, Creed! And you’re hurt, so is Griffin— Oh my god, Griffin!” I gasp in alarm and try to squirm out from under Creed, desperate to help Griffin out of his bindings. He’s stuck there in the middle of a gunfight, completely helpless and if I don’t get to him right now, he could die too.
I can’t lose another piece of my soul. I won’t.
“Creed, get off of me! We have to help him,” I beg with tears streaming down my face while the fight rages on.
Creed grunts out a firm no, rising up from me a few inches and looking around. He meets my gaze with a smug smile, and I swear to god, I could punch him. What the fuck is he smiling for?
“I told you it would all be okay,” he drawls, but before he can explain what the literal hell he”s talking about, a bullet ricochets off the stone altar right behind us, whizzing by our heads, and I whimper from how close it came.
Creed goes stiff above me, growling like an animal. He looks down at me, searching my eyes before pressing the sweetest kiss to my forehead. “Stay right here, Prudence,” he breathes against my skin. I frown at him, shaking my head, but he just adds, “Stay here. Do not move. I’m going to get a weapon and then I’ll be right back for you. We”re gonna be fine, baby, I promise.”
He doesn’t give me time to respond or argue. He’s just on his feet and charging into the fray seconds later like death riding in for battle.
”Wait, Creed!” I call out, but he”s lost to the horde of assholes, and I can”t find him. Another bullet goes flying by too goddamn close, making me gasp in alarm. Fuck this. I need to get Griffin free of his ropes and then we”ll drag Creed out of here by his fucking balls if need be. With a grunt of pain from my pounding head, I push myself up into a crouch, my head spinning from that damn pistol whip. I stay low to the ground as I sweep my eyes to my left, where Griffin is tied up and beyond him where Asher’s… where his body is lying.
Griffin”s crystal blue eyes are locked on me, his face set in a mask of determination. He grits his teeth and shakes his head at me when I start to crawl closer. ”Little flame,” he rasps, his voice breaking. ”Baby, don”t. Forget about me, just get out of here. Nobody”s looking, they”d never know you slipped away.”
I stare at him like he”s spouted two extra heads. ”Absolutely fucking not, Griffin,” I hiss, ducking down when more shots ring out throughout the room. It seems as if every bullet is aimed this way, so as much as I hate it, I drop to my belly and wait it out. Getting myself shot won”t help Griffin. Instead, I”m stuck only feet away while I stare at him and pray to gods I don”t believe in that he survives. ”I”m not running like some coward while the men I love die. I”d sooner carve my own heart out of my chest with a rusty spoon. We”ll get out of here together. You, me, and Creed, and we”ll c-carry Asher”s body with us w-when we go too.”
He sniffles broken heartedly, his eyes shining with tears. ”I love you so much. Thank you for barging into our lives, for making us better men. Not a single one of us deserved you.”
I shake my head angrily, frowning at one of the pieces of my soul. ”Why does that sound like a goodbye? This isn”t the end.”
He licks his split lip and smiles sadly, giving a weak tug of his wrists. ”It is, though, Prudence. I”m stuck here, Asher”s gone… Creed is out there fighting for you, to keep you safe, and I have faith in him, but you need to run while you can. Creed will find you, baby, and he”ll protect you for the rest of your days, okay? He”ll hold you together, and he”ll tell you stupid stories about Asher and I, and he”ll make sure you never forget us.”
The tears swimming in his eyes finally break free, and the sight has my own emotions rearing up against my will. I reach for him, but I”m too far away and the bullets are still flying over my head. I can”t get to him, and my heart cleaves itself in two at that knowledge. ”I could never forget you. Either of you,” I promise fiercely.
Griffin huffs out a sad laugh, nodding as if that”s enough for him. That”s all he needed to hear. He rolls his shoulders back and steels his spine, glancing around the room. I follow his gaze and find Creed in the middle of the shit show, pulling a gun from a dead FBI agent, and even though I can’t hear him, the way he tosses his head back and laughs, I just know it’s a chilling sound that his enemies should be running from.
Creed looks at me in triumph, grinning when he sees I”m still safe. He starts heading back to me, to us, and I have a second of hope that with Creed”s help, we can untie Griffin and get the fuck out of here, but Creed only makes it a few steps before some Celestial asshole throws a sucker punch into his temple and knocks him to the ground.
I scream and Griffin bites out a furious curse as we watch Creed struggle to fight off the guy pinning him down with his hands around his throat. No! No, this isn”t happening! I’m about to stand up and make a run for him, hell to the bullets whizzing through the air, but then Griffin sucks in a ragged, terrified breath right as an arm bands around my waist and my feet are swept off the floor. I shout in alarm, kicking behind me, scratching at any skin I can reach, while my lungs seize.
”Prudence!” Griffin roars in desperation, and I fight even harder at the broken sound in his voice.
“Calm down, daughter, I just want to chat.”
A chill shakes me to my core at that voice, and I shudder against my father. “Let me go, you sick fuck,” I snarl, dragging my nails down his arm until I’m sure I’ve drawn blood.
He chuckles darkly and tsks at me. ”I don”t think so. Come with me, hmm?”
Despite my best efforts at trying to fight free, he drags me across the room and down one of the pathways that leads away from everyone. Away from Creed and Griffin. My throat tightens with panic, but I force a scream out anyway, hoping Creed is somewhere nearby and will hear me. Hoping he”s still alive and can help.
My father grunts in effort as he carries my flailing body down the hallway. He slaps his hand over my mouth when I start screaming again, holding his sweaty palm over my nose as well, so I can’t take in any air. I close my eyes against the urge to puke. Out of fear and agony and rage. It’s all roiling deep in my gut and wanting to come out, but I swallow the bile down and focus.
I go limp in my father’s arms, becoming dead weight, and when he falters and readjusts his hold on me, I snap my head back against his nose. The wail of pain he releases has me smiling like a madwoman.
He releases my mouth and nose, allowing me to suck in a huge gulp of air, and the second my lungs are filled again, I let loose a scream that practically tears my throat open with how loud it is.
Come on, Creed, hear me. Come for me.
My father turns us as he fumbles with his broken nose, and that was his mistake. I’m only a foot from the wall, and with a snarl of rage, I lift my feet, plant them against the stone, and push with every last ounce of strength I have. He tips back, losing his footing and taking me with him, but he lets me go to catch his fall. I land hard with a cry of pain, but I don’t give myself a second to dwell on the way my knees scraped the rough floor or my chin smacked on collision. I just shake off the daze and move.
I try to stand, but I guess the fall fucked my knee up worse than I thought, because I buckle under my weight and whimper when the joint throbs in protest.
“Little Prudence Cate,” my father pants, using a hand to push himself up. He snares me in his gaze and I freeze like a damn deer caught in headlights, but the second he gets situated on his knees and reaches for my ankle, I snap into motion.
I frantically crawl away from the man who helped put me on this planet, ignoring the constant ache in my left knee. But I’m not fast enough to get away. He locks a hand around my calf and digs his blunt nails in as he yanks me back to him, and I just know this is my death.
My father is going to murder me, and for all I know, all three of my guys are dead in the room beyond. None of us are making it out. The Celestials win.
“Prudence!” Creed roars from the altar room, and my battered heart kicks into a pounding rhythm.
“I’m here!” I yell, sweeping my hands out and clawing at the stone floor, tearing a few nails out as I go. My fingers graze against a heavy rock, and I grab it at the last possible second before it”s out of reach.
“Shut the fuck up,” my father snaps as he finally manages to pull me back to him. He flips me over onto my back roughly, glaring down at me while blood pisses out of his nose. “Years of searching for you, years of failure because some crazy bitch managed to outmaneuver us, and I”ve finally got you under my thumb. You”re not getting out of this. Fate has come calling, and the moon wants her defective child returned to the stars.”
”You”re the crazy one,” I spit, rolling the rock in my hand and getting a better grip. He hasn”t noticed it yet, but I”m acutely aware of my time running out.
My father chuckles dryly, licking his bloody lips. ”When I found out I”d planted a seed in that whore, I knew my chances of raising an heir were alive once more. It was just dumb luck, really. Your mother slipped up just once, a year after she ran from us, and a Celestial elder found the two of you on a CCTV camera. And though we couldn”t be sure, the timing and your red hair were enough to tell me I was a father again.” He grimaces, glaring down at me. ”But then she ran. Kept moving you, kept you in hiding, just like the other useless fucking woman who bore my first child. I”ve got shit taste in women, it seems.”
”Yeah, they don”t tend to like it when they”ve been raped,” I hiss before spitting at his face.
He rears back a bit, but keeps his grip on me strong. With a furious scowl, he says, ”You’re just as worthless and pathetic as your mother was. So insolent, so ignorant to the glorious ways of the life you could have had… But that’s fine. I’m happy to take you out of this world, and you know what? I’ll smile as you take your last breath, just as I did when your mother took hers. I wish I could say—”
“Fuck you!” I scream, swinging my hand through the air and crashing the rock into the side of his head the second I”ve got a good grip on it. The crack it makes against my father’s skull resounds through the cavernous hall, and I know the sound will haunt me for the rest of my life.
And then I see the blood. There’s so much of it, it just pours out of his head like a river. He grunts, his wide eyes showing his shock at getting beaten. A second later, all signs of life flee his body as he slumps on top of me.
Hot blood rains down over my chest, invading my senses until I’m gagging and crying, struggling to push my father’s body off. My hands slip with every shove and the longer he’s crushing me, the more I feel like this asshole is going to drag me to the grave with him just to spite me.
“No, no, no,” I cry, panting and gagging, kicking against the ground for any traction.
Just before I can absolutely lose my fucking mind, his body is gone and strong hands are lifting me off the floor. I thrash and buck against their hold, spitting venom and promising a gruesome death to whoever it is.
“Prudence, stop! It’s me, baby, relax,” an all too familiar voice murmurs in my ear.
My entire body locks up like a lead weight and I go limp in his arms, panting and crying, and quite honestly on the verge of a damn breakdown. “Asher?” I croak softly, too scared to say it too loud and have my hopes dashed to pieces. But I know I didn’t make that voice up. It’s him. Somehow, it’s my broody asshole, alive and with me where he belongs.
He kisses my temple and turns me away from the growing puddle under my father”s head, whispering, “That’s right, pet. You didn’t think I’d be that easy to kill, did you?”
A manic laugh tumbles from me as he finally sets me back down on my feet. I turn around and lunge at him, squeezing so tight I might burst his lungs, but I don’t care. I could kill him for making me think he was dead. ”No, you”re like a damn cockroach,” I reply.
Asher stumbles back with a grunt from the force of my hug, chuckling weakly as he wraps his right arm tight around me. “Miss me that much?” he croaks.
“I hate you,” I grumble, but there’s no heat in it. And there’s no getting rid of the smile on my face.
“Easy, little flame,” Griffin mutters as he comes up from god knows where, rubbing his big hand up my back and cupping the back of my neck. “He”s hurt.”
I grin at the rough sound of Griffin’s voice, so damn pleased to know he’s right here with me too, but then his words sink into my mind. I jerk back from Asher, frowning as I look up into his face. He’s pale and sweaty, and when I sweep my eyes down his body, there’s a dark stain on his left shoulder that looks all too much like blood.
“Oh my god,” I breathe out in shock, my eyes wide. Griffin pulls me into his side like he can’t handle another second without having me close, but I’m too focused on Asher’s oozing gunshot wound to glance up at my rugged giant.
Asher shrugs like it’s no big deal, a cocky smile on his face. “I’ll live. Let’s get Creed and get the hell out of here. The FBI has things handled from here, but I don’t have any plans on getting pulled in for questioning or arrested for the many murders Creed’s committed tonight.”
I bite my tongue against the worried questions I want to spew at Asher, peering down the hall toward the altar room, searching for Creed. Having Asher and Griffin here is setting my heart back together, but there”s still a huge missing piece as long as Creed isn”t with me.
As if answering my silent call, Creed walks into the hallway like a creature right out of a horror film. He’s absolutely covered in blood from head to toe, his hair wet and plastered to his gorgeously destructive face.
”Prudence,” he breathes in relief, and then he”s running, and despite my fucked up knee and the million other aches in my body, I run for him too. The final piece of my soul.