Chapter 28 - Hayze
TWENTY-EIGHT
HAYZE
Tension shoots through me, my muscles drawn taut like a bow.
There’s no processing a single thought. That was Delilah’s scream.
It was audible all the way from the other side of the building in Nolan’s rooms. My heart kicks into a gallop as I burst from my seat for a second time in the last few moments.
“What the fuck?” Gannon grumbles. I ignore him.
We’ve only semi-recovered from Leif’s panic and the subsequent uproar it’d caused, and now this.
Fuck. Is the rest of the Collective in the exam room?
I could have sworn they said they wouldn’t be back until later this evening.
Why is she screaming? Nolan went down to the cellar to tend to Fenix, and I swear Cross has to be the only one with her. Except Dragan is also missing. Fuck.
My throat is so thick with worry I can hardly breathe. I don’t know how many seconds pass while Arrow, Malakai, and I stare at each other. Arrow’s chest heaves with ragged breaths, his eyes frantic.
Oh fuck. As much as I want to know what’s happening, I can’t have Arrow going off half-cocked. “Take him outside, Mal.” I hastily wet my lips. “I’ll find out what’s going on,” I grunt.
Malakai’s dark eyes focus on me, and he exhales hard, giving me a look that reads Are you fucking joking? but then grips Arrow’s elbow. “Come on.” He tugs roughly on his arm until Arrow finally moves. A moment later, Malakai successfully steers them through the back door.
Those screams. They’ve reached right inside me and twisted me up bad. I can’t even seem to calm myself. Can’t think.
The others go on with their meal, quietly eating and talking among themselves. I’m not paying any fucking attention. I stand at the side of the room, my gaze anxiously flicking between those remaining around the table and the empty front hall.
I’m grinding my teeth so hard my jaw aches with the abuse. Fuck this. Decision made, I stride purposefully in the direction the screams had come from. I have no idea what my intention is, but I have to know what’s happening down there, no matter the repercussions.
But then, from up ahead, someone emerges from one of the doorways.
Correction. Three people. I stop in my tracks as soon as I see Cross.
The second is Delilah. He has a hand on the back of her neck, forcefully urging her to walk.
Dragan trails behind them, a nasty smirk on his face.
What the fuck happened? I can’t help but scowl as I shoot Cross a questioning look, but he wrenches his gaze from mine.
That just makes my frown deepen and my pulse quicken. A breath heaves from me as he tugs the door to the cellar open and roughly guides her through the doorway and down the stairs without so much as a word.
Once they’ve gone, my brother smirks at me. “It was fuckin’ beautiful the way he made her scream. Bitch deserved it.”
I school my features, even though my fists are clenching and unclenching at the glee in his voice. When I think I’ve got myself under control, I mutter, “What do you mean?”
“Did Nolan not say anything?” He didn’t. And no one had dared question the lethal set to his features before he slammed the door to the cellar open and disappeared. My dickhead brother throws his head back and laughs. “Turns out she had some contraption up inside her cunt.”
I freeze, staring at him, then slowly rub a hand over my face. “What are you talking about?”
“Cross told me. It’s called contra—” He slicks his tongue along his lower lip as he scratches the side of his head. “It’s contra-something. I can’t remember the word. Means no matter how much we fucked her, she wasn’t going to conceive.”
I blink, shock rolling through me. “You’re lying.” Oh fuck. If anything was going to send Nolan into a rage, that’d be it.
He shakes his head, a sick chuckle falling from his lips.
“I’m not. It showed up when Nolan was using some machine to make sure the baby was a boy.
” He grins wryly. “I was outside the room when he started bellowing about it. Leif interrupted, otherwise I think Nolan would have ripped it out right then and there.” He smirks again. “Instead, Cross got to do it.”
My mind scrambles as it conjures things I desperately hope aren’t true. I heave out a breath, fighting for both control and to hide my true feelings about the matter. “When you see Cross, could you tell him to meet me outside? I wanna hear more about this.”
He shrugs. “Not your errand boy, but sure.”
I don’t have the patience to deal with his ego right now. Turning on my heel, I head for the side door and exit—because if I don’t, my head might pop clear off my neck.
Outside, I pace as I suck in lungfuls of fresh air.
My heart thuds harshly as it forces blood through my body.
The vessels in my head feel like they’re going to burst. Is she okay?
Did he hurt her? Everything my asshole brother just told me runs through my mind, making me crazy with the need for more information.
By the time the door creaks open, I’m in a state, and listening to whatever bullshit Cross has to say is the last thing I want to do.
He comes directly toward me, a half-smile on his lips that triggers my vision to go red with fury.
Something inside me snaps, and I run at him, meeting him halfway in a volatile collision.
The impact as we slam together knocks the wind from my chest and sends both of us to the ground.
Gasping for air, I grind out, “What did you do?” before wrenching him toward me so I can punch his sorry fucking face as I continue with my tirade.
“What the fuck did you do?” I slug him again, my fist glancing off his chin this time.
Anger rampages through me, fueling me as we fight each other for dominance.
Like a pair of angry dogs, we roll over and over in the grass.
When he catches my jaw with a heavy fist, blood and spit fly from my mouth. I hardly notice the pain of it, but he grimaces as it coats his cheek, breath heaving from him as he stares wildly up at me. “Fucking stop it, Hayze! What’s wrong with you?” he gasps out.
“The fuck is going on?” Malakai’s shouted question infiltrates my wrath, but it doesn’t stop me, even when the sound of a couple pairs of feet running this way from the back of the house reaches me.
Going for Cross’s throat this time, I clutch at the thick column of it. I shake him, my teeth bared as I stare down at him. “How could you do it?” I heave out, agony cutting me deep as concern for Delilah mounts.
A second later, hands grip my biceps on either side, giving me a firm shake. “Fucking let go!” Arrow roars in my ear.
My attention swings from him to find Malakai staring at me in horror-struck fascination on my other side. He’s grabbed at the wrist of the hand that’d been ready to crush Cross’s windpipe, squeezing viciously. “Let go, Hayze,” he growls, tugging on me for emphasis.
When my bloodlust finally wanes, I exhale hard, staring at him without really seeing him for a second before I can finally focus. I loosen my hold on Cross’s neck. My breathing begins to slow. I blink.
On my other side, Arrow’s quiet voice finally reaches me and sinks past the fog of wrath. “Hayze, what’re you doing?” he whispers, squeezing my arm.
On a ragged exhale, I push away from Cross, sitting back on my heels before rubbing my hands over my face.
My bloodied friend lies there, dragging in one labored breath after another while his gaze wanders over my shoulder.
It’s then I realize Evren, Rafe, and Gannon have spilled from the building to find out what the commotion was all about.
Dragan joins them a moment later, a sick smile on his lips.
My focus swings back to Cross, and I test the split in my lip with my tongue. The shake in my voice hits hard as I whisper, “What did you do?”
He huffs out a breath, quickly jerking his head. “Not here.”
Fuck. What the fuck did I just do? I nod, scrambling from the ground and offering my hand to help him up.
Face red from both exertion and embarrassment, my feet immediately carry me away from the building and all the prying eyes.
I don’t stop moving until I reach the tree line.
Halting there, I plant my hands on my hips, dragging in another breath in an effort to calm myself.
Cross grips my shoulder a moment later, and at my back, he mutters, “I didn’t hurt her. I get that you thought I did. But that’s not what happened in there. It’s what I prevented.”
I press my lips together, dragging in a breath before turning around. My brow arches. “I heard her screams.” They’d shaken me to my core. I couldn’t stop it. Didn’t help her. Didn’t even know what was happening. Scrubbing both hands over my scalp, I tug hard. “Dragan told me—”
He shakes his head. “Since when do you listen to our asshole brother? I had to make it look like I tore that thing out of her.” His eyes flick over to Arrow and Mal who stand stiffly off to the side.
The confused expressions they wear match my own.
“I told her to scream. We had a fucking audience in Dragan. I couldn’t let him go back to Nolan and tell him I’d taken it easy on her.
” He stops, scanning my face before moving on. “Do you understand?”
“You didn’t hurt her.” Arrow’s voice is hard, jaw trembling like mad as he stares at Cross. “She’s okay.”
Cross uses the back of his hand to wipe blood from his lips. “She’s fine.” He presses his lips together. “For now, anyway. She’s downstairs with the women.”
I rub my hands over my face and let out a heavy breath. Finally, I nod. “Okay. Can you explain what it was? The thing inside her?”
He gingerly probes the bruised skin of his chin with a few fingers. “Women—the ones who don’t want to have babies—there are devices they can have implanted that stop their eggs from being fertilized.”
Malakai rocks back on his heels, understanding immediately lighting his eyes. “Fuck. She had an IUD.”
“Yep.” Cross nods, his jaw working to the side. “I examined her when she arrived. Nolan did, too, and neither of us noticed it. Not until the ultrasound he had me do on her today.”
Arrow’s brows drag slowly together, and I can tell he’s thinking hard about all of this. “She knew. And didn’t say anything.”
Malakai snorts derisively, rolling his eyes. “What was she supposed to have done? Volunteered the information? Of course she didn’t. She doesn’t want to get pregnant.” He turns his back on all of us. “Don’t you all get it? She doesn’t want to be here.”
My eyes crash shut as I let what I already knew sink even farther into my bones. Delilah will try to leave this place—if she can. I think she would even put her own health and safety at risk to do it. Of that, I have no doubt.
“She fought him.” Arrow looks as if he might be ill.
I jerk my head toward him, and he meets my eyes before shifting to gauge Malakai and Cross’s reactions. What is he talking about? Tension mounts in my neck and across my shoulders. “Explain,” I murmur.
Worry slices through me as he drags his hands roughly down his face.
“Your father. She was the one who opened up that gash on his head.” He hesitates, looking back toward the building before continuing.
“She was walking along a road. He came upon her and chased her into the woods.” He stops, swallowing hard. “She says he attacked her.”
“When did she tell you all this?” Malakai growls.
“Do you doubt her?” After huffing out a breath, Arrow mumbles through clenched teeth, “Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answers to.”
“You can’t keep your dick in your pants, can you?” Cross eyes Arrow, whose cheeks have darkened.
He’s hesitant when he responds. “I-I need her. She helps me.”
“Fucking hell, Arrow,” Malakai grunts.
I raise an irritated brow at our friend, then press my lips together.
Arrow and I need to have a talk. “Setting that aside for a second, I’ll admit to believing my father was hiding something, I just didn’t know what.
But assuming she’s telling the truth, it had nothing to do with the Hunting.
” I shake my head. “No wonder he came for her. I can’t imagine what went through his head when he realized she was here. ”
“This is a fucking mess,” Cross huffs out on a harsh breath. “But, agreed. He didn’t want us to know how they’d met.”
Malakai nods. “Yep. She got the drop on him.”
My brow furrows. “A drop of what on him?”
Groaning, Malakai shakes his head. “She hit Finneas—got the drop on him. Surprised him. That’s what it means.”
“Oh.” Cross snorts. “And that’s why he’s been acting weird and why he’s had it in for her ever since.”
Arrow plants his hands on his hips. “Do you think the rest of the Collective is aware?”
Malakai throws his arms out from his sides. “Like they’d care. Now Nolan is angry, too. And my father is just”—his eyes crash shut—“fucking twisted when it comes to her, anyway.”
“Mine is no better.” Arrow lowers his gaze to the ground.
“Whatever,” Malakai spits.
“Don’t believe me, then. I don’t care.”
But as I eye Arrow, I can tell he believes every word he’s saying. Fucking fuck. “We’re going to have to think very carefully about all of this.”
I nod. “We said we needed a plan. It’s time to fight back.” I pause, glancing at the other three in turn. “I think I have a few ideas.”