34. Lia
Chapter thirty-four
Lia
I’m in the kitchen licking the spoon clean of the cake batter that Mills whipped up when I hear a shout. It’s not the usual sounds, so I stop licking and turn, tense and watchful.
Ranger comes rushing in and kisses my head. “Gotta go, lovebug. Stay here and be safe, okay? We won’t be long.”
My enthusiasm for the day fades as I watch him leave. The others rush out, waving at me. Zaden pauses and points a finger at me.
“A single hair on her head is damaged, and I’ll put you in a mincer.”
The two prospects, Nick and Kyle, stare at me and blink wide eyes. “A single hair? Now that’s a bit hard, Zaden. Look at her. She’s accident prone.”
“I am not!” I scowl at Nick, who pulls a face at me, obviously disagreeing.
“Malone is in charge,” Zaden snarls and walks out the door, pulling it shut.
He threatened to mince someone for me. He’s so damn cute. I turn back to the spoon and huff a laugh.
I wrap my arms around myself and lick the spoon again.
Kyle snickers and pulls himself up on the counter. He swings his legs and watches me intently. He’s got dark chocolate brown hair, with deep brown eyes, and a spray of freckles across his nose. But it’s innate trustworthiness, the open guileless, genuine kindness that makes him a favourite amongst the club. And me, too.
“What?” I snap, defensively.
“You remind me of my little sister. ”
Warmth washes through me. A happy feeling that is so unusual that it takes me a moment to recognise it.
“I’ll call you brother from now on, then. What’s your sister like?”
“So, if I’m your brother, it’s only right I point out that you have chocolate all over your face, right?” Kyle snickers.
Nick has gone somewhere else, so it’s just the two of us.
“My sister is a ratbag. She is rebellious and stubborn and so independent. But I love her.”
I slap my hand to my face and wipe while I laugh. “Just you wait. I’ve had years to think of evil things to do to brothers. I might need to meet your sister.”
Kyle laughs. He’s such a chill, happy guy.
“Why did you decide to join the Mirakills?”
He shrugs. “Why not?”
I study him.
“I didn’t have many friends. I used to get along with my brother’s mates or my mum’s boyfriends. One of them taught me how to ride, and I’ve always loved it.”
I open my mouth to ask something else when Nick walks in with his hazel eyes wide open, he’s ghost white, and it’s startling because his hair is almost white, but his skin is now whiter. My immediate thought is that something is wrong. Is it the pack? His hands are stretched out away from his thick body. I straighten, dropping the spoon as my body fills with buzzing nerves. Kyle whips his head around, but it’s Nicky I’m focused on. His expression is more frightened than I’ve seen on anyone, and he looks so sad.
“Nick?”
“You need to not do anything stupid right now.” The voice doesn’t belong to Nick.
I blink as Malone comes into view, a gun casually pressed to the back of Nick’s head. Oh, my god, Malone has a gun pressed to the young beta’s head. How do I fix this? His flat blue eyes seem extra shiny with the excitement of the coming violence, and his black hair is on end like he’s been raking his fingers through it over and over. I can’t see any mercy or empathy in his expression. He seems…happy.
“Sorry, princess, but I’ve been paid a lot of money to take you for a ride.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I say it without really thinking, it’s just something you say.
“Fine.” Malone smiles. He smiles, that filthy fucker, and then he pulls the trigger.
I scream.
I scream, and I keep screaming.
I can’t look away .
Nick is dead on the ground. There is a hole in the back of his head, and I can’t look away. There’s so much blood.
I can’t stop screaming. Oh, my god, he killed him. I scream louder, tears streaming from my eyes.
Malone backhands me across the face. The crack of pain silences me more effectively than anything could. I hit the cupboards and huddle there. I can see blood on the floor.
“You’re going to come with me quietly.”
I follow his outstretched arm and find Kyle sitting there. His face is milk white, and he’s breathing hard. Malone’s eyes are on Kyle, but he flicks them to me, and I don’t see an ounce of humanity in him.
“If you let him live, I will come quietly and do everything you want. You have my word,” I manage to whisper.
Malone looks at Kyle with a dark smile. He drops the gun and shoots Kyle three times in the stomach.
I let out another shriek, a scream of pure agony and denial. Malone doesn’t waste a second. He grabs me and drags me by my hair to the back door. I look back and spot Kyle on the ground beside Nick, and then I’m dragged out of the house, and I can’t see any more.
Nicky is dead.
Kyle is dead.
Oh, god, Malone is insane.
My pack are going to be so scared.
He drags me out to the driveway and pushes me into a car. It’s an old sedan, but when I get in the back, there’s no door handles, and there’s a perspex divider like what is in old taxis.
I sit back, terrified. There’s no point even talking to him. He’s not going to change his mind. Poor Kyle and Nick. The poor club. Their families. Zaden. I close my eyes, wishing I could spare him.
I gag and vomit in the back of his car. He shouts and curses at me, but I don’t even care. I keep seeing Nick fall. Kyle’s body jerking violently against the cupboards. The smell of blood still fills my nose.
Kyle’s horror-filled face as the bullets hit.
Their prone bodies on the kitchen floor.
I don’t realise I’m crying until I realise I can’t see anything. I swipe at my tears and huddle to the side of the car. He’s driving us to the other side of the city. He’s not even trying to hide .
I watch for bikes, but more than that, I watch the route he takes. He pulls up into a warehouse and stops the car. I don’t know where we are.
“Put this on.”
I shake my head. He yanks open the door, pins me to the car, and ties a blindfold on me. I don’t make a sound, even when he yanks out my hair.
Then he grabs my wrist and twists it up behind my back and forces me to walk forward.
“You’re fucked now, princess.”
I shudder. I had no idea this much loathing lived inside this man.
“I want my money,” Malone snarls, his grip on me tightens, and I let out a tiny groan of pain.
I hear the thud of something hard.
“Don’t move, Lia.”
I turn my head in the direction of the speaker. The voice is familiar, sort of. I can almost remember it, but I can’t place it.
“What happened?” The voice asks. I don’t recognise it, but the smooth depths are familiar. Like a memory of a dream.
“He killed Nick and Kyle,” I whisper.
A hand touches my chin. I flinch and tremble.
“You hit her?”
I don’t listen to the rest. Who cares? Nick and Kyle are dead. I want my pack. I want to go home.
I hear footsteps run away, and then a car starts and speeds off.
“Come on, Lia.”
I stand still, somehow more terrified than I’ve ever been. “No. No, I don’t want to go with you.”
“Lia, I need you to walk or I’ll carry you. No one is going to hurt you here.”
I snarl. A hand grips my arm and drags me forward.
“I’ve waited years to meet you,” he says.
I’m so confused that I walk with him, letting this stranger in the dark guide me further away from my pack.