Chapter 62 Kaius
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
kaius
The desert was quiet tonight. Only the low rumble of thunder echoing off the canyon walls broke the silence, each crack rumbling like a warning.
Vince, Nolan, and I crouched in the shadows a few yards from the red barn Acelynn had walked into ten minutes ago.
But it felt like she had been in there for hours.
We were waiting for two gunshots, the signal that Logan was dead, and my sister could be pulled out of whatever hell he had put her through.
Nolan hadn’t stopped pacing, the sand crunching under his boots every time he turned back.
My gaze snapped off him at the sound of the first gunshot.
Silence followed, heavier than the storm pressing down on us.
My pulse thundered harder as the seconds ticked by.
There was always the chance the sound meant everything had gone wrong, that when I stepped inside, I’d be walking straight into my worst nightmare.
But this had been Acelynn’s plan. Reckless.
Insane. But I had let her run with it. The seconds dragged, and even Vince, who was always steady as a rock, shifted uneasily.
I closed my eyes, breathing in a lungful of dry, storm-tainted air. Come on, kitten. One more shot.
The second crack split the night. My eyes opened. Nolan flashed me a grim smile. “It’s showtime, boys.”
We stalked forward, moving quietly downhill, shadows gliding through sand and brush until the barn loomed before us. Nolan vanished around the left side of the building while Vince took the right. They would take care of Astoria while I dealt with whatever cleanup Acelynn needed handled.
Two voices drifted out of the half-open door, pulling me in. I edged close, fingers brushing the grip of my gun, listening.
Acelynn’s voice was off. There was a slight slur to her words. “Start talking.”
Then a ghost from our past answered. “You were never going to live a normal life, Emersyn.”
Ice slid down my spine. Alec Spade. The son of a bitch I had buried in fire and ash.
I edged inside, eyes locking on the sight before me.
Acelynn was laid out on the ground. She was as white as a ghost, causing the blue in her veins to stand out.
There was a glazed overlook in her eyes that I only saw when Vince dosed a person with hemlock.
The thought had my stomach dropping. If she had hemlock in her system, there was no telling how long she had left.
“We gave you the illusion of a safety net when we shipped you off to those fancy schools, but you were always going to be a bargaining chip, whether it was with the Knights or another power move our father wanted. It’s the exact reason you were born.
” Alec loomed over her, taking slow steps toward her, calm, predatory, his voice soaked with venom.
“I don’t believe you didn’t try to protect me,” she whispered, shoulders slumping slightly at his words. “You, out of everyone, were the biggest advocate for me getting away from the club. What changed?”
“I tasted power, little Spade.” Alec raised his hands up in an oh well motion.
Acelynn’s gun lay to her left, just far enough that she wouldn’t be able to reach for it without him noticing.
Bruises bloomed across her face, stark in the moonlight.
My jaw clenched hard enough to crack teeth.
The shattering of glass in a back room had Alec moving in a blur toward her, his arm clamped around her throat, twisting her against him.
Acelynn’s body was limp in his hold, dangling awkwardly off the ground as he forced a gun beneath her chin like a grotesque puppet show.
I stepped from the shadows, weapon raised and sighted square at his head. Acelynn bucked against him, throwing her head forward into his nose. He laughed, red teeth gleaming, his grip iron. The hit hadn’t had enough strength in it to do any real damage.
“Look at that, sister,” Alec sneered. “Your knight in shining armor, here to save the princess.”
Her cry cut through me as he jammed the gun harder into her jaw. My aim wavered on her instead of him as he lifted her up and against his chest, using her as a human shield against me. Rage burned hotter than the storm overhead. There was no way I had a clean shot with her like that.
“Let her go,” I demanded. My voice was steady, even if my hands weren’t.
My gaze never left Acelynn. She was shaking, dirt and blood streaked across her skin, nails clawing at his arm.
I wanted to promise she’d be okay, but I couldn’t lie to her.
Not here. “Once you let her go, we can do all the talking in the world.”
Alec only smirked. “I rather like the current position we have.”
I tighten the hold on my gun. “Who did I kill that night if it wasn’t you?”
“A prospect.” He spat truths twisted in poison.
That the burned body we had found hadn’t been him, just some prospect, and I had fallen for his illusion.
“I knew my baby sister was going to be a weak spot for you the second your face dropped when I came to ask for your help. I added my signature tattoo to his leg and made sure he would burn in the house just enough to be unrecognizable.”
His nose brushed the side of Acelynn’s face before he caught my eyes again.
His tongue flicked out as he licked up the side of her face.
She screamed at the contact, body convulsing in fear.
Alec’s dark chuckle filled the barn. “She is on hemlock right now, so I could convince her of just about anything, like I had the night of the massacre.”
“You drugged your own sister that night?” I growled, the pieces finally falling into place.
Acelynn’s skewed view of what occurred the night of the Spade massacre made more sense now. But it wasn’t hemlock that he used then. I turned my head to the side. “It was with Muze, wasn’t it?”
I tensed under his smirk as he spoke, “My little sister has been microdosed with Muze since she was old enough to speak. It was a preventive measure my father thought would help us when we shipped her off to the Knights. Guess he didn’t take the same precautions with hemlock.”
“Let. Her. Go.” My voice broke sharp as a whip, gun trembling now with the fury I could barely contain. “This is between us. You want power? Kill me and you’ll have it.”
Movement behind Alec caught my eye, and I could see Vince’s figure hidden in the barn’s shadows.
He was holding the same position as me, gun raised and aimed directly at Alec’s skull.
I made the play, dropping to one knee and sliding my gun across the floor.
Raising my hands, I baited him. “Come on, Alec. I’m the reason you did all of this.
If you kill me now, you have a right to the Knights’ presidential seat. You have the power.”
Alec laughed, blood and spit spraying Acelynn’s face as he yanked her hair, forcing her to look at him. She sobbed against her brother’s hand as he stroked the gun along her cheek. “Look at that. The King of Lovelen, ready to die for you, little Spade.”
“He’s not dying today,” Acelynn hissed at him.
In one brutal motion, she slammed her head into his again, this time with more power than before.
His nose crunched, and blood gushed down his face.
Alec dropped his hold on his sister, a hand coming up to clutch his face.
I leaped to my feet, hands lunging for the gun I had abandoned, but before I could get my hands around it, Acelynn had picked it up and leveled the barrel at him.
Blood streaked down her own forehead, but her hand was steady.
“What are you going to do now, Em?” Alec taunted, grinning through blood. “Shoot me?”
“I shot Logan,” she hissed. “You think I won’t kill you?”
My fingers brushed against her lower back, ensuring she knew I was behind her, no matter what she decided. Alec snarled, “Look at you. A Knight’s little slut.”
“Queen,” I corrected, pressing my lips to Acelynn’s throat, never looking away from him.
Her pulse was steady, and I noted that she no longer looked like she was floating from the drug in her system.
But I continued, taunting her brother as my lips continued their trail. “The new Queen of the Knights.”
The gunshot cracked like thunder. Alec screamed, buckling as the bullet tore through his arm.
He buckled in pain, weapon clattering to the floor.
Acelynn stepped forward, planting the heel of her boot into his wound, grinding down until he howled.
I watched, half in horror, half in awe at her actions.
She leaned down, voice ice-cold. “Hope it was worth it, Alec. Because it was for me.”
“Fuck you.” He spat blood, words coming through choked breaths.
“Say hi to our father.” Acelynn cocked the gun back, placing the barrel just a few inches away from his skull. “Make sure to tell him that the little girl he raised for slaughter destroyed every Spade he ever loved more than his own family.”
Alec laughed through his bubbling chest. “You’ll never outrun it. You are still a Spade, no matter what you say. The blood that runs through your veins is the same as mine.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” She smiled, cruel and lethal, before the sound of the gunshot ricocheted off the metal in the barn. Acelynn stood over him, chest heaving, blood on her face, and gun steady in her hand. Her voice was quiet, but it filled the barn, final and absolute. “I’m a Knight.”