Chapter 25 #2
I gasped in fast, panicked breaths, trying to think straight. This couldn’t be happening. Gods, I almost wished the wolves had killed us.
“Let’s cooperate for now,” Trey breathed into my ear, his lips concealed by my hair. “Try to relax their guard.”
“I’ll come nicely if you promise you and your men won’t hurt him,” I said, ignoring the frustrated noise Trey made.
Vulture’s grin widened. “Deal.”
“Bones,” Trey growled, “the fuck are you doin’?”
I turned to look at him. “I love you,” I whispered.
Desperate fury shone in his eyes, but he replied, “I love you too.”
I forced myself to pull away, to leave the safety and comfort of his arms, to stand and walk over to where Vulture waited.
His men moved in, grabbing Trey, hauling him to his feet, and binding his hands behind his back.
I stopped an arm’s length away from Vulture, eyeing him.
I’d not included my own safety in that deal on purpose, hoping he would seize on that technicality.
I expected him to hurt me. I’d left him to bleed to death in the hot desert, but this was between me and Vulture, and I wanted to keep Trey out of it.
Vulture studied me with an unexpected intensity, like he was looking for something. When he stepped forward, I tried hard not to flinch but didn’t quite succeed. He moved into my space—too close. I felt myself pull inward, my throat tightening.
“I missed you,” he murmured, stroking a knuckle down my face.
My skin crawled, but then a sharp pain stung in my arm and I jumped.
I looked down to see that with his free hand, he’d stabbed a syringe into my arm.
The icy drug rushed through my blood, and I stumbled back a step, swinging my panicked gaze to Trey.
It looked like he was fighting the men holding him and yelling.
A deafening buzzing drowned out everything. The ground rushed up to meet me.
—
An ominous silence loomed over me.
My body floated in darkness, suspended in something not quite like water and not quite like air.
I waited, terrified, for that cold voice to speak. I didn’t dare open my eyes.
The silence stretched on as I waited.
And waited.
And waited.
And waited.
But the Shadow never appeared.
—
I bolted upright with a gasp of panic.
“There she is.” Vulture crouched in front of me in the snow, that empty smirk still on his face.
I stared at him blankly, each breath scraping in and out. He held another syringe, so he must have injected me with something to wake me up. I could feel it, the adrenaline surging through me, but my mind and body felt sluggish, still caught in the narc’s web.
“Get her up,” said a cold voice that I recognized with a rush of terror.
Vulture hauled me to my feet and shoved me forward.
I stumbled a few steps, my legs and feet still numb, and glanced around, disoriented.
A huge crowd of people surrounded us, full of familiar faces.
We were back at the Vault. How the fuck were we back at the Vault?
My thoughts felt like they moved through thick, sticky honey.
The entire hold appeared to be here, held back by Madame’s men with their guns drawn and ready.
Vulture’s men lingered around mud-splattered bikes, watching us.
My eyes found Mac, and the horror and fear on his face reflected my own.
Griz stood next to him looking panicked, an expression I’d never seen from him before. Where were the others? They had to be—
“Bones.”
I turned at Madame’s sharp call and my heart stopped.
Madame stood about ten feet away from me and in front of her, Trey knelt in the snow, his arms still bound behind him, his eyes fixed on me. In one smooth movement, Madame drew the pistol holstered at her waist and pressed it directly to the side of Trey’s head.
“You’re gonna wanna pay attention, Bones,” Madame said in that cold voice. “I want you to remember this the next time you think about runnin’.”
“No!” I gasped in horror, lunging a step forward, only to halt when she flicked the safety off the gun.
I could hear people in the crowd also shouting and crying out, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying through my panic.
“Please, Madame, I’ll do anythin’—”
“Bones,” Trey interrupted, his eyes never leaving mine, “let ’em in.”
“Madame!” I couldn’t even begin to process what Trey just said, and what it implied. This was all happening so fast—too fast—and I needed to think, but the heavy drugs clouded my mind. “Madame!” I tried to keep my voice calm, but it shook. “Please! Please wait! Please can’t we talk—”
“Bones, darlin’.”
My gaze snapped back to Trey’s face, and the love and regret and acceptance in his face made the panic roar even louder in my head.
“No!” I cried, terrified tears rolling down my face. “Trey! Please don’t—”
“Darlin’,” he interrupted, his voice rough with emotion, “I’ll find you again in another lifetime. Maybe there we’ll have more time.” His voice cracked. “I love you.”
“Trey, please!” Oh gods, I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t breathe.
“How sweet.” Madame’s voice was ice-cold.
“Madame! Please!” I sobbed. “Please, let me—”
“I love—”
She pulled the trigger.
—
In one blink Trey was looking at and speaking to me, and in the next his body jerked backward, slumping over.
Half his skull was gone, blood and gore everywhere.
Part of my brain couldn’t accept what my eyes were seeing.
I couldn’t understand how someone so full of life could be snuffed out just like that. The snow underneath him ran red.
Vaguely, I could hear the crowd yelling behind me.
People sobbed. Madame spoke to them, her voice harsh, but I wasn’t listening.
I forced my body to move and fell to my knees beside Trey, trying to avoid looking at the gaping hole in the side of his head.
His beautiful brown eyes stared blankly at the sky, but all the warmth that shone in them had gone out.
“Trey, please. Please, no.” I repeated it, my voice cracking, as I cradled his bloody face.
I knew it was pointless, but I couldn’t help trying to heal him.
The warmth seemed to pour from my hands and then evaporate into the cold air instead of seeping into his skin.
No life remained in him for me to heal. I couldn’t bring him back.
I’d never been able to bring back the dead, and the gods knew I’d tried.
Something in me broke, and I suddenly understood the woman who had screamed for her child after the Reapers tore them from each other. My own uncontrollable scream ripped out of me. I screamed as the pain tore me apart, as all the beauty and hope Trey had coaxed to life inside of me shattered.
I folded over, pressing my face against his motionless chest. I grabbed at his jacket, desperate for something solid.
He still smelled like Trey, like home, even as the metallic tang of blood filled my senses.
I heard Madame’s men driving the restless, agitated crowd back.
I could hear them shouting for a long time, a dull roar in the background.
The cold snow seeped into my pants, freezing against my skin until I couldn’t feel it anymore.
“Please don’t. Don’t leave me. Please.” I sobbed into his chest. Why hadn’t I told him I loved him from the first moment I knew? Why had I wasted so much time trying to push him away? We could have had more time, gods, I just wanted a little more time.
When a heavy hand clapped down on my shoulder, a feral part of me came loose.
I put my whole body and all my fury into the punch, landing a solid blow to the side of Vulture’s face.
He went down with a surprised expression.
His men rushed me and I fought them, screaming and clawing and spitting like a wild animal until finally one of them raised a rifle and swung the butt of it hard at my head, and then I knew nothing at all.