Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
Bear
I laugh to myself. Kai has lost his goddamn mind if he thinks I’ll listen to his orders.
I play by my own rules—always have and always will.
I don’t get told what to do. Hell, even I can’t control the actions that I take half the time.
There are multiple voices inside my head, and I never know which one is coming out to play.
Moving around the car, I stalk closer to the tracks, stopping on our side.
I wink at Freya, and she smiles. Though I miss her, she’ll never be one of us again.
I’ve accepted that, unlike Kai. She’ll always have a place in his heart.
That makes him weak. The fact that he has a heart. It’ll get him killed.
Gage stands next to Freya with his shoulders pushed back, a fierce look in his gaze. He appears to be ready to fight and, fuck, that makes me giddy. As I bounce from one foot to the other, my eyes clash with Lucas, and I wave at him. He flips me off, and I snort.
“Hello, my little pup,” I say, and Lucas steps forward. I meet him in the middle of the tracks, his chest touching mine.
“Fuck you,” he seethes and shoves me.
I stumble back a step, and my chest heaves. I lick my lips, ready to cause mayhem.
Kill him.
A hand lands on my chest, holding me in place, and Hazen pulls Lucas back.
“Enough!” Gage booms, and I shove my hand into my pocket. My fingers wrap around Amirah’s necklace that I ripped from her neck. A sense of calmness washes through me; it feels nice.
Not as nice as blood would, running down your hands. Kill Lucas.
Fuck. I miss her. I wanna go back. What if she’s escaped? She can’t. We haven’t played with her enough yet. She’s like a puzzle to me. So many pieces. So much to discover and put together. I want to know everything.
“What do you want?” Kai asks, sliding up next to me.
I keep holding on to Amirah’s necklace. It’s grounding me, keeping me here.
“Not sure if you’ve heard, but my sister, Amirah, is missing,” Gage says, and I smirk.
Freya watches me closely, her head cocking to the side. She’s trying to read me, but she won’t get anything. I won’t say or do anything. I don’t want Amirah going back to them. She’s ours now. They’ll have to kill me before I let her go.
“Yeah, we heard, but that doesn’t explain this,” Kai says, pointing between us.
“Do you have her?” Freya asks, stepping forward in front of Kai.
I see what game she’s playing—using Kai’s weakness for her against him.
“No,” he says, and his response is met with silence. Freya watches him closely, no doubt checking for anything that’ll give him away, but he remains stoic.
“And we’re supposed to believe you?” Gage huffs. “We’re coming over to check.”
“No, fuck off. You take one step over these tracks, and the war has begun,” Kai growls.
“Last we heard, she was in Berkeley at some college there,” Zion says.
Gage’s fists ball at his sides. He’s on edge. I should feel sorry for him—he’s lost his precious little sister—but I don’t, because she’s mine now, and I’ll never let him have her again.
He took advantage of her. She’s not some stupid Brotherhood princess who should be locked up in a castle. No, she’s so much more, and I’m not done playing with her. Not finished digging deep into her psyche to peel back the layers until I find the real her.
“We already checked there. We tore that place apart, and unless she’s buried—and surely no one would be that stupid—she ain’t there. So you’re lying to us,” Gage says.
“The fuck you say?” I roar and race toward him. I grab him by the shirt, pulling him to the ground as I punch his face. “You don’t call me a liar!” But what I really mean is, you don’t joke that Amirah could be dead. How dare he?
I punch him, and he punches back. Blood flies. Chaos erupts around us, and I couldn’t be happier.
We roll around on the ground, Gage on top of me, then me on top of him. Fists fly everywhere. Pain burns into my flesh, just the way I love it. I flip Gage over, pinning him down on the ground, my knees holding him as he thrashes around.
“Aww, Gage, remind me: you like having a dick up your ass?” I ask, and the look of horror in his gaze tells me exactly what I wanted to hear.
He spits, and it lands on my cheek. I smirk, letting the wetness slide from my chin and onto his T-shirt.
“Get the fuck off me!” he yells, and I lean forward, my cheek resting against his, my breath against his ear. He moves, kicking, trying to get free, but I’m stronger than he is. My hold is too powerful for him.
“But I wanna play with you,” I whine in my best little kid voice. I laugh, joy bubbling up inside of me. Sure, Gage is stronger than Lucas. He throws a harder punch, but I could still beat him. Mess with him until he’s begging me to stop.
Gage rams his fist into my stomach. I sit back ignoring the pain, looking around. Kai is in a fistfight with Hazen. Lucas has Zion in a headlock.
A gunshot rings through the air, and everyone freezes.
Hazen moves his pistol, aiming it at Zion’s head.
I see red and jump up, smashing my fist into Gage’s face before I let him go and stalk toward them.
Zion shakes his head at me, but I don’t stop until I’m pulled backward by Kai, who holds on to me. Fuck.
“Enough! This isn’t what I came here for.
I want my sister. You have forty-eight hours to bring her home or find her.
This place is the only one we haven’t searched.
If she isn’t back before then, I’m ripping your whole town apart, and you’ll pay with your lives,” Gage says, shoving Zion away.
He stumbles over to our side of the tracks.
I pull against Kai’s restraints. We want blood. More blood. My gaze moves from Gage to Lucas. He wipes away blood pouring from his nose, and my heart warms. That’s something. A little taste.
I wave at him, and he flips me off before walking away. Kai doesn’t release his hold until the others are in their cars. I stumble forward, my hands trembling. Kai follows me.
“What do we do now?” Zion asks, running his fingers through his hair.
“We either hand her back over, or we prepare for war,” Kai says.
Zion shakes his head. “No, she knows about Cleo. We can’t do anything until I have my kid back with us. Until I know she’s safe.”
“What about the home you wanted for her? The nanny?” Kai asks, frowning.
“I’ll have to make do with what I got.” Zion shrugs. “She won’t be safe if we go to war. I need her here with me now.”
“We’ll make a plan, brother.” Kai claps him on the shoulder.
“Only way Amirah is leaving now is in a body bag,” Zion says, his voice dropping.
Anger builds inside me. I won’t ever let that happen to her. She’s mine now. Ours. Only I can hurt her, but I’d never kill her.
The ride back to my place is silent. Kai drops me off, then leaves. Good. I just want to be with her. Without anyone else. Just us two. What’s she been doing? I hope she’s missed me.
I reach for Amirah’s necklace in my pocket, wanting that familiar calming sensation to bring me some peace before I walk in, and my stomach drops. Fuck.
It’s gone.