Chapter 38
Saint
im with you - avirl lavigne
The woman who consumes my every thought.
Controls my life by simply having her own heartbeat.
Hair as dark as the depths of a raging ocean.
Eyes as blue as the calmness of its surface when it wins the fight.
Features so flawless, you wouldn’t be able to imagine the scars that her mind carries.
I’m the luckiest bastard in the world, because I get to rain down hell on anyone who threatens us with that very woman who matches me in every single way.
We’ve been hiding out until nightfall, waiting for darkness to provide us with a playground that me and my soon-to-be wife thrive in.
My eyes roll over her sitting in the passenger seat. She’s kitted out like a man-made weapon, and she is.
She can lure you into her web with her beauty, disarm you with those pretty eyes, make you want to drop to your knees and surrender when she opens that fucking mouth.
And even when you do all of that, she still wouldn’t hesitate to slit your throat.
I groan, lifting my hips when my dick strains against the zipper.
My hand reaches out to glide along her inner thigh, and she tilts her head back against the seat, staring at me whilst letting out a sigh.
I might be able to conjure her favourite stars through the desire that bleeds beneath my fingertips. But when I look at her?
Truly look at her.
She’s like the fucking moon for me, the only light in a soul as dark and brutal as mine.
And to think she almost snatched that light away, thinking I was gone.
My jaw grinds together, and I grip her hand, brushing my lips over her knuckles. “You ready, darling?”
Indie’s smile is the prettiest and most haunted thing I’ve ever witnessed.
Christ, I love this woman so much it’s hard to believe I’m allowed to share the same air as her. I’m a man obsessed, addicted. I’ll never shy away from those feelings.
“Let’s go,” she whispers, unbuckling her seatbelt.
I hop out the car, walking around to open the door for her. When she slides down against my chest, I take a moment to just hold her in my arms, pushing her loose hair away from her face. “I want you fucking wild in there. I’m not gonna hold you back, Indie. But do me just one favour?”
“What is it?” she asks, wetting her lips as she stares up at me.
My lips flicker. “Stay in my line of sight.”
She rolls her eyes in a way I take note of for later. “Yes, boss.”
My groan rumbles in my throat, and I pull her to me, kissing and stepping into her so her back hits against my SUV. She tilts her head, opening up for me as I deepen it. “Go be that unhinged monster I crave to see again, darling,” I say against her lips.
I’ve seen it in her eyes since the moment she looked at those photos, that other darkness that threatens to take away the light.
If I can keep her mind shielded until she’s ready to bite back at it, then I’ll do whatever it takes.
Both of our earpieces crackle with static. “Rolling the feed. Guys, you can head in.”
I feel Indie’s wicked smile against my lips. We’re hidden in the car park at the far end of Kingstone University where the feeds have already been cut for us arriving. The rest we’ve been waiting for Regina and Dawson to work their magic.
Having those two minds together is something I wish we had in the beginning. Fuck, we’d have been unstoppable.
Her hands paw my chest, giving me a slight shove that I allow, and I take her hand in mine as we make our way onto the grounds.
Kingstone University sits on acres of land, smack bang in the middle of the city of Harriston. It’s left the natural habitat of the tree line as its borders, giving nothing away that two different types of civilization rest on either side.
From the city, you’d think you were driving into the rest of its land before hitting the next town. And from the school’s placement, you’d never know that a metropolitan area engulfs the perimeter, once riddled with the underbelly that controls the entire state.
Not for much longer.
The snow has washed away here; slushes of white are dotted along the pathway as we make our way to the edge of the building. Indie lets go of my hand. Her own pats over her belt and legs. A handgun and at least three knives still intact.
She’s got a vest and hoodie on top, concealing an abundance of other weapons. We’ve come with enough to take down an army, and it’s overkill, but who was I to deny her vengeance?
The Omnia have no guards left, their clients we know of being hunted one by one. Word has spread that we’re responsible for taking down their hierarchy, and anyone daring to fuck with us will meet the same fate.
“You see anything, Dawson?” I ask, keeping my voice low whilst sticking to the shadows as my gaze travels across the courtyard.
The old, weathered brick is illuminated in a low amber glow, fading into black as it reaches the gothic spires disappearing into the night.
“Nothing on my side. What about you, angel?”
I grimace.
The fuck did he just call me?
My head twists to look at Indie. She’s holding back a smile as Regina clears her throat. “Uh, nothing on mine.”
Well, it seems like the couples who hack together, get together. We all have our niches. Mine and my woman’s just happens to be butchering people who wronged us.
“Come on,” I whisper to Indie, slinking our way around the other side of the building. There’s been nothing on the feeds that anyone’s come and gone, no campus security patrolling either. Conrad and Louisa have to still be in this school.
That is if there isn’t another fucking tunnel system.
We make our way past each of the arched windows until we reach a large wooden double door, the mosaic glass revealing the monochrome checkerboard flooring that both of us have walked through many times.
It feels like stepping into a time warp, a completely different life we once lived. Where I’ve stood and admired her from afar, her laughter filling the halls and my hearing zoning in on nothing else.
Who would have thought all these years later, I’d still be stalking their halls, only this time I have her in my snare.
My hand grips the brass handle, easing it round and finding it unlocked. I hold my hand back to keep Indie from charging ahead, listening for any signs of movement. All I’m met with is the bite of the chilled and undisturbed atmosphere.
A soft hand slips into mine, and I guide her inside as I close the door, sealing us in with the evil that’s lurking within these walls. My footsteps stay light; it’s something I learned during training and comes as a second nature, even when I’m not stalking.
Indie though?
She might have small feet, but it’s like her boots are filled with fucking concrete, pounding them off the tiles as she prowls into the foyer. Her gun hangs by her side in one hand, a knife in the other as the metal blade glints under the moonlight.
Her head moves slowly as she stares up at the stone staircase, gaze lazily travelling from one end of the room to the other.
Her eyes fixate upwards to the right. The moonlight casts a shadow over her devious features as she looks over her shoulder at me.
Dark hair frames her face, revealing a smile that ruptures something in my chest.
That tortured, breathtaking and extraordinary being right there will be my wife.
My queen of fucking demons.
And I love her with a fury that puts every other mythical god to shame.
I make my way towards her, and she nods towards the library. We head up the stairway, the entire corridor dimmed as the exterior spires yawn into the night, the faint light cutting through the window grilles.
My hand whips out in front of her, the back of my neck tightening when I hear the feminine voice travelling towards us. “I can’t help if you won’t let me leave.”
Louisa.
There’s thumping, like someone moving around.
“The Senate will get suspicious if I don’t turn up—”
“Shut the fuck up, Louisa.”
My lips twitch. It sounds like he didn’t have time to visit the dentist.
Conrad’s words are slurred, and I’m a little disappointed if I’m honest. I want this man at his full potential. Fucking someone up when they’re at a disadvantage bores me.
A loud bang shatters the silence, glass breaking and shit being thrown around through the other side of the door.
Louisa’s voice is steady compared to the tornado she’s dealing with. “Conrad, calm down.”
He clearly can’t hear her, because the commotion builds.
When a loud, thunderous crack booms down the hallway, I know he’s tipped one of the bookcases. It hits off the wall before us, fibres of dust dancing through the air and swirling around.
I tap Indie to motion her to the library entrance further up, and Conrad and Louisa’s argument carries through the halls.
“Conrad.”
“My father got you that fucking job, Louisa.” Another bang, and I can hear the clack of Louisa’s heel as she likely retreats. “You answer to me. You are who you are, because of my name. And what do I get as a thanks?”
Glass smashes.
“You couldn’t even do the one thing I fucking asked. You and Barry offered—”
“I offered you fucking nothing! She’s my fucking little sister!”
My shoulders tighten, and Indie stops dead in her tracks, turning rigid beside me, eyes burning through the wooden door ahead of us.
“I had nothing to do with what you and Barry wanted. I told him no. You’re fucked up, Conrad.
You think I’d bring my family into the Omnia?
You’re out of your God damn mind if you think I would have ever given her up, especially now.
You sick fuck!” Louisa’s roar breaks on a sob, the high pitch of it sending my ears back.
I want to burst through that fucking door and ask them to spill every single thing their conversation isn’t tell us.
All their secrets, their lies, I want them laid bare like the blood of the Montgomerys.
They will, once we get them both and drag them to the Pit.