“Some fucker has taken over our body,” I manage to hiss out, still not raising my head. Tension thrums through me, and I can feel my heart racing in tandem to my spiraling thoughts. “What if he hurts Violet? Who the fuck is he?”
“I don’t know,” Jack says, resignation clear in his voice. “But I swear to you, I’ll find a way to get us both out of this alive. We’ll find our way back to her.”
“We’re trapped in here!” I finally lunge to my feet, knocking Jack’s hand off my shoulder in the process. I whirl on my brother, lips curling away from my teeth. “You promised me that I wouldn’t be trapped in the darkness anymore. You. Promised. Me.” My chest heaves with each word as pain flays me open, baring my organs for the entire world to see. I hate being vulnerable, hate showing anyone the person beneath the monster. That person is only reserved for my precious treasure. For my mate.
“There has to be another exit,” Jack says resolutely, but I can’t help but notice that his voice shakes. “Once we find our way out, we can overpower the asshole and make him pay.”
“I’m going to rip him limb from limb,” I warn, tone impassive. “I’ll rip his spleen out of his body. I’ll gouge out each of his eyeballs and then feed them to him, one at a time. I’ll use his heart as a baseball and his head as a basketball. And his tears? I’ll lick them from his face as they fall, claiming his pain as my own. And when he tries to run, I’ll burn each of his feet until even standing is impossible. Only then will I skin him alive and wear it like a coat of pride. As he bleeds to death, I’ll grab his tonsils and tie them into a cute little bow around his face and then gift him to my precious treasure. Do you understand me?”
Jack audibly gulps. “I’ll be your moral support.”
I nod my head once, accepting that.
“You can hold the body still for me as I enact my revenge,” I state seriously.
“Errr…”
“Come.” Without a word, I stride in the opposite direction of the light, my hands extended as I feel around in the darkness. “We need to find our way out of here. Now.”
CHAPTER 32
VIOLET
I’m in Vin’s arms before he can even finish speaking, unable to stop myself from nuzzling against his neck. His body stiffens underneath me, obviously taken by surprise, before he tightens his arms around me and returns my hug.
“What’s going on?” Frankie demands immediately, his icy voice curling around me and instantly putting me at ease.
They’re safe, and they’re here with me. We’re safe.
Pesky tears spring to my eyes at the reminder that we’re not all safe. Not after…
I shove those emotions in a glass bottle and toss it in the churning river. Maybe someone will find them one day and know how to handle them. All I know for certain is that if I allow these thoughts to fester, if I allow them to take root like a carnivorous plant, I’ll never be able to claw myself out of the depressive hole I’m already halfway in.
“Pinkie…” Mason steps up behind me, effectively caging me between the two men. He begins to rub at my tangled curls while Vin buries his face in my neck.
“Barret’s dead.” It’s Cal who answers, his voice carefully blank. When I reluctantly pull back from Vin, it’s to see Cal staring blindly ahead with dark, empty eyes. “He’s dead.”
“Oh, shit,” Vin curses, pulling me back towards him. I allow myself to accept his comfort, but only for a moment. A moment of weakness.
Once more, I step away from Vin and press my back against the far wall. Distance. I need distance. If one of them touches me again, I’ll fall apart at the seams, losing tiny pieces of myself in the process.
“I see that we all came to the same conclusion,” I manage to breathe out, grateful when my voice doesn’t wobble. Mason and Vin exchange an anxious, wary glance, but fortunately, they accept my abrupt change of topic. Frankie moves to stand beside me, and though he doesn’t touch me, the heat he emits is almost palpable. It seeps through my Academy-issued clothes and sets my skin ablaze.
“If Dimitri was telling the truth, the portal home should be somewhere in here.” Vin moves to stand in the center of all of us, once more the unofficial leader. I can’t help but find his domineering attitude and no-nonsense tone sexy. Horrible timing? Most definitely.
“What exactly did the scary fucker say?” Mason adds, turning to face me completely. I bite my lip as I try to remember.
Something about…
“Something about bandages, maybe? I don’t remember. It all happened so fast.”
With a brisk nod at each other, the men fan out, pulling open drawers and doors at random. After a moment of indecision, I hurry to follow.
“So, are we looking for a drawer or closet full of bandages?” I query, wrenching open the drawer behind the nurse’s desk. Files. The next drawer proves to be filled with the same.
“Fuck if I know,” Vin grumbles. Turning to the others, he says, “I’m going to take the east wing. Mason? Take the west. Frankie, you’ll head north, and Cal, you’ll head south.” The men all nod at his directive, but I wave my hand in the air impatiently. When he doesn’t immediately call on me, I speak anyway.
“What about me? Where can I look?”
“You’ll stay here.” His tone brooks no room for argument. “Continue searching through the lobby, but when you’re done, wait for us.”
Sit, Violet. Stay. Stay. Good girl. Good girl.
I hate when people treat me like a fucking dog.
When I don’t immediately protest, Vin’s eyes narrow at my easy capitulation.
“Go.” I shoo them away impatiently. “I’ll be
