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I WOKE TO MYworst nightmare—Rayne gone and the bedroom filled with fuckin’ Scars hovering. My eyes slid from Tye to Jedrik then passed through Keir and Anstice.
“Fuck,” I muttered then threw my legs over the side of the bed, grunting because my body objected even after Anstice had obviously healed me, and stood anyway. I’d suffered pain a billion times worse under Ulrich’s hand.
Anstice stepped toward me, despite Keir’s warning look as he grabbed for her hand, which she shoved aside. “You’ve lost a lot of blood, Kilter. Lie down before you fall down.”
“Don’t like sayin’ this to the woman who just saved my life, but fuck off.” I bent and snagged my T-shirt off the floor then tossed it aside when I saw the large bloodstain.
“Asshole sounds fine to me,” Jedrik muttered.
My head felt as if a grenade had gone off in it, obviously from the shit kicking I’d taken. A shit kicking that shouldn’t have happened. I still had my jeans on, although they had bloodstains on them, too. I grabbed my knives and gun off the bedside table where someone had put them.
No one said anything, but it was coming. They weren’t hanging out in my room for the fuckin’ atmosphere.
“Danni is trying to contact Rayne,” Anstice continued, standing a couple feet away from me. A quick glance at Keir and I knew he wasn’t pleased about her being near me, but he was giving his woman her space to do what she needed to do, and right now, that was to get me to lie the fuck down. “She’s in the next room. If you’d lie down and wait—”
“Not waiting for shit.” I sat on the edge of the mattress and yanked on my boots. If Rayne was unconscious or drugged, then Danni, no matter how good her telepathy was, wouldn’t be able to reach her.
I was going after her before that Jasmine bitch disappeared. “Need to see Waleron.” And tell him that the bitch who took my girl was Jasmine, his nemesis. I went to the dresser, opened it, and grabbed a T-shirt, yanking it over my head.
“Kilter, Liam called Waleron,” Keir said. I had my hand on the doorknob. “He has her.” What? Jasmine gave Rayne to Liam? What the hell was going on? “He wants to meet tonight.”
Fuckin’ bastard vampire. I clenched my jaw, my hand tightening on the doorknob until it broke off in my grip. I threw it across the room and it bounced off the lounge chair and fell to the floor.
Beating a few vampires was nothing compared to a Master of the city with all his rats to contend with. I couldn’t possibly go after Liam on my own, no matter how much I wanted to. The problem was the Scars didn’t trust me, and I sure as hell didn’t trust them.
“Kilter,” Keir said, and my eyes shot to him. “We don’t leave one of ours. Period. I don’t know exactly what happened with your past and I don’t care. This is now. What we do. These Scars around you, we risk our lives to protect humans. What we do for one another is much more. We would and will do whatever it takes. Not because we have to, but because that’s what we do for one another, and you need to get onboard with that.” Keir didn’t let up, his tone unyielding. “There won’t be any cowboy stunts like what you pulled in Newfoundland.”
I didn’t say anything. I was contemplating and processing, and since I had one fuck of a headache, it was as painful as hell. There were parts of me that wanted to stop and listen, but every time I saw Rayne’s face, my body was already moving to go after her.
But I didn’t open the door. I shifted to face Keir.
“Liam is intelligent and knows everything that goes on in this city. We handle this delicate and we handle it together,” Keir stated.
“Delicate?” I snorted. “Don’t do delicate.” Delicate meant planning for fuckin’ weeks while Rayne was more than likely being tortured. And who knows what Jasmine was getting out of this. She’d said Rayne was hers. No way did she just hand her over to Liam. No, she was part of this somehow.
“Not doing it your way.” I threw open the door. A palm slapped on the door above my head and it slammed shut again. “What the fuck?”
I turned and Tye was in my face, like seriously in my face, and there was nothing in him that said he was going to back down as he glared at me. “We’re on the same fuckin’ side, asshole. Get that through your thick, stubborn skull. You trust Rayne. Time to throw some of that our way before you lose her and every single person in this room.” Then he stepped away from the door. “Go. Do what you have to do, but you fuck this up it’s on you. And don’t you say you don’t give a shit, because this time, you do.”
I did. I fuckin’ cared. Jesus, I cared. No, it was more than that. I loved her. And if I didn’t do something, I was going to break.
Balen called from the next room. “Danni’s reached her.”
Some of the pressure in my head eased as I flung open the door and strode into the guest bedroom. Danni lay pale and quiet on the bed. Her eyes were closed with creases around them as if she was concentrating. It took a lot to keep focused and find another Scar, especially if they were shielded.
Balen walked over and sat on the bed beside his maite, caressing her cheek as Danni opened her eyes.
Fuck, please, let her be okay. Let me do this right.
Danni was quiet a few seconds; then her eyes went to me. “She’s in Liam’s penthouse.”
I crossed my arms and braced myself. My heart was telling me to go after her, but my instinct, for once, was to stay. To listen. To be patient. But it took a hell of a lot to do that when I knew where she was.
“She says there are at least twenty vampires around at any given time. Liam and the Lilac are planning something together.”
“Is she okay? Is she hurt?” That’s all I wanted to know right now.
Danni shook her head. “I don’t think she’s been hurt. She speaks clearly, but I have the feeling she was being careful with what she said to me. I’m uncertain whether Liam can intercept our telepathy.” Danni slipped her hand in Balen’s then locked eyes with me. “She says to not give him Abby. No matter what Liam says, don’t give him Abby.”
