AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Something shifts inside me, and even though my brain can’t process any of this, I know I’ll never be the same again. The coppery scent of blood tinges the air, stinging its way into my brain. This is the kind of thing that stays with you forever. The kind of memory that has one waking up in sweat and screams for years.
Another whoosh cuts through the air, and then another as more blades shoot from Micah’s hand, his back shifting under his black suit like a weapon in itself.
Because that’s what he is.
A lethal weapon.
He’s taken out half a dozen men without even pulling a gun.
There’s commotion in the background, or maybe it’s been there all long, but I haven’t been able to hear it. I’m not sure what’s happening because my brain switched to survival mode, but there’s shrill female screaming, gunshots and men roaring. Micah bolts toward the door as four more men pour in, and he takes all of them out with expert slashes of his blades. One by one, they collapse in a pile on the floor, and when more reach the door, he pulls out his gun from the holster at his back, and shoots them in the face.
I clasp my hands over my mouth.
I watch him kick the legs of the piled bodies out of the way and slam the door shut. He runs the surface of his watch over the locking system, hidden devices beeping as he locks us in here like in a vault. Then he turns to face me, a god of violence.
His deadliness is undeniable. How he sent that guard’s face exploding into a thousand little gorey parts changed everything I ever thought I knew about this world and the role we mere mortals play in it. How can anyone feel safe in a world with men like Micah on the loose?
He just stands there, gun in one hand and a blade in the other, waiting for my eyes to finally re-focus on him.
When they do, I stop breathing.
The devil on his back has truly come to life. The gunpowder in his eyes is alight, an aura of death radiating from him. Blood is splattered on his face, his eyebrows angled diabolically over his eyes, that sensual mouth that I melted into just yesterday set into a merciless expression. I stare at him as he stands next to a pile of dead bodies, and realize that I’m locked inside this place with one of the most lethal men alive.
I’m still holding on to the bookcase, my fingers cramped on the wood for the life of me. I peer behind that mask of violence for the man I love, but all I see is ferocity. Yet he doesn’t make a move. The sounds from the bloodbath outside can’t reach us anymore, now completely shut out. This place has the insulation of a bunker, which makes me panic.
“You have to let me out of here,” I squeak. “Annie and Justine are still out there, they need me.”
“To do what? What can you possibly do for them?”
I knit my eyebrows.
“Why are you mad at me?”
“Mad,” he repeats. He steps over a dead guard’s hand, walking over. I instinctively step back, my eyes flying down to the weapons in his hands. To the gun he used to blow up that guy’s face. To the knife he could use to take out a giant if he wanted to.
“I’m not mad,” he continues, rolling his shoulders. “I’m just curious. Curious what you would have done if I didn’t barge in here in time? If we didn’t manage to reactivate and bug the surveillance cameras after Romano put them out of order.”
I keep drawing back until I trip over something. I manage to regain my balance only to realize the obstacle was Rufus’ corpse. A scream tears through my lungs, and I nearly choke on the device I’d instinctively bunched against my cheek like a wad of chewing gum. Had it been any smaller, I would have swallowed it in this chaos, but it’s small enough for me to forget I had it.
“It’s not what you think,” I murmur, but I know Micah doesn’t believe me.
“Tell me the truth, Eva,” he warns, and the finest hairs stand on end all over me. “Were you going to suck both their cocks? Because I swear to God—”
“It wasn’t that,” I shriek, and shake my head violently when I see where he’s going. The device Rufus put in my mouth sticks to the inside of my cheek, too small to impair my speech, and I’m thinking maybe I should spit it in his face. But it’s too dangerous. “It’s never that. I never did that, Micah, no matter how badly you want to believe—”
He catches my jaw mid-word in the same hand he holds the knife, making it impossible for me to finish.
“Want to believe?” His voice is low and dark, like that of a wounded ghost returning to haunt the living. “I saw you on fucking camera.” He points his gun to a corner, but I know better than to look away from his manic eyes. “I saw you on your knees, about to let these two shove their cocks down your throat.”
Indignation fires up in my chest, and the only way to show it is to spit the device down at his feet, danger or no. The moment it hits the floor and doesn’t go off, a feeling of relief courses through me. I shouldn’t have let despair get the better of me. But an instant later I realize that, while Rufus lies dead on the ground, Raphael might still have the detonator.
Micah’s eyes fly down to the device, and I slap his hand off my face.
“They wanted me to plant that on the Elders’ car. He chose an angle like he was going to do what you said—just in case Romano failed to shut off the cameras, which is what happened, obviously. But what he did was put that in my mouth, and instruct me to act like I’m sick outside and place it above the tire.” My voice trembles with simmering anger. Deep down, the man I love will always believe that I’m a slut. When the demon rises up to the surface and breaks through his skin, he’ll always believe what he thought of me first when he saw me with Romano.
Micah hunkers down and picks up the device, turning it between his fingers to inspect it from all angles. I can’t help but look around and assess my chances of escape. Because, among all this mess, one thing is clear—I need to get away from him as quickly as possible.
Emotions fight inside me for supremacy. Love rushes down like an avalanche, making truth impossible to deny—I fell in love with the twisted soul that is Micah Royales. But the pile of still warm, bleeding bodies screams another, horrific truth at me.
