As I pulled myself to my feet, I stared in the direction of Case’s house. But all that was left was angry orange and red flames and plumes of black smoke.
Just as I was about to start running to the house, the sound of footsteps crashing through the brush stopped me. I quickly dove behind a downed tree. With my heart pounding in my ears, I held my breath.
As the footsteps grew closer, a voice echoed through the tree line. “Boss? You’re never going to fucking believe this.”
There was only one person that could’ve been his boss.
Sigel.
Unable to hear the reply on the call, I waited for the man to keep talking. “Yeah, yeah, the bombing went off without a hitch with Case inside. But he wasn’t alone. Deacon was with him.”
My blood ran cold. The fucker thought I was dead? If he’d been close by, hadn’t he seen me leave the porch? Obviously, Sigel hadn’t sent his finest.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m sure. I have a picture of them both on the porch. I gave them both time to get inside before I hit the detonator. Malloy is nothing but burning pieces and ash now.”
The man paused as he listened to what Sigel was saying. “Jesus, Boss, I thought you’d be happy. Yeah, I know you wanted to torture the bastard before you killed him, but let all that fucking go and be glad that Deacon is out of the picture.”
Of course Sigel wasn’t happy. He’d planted the bomb to piss me off enough to draw me out. He wanted to enact all the torture I’d done to his son.
“Whatever. I’m headed to the compound!” the man snapped. A moment passed before a phone went sailing over the tree trunk, landing a few feet a way from me.
“Fucking asshole,” he grunted before he once again started running through the woods.
Closing my eyes, I leaned my head back against the tree trunk. My heart twisted in my chest as I heard screams and cries coming from the vicinity of Case’s house. At the blaring of a fire siren, it took everything within me not to leave my hideout and show everyone that I was safe.
But I couldn’t do that.
While it was unbelievable cruel to let my family and friends suffer, it was the smart thing to do. The only thing I had over Sigel now was the element of surprise. If he wasn’t looking for me, I could strike out without fear of retaliation.
I don’t know how much time passed before I pulled myself to my feet. I started in the opposite direction that Sigel’s man had fled in. I knew the path to my destination well.
I’d been fifteen the first time that Preacher Man had taken me totohi a-ma. To anyone else, it was just a clearing with a clear stream that poured into a lake. But to the Cherokee who had resided in this area hundreds of years ago, it was known as healing waters.
I’d thought Preacher Man had lost his fucking mind when he told he walk into the water to purify myself after I’d killed my father. I’d remained in disbelief until he stripped into his boxers and walked down into the stream.
But then I’d watched the change that came over him. The darkness that shrouded him was washed away, and his body shone like the noon day sun in that water.
Without a word, I’d stripped down and waded in the water. And like Preacher Man, I had my own personal transformation.
Now we kept a tent and a burner phone there for emergencies.
Tonight I’d reach out to Rev and Bishop. I’d have to keep the others in the dark, especially Alexandra.
And that fact killed me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: ALEXANDRA
Iwas out of breath, my muscles screamed in agony, but I continued running. Dark woods with sinister-looking trees enveloped me. Fear like I’d never known pushed me on. I was running from something, but what, I didn’t know. Images from my past flashed before me like lightning crashing across the sky. My mother handing me a bouquet of blood red roses at one of my ballet recitals. My father grinning as he pressed the car keys into my eager sixteen-year-old hands. Deacon’s intense dark eyes, a sheen of sweat across his tattooed chest, and his hips flexing at he pumped in and out me.
Each of the happy memories burst into shards of glass when I ran through them, cutting me with an emotional pain that didn’t seem to touch me physically. I reached the end of the woods only to find myself at the edge of a cliff. Whatever was coming for me grew closer and closer, and without a choice, I leapt off the cliff.
With a piercing scream, I bolted upright in bed. I brought a shaky hand to my forehead and swept back the sweat-soaked strands of hair. Clutching my shirt over my heart, I willed myself to breathe normally again. As I became aware of where I was and why I was there, I realized there was no respite. I had just exchanged one nightmare for another.
A gentle knock came at the door. “Alexandra?” Rev’s concerned voice questioned.
“Yeah?” I croaked.
As Rev came through the doorway, I immediately forgot my own pain, and instead, I focused on his. Anguish marred his usually handsome face. In the last twenty-four hours he had lost so much more than me, and the strain was evident on his face. “Are you okay? I heard you shout.”
