Killian opens his door, but before he can say anything, Raven stirs in my arms. Her eyes flutter a few times, as if she’s struggling to get her lids to open. A little moan sounds in the back of her throat.
“Raven?” I brush my bloodstained fingertips across her cheek, turning her face toward me more. “Hey.” The emerald green starts to clear as she finally focuses on me. “Welcome back.”
“What…”—her soft brow furrows—“what’s going on?”
Of course, she’s confused.
She’s been blacked out for half a day, and the last time she looked at me, we were sitting on the bed in the cabin and I was begging her to stay awake.
“We’re in McBride Mountain.”
“But…how?”
“I told you I was carrying you down that fucking mountain if I had to.”
Tears well in her eyes, and when they spill out down her temples, I sweep them away, along with some of the dried blood there.
Evidence of what he did to her, of what she suffered.
All because I fucked up.
All because I left her alone and told her she would be safe.
Raven lifts one of her hands up to cup my cheek, and I lean into the touch, but my eyes fall on the gouges on her wrists, at the blood still seeping and oozing from the wounds.
I quickly pull away. Guilt clogs my throat, and I force myself to swallow through it. “We’re getting you to the hospital. We’re going to have Tony radio for a helicopter and see where it is or if it’s faster for us to drive you.”
Killian clears his throat. “I think it’s going to be more complicated than that…”
There’s a warning in his tone, one I rarely hear from my big brother unless something very serious is about to go down.
I tear my gaze from Raven and look to my brothers. “What’s going on?”
Liam glances back at the bodies. “Those two are dead. Each shot several times—very precisely. And given that I’ve never seen them before, I am guessing they’re the other Lorell men Raven warned us were here.”
She tenses in my arms, clinging to my shirt with bloody fingers. Her voice comes out nothing more than a strangled sob. “At least some of them…”
Liam nods. “We don’t know how many there might be.”
“Who shot them?”
Killian scans around us, keeping his eyes out for any threats. “I don’t know, but I am going to bet it was Tony.” His gaze cuts back to me, a muscle in his clenched jaw ticcing. “There’s more blood, on the stairs leading into town hall…”
“Fuck…” My gut tightens, that sense of dread that has become such a familiar, unwelcome part of my life settles over me. “Where is Tony?”
Liam points to the east side of town hall. “I could see his squad car parked over there.”
Raven trembles in my arms. “He should be out here, right? If he shot them?”
I share a look with Killian and Liam.
She’s right. If something went down between Tony and Lorell’s men, he wouldn’t have left them in the middle of town square. At least, not willingly. He would have called in help from some of the surrounding communities or state patrol to help contain the scene immediately.
The chilling reality of what that might mean hits me, and I shudder.
I look to Killian. “What do you want to do?”
His jaw tenses as he keeps scanning town. “We need to figure out what the fuck is going on.” Those icy blue eyes of his cut to town hall. “We need to go in.”
