I sag forward, draping my hair around me in an attempt to hide, but it’s impossible. I’m the center of their attention; there’s no way to distract from that now. My fingertips dig into the arms of the chair again as I force myself to tilt my head back and face my captors, only to be met with another slam of my father’s fist.
Every part of me is in pain.
Sobs rack my chest as helpless pleas fall from my tongue, but they go unheard as the mysterious man’s voice echoes around the room.
“Don’t bore me any further, Hayworth. Either show me what you think she can do, or I’m leaving.”
A bang from the right is jarring, the door rattling across the short distance, sending my heart rate soaring. A clenched fistpounds against the square glass. That’s all I can see, but my father must see more, and whatever it is makes him balk.
It’s a rare moment to see my father falter, but he doesn’t stutter for long, springing into action a second later. He darts toward me once more, but the frenzied look in his eyes cements me in place, fear lacing my veins as he flicks his blazer to the side and grabs a gun from his hip.
My world slows, my eyes alert and jittery as he moves with precision, bringing the firm metal against my forehead. Looking past the barrel, I center my focus on my father, imprinting my final moments in my heart as I watch his wild eyes settle, a familiar glint softening the frown lines between his brows as he exhales.
There’s no time to recap my life, to let go of my regrets, or feel a single pang of pain at the end nearing.
I don’t hear the gunshot; you don’t when you’re the one it’s intended for.
Darkness envelops me once more, luring me away from the chaos, but as my heart stops and my breathing ceases, my mind remains rattled.
I startle when I find myself staring down at my lifeless body, the room moving in slow motion as the chair beneath my limbs creaks. My body looks crooked, my hair draped around my face, doing nothing to shield the open wound pouring blood down the front of me.
Is this the afterlife?
Confused, my attention is snapped to the side at the sound of glass shattering and wood splintering. Gaping in disbelief, I find not one, not two, not even three, but all four of my hated mates charging through the opening created.
Teddy leads the carnage, blood dripping down his arm as he races toward me. Baron, Sax, and Archer are a step behind him, despair thick in the air.
Eager to see my father, I startle when I don’t find him anywhere. He’s gone, his friend right along with him.
Overwhelmed, my gaze returns just in time to see Teddy fall to his knees beside me, hellbent on detaching me from the chair. It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell him not to bother when heat consumes me.
It starts in my toes, ripping through my veins as it steals my every breath, forcing me to clench my eyelids shut as I succumb to the inferno. Flames dance on the back of my eyelids, curling and swirling in an array of oranges and reds.
All at once, it evaporates as tingles dance along my limbs, and I dare to pry my eyes open.
Floating a few inches off the ground, I’m no longer staring at my lifeless body.
Iammy lifeless body.
“Ivy?” My name is nothing but a whisper from the blond guy before me, garnering my focus as my mind whirls and my heart…beats.
“What’s going on?” I dare to ask, my voice groggy and croaky as I try to rub the pain away.
“Your magic has revealed itself, Angel.” The hot, brown-haired, green-eyed guy states, and my lips part, confusion caught in my throat like cement. Before I can piece together one of the thousand questions rattling around in my mind, the giant beside him, with his hair twisted into a mess on top of his head, speaks instead.
“You’re a phoenix.”
I nod, swaying as my vision turns blotchy and I succumb to the darkness.
2
SAX
Lacing my fingers together, I lean forward, bracing my arms on my knees, but it does nothing to ease the ache in my limbs. My head lolls, my chin falling to my chest as I exhale slowly, but still no sense of reprieve comes.
My eyelids close as I pinch the bridge of my nose, willing something to change, but it doesn’t. I’m high on adrenaline. It’s been coursing through my veins for the past seventy-two hours, and it’s not going to diminish until she opens her eyes and settles the part of my soul that aches for her.
Three days.
