Page 118 of Dark Surrender

“Where the fuck are you?” he barks with the speakerphone on.

“We just—” The call ends, and the walls shake as something explodes. Two panels in the ceiling fall, raining dust everywhere.

Knowing what’s good for us, we drop to the ground just as another explosion goes off.

“Fuck,” Pops growls, then coughs roughly as he covers his mouth so he doesn’t inhale whatever fiberglass, asbestos shit they’ve used to build this resort. “Gas main?” he rasps.

It’s either that, or, given the yelling outside, it’s from a certain brother with PTSD, too much military experience, and a love of explosives.

“You let Monster come,” I accuse, shoving Dad in the shoulder just as our door explodes inward and wood shrapnel decides it’s game on, motherfucker. I dive on top of my father to cover him, turning him into a pancake. ‘Cause if one of us is gonna die, it’s gonna be me.

And I do.

Pain sears through every nerve ending…

And I scream.

At least, I think I do.

Blackness clouds my vision for a blip.

Then I blink, and I’m somehow on my back.

Overhead lights blind me as I blink again to get the damn grit out of my eyes. My ears ring. Dad’s blood-speckled face hovers over me, blotting out the worst of the brightness, giving me a chance to focus on him.

His lips move.

But I don’t understand.

He jerks my shoulders, and I gasp for air.

It hurts.

Everything hurts.

Fuck.

The familiar tang of blood fills my mouth.

I try to spit it out, but it just keeps coming.

When I try to breathe again, liquid rushes in.

Filling me.

In.

In.

No air.

Fingers brush my cheek, and those same eyes I was born with bore into me, etched with fear. I try to move, to hold on, to say or do something, but the world fades, and a calming warmth pulls me under, into the bosom of sleep—where a woman with mismatched eyes tethers her soul to mine.

Forever.

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

Iris