Page 141 of A Wild Darkness

The room suddenly becomes blurry as the shot vibrates through my ears. Blood sprays everywhere—the floor, the walls, and my shoes. The wind is knocked out of me, but two stable arms wrap around my body, hoisting me up. I smell leather and know it’s Sebastian. He lets the gun fall to the floor behind us and pulls both arms around him. But I remain aware that our reaction is being watched, judged by Silas and the other members.

“Fuck, I’m so proud of you,” Sebastian whispers in my ear.

Then I wriggle myself down, high on adrenaline, and turn to Silas. “We’re not proving ourselves again.”

Silas returns my demand with a Cheshire smile and an obnoxiously slow clap. “Now, mark him,” he says, sliding a knife from his back pocket.

The X.

I quickly recall the position and placement of the markings on my patients and briefly remember how Silas described it to us. Then I carefully remove the knife from his hand and trudge back over to the body. I pull up the fabric on his shorts to reveal his inner thigh, then grip the knife and carve into his skin.

“Now that we’ve got that out of the way.” Silas’s joyful attitude makes me want to vomit. “We can move on to more fun things. Clara! Bring out the wine!”

I hand the knife back to him, my body still trembling from the high of what happened.

What I did.

Sebastian clutches my hand tightly as he leads me back to the table. Before I sit, I look over my shoulder one more time at the man whose life I’ve taken. He deserved it, sure, because he was a Black Veil Society member, but I don’t think anything could have prepared me for killing someone.

In shock, my limbs go through the motions while I move, but it’s going to be some time before I can process, because in this moment, I need to portray a calm and controlled cold killer, when in reality, I’m jumping out of my skin.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

SEBASTIAN

She killed him.

Stevie killed that man execution style, and I can’t believe it.

I was fucking pissed that Silas was making her do it, and my fist is still sore from punching the side of the building after we entered the parking lot. I mean, I could only hold in my anger so long before I blew up.

I glance down at the small cut on my knuckles, understanding why Silas made her do it. Stevie needed to take his life in front of the group to secure their trust. Like passing another level in their twisted game.

As soon as we stepped out of the elevator back home, she headed straight for my bedroom and into the bathroom. Fighting the urge to join her in the shower, I instead gave her space and went to the kitchen to make us something to eat.

After some time, Stevie appears in the kitchen with her hair still wet, wearing my black hoodie. She’s fucking gorgeous. She bends down to scoop up Poe, and he cuddles into her arm as she climbs into the high chair at the counter.

“You okay?” I ask, walking over to her.

Stevie kisses Poe on top of his head, holding him close to her face. “I’m in shock, but not sad about it, you know?”

“I know the feeling. The emotions afterward can be complicated at first.”

“Shouldn’t I be regretful or throw up or scream or something?” Her voice is filled with desperation while her eyes search mine for answers. “I don’t know? Anything?”

I cup her cheek, softly caressing her skin with my thumb. “Stevie, there is no playbook for how you should feel about what you did. There’s no right or wrong way to react to it either.” I move between her spread legs, bringing my other hand to her face, tilting it to force her to look at me. “He was a monster. Yes, you were forced to kill him, but I would’ve done the same thing without a second thought.”

“But I did it. I pulled the trigger.”

“Yeah, you did. You ended his reign of terror and saved his future victims. You did that,” I tell her, ready to defend her actions all night if I have to. “We know he was a bad guy, right?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“And you took him out.” I bend to press a soft kiss on her sweet lips.

She draws her head back, giving me that smile of hers I love so much. “Thank you, Sebastian.”

“Anyone hungry?” Christian enters the kitchen. My head swings around, narrowing my eyes at him for interrupting us. “Did I interrupt something?” he teases, then grabs an apple from the fruit bowl in the middle of the island.