Page 117 of Devour

I’m out of the door in an instant, needing to get back to Saylor.

Priest is right behind me. My legs are moving faster than my brain, and I don’t give a fuck about anything except getting back to her.

I’m halfway down the corridor when a blast throws me sideways. My shoulder hits the wall and then the floor, and my ears are gone—just a high-pitched ringing that swallows everything. The lights blow out overhead. Something falls across my back, pinning me down.

I shove off whatever is on top of me and get to my knees. The hallway is black except for the emergency strips along the floor visible around rubble. I taste blood in my mouth. My ribs are screaming, and something warm runs down the side of my face.

I get up and climb over the rubble, focused on getting to Saylor. “Priest!” I call behind me, wanting to make sure he’s still there.

“I’m here. Where’s Dane?” He coughs from the dust. It’s hard to see.

Another explosion rings in my ears and pain rips through my body. I hit the ground, and I can’t see. There’s nothing but ringing. I can’t tell if Priest is still behind me. My legs won’t move. I can’t get to her. I think I’m on the ground, but I can’t feel anything.

Goddamnit. I should have fucking told her I love her. I’m sorry, little heathen.

Everything goes dark.

CHAPTER 49

SAYLOR

My head is pounding before I open my eyes. I’m in a bed, but there’s no noisy machines like before. The sheets are soft. That’s the first thing I notice. My cheek is pressed against a pillow, and there’s a blanket over my body. It’s way too quiet. Did Axl not come back yet?

I move my legs, but there’s something weighing my right leg down. My ankle throbs from something cuffed around it. What the fuck?

My eyes snap open. The room is dim with the curtains closed, and I don’t know where I am. All I know is that this isn’t the hospital. I toss the blanket off my legs. I’m still wearing the hospital gown, but the cuff around my ankle is connected to a chain that’s secured to the floor.

“No.” I cry to myself. How the fuck did I get wherever the fuck this is?

I tug at the chain, already knowing that it’s not going to budge, but I have to try. Then I start looking around for something I can reach and use as a weapon. It’s like a hotel room. I can get to the bathroom and to the bed, but there isn’t much besides that. There’s a cabinet with a digital keypad on it, and the door to the room has one too.

I sit on the edge of the bed and try to think. My head won’t stop pounding, and I try to remember every detail about how I got here.

A mask. I remember there was a mask. My heart was pounding because for a second, I thought it was Axl coming back for me. The mask looked like his with red slashes.

It’s coming back in pieces. The man pinned me down, and I couldn’t get my arms free. I kicked and tried to use my elbows the way Axl taught me, but then I think he injected me with something. I can’t remember anything after that.

I don’t know how long ago that was. There’s no clock in this room. I pull back the drapes of the floor-to-ceiling tinted windows. It’s light outside, but that doesn’t tell me much. I’m on what looks to be the third floor of whatever building I’m in. Even if I could break the glass, there’s nowhere to go.

I let the drapes fall back and sit on the edge of the bed again. My ankle is already sore from the cuff, and I’ve only been awake for a few minutes.

The keypad on the door beeps. The small light switches from red to green, and I’m on my feet before the door opens. I grip some of the slack in the chain. Maybe I can use it to defend myself, because I’m not going to sit here and take whatever it is they have planned. I know Axl will find me, so I just have to hang on until he gets here.

Fuck, I don’t have my phone. He can’t track me. But he’ll know I’ve been taken, and he won’t stop. I know the man I love, and he always shows up for me. I just have to survive until he can find me.

A man steps through the door. He’s wearing a Talon mask. The same one from the hospital, like Axl’s with red slashes across the eyes. He’s dressed in all black, and his build is close enough to Axl’s that my chest aches for a second.

It isn’t Axl. I know it isn’t Axl. Nothing in my life has worked out that way. And Axl wouldn’t fuck with me like this. He’d make me kneel for him and beg for him, but he’d never do something like this after all that’s happened.

The man closes the door behind himself. The keypad beeps again. The light turns red and locks us in.

I back up against the window, gripping the chain. He doesn’t rush toward me. He doesn’t speak. He just stands by the door, watching me through the slits in the mask, tilting his head like he’s deciding what to do with me.

I don’t say anything to him either. I’m too focused on what he’s going to do next.

Then he reaches up and pulls the mask off.

I can’t fucking believe it.