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Julian’s eyes flew open, and he glanced toward the far corner. Declan started forward, then turned to him. “You coming?”
Julian was so close, he couldn’t believe he was contemplating abandoning his endgame. For Jaden DaCosta. “I can’t leave her. She’s in trouble.”
Declan’s face was fierce. “I’ll hold him off as long as I can, but there are no guarantees. If we fuck this up, you know what happens.”
Julian was stunned at the direction he wanted to take. It was then that he realized an absolute truth. He loved Jaden. Her snarkiness, mind, strength, stubbornness, and beauty. Everything about her. To think he’d find such a connection when his world was about to end was ironic.
The burning desire to get to her, to make sure she was safe, couldn’t be denied. He would leave this world, honor his bargain, but he needed to see her one more time.
“I’ll be back.” Julian whirled around and disappeared into the shadows.
Pain ripped along Jaden’s forearm as Benicio knocked the Glock from her hand. The warrior had rushed forward and attacked as she’d fired off a shot. The bullet had gone wide. She heard the clang as it hit one of the containers above them.
And then there was nothing. No sound. Only the fast beating of her heart and the breaths that fell in puffs of mist from between her lips.
Her right hand still held the dagger, and she dropped to the floor in a defensive crouch as Benicio shifted into his animal. The large jaguar eyed her intently, its canines dripping with saliva as it panted and waited.
For several long seconds, no one moved.
And then Jakobi walked toward her. Slowly she stood, her mind whirling in several directions at once, but there was no way out. She knew that now.
He stopped a few inches from her, and she swallowed as her eyes focused on the slight flare of his nostrils. He sneered, and she was shocked at the hatred that lit his eyes.
“You disgusting whore.” His voice was controlled, measured, and each word sank like a stone into the pit of her stomach. She wanted so much to feel nothing, but the raw hatred that was reflected in her father’s face slashed across her heart.
“Name-calling doesn’t become you,” she answered softly.
His fist flew out, a blur of air, and pain exploded along her cheek as he landed a blow. Her head snapped back, and she felt blood flood her mouth as her teeth cut through flesh.
She staggered backward, and the dagger clattered to the concrete as she struggled to maintain her balance. And he was there again, another blow to her chest, then another, as he pummeled her to the ground.
“You would mate with a Castille? And flaunt your indecent act in front of me?” Jakobi’s voice was like crushed glass, fury shadowing his words in layers of darkness.
He grabbed her hair and pulled hard until she was forced to stand once more. Her lungs ached as she tried to drag air into them, and blood dripped into her eye from a cut on her forehead.
“How . . .” she began, then fell into silence. It didn’t matter. Jakobi DaCosta’s reach was long and tenacious. She’d been on borrowed time for months. It was surprising he’d not discovered her secrets sooner.
“I can smell him on you. Julian Castille.” He spit the words at her. Though the entire side of her face ached, and her skull was on fire, she held her chin up and squared her shoulders.
His eyes narrowed into slits of dark liquid, and a feral smile gripped his mouth. Jaden swallowed, and the sadness that fell over her heart was as harsh as the pain he’d inflicted.
This man was her father. He’d loved her, cherished her at one time. The memories were real, weren’t they?
“If only you’d been on the hunt with your mother that day—”
That got her attention. Jaden yanked her hair from his grasp. “You would have killed me, too?” Her chest heaved as she faced her father.
“Gladly,” he whispered. “I knew then you’d be no different than her. Traitorous bitch that she was.” He smiled, a cold, calculating turn that raised the hair on the back of her neck. “I told her as she was taking her last breaths that I would cut out your heart one day.”
She heard Degas snicker, but her father had all of her attention. His handsome features were cloaked in shadow. He was evil. The darkness inside of him coated his features in a macabre caricature that was nothing like the memories of her youth.
“What happened to you?” she whispered. Her soul cried out as pain lanced across her chest, the sorrow inside of her was enormous. So much lost and for what?
Jakobi’s hands snaked toward her, and though she tried to duck, to maneuver away from him, he was too quick. She yelped as his long fingers encircled her neck.
He pushed her back and slammed her body against the steel shelving behind her. A sharp edge dug into her back, and a strangled, gurgling sound escaped from her lips as his claws elongated and dug into her tender flesh.
The roaring in her ears subsided until all she heard was the heavy silence that surrounded them. Her father cocked his head as he continued to apply more pressure, cutting off her airway as he did so. She was a specimen to be studied as he choked the life out of her.
