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“Skye!” he screamed, finding her huddled under the table, knees pressed to her chest. He crawled to her, wrapping his arms around her body as the shots went on and on. Her fingers dug into his body. She shook in his hold, eyes squeezed shut, face buried in his neck.
But Leo couldn’t close his eyes. He stared around them, his senses on high alert, his heart hammering in his chest as the bullets sounded louder, coming closer. His ears popped and ached, painfully aware now that figures were rushing in and out of the small diner. Black pants, black boots, men shouting in fear—others in wild anger.
He brought his hands around Skye’s ears so she wouldn’t hear the pleas and the bullets that silenced them. He made sure her face was buried so she couldn’t see the figures coming closer, searching, like they weren’t finished—
A figure stopped at their booth. Leo tensed as the figure dropped down, and a masked face appeared before him, staring at him. To Leo, it felt like the longest moment of his life. He squeezed Skye to him, twisting his body so that he was shielding her, but his eyes were still on the man’s as they stared at one another.
The man’s gaze flickered from him to Skye—
“No,” Leo growled, fury tearing through him as he shook his head slightly, repeating in a voice that couldn’t have been his own,“No.”
The man didn’t respond, didn’t appear like he heard him, and for a second Leo thought this was it, he would shoot them, and it would be Leo’s fault for not listening to his instincts—
The man took off, disappearing in the next breath.
Leo felt weak all over. He shut his eyes, body relaxing now as Skye continued to shake in his arms.
“Sweetness,” he whispered, pulling back to look at her.
She stared up at him, complexion pale, teeth chattering as she said brokenly, “The others…”
He didn’t want to move. He wanted to stay right there, make sure it was over, that help was coming—
“We need to help the others,” Skye trembled out.
Groans sounded nearby, and then there was a burst of presence in the diner. People rushing in, screaming for help. Taking her by the hand, Leo slid out from under the table, clutching her to his side, making sure she didn’t see the bodies on the floor, one of them writhing, the others dead. There was blood everywhere. The shop was in total disarray. Glass crunched under their shoes as he guided her out of there, staggered how little the sight of those bodies affected him. He felt more parts of him scatter away, lost forever.
When they stepped out into the light rain, Skye shivering in his arms, Leo felt…that same detached feeling as before. Like when he waded those dark corridors. Like when he watched those men fight, fingers tearing through flesh and bone. Like when he watched the hunger in the victor’s eyes as they brought the trophy to him, hungry for more destruction.
Leo stood there, lost, empty, numb—
He was becoming his father.
He vaguely heard Skye cry out. Felt her body disentangle from his. He roused out of his troubled thoughts, catching her stepping into the arms of—
Hunter.
He sucked in a breath, staring right into his dark eyes. Hunter held her tightly, his eyes wide, looking back at Leo in that furious way.
“Why are you here?” he demanded, shaken up.“Why?”
The question was, why was Hunter here? How did he find them minutes after the shooting before the sirens even filled the air? Leo’s eyes narrowed, his face contorting to disgust, biting back the words,this is what you’re part of?
Hunter’s face dropped, like he could hear the unspoken words loud and clear. He didn’t respond to that look. Not in front of Skye. Not when there were bikers everywhere, dragging out their deceased brothers, crumbling apart at the seams in the middle of a crowded parking lot.
This would be the first gory shooting in Brown Bay’s recent history. Three bikers dead on Warlord territory, and, as he stood there, taking real notice of the havoc, of the timing it was delivered, he suspected…perhaps this was his father’s doing. This thought slipped through his mind, solidifying him in place, cold dread flowing through him as he realized the perilous situation he was in. If he was correct, more strife would come of this. The Warlords were taking over a marked terrain. Hisfather’sterrain. There would be more bloodshed.
And if this was the case, he was standing in the midst of them, the son of the very monster that brazenly struck them. They didn’t know.
But how could his father do this?
It wasn’t discreet.
It wasn’t clean.
It was filled with rage.
Leo took a hard step back, knowing the cops were minutes away, and they would tell his father of him being here. Among the beasts. The enemy.
What punishment would ensue?
What sick horrors would he be forced to witness?
He swallowed the gale of emotions inside him and stood tall. He’d endure, he told himself, staring at Skye, eyes trailing her thick long hair.
He would endure whatever came his way.
