AllFreeNovel
Share Us
There would be no argument from me.
We tore out of the lot and through the short but winding drive, slowing only to ensure Tig had the gate open far enough for us to shoot out, and we were heading up the highway.
It seemed to take forever to get to our destination, but eventually we were pulling into the parking lot in front of the building in my GPS. I’d barely gotten off when I saw something that sent my adrenaline into overdrive.
“Stop right there!” I shouted, reaching for my pistol.
A guy had Sloane in his arms who spun to face me. When he did, he dropped her feet to the ground. My blood ran cold when he held the barrel of a gun to her temple and walked backward.
I skidded to an abrupt stop. My gaze was so focused on her that I barely heard Voodoo’s shout of warning, and I certainly never saw the rest coming. I was hit with such force, I stumbled back and was immediately engulfed in a strange flame.
The sound of a woman screaming carried through the flames as I fought to control a fire that wasn’t like any I’d experienced before. It was almost as if it was alive, and we were in a violent struggle. When I finally managed to contain it, I absorbed it with a shudder at the icy burn of the unnatural flames.
Panting, I lay on my back, staring at the sky I’d been admiring the day before. Aching in every joint, I rolled to my hands and knees.
“Phoenix!” Voodoo called, drawing my attention to my brother, who dropped to his knees on the blacktop next to me. Trying to get my shit together, I pushed back to sit on my heels, palms resting on my thighs. When I quit shaking, and my breathing evened out, I carefully stood.
Blood trickled down from a small gash on my head that must’ve happened when I hit the ground. Voodoo had a fucking knife sticking out of his arm. No way could he ride.
“You need to go after her!” he shouted as he winced.
“Not leaving you like this,” I ground out. Blood poured down his arm.
“I’ll be fine. But you have to find her. Now.” The seriousness in his eyes had my brow furrowing.
“Voodoo,” I started to argue.
“I saw what they have planned for her,” he gravely announced as his glacial eyes conveyed the seriousness of his request.
“Shit,” I muttered under my breath.
“Voodoo! Phoenix!” I looked up to see Niara carrying a towel and hurrying my way with a red-headed man I hadn’t met before but assumed had to be Rooster. He had dried blood on his head, which appeared to have been hastily washed. Niara had the beginnings of a black eye and blood caked in her dark auburn hair.
“Jesus, what happened to you two?” Voodoo asked as I helped the guy to sit on the curb.
“They jumped us in my apartment while I was gathering the things I would need to help Sloane with the scrolls. We were coming around the building when I saw Voodoo get hit, so I grabbed the first thing I had. Phoenix, you have to go after Sloane. Please,” she explained, anxiety creasing her brow and causing her lower lip to tremble.
“I have no idea which way to go. Do you know where they took her? Because I have no clue where they could’ve gone,” I replied as I gripped my hair and fought the desire to roar and ram my fist into the door of the truck next to us. The thought of them having Sloane not only had rage simmering within, it sent a shaft of pain straight through my chest. It was stealing my breath, but I had to hold my shit together.
Voodoo closed his eyes and breathed deep and even. His near meditative appearance told me he was trying to induce a vision that might tell us where they were heading. I’d never seen that work for him in the past. Usually, he needed specific rituals and items to be able to reach whatever it was that showed him the things he sought.
A tall man ran up to us without a shirt or shoes, and I immediately drew my weapon and had it locked on his chest.What the fuck?“I will blow a hole through you!”
“I’m supposed to tell you Raptor sent us,” he said, his golden eyes staring eerily at mine.
“Us?” Voodoo questioned.
The man waved whoever was with him in. Two more men approached in the same state of undress. They were all tall, dark-haired, and ranged from wiry to obviously muscled. Despite the cool February temperature, they wore nothing but lightweight athletic pants. Either I was losing my fucking mind, or they were.
“Who the hell are you?” Voodoo asked, suspicion in his narrowed gaze as he gritted his teeth against the pain of the knife in his arm. Niara already had a towel wrapped around it, trying to stem the blood flow, but she gawked at the trio of dudes as well.
“His family.”
You could’ve knocked us over with a fucking feather.
“The woman is right. We need to hurry,” the first man insisted.
“Where?” I shouted, feeling the flame of rage licking through my veins. “Tell me where and I will hunt them down.”
