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I don’t have any weapon on the nightstand, and what an oversight that is. I freeze in the bed, shutting my eyes and regulating my breathing so that it will appear like I’m sleeping even though I want to leap out of bed and take down whoever the fuck is in here.
There is, for sure, someone in here. When I listen, my whole body focuses on the sounds, and I can hear them—the faintest, lightest footfalls. They’re heavy feet; make no mistake about that. But whoever is attached to those feet knows how to use them quietly. They’re good at stealth.
Fuck, of all nights, why this one? Why come for me when Ayana is with me? And who’s coming? Who have we pissed off lately when we’ve been entirely focused on this mission? This mission that we are now abandoning. Maybe Granny was pissed off enough about that to hack someone on impulse, but that wouldn’t make sense. I mean, of course, she’d do something wild as long as she thought it was safe, but it wouldn’t make sense that whoever was in my home now would be in my home if Granny was hacking from her apartment.
Fuck lying still. I can’t just lay here and let them come for me. I might not have a weapon, but I am going to have the advantage of surprise, and if someone wants to get into this room, they’re not getting past me without one hell of a fight. A fight where there’s no way in hell I’m going to lose. I’m going to protect Ayana at all costs.
I creep from the bed, my bare feet soft and soundless on the vinyl as I slide over to the door. My heart is beating so loud that I’m shocked whoever is in the house isn’t tipped off by it already.
I can hear them coming. Their soft steps are well-timed to avoid the squeaky bits of the floor here and there. They’re taking their time. Another indication that they’ve done this before.
This is a bit much. Seriously. Breaking into my house in the middle of the night? Only some of the bastards we took down would want to send a message like this. If they’re sending it to me, maybe they’ve already gotten to Granny and my brothers. The fury that sparks in my blood turns into a roar when I think about any harm happening to the people I love. I glance back at the bed, at Ayana’s sleeping form, and the fire turns into something caustic that is going to burn the whole house down around me if I can’t control it.
I throttle back and choke up on it, channeling the adrenaline into something that is going to make me fast and not something that is going to make me careless and stupid.
A shadow appears in the doorway. Just a few more steps and I can see him. He is dressed entirely in black with no mask, and he has short, shorn hair, hard chiseled features hidden by shadow, and dark eyes burning through the darkened room, searching the outline in the bed. I don’t give him a chance to realize that the outline is all wrong—a small figure, not a big one. Rather, I hurl myself out from behind the door, aiming straight for the bastard’s midsection.
Getting hit by…well, by me, even not at a dead run, is like getting plowed over by a raging camel or maybe a small car. He’s big, but I’m bigger, and I had enough momentum when I tackled him to send us both to the floor. He grunts and tries to roll over me and free his arms, but I quickly pin them down. He tries to roll, to kick me in the gut, to get free, but I release one of his arms just long enough to land a glancing blow off his jaw that makes him grunt again.
I raise my fist, about to pulverize him again, but then there’s a click, and suddenly, the room is illuminated. I’m distracted for just a second, long enough to see that the lamp beside the bed has been switched on, and Ayana is sitting there, shocked and horrified, with the sheet rucked up to her chest and held just under her stark white face.
My fist continues to descend to the intruder’s face, and Ayana screams, “No! Stop!”
I don’t want to stop. Why the hell would I stop?
“Please! Smoke! I know him! Stop. He’s not here to hurt us. He’s here for…for me.”
Fuck. My hand stops a quarter of an inch above the guy’s jaw as he looks up at me with those dark black eyes of his, hatred burning in their depths without question. Shit. This guy really is here for Ayana.
“That’s Bunny Man. What the hell?”
