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Then on instinct, my hand curls around the hilt with a pained cry, and I tear it out, the blade clattering to the ground as I hear Zade’s angered roar telling me no.
“HELP HER,” Sawyer roars at his sister, but she’s already there, scrambling on top of me, straddling my waist as she presses down over the wound. She tries to gain control of the bleeding, but the more she presses down over my chest, the harder it becomes to breathe.
“Oakley,” Cara demands as my eyes grow heavy. “Don’t you dare go to sleep.”
My head lolls to the side, and I gaze at the boys, coming to the realization that this really is it. It wasn’t the terrifying slaughter I’d prepared for, but tonight will still mark the end of my life, the end of my story. I’m just grateful I got to see the boys one last time.
Nothing could ever beat that.
Taking out the last remaining Circle members, Dalton comes racing around the sacrificial altar, his skilled fingers working the chains on my ankles in a flash as Sawyer races to my other side, locking his arm around his sister’s waist and all but throwing her to the ground in order to scoop me into his strong arms.
“LET’S GO,” he says, his booming voice echoing through the old tomb.
Sawyer takes off at a sprint, and as Zade puts the final nail in the coffin, finishing The Circle for good, I peer back over Sawyer’s shoulder. The boys hurry behind us, terrified panic in each of their eyes as they sprint toward the old stairs, desperate to get me out of here, and just as Sawyer hits the bottom stair, I see a familiar face hidden in the shadows.
A wicked smile stretches across his face, and as I fade from this world, I know without a doubt that my father, the man who raised me from a newborn into a curious little girl, was the one responsible for ending my life.
Then before Sawyer has even reached the top of the stairs, I fade from existence, my last breath expelled from my lungs as I silently die in his loving arms.
Chapter 27
SAWYER
“NO,” I roar, my boots slamming against the hard earth and propelling me through the thick woods as my girl lies motionless in my arms.
The boys race around me as Cross practically drags Cara to keep up and fuck, if she weren’t my twin sister, if she didn’t share my blood, she would have been left behind. We don’t have time for stragglers, especially when Oakley is dying in my arms.
I have to get her out of here.
We didn’t just slaughter the whole fucking Circle only for Oakley to die on her way out the door. That is not how her story is supposed to end.
Panic tears at my chest, a raw desperation I’ve never felt before gripping hold of my throat and squeezing it tight, making it impossible to breathe. “Oakley,” I grunt, rattling her as I barge through the thick brush, the low-hanging twigs scratching up my face and arms as I sprint past them. “Come on, Doll. You’re not fucking dying like this.”
“Does she have a pulse?” Zade demands, racing out in front of me as we clear the thickest part of the woods, passing the bodies of Matthias’s army left carelessly by Zade’s team in the thick shrubbery.
“I don’t know,” I respond, knowing he hears the raw, unfiltered panic in my tone, letting on just how fucking bad this really is.
We finally break through the woods to Zade’s SUV parked up on the curb, and he unlocks it, racing around to open the back door just moments before I go flying through it, laying Oakley down across the back.
Cross scrambles for the first aid kit as Zade hits the gas, the back doors still hanging wide open. Cara squishes in the trunk as Cross and I hover over the backseat, my fingers pressed firmly to Oakley’s throat as Dalton hangs over the front passenger seat, his eyes glued to Oakley’s face.
Everybody rushes out demands, needing to know if she’s alright, and I zone them all out, only able to hear the rapid beat of my heart in my ears. Then finally, I feel it, the light flutter beneath her skin that tells me we still have a fucking chance. “I’ve got a pulse,” I rush out, hearing the collective sound of relieved sighs throughout the SUV, prompting Cross to get stuck straight into first aid. “It’s weak, but it’s there. She’s just out cold.”
“Thank fuck,” Zade grunts, pushing even harder on the gas, more determined than ever to get her to the ER.
“Look at her chest,” Cross says as Cara hangs over the backseat and grabs Oakley’s hand, clutching onto it for dear life, tears streaming down her face. “She’s trying to breathe, but she can’t.”
