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My chest tightened with each strained breath as I reached that door.
I kicked it in, the door smacking into the wall as Tracy towered over Sadie under the window. Her knives raised, she roared like an animal as the blades dove toward Sadie’s chest.
I tackled Tracy down onto a dirty mattress, and she rolled out from under me. She sprang up as Ian came into the room. Her eyes widened as she looked at Sadie.
She was primal. Her eyes filled with primitive rage, and I knew this wasn’t her first kill.
Ian reached for Sadie with Jaxson’s help to move her to safety.
I locked my arm around Tracy’s throat, bringing her down to the mattress and pressing her into a neck crank. She popped back up.
The dirty mattress beneath my boots sent shivers up my spine. I couldn’t believe this was where Sadie had been kept.
But I kept my focus unwavering. I was dealing with crazy. I locked eyes with Tracy. She wasted no time and stepped forward, attempting to mirror my movements.
She’d had training. She wielded her knives with a chilling expertise. My right hand gripped her collar while my left hand snatched her sleeve. She tried to pull guard, but I dropped my weight down, hoping to evade her technique before she could establish her next move.
But she was quick, and the sharpness of her knife sliced into my thigh as her spine turned rigid from the spinal lock.
Sadie’s eyes met mine with a gasp when she saw my wound.
Tracy wasted no time and stepped in to prove her skill quickly. I mirrored Tracy’s movements, getting a solid ribbon grip with my right hand while my left hand seized her arm. But she was quick and managed to lock a closed guard around my waist. The pressure of her legs, trying to break my stance, surprised me. The pain in my thigh throbbed as a constant trickle of warm liquid dribbled down my leg. But I postured up just as she attempted a triangle choke. I couldn’t help but admire her abilities, but it was over.
Recognizing the danger immediately, I stacked her to prevent the chokehold from getting tighter. She crumpled to the ground and coughed but stood back up with her remaining knife. I had no plans to end her, and I knew Ian felt the same. I kept my knife sheathed.
Jaxson, I didn’t believe, did.
Tracy’s eyes skittered up and down my body as a smile curled across her lips. “Leg looks pretty bad.”
“Could be worse.”
This took her off-guard, and she quickly realized her mistake.
I tackled her to the mattress. Breathing heavily as the pain in my thigh roared to life, I shifted my weight and managed to transition my good knee onto her belly, digging into her abdomen. She gasped from the pain.
Her eyes blazed with hate as she gripped the other knife and shoved it toward me. The silver of the blade flashed in the light as her fingers tightened around the blade.
And I had no choice.
Her body went lifeless as the knife fell from her hands, which had only slightly scraped my shoulder.
“Get me free. Get me free,” Sadie cried, grabbing at one of the knives.
“I got you, Sadie,” I said, working the blade through the plastic tie around her ankles.
The pain from my thigh made me wince as the knife dropped from my hand. I only had enough strength to undo her first restraint.
Shit. This wasn't good.
She gasped as she tripped toward me, looping her locked wrists around me and bringing me into her.
“You saved me,” she whispered through tears. “Again.”
I looked into her eyes and smiled, feeling my pulse slow with every beat. “It’s over, baby. I knew it would be, but it’s really over.”
Sadie sniffled as Jaxson bent over, slicing the tie around her wrist. Ian was applying a tourniquet as Jaxson paced outside.
“Call 9-1-1,” Sadie cried. “Just call an ambulance.”
