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I reached the glow on the bottom floor before the others, ahead of them enough that I had to wait. A wall of debris blocked my view of the way forward, but I thought I smelled Axel in the air. It was hard to focus, though. The bullet in my side was starting to hurt, and the scent of blood in the air had only gotten stronger.
“Jesus, Ghost!” Robert hissed. “Why didn’t you say you’d been shot?”
I huffed and looked down at my side. It was shimmering and wet. When he approached, I couldn’t stop the growl from bubbling out of my throat. “Ghost won’t go back up.”
I should’ve told him it wasn’t as bad as it looked, because it wasn’t. It hurt, and I was bleeding, but I was fairly sure the bullet was wedged in the cartilaginous layer between my outer carapace and the soft flesh protecting my organs. I was in nodanger so long as the bullet was removed before infection set in. I could still help.
“We don’t have time for this,” Phoenix said for the fourth time, but he was right.
I grunted in agreement and we stepped around the wall of debris at the same time.
I froze in place at the sight. Papa’s laboratory had been restored, remade just as it was. The familiar white tile and stainless steel gleamed in bright light. The chair where I used to sit while Papa took my blood and vitals was even there. Everything was exactly as it had been except for one thing. There was no sign of Papa.
My breath caught as Axel stepped out from behind the chair, and then I growled when I saw the gun pressed to his head. Wait… That didn’t make sense. Why was he pressing a gun to his own head? And what was that strange device he was wearing like a crown?
Pheonix cursed and brought up his gun, pointing it at Axel.
I growled and shoved the gun away. “No shoot!”
“That’s right. You can’t harm me, can you?” It was my mate who spoke, and he spoke in Axel’s voice, but something wasn’t right. Why was he speaking like Papa?
“What the fuck is this?” Phoenix demanded. “What’s going on, Axel?”
Ollie stepped forward. “Don’t shoot him. He’s not in control of himself. Look.”
Chris cursed and lowered his gun. “He’s wearing a crown. Just like the queen was the first time we broke into the labs.”
“Correct,” Axel said, his lips stretching into an unnatural smile. “Mr. Rose is entirely under my control. Unless you want to watch him die, you’re going to do exactly as I say, when I say it. Now, I’d advise you to lower your weapons or I will make him pull the trigger.”
Sweat ran down theback of my neck in heavy drops, but I couldn’t wipe it away. I couldn’t move a muscle on my own except to blink. There were two voices in my head—mine and Parker’s—and I was panicking. My heart thudded loudly in my chest as he made me press the barrel of the gun against my temple.
Please, help me. I don’t want to die. I did my best to convey the message with my eyes, since that seemed to be the only part of me I still had control over.
“Weaponsdown,” I heard myself say, echoing Parker’s voice in my head.
Phoenix glared at me. “Do it.”
Guns slowly went to the floor.
My eyes darted around, taking in my rescuers like it was the last time I’d see them alive. I couldn’t tell them that Parker was behind them, waiting for the right moment to step out and finish them off. He had on a matching crown, and was using it to control me. I couldn’t move my mouth or my tongue to sayanything. All I could do was try to get them to turn around by staring behind them, but they weren’t getting it.
My gaze snagged on Ghost’s side. There was a huge crack in his skin, and a dark wet stain running down one side. Blood dripped onto the floor near his foot. Oh, fuck. Fuck, fuck. That motherfucker… I was going to rip Parker’s balls off and feed them to him.
Ziggy snorted loudly. He looked more terrifying than usual, with bigger fangs and claws. I was pretty sure he’d somehow gotten taller, too, though that could’ve just been whatever Parker was doing to my head.
“Back up!” I snarled. “Especially the three monsters. You three move, and I will pull this trigger.”
“Easy.” Phoenix lifted his arms in surrender. “Nobody’s moving. But you should know that we’ve got less than fifteen minutes before an airstrike turns this place to rubble. Well, even more rubble than it already is.”
“You’re lying,” Parker said through me.
“Wish he was,” Robert scoffed. “Mozley doesn’t pull any punches.”
Fuck. Well, at least if I was going to die, it’d be knowing that I’d be taking Parker with me.
But dammit, I didn’t want to die. I was too young and pretty to die!
“Let me tell you what’s going to happen,” I said, shifting how I was holding the gun to my own head. “The krampus is going to open a portal for me to a location of my choosing. Once that’s been done, the irqed will surrender and go through the portal and I will follow.”
