Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 151097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 755(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 504(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 755(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 504(@300wpm)
“Because Hunter thinks you’re Malcolm’s spy.”
Laughing at that, he shook his head. “Of course she does. Malcolm has many spies, but I’m not one of them.”
“Then why are you really here, Kellan? Or is that even your real name?”
Suddenly, I heard movement nearby. Judging by the way Kellan’s jaw clenched, he’d heard it too. He looked around, searching for the next threat, but the only one I cared about right now was the one standing in front of me.
“We need to find Hunter and get the fuck out of here. More may come.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I replied. “But feel free to leave. I’ll find Hunter on my own.” I kept the gun on him as I put more distance between us.
Kellan looked like he was considering doing just that.
Hunter had said he’d come to Black Veil looking for revenge, and now he’d found it. Nothing was keeping him here anymore.
“Sorry. Not happening,” he said while following me across the patio. I placed my finger on the trigger, but he didn’t slow his pace. “I’m a liar, not an asshole. I won’t leave until I know you and Hunter are safe.”
Gunshots erupted nearby, sounding like they had come from the living room.
“Hunter!” Heart plummeting, I ran across the patio with Kellan hot on my heels. We’d made it within steps of the doors overlooking the pool when the glass suddenly shattered from the masked man falling through it.
He was dead before he hit the ground.
Hunter was inside, already fighting another and winning, but she didn’t see the others pouring into the room.
A whole lot fucking more than eight.
I raised the rifle and started laying down fire.
Too many.
There were too many of them.
Kellan barreled into the first of those who’d escaped my untrained aim, neutralizing him and then picking off the rest. Meanwhile, Hunter took down the goon she was fighting and immediately turned to the next. I was amazed at her speed and skill as she tore through one after the other before they could get a shot off.
Still, it wasn’t enough.
The room was quickly overrun, and Kellan and Hunter were surrounded.
Still shooting, my lips parted to scream for Hunter, but the sound never made it out because I spotted something being tossed inside the room. I was forced to lay off the trigger when thick, white smoke began to fill the room, and I lost sight of Hunter and Kellan.
The hitters began to panic, while some even ran.
I couldn’t think about that as I searched blindly for Hunter through the smoke, ignoring the screams of the masked men as they fell around me like flies.
Crouching, I made it to the open archway by the kitchen where the smoke was thinnest when I was yanked backward by my hair, my scalp screaming in pain as I was forced to my feet.
“Hurry! Shoot her!”
Another hitter whirled to take aim, but I was faster. I raised the stolen rifle and shot him in the foot. The goon screamed in pain and hopped around while the one holding my hair ripped the gun from my hands and tossed me to the floor.
He raised the rifle, and I glanced past his shoulder before quickly closing my eyes and waiting for death to collect. A moment later, I felt the warm, thick spray of blood, and the wet sound of flesh tearing open. When I opened my eyes again, Ocean stood between us like an avenging knight.
The goon was staring down at what was left of his stomach, his intestines spilling onto the floor faster than he could futilely stuff them back in. When I felt a laugh bubbling up at the sight, I clapped a hand over my mouth and started to fear for my sanity.
And then Hunter appeared out of nowhere, the smoke parting and her face blank as she approached.
If Ocean was an avenging knight, Hunter was a dark angel.
Lifting her favorite knife, she coldly swiped the serrated edge across the disemboweled goon’s throat. Excessive. Blood gushed from his neck, but he was somehow still standing when Ocean and Hunter walked away. Hunter held out her blood-caked hand for me, and I slipped my equally bloody one into hers.
As soon as I was on my feet, she grabbed my face and kissed me hard.
At the edge of our kiss, I heard a body drop. The sound of death, screams, and more bullets flying faded into the background, and by the time Hunter pulled away, the house was hauntingly silent again.
“Are you okay?” she asked softly.
I glanced at Ocean and saw him waiting for my answer, too, so I nodded, and then he pulled Hunter and me out of the room. Abel was methodically walked from room to room, putting a bullet in the fallen hitters’ heads to make sure none survived.