Page 209 of The Darkest Chase

He drops Talia and she tumbles away, bound and rolling, but unharmed.

Xavier falls forward slowly, struggling against the ground.

He still tries to lunge at Talia—and that’s when the white-hot fury takes over, hurling me forward.

Not again.

He won’t take anyone else from me ever again.

I drop my M4 and tackle him in a bloody heap away, sending us both skidding across the pavement, away from her.

On top of him, I’m snarling, pinning his ugly ass down by the throat.

My fist crashes into his face again and again.

“I’ll kill you,” I hiss. “I’ll fucking kill you for what you’ve done!”

Even bleeding with a bullet embedded in his shoulder, even with his face pulped, he sneers, daring me to do it again, blood streaking his perfect white teeth.

“For what, you asshole? For messing with your whore?”

I nearly rip his throat out with my bare hands.

I swear to God, there’s a murder of crows in the distance going wild with amusement. I think all that racket brings me back into myself as I rear back and stare at him.

He doesn’t know.

That’s the worst part.

He doesn’t fucking know what he’s done, what I’ve lost, who, and he doesn’t care.

Finish him, Mikey, Jet whispers through the chaos. Put this asshole out of his misery and I’ll never bother you again.

I swallow hard.

I hate the dumb blank look on Xavier’s face more than anything.

He knows what it’s like to lose his brothers just like I lost mine, and he doesn’t care at all. Right now, I feel like I could be every bit the monster Xavier is if it helps Jet’s ghost rest in peace.

Yet if I kill him now, he’ll die without understanding why, and it won’t mean shit.

I think I’ll do it anyway.

The dark thing inside me uncoils, murderous and hot, desperate for the blood of the man who destroyed the only family I had.

I’ve craved this for too long.

I won’t be denied a second longer, not while I hear those mad birds shrieking in my ear.

Gritting my teeth, I clamp my hands down on his throat and press hard.

“M-Micaaah…”

The crows go silent.

There’s just Talia’s voice. Weak, raspy, calling to me, but I don’t want to listen.

“Mi…cah. Th-this isn’t who you are… Stop…”

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