Page 52 of Hound

Suddenly, the air froze as the man drew closer and her voice trembled.

“Lace?”

Everything tilted as a chill crawled up my spine, rendering me motionless. No, there was no way?—

Masked figures swarmed me by wrapping their hands around my shoulders and flung me, my body crashing onto the ground. A groan escaped my throat as pain spiked on my side, darkness spotting my eyes. . .until the unmasked person straightened.

Everything came crashing down.

Lace stood taller than ever before, his eyes never meeting mine. “It’s been quite a while since we last brawled.” The voice that came out of his mouth wasn’t warm or familiar.

It was emotionless. Distant. One I’d never heard before.

This Lace wasn’t the one I’d known for six years. He was someone completely different.

Nina’s eyebrows furrowed, the same doubt aching in my chest lining her face. “What? What’s going on? Why. . .”

“I’ve always liked a harsh brawl when the competition arises. I just never sought one out until now.” Lace motioned his neck to the side, guardians and masked figures encircling us with heavy stomps. Two grabbed Nina’s wrist while a few forced Alek and Kaleb on their feet—or tried to with the way he flopped around unconscious.

I barely took them into account as red seeped into my vision. Swallowing rage coursed through my veins, suffocating my throat as I tried to breathe in. But no air could calm the overpowering fury that grew, thickening to the point it became one with me.

“Lace. What’s all of this?”

Burying the pain that caved my chest and pulsed in my bones.

“In the beginning, it was all a scheme devised by him.” Lace pointed the firearm in his grip at Kaleb. There was no care in the way his fingers loosely held the metal junk. “But there was a minor twist added by my superior. She thought it would be a great opportunity to achieve what we’ve been planning for so long.”

Feeding the purest form of anger that called the beast.

“What type of bullshit are you spitting?”

“Ah, ah, ah.” Lace waved the firearm in my face. Atme,his best friend and comrade of six fucking years. Where did thatall go? Had it ever even fucking existed? “I don’t enjoy it when obedient dogs bark back at their owner.”

The beast was here. He wanted to rip him to fucking pieces. And I had no sense of control—except a sliver in my voice.

“What the fuck are you?—”

Blaring gunshots exploded beside my ears. My fingertips froze. Fire spread through my chest, flaming a trail throughout my skin. A metallic scent oxidized the air. A fiery punch echoed in my back as fear churned in my stomach. Where was this darkness edging the corners of my vision coming from? Words muffled as my surroundings blurred.

Hooded, brown eyes fell on me, the familiar warmth they had since the first day we met gone, replaced by a never-ending pit. Where was the boss that had welcomed Nina and me with open arms? Where was the best friend that spent countless nights listening to my worries and sharing advice to calm my nerves? Where was the comrade who’d given me my motorcycle after my first year at the CEG? The man I owed everything and more to? The Lace that saw my cousin and me as beings instead of?—

His lips moved, his eyes staring somewhere else, and the voice that spoke belonged to Lace, but the words didn’t. They couldn’t. How was that possible? “Lorenzo was ordered to be killed by the superior long ago. I, instead, kept him alive for my benefit. Yet, his feelings proved to be an inconvenience. We couldn’t have an attachedhound, now, could we?”

My name was a poison he spat on the growing fog.

Suddenly, wisps of black strands fanned next to me, a small body sinking into the bed as a familiar face burrowed into my chest. Nina? Why was she so little? I tried tugging her closer, but then, she washed away, leaving me alone in the closing dark.

Shadows swirled, creeping from the soil and to the moon-lit gravestones. There had to be hundreds of them, but onlyone stood out as a pale figure beside it turned. Moss-green eyes settled on me. The hairs on my neck stood.Mom.

Who would clean her grave?

I forced my lips to part, but they didn’t respond even as a mantra ofMom! Mom! Mom!echoed. She looked exactly like her. Dirty brown hair was pulled back into a bun, emphasizing the heart-shaped face that tapered into soft cheeks and thin lips. Yet, this wasn’t the mom I knew.

Her smooth skin lacked the glow she always had. Her thin, dark eyebrows furrowed with irritation. And those eyes—they were hollow.

Everything stilled as light outlined her white coat, enhancing the words on the left breast pocket.

Cecilia Epide.

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