Page 143 of Inside the Wicked

CHAPTER 47

Anastasia

I’m looking at Alistair’s elaborate manor in the woods, hand in hand with Rhett with Shadow by my heel, picturing the next time I’ll stand here, when we’ll feel the heat across our faces as we watch it go up in flames.

We have Xoid in every possible surrounding place, hidden nearby and remotely, though we have no plan and no idea of what we’ll face once we go inside.

Jacob is watched by two of our guys beside us. He’s been beaten up pretty badly, bound and gagged, and I have to say, it’s satisfying to see his face not so pretty and smug anymore.

“We’re not here to try to attack Lanshall today,” Rhett says.

I think he’s trying to convince himself more than anything. It’s going to be damned hard to face him and only hand over Forthson for Liam and Allie. He has the alliance of Silas Balenheizer now, and we’re severely outmatched against the both of them.

“One day,” I say, squeezing his hand.

“Nice ring,” Jacob says, barely coherent through the tight fabric tied between his teeth. “I would have done better though.”

I let go of Rhett’s hand, and he shifts as I step in front of Jacob. I hate him so much my hands tighten painfully to keep from trembling.

“You don’t know the first thing about me,” I say.

“I think you despise me because I know youtoowell.”

His mere presence has been probing at a trigger within me, and now I can’t stop my impulse. My arm pulls back, and I put everything I have into the punch I deliver across his jaw. Pain lances over my knuckles and up my arm too, but unaware, Jacob sprawls to the ground, and it’s worth it to see the freshly bleeding cut along his cheekbone.

I grit my teeth, flexing my tender fingers as I stare down at him with loathing. Large, gentle hands take my throbbing one, and I’m drawn to watch Rhett examine my injury with a slow-blooming smile.

“You’ve gotten far better at that,” he mutters bittersweetly. “No splits, but it will bruise significantly. You pack a powerful punch, little bird.”

“With the right motivation, yeah, I think I can.”

Rhett huffs with a shake of his head and then leans in to kiss my forehead.

“I’m hoping you won’t be inspired again.”

I grip the front of his black T-shirt to coax his lips to mine. The kiss is short but needed.

We head to the entrance, which is eerily open for us. My skin is crawling with a sense of dread, but I measure my breaths. Inside it’s too quiet. I’m used to seeing several intimidating men floating around the place, but there’s no one. We go to Alistair’s office. Shadow remains alert by my side, and the only noises disturbing our tense silence are Jacob’s shuffles and groans of pain as he’s dragged along behind us.

We don’t find Alistair in his office, but my heart goes from leaping at the sight of Kenna, perched cross-legged on his desk,to falling to my stomach at finding Liam gagged and strapped to the chair behind it.

“About time,” Kenna drawls, bored.

She looks absolutely lethal in tight black jeans, heeled ankle boots, and a leather jacket. Her long, straight black hair is in a high ponytail that swings when she hops off the table.

“Kenna,” Rhett says, as if he’s seeing a ghost and the name is uncertain to him. When he last saw her, they were only sixteen and he knew her by another name.

“I don’t know you, just as you don’t know me,” she says coldly. “Who we became under these names. We’re strangers and enemies, Kaiser.”

“You don’t mean that,” he says, pain slipping through his mask of indifference.

“Don’t make me show you just how much I mean it.”

I ask, “Where’s Alistair?”

“Leaving the fun to me,” she says with a sinister playful edge. Kenna retrieves a knife from her side, and I tense as she circles around to Liam, who locks his terrified green eyes on me.

“Don’t hurt him,” I snap. Rhett grabs my arm to stop my advance. “We brought him Forthson. That was the deal to let him and Allie go.”

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