Page 187 of Ravaged Soul
“Dimples,” I beg. “Put it down. Let’s go.”
“You heard her, Ax. It’s all my fault.”
“Don’t do this. Don’t let them get inside your head.”
“You left me to die.” Gracie’s accusatory voice forms a cruel lash. “I hate you.”
In a fit of rage, Ember hurls the device at the wall. It shatters upon impact with the solid brick, raining down in jagged shards to cut off Gracie’s cries.
“I did this to her!” Ember clutches her head. “I left her there.”
“Em… No. Don’t believe that, babe. This is what they want.”
Wrapping my arms around her from behind does little to calm her tremors. I’m shaking hard too. All I can hear is Gracie’s terrified voice, coming from those goddamn speakers.
“I’ll never find her.” Ember trembles against my chest. “She’s gone, Ax!”
“Shh, babe. Deep breaths. Gael’s messing with your head.”
“You heard her?—”
“I heard a scared girl saying whatever she was told to. He’s taunting you.”
“I still left her there!”
My arms tighten, attempting to squeeze the self-hatred out before it swallows her in one greedy gulp.
“You were torn apart,” I whisper into her ear. “There was no choice in it. They took you away from her, Em. They did this. Hate the right people.”
“She’s all alone… I can’t find her…”
“We will. I swear on my life, we will find Gracie.”
“Your life, brother mine? It isn’t worth much.”
Gunnar’s vocal whip scares us both, causing me to surrender Ember and spin on the spot to face him. Neither of us heard the invisible Hunter following our tracks. He steps into the room, a pistol aimed ahead in his right hand.
“What’s going on?” I ask uneasily.
Gunnar cocks the gun. “Did you receive the message?”
“What fucking message?”
“I’m not usually one to play the role of running errands, but I wanted to make sure you’d find it at the right time.” His gaze travels to the shattered plastic. “I see it was well received.”
“You,” Ember howls. “You’re one of them.”
“Never.” Gunnar seethes at her.
“Then what the fuck is this?” I shout back.
“I’m a contractor. Consider this your team being outbid for a higher price.”
Measuring the distance between us, I try to calculate how long it’ll take to draw the gun I holstered and empty it into my twin’s useless hide. He’d likely shoot me first.
“I know that you have zero intention of fulfilling your end of the deal.” Gunnar snickers haughtily. “That’s why I negotiated a better offer. They get the girl, and I get you.”
Slowly, I inch in front of Ember. “Over my dead body.”
