Page 177 of You Only Love Twice
Ghost suddenly kicked against the rail, pushing off. He rolled over her back, taking her arms—and the garrote—with him.
"Gemma, down!"
Malloryn again.
She tried. Honestly, she did.
But the garrote was wrapped too tightly around her hands.
Ghost hauled her toward him, his forehead slamming into hers. She lost a moment. Perhaps too many. Gemma swayed, the world blurring around her in a roar of dark shadows and flames.
And then Ghost hauled her back against his chest and put his knife to her throat as he turned to face Malloryn.
Chapter 33
"Put the pistol down, or I'll cut her throat," Ghost said.
Gemma grabbed his wrist, trying to halt the progress of the knife set against her throat, but it was like gripping steel cables. No give.
She shot Malloryn a nervous look.
There was nothing left of the icy gray of the duke's irises as he stood over thedhampirwoman he'd felled with his electrode-stimulating device. His dartgun was locked on Ghost, and she knew he was carrying darts laced with Black Vein.
But he froze as he saw her predicament.
"You too," Ghost said, in a dangerously soft voice, wrenching her around just enough to see Obsidian haul himself onto the platform, the silver glint of a grappling hook locked in the mesh.
He'd survived.
Relief burst through her as she realized what must have happened. Obsidian must have flung one of his hooks as he fell, and slowly hauled himself up. She'd been so focused on the fight, she hadn't noticed. She felt like her heart was going to burst right out of her chest.
"Can you not simply die?" Ghost hissed at Obsidian.
"I'm the Wraith. I can't die."
"No? But you can watch her go first."
Gemma squeaked and arched backward as the knife cut her skin. She didn't dare swallow.
"It appears we're at an impasse," Malloryn said coolly. "If you hurt Gemma, then you're a dead man. You cannot escape. There are two of us."
Gemma sucked in a sharp breath, tilting her chin high to try and escape the knife. The shock collar offered no protection.
Her heart pounded in her ears, and she glanced up at Ghost, trying to calculate her trajectory. If she kicked up, she could— No. He had the blasted knife right over her carotid artery.
It might not kill you.
Head or heart, after all. Gemma's heartbeat slowed to a crawl as she considered her options.
"Who said I needed to escape?" Ghost demanded. "As long as it hurts you, Malloryn, then my mission is done. I can't fail. Iwon't." Grabbing her jaw in his fingers, he turned her toward the duke. "It’s like déjà vu, isn't it?"
The knife tracked its way lower, and Gemma's eyes rolled as she tried to see where it was going. Its tip pierced the outer layer of her body armor, drawing a bead of blood as he set it to her sternum.
Suddenly she couldn't breathe.
Armored corset or not, if he drove it through her heart, then she'd never survive.
Her frantic gaze met Obsidian's. If this was going to be the end, then the last thing she wanted to see was his face.
