Page 158 of The Satyr's Guilt
With shaky hands, Denim fumbled with thechains binding him. She couldn’t speak.
“Here. Let me.” Dax snapped them one byone.
The satyr’s lids fluttered open. “Nice. Icould have done that. If I didn’t have the fucking wobbles. Femalevamp next room.”
“Nico, Sabine. Get her. Thorn, take doorduty.” Dax shot orders at the team.
Ram’s gaze searched the room, a hand pressedto his barely patched chest. His head lolled to the side. “Too manysedatives.” When he saw Denim holding his other palm, his lipstwitched. “Doll.”
“Don’t talk.” She stroked his arm, uselesstears welling in her eyes.
Ram jerked his gaze toward the man bleedingon the floor. “Dante. Amelia’s father. He did all this to make mesuffer.”
“Everybody at the compound dies,” saidDax.
Ram nodded. “He’s my job. I’ll do it.”
“You’re not getting up.”Denim held him on the metal slab. “You’re lucky to be alive, youcrazy-ass satyr. Stay put. We’re taking you to the medicalcenter.”
****
“Not yet, doll.” Ram snaggedDax’s nine. Not an easy task when he was barely conscious. Herolled off the slab, holding his gut, stumbling toward Dante. Herewas the man who wanted to kill him, all Aeternals, and the guy’sown adorable granddaughter.
Denim and Dax reacted at the same time,latching onto his upper arms, steadying him, urging him back to themetal gurney.
Ram refused to budge.
Lord Ellington was conscious, but bloodpoured from his neck. He sat with his back to the wall and legsspread out on the floor, awaiting his fate. “Go ahead, you damnotherworlder. You killed me long ago when you entranced sweetAmelia, filling her head with fantasies.”
Denim and his vampirefreronheld Ramupright. “I didn’t deserve her. True. But in my way, I loved her.She gave me Jonquil. Great kid. Smart. Kind. Beautiful. You’llnever meet her. Never hug.”
“If I had seen her, I would have killed her.She’s as much to blame for my baby’s death as you are.” The voiceof the man who claimed to have loved his daughter was venomous.
“Amelia would never have chosen this.” Ram’sknees nearly buckled, but he stayed on his feet.
“Amelia was a besotted dreamer.”
“She hated you, old man. Why do you thinkshe turned to me? To get out of your clutches. She made me promiseto keep Jonquil away from you.”
“Liar.” Amelia’s father stared at him as ifhe were a monster.
“Now is not the time for lies. Only truth.Amelia got ripped-off. Bad husband. Worse father.”
The satyr aimed the nine-millimeter weaponat Dante. As he tried to squeeze the trigger, the gun flapped likea flag on a windy day.
Dax gripped the barrel of the gun, taking itfrom his hand. “One last question, asshole. Where’s GeneralMars?”
As Dante clutched the wound on his neck, hismouth twisted into a sneering smile. “On a helicopter. He’s in theair with your fate, two American military officers.”
Dax fired. Dante died instantly as thebullet opened a perfect hole between his cold, hard eyes. “There.Done. No guilt.”
The vampire Firebrand tucked the Glock intoits holster.
For a moment, Ram pictured Amelia’s fatherin other times, in front of a fireplace, smiling warmly at adaughter who had seen the ugly side of him. As Ram’s feet buckled,he heard Denim scream, “Where’s the damn healer?”
****
Denim flung Ram’s arm overher shoulder. He was dead weight. If Dax hadn’t been on his otherside, he’d be face down on the floor. Damn stubborn satyr.
