Admittedly not easy since all I could picture were his fingers inside me, tongue in my mouth, and the way he’d wrapped his hand around my throat.

  However he felt about me rejecting him again, was hidden in the mischievous glint in his eyes, and the smirk that touched lips I now knew were soft as velvet.

  My stomach flipped in what I couldn’t be sure was apprehension or anticipation of what he would do to me next. His smirks weren’t portraying amusement; I was quickly starting to learn.

  They were merely preludes of violent delights and slow, thorough mind-fucks with ominous words.

  “She isn’t a morning person is she?” he asked Nyx overtop my head, breaking our connection.

  “Not at all,” she answered wistfully.

  “Coffee?” he offered me the tin-can he was holding. I peered inside and saw a nearly black liquid. The aroma of caffeine taunted my senses a second later, making my mouth water.

  “Where did you get this?”

  I took the can from him, gently, so I didn’t spill it. “And how is it warm?” I questioned, holding it to my cheek.

  “It’s a secret.”

  I eyed him suspiciously. “This isn’t full of strict-nine is it?”

  “Princess if I wanted you dead, you’d be dead.”

  “I was half-joking, but thanks for that bit of info,” I deadpanned.

  He grinned at me then, genuinely, and it was one of the most beautiful damn things I’d ever seen—the kind of smile that invited the devil in. And his teeth were perfect rows of white.

  My fingers tightened around the can, and I cleared my throat, quickly finding something else to look at as I brought it to my lips. The liquid was strong, dark, and pure bliss. “Mmm,” I shut my eyes and hummed my appreciation as it traveled down my throat.

  “Sooo, we should go,” Nyx reiterated.

  I opened my eyes and nodded, heading for the doors, missing the look on Zane’s face.

  “Here.” He took the gear bag from Nyx without being asked to and led the way. As soon as we stepped outside, I knew what Nyx had meant. Something did feel off.

  I climbed into the XL, this time behind the driver’s seat where Annie was already sat.

  Nyx took the center aisle, and Zane got in the passenger seat, and then we were pulling off.

  The rain continued to fall, setting a gloomy precedent for the day.

  I tapped my fingers against the tin-can, slowly rotating it in my hands. My mind was all over the place this morning—I didn’t feel like myself.

  Looking up, I caught Zane’s eye in the rearview and immediately got lost in their intensity. The hatred was absent. I knew it could return as easily as he could blink, but right then he was looking at me like I imagined all women wanted to be looked at by a man.

  I had no right to look back in those eyes and feel remotely the way I did.

  The distortion suddenly cleared up on the radio, interrupting our connection. I watched Zane reach a handout and turn it up to twenty-five decibels so we could all hear the broadcast coming on.

  “What’s up ya’ll its DJ Dystopian bringing you all the hottest news about this beautiful hell of a wasteland known as the Badlands.

  Weather today is rain and more rain until, hell I don’t fucking know I’m no meteorologist.

  “You know what I am? I’m the best damn radio host around. I deliver the straight up honest truth no matter how crazy it is.”

  “Turn it up a bit more,” Ace said from the last row of seats.

  Zane obliged, turning the dial six higher.

  “Speaking of crazy shit. The woman who lives next door got dragged away by a man wearing a deer mask the other night. If you don’t know who would do such thing, then you must be new around here, and I’m just the person to fill you in so listen close cuz this could save your sorry asses one day soon.

  The Badlands is home to the craziest sonsofbitches you’re ever gonna meet. This place is crawling with the worst gangs in the whole goddamn country.

  “Let’s start at the bottom with the only ones that matter.

  “We got the Jackals, the Stags—the deer headed psychos, Lazarus—this one’s new but I hear its mean as hell. And then we got those fanatic religious A.R.C fuckers.

  “Last but most certainly not least We got the big baddies at the top, the Savages—and I hear they’re into some real deal devil shit. Claims that Satan himself walks amongst them, and folks, I’m liable to believe it.

  Right there with em is the Venom. You might have thought you heard me wrong just now, but I’m telling you the truth. Those snaked eyed motherfuckers are growing by the day. Could there be an alliance in the future? Keep tuning in, and you’ll be the first to find out.

  I got some old-school hits coming at ya in just a second before I go remember the rules.

  “Keep your eyes and ears open, guns loaded, and knives sharpened because in the Badlands it’s kill or be killed and if you’re not a killer then your ass better run like hell.”

  Zane clicked the stereo off just as a song by Soap&Skin began to croon through the speakers.

  No one said a word. I think this was the first time any of us had heard a broadcast like this one. Not only that, being listed as the two strongest gangs on live radio while riding with one another was sort-of awkward.

  The alliance thing had something wiggling in my brain; before I could delve into it, Trix spoke, breaking the silence.

  “Who are the A.R.C’s?”

  “I was wondering the same thing,” Cam replied. “Actually, I never heard of any of those except the Stags.”

  “Maybe—.”

  Something loud pinged off my window, causing an echo in the gloomy sky.

  Annie immediately hit the brakes, sending Nyx sliding between the seats.

  “Oh, shit,” Ace awed, staring at the growing crack on my window. “Don’t stop the truck!” he yelled when he fully realized what had happened.

  “Annie, drive!” Nyx shouted when she had yet to move.

  The XL lurched forward, engine revving as it slowly gained speed. I stared at my window wondering what the hell had caused the indent, and who.

  Another ping, this time hitting metal.

  “What is that, yo?” Trix asked, searching the windows.

  I couldn’t tell either. It wasn’t bullets. It was…

  The driver’s side window shattered. There was a loud pop followed by a low yelp of pain, and a spray of blood.

  “Annie?” I called out to her, grabbing the handle on the ceiling as the truck swerved, still accelerating.

  “Shit,” Zane grumbled, grabbing for the steering wheel.

  Our bodies were jostled sharply left, and then right as the XL zigzagged back and forth in both lanes.

  “Hold on!” Zane called back as we went off-road. The XL’s front end angled straight towards a telephone pole. Zane jerked the wheel again, missing a full on impact but still unable to stop a portion from being clipped.

  There was a loud thwack as the plastic fender broke apart, headlight shattering with it.

  In the midst of this, Ace had crawled from the back of the truck to the front.

  “Keep holding the wheel!” he said to Zane, crawling over top of where Annie sat.

  He braced a hand on the dashboard and hit the brake.

  The XL came to an abrupt, sliding halt, the momentum throwing our bodies forward. My heart galloped in my chest, mind honing in on the fact that Annie was hurt.

  “Damnit,” Nyx cursed, losing her hold on the side of the seats.

  Maliki stretched his seatbelt to the max to grab her waist before she could go sailing to the front of the truck. Zane let go of the steering wheel, shifting the truck into park, and then he was moving.

  Ace reared back, hitting the button on Annie’s seatbelt to release it as he did.

  “Get her on the floor,” Zane commanded.

  Cam moved from his seat and together, he and Ace lifted Annie from the driver’s seat. Zane took her place.

  Nyx adjusted so that there was enough room to lay her body down.

  I stopped paying attention to what Zane was doing; the sputtering sound coming from Annie’s mouth had me moving on auto-pilot. I took off my seatbelt and got down on the floor beside her.

  As I took in her face—my stomach dropped, and my heartbeat turned sluggish.

  “Annie,” I said her name, but I wasn’t sure if it was aloud. “No, no.” I reached for her, stopping mid-way and letting my hand fall limply to my side.

  A long arrow stuck clean through her jaw—penetrating one cheek with the point sticking out the other.

  There was so much blood.

  It came from her nose, spewing over her lips as she coughed and choked on it.

  Her eyes, they met mine as she struggled to breathe around the very thing that flowed through her veins.

  “Fuck I don’t know…I can’t…we can’t fix this, Addy,” Cam stressed, his own hands hovering over her injury with uncertainty.

  It took every bit of mental strength I had to slam down the denial so desperate to rise up and object.

  He was right.

  If we pulled this arrow out, we’d be ripping open a bigger hole in her face, doing unknown further damage, and we didn’t have anywhere to medically treat her. The first aid kit was a fucking joke when it came to something like this.

  I leaned in and kissed her temple. “I’m sorry. So sorry,” I whispered, fighting to control my emotions. I had never felt as helpless as I did in that very moment in my entire life.

  “Go get in the front seat, Addy. I’ll take care of it,” Nyx promised. Her voice was amazingly neutral.

  “What? Nyx, no I’m staying with her.”

  She didn’t argue with me. Instead, she pulled her scythe blade from her jacket and positioned it at Annie’s carotid artery.

  I grabbed Annie’s hand and squeezed it, wanting her to know she wasn’t dying alone. She squeezed back as if to say she knew before closing her eyes.

  Nyx bent down placed a kiss on her forehead, and then drew the blade across, severing the artery with no resistance, gently splitting open her flesh before doing the other side.

  It took seven seconds for her to become completely still.

  I think we both counted them down in our heads, watching someone we loved die, slowly fade away into nothing.

  The overwhelming smell of iron filled the car.

  Blood, the sight and smell of it had never once bothered me until now. Annie’s saturated the gray carpet. A few drops had made their way onto Nyx’ knuckles.

  Ace and Trix had pulled two of the fleece throws from the back and laid them over her.

  One covered her face, the other her body. Every time Zane hit a slight bump her dead weight jostled.

  There had been no more arrows, and there wasn’t any pursuit. The silence was filled with the consistent squeaking that now came from the front right fender.

  I wasn’t sure how long he drove before pulling over and stopping.

  “We need to ditch the truck,” he announced, cutting the engine. “It stands out well enough without squeaking and letting anyone within a two-mile radius know we’re coming, and more importantly we’re being tailed.”

  “Isn’t walking a sure way to expose ourselves? The road is all open,” Nyx replied.

  She was still doing a superb job keeping her shit together, we both were.

  Externally.

  “There’s a neighborhood right there. We find somewhere to regroup, and we throw them off.” He pointed to the left where an empty guard shack sat; beyond it were houses straight out of old magazines and billboard signs.

  “Them?” Ace questioned.

  “Copperfield is hours behind us. The Stags should be ahead of us, but I can’t think of anyone else who would be waiting around waiting to fire off a round of fucking arrows at a random truck just for shits and giggles.”

  I pulled my attention from the neighborhood and focused on his words. “That would mean they knew we were coming. Or we’ve been being followed this whole time,” I voiced.

  “Does it matter at this point? They’re fucking with us. They have been since this started.”

  “The way it’s looking now, we need to focus on getting to the rendezvous city because something tells me our hardships haven’t even begun yet,” Maliki stated, already preparing to get out of the truck.

  No one disputed his words. There wasn’t anything to argue.

  The Stags that had taken our family members already had a head start. Us stopping to rest and now this only put them closer to their destination and us behind.

  “What about Annie’s body?” Cam asked as Maliki opened the rear passenger door.

  Zane turned his head and looked back, glancing at me before staring at Annie.

  “We burn it.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Quattourdecim

  The smoke was already rising into the sky behind us.

  I took the lead, heading to the immediate right instead of going straight.

  The Stags were following us. There was no doubt in my mind about that. Whoever this nark was, I had reason to believe they were still roaming free within one of our factions.

  I’d keep that information to myself for now, until I had a better idea of what to do with it.

  I knew it wasn’t any of the people with me because I’d been keeping an on eye them since Copperfield, and I hadn’t slept since Maliki woke me up the other night so no one could have pulled any sneak shit.

  My main goal at the moment was to get us somewhere where we could think for a minute, throw whoever was behind us off our trail because they were smart enough to follow a ways back, but not far enough as to where they’d lose us. This forcibly changed things.

  We trudged along, me searching for the perfect hideout house, the others all taking in the sights while lost in their own shit.

  Addy was a bit behind me, cradling her acolyte’s shotgun to her chest like it was a small child.

  She looked as gorgeous as she did the night she ran across my path. She wasn’t crying, and she didn’t look angry. If anything she looked blank, which was worse than either of other two because that meant something was brewing.

  Not as surprised as I should have been I found no joy in this. In my mind, the only person—the only thing—ever allowed to hurt her in any way was me.

  Maybe that was wrong. Maybe that wasn’t typically how people’s relationships worked, lucky for me this was my relationship, and Addy belonged to me. Who gave a fuck if she didn’t know the circumstances yet, or that she denied it?

  I wasn’t going to waste either of our time with subliminal ass romance antics. If my princess wanted romance, she could sit her pussy on my face, and I’d write some poetry with my tongue.

  One of my biggest pet peeves was people who danced around what they wanted.

  Life had always been kinder to me when I took what I desired and didn’t let anyone get in my way.

  Addy included.

  I didn’t wait the past five years to woo her and hope she might like me. She was going to love me, so that was irrelevant.

  It was only fair that she did after what she was doing to me.

  The way my thoughts had turned on themselves in the past twenty-four hours and now battled back in forth. I was doomed to fall as hard as I hated her.

  Could have fought it.

  Could have told myself I was a crazy fuck and it was starting to show again.

  But the way the thing in my chest sped up a little when I looked at her—the thought of possessing her entirely. No, this couldn’t be called insanity.

  Lust?

  A thrill?

  My obsession getting the best of me? Who fucking knows all I knew was that I hadn’t felt any of this shit before. Scratch that I didn’t feel much of anything until I had Addy right in front of me. She was a small piece of humanity I had lost when I was a kid.

  I shook my head and grinned.

  Demon was going to have a field day with this. Little shit had prophesized this happening the day he found out about me and Luce’s deal. I could hear his voice driving me up the goddamn wall about it now.

  I almost missed his ass already.

  He would back home soon, exactly where he belonged. There was no other outcome.

  “This reminds me of my old neighborhood. Manufactured pieces of shit,” Ace disclosed.

  “How did you end up out here?” Nyx asked.

  I hadn’t expected to hear her voice again, not so calm and normal, anyway. Like, Addy, she had a neutral expression on her pretty face.

  I did expect her to be more torn up about having to mercy-kill her friend. Since she was the harvester of souls and whatnot, I supposed it was all just natural to her.

  “Dad kicked me and my older bro out of the house, said we were men and could take of ourselves.”

  “That’s some tough love shit,” Cam said.

  “He has us now, he’s better off,” Maliki stated.

  “Yeah, tis all good. I don’t miss the neighbors much either,” he joked.

  “We can stop at the next cul-de-sac,” I voiced a minute later. “We’ll be able to see the street and behind us.”

  “Some of these curtains have moved,” Trix pointed out.

  “I saw them. That means we find a house that’s empty. Look at this place, shouldn’t be too hard to do.”

  The gated community was nothing like the exuberant area it could have been. An artificial lake now lime green was full of dead fish, the smell intensifying as the sun rose higher in the sky.

  Huge faux mansions with irrigated yards now swathed by barren dirt sat neglected.

  We turned onto a street named MullBerry, and I pointed to a cream-colored house in the center.

  “Let’s try that one.”

  “Want me to check it out first?” Trix asked.

  “Yeah, just be careful.”

  “Always, Z.” She flashed me a smile and then broke into a jog.

  “There’s an old man staring from the top window of that white one,” Addy quietly said.

  I glanced at her, and then to the house in question.

  “He certainly isn’t being discreet about it,” Cam commented, giving the nosey fuck a finger wave.