Leaning my head against the window, I watched him from my peripheral, thinking of the past few days and comparing it to these last couple years we’d been together. He reminded me of someone…

  Liege.

  That one word really said everything. The only person I had ever witnessed being called that was known as the devil himself. How ironic that this same man was his blood relative? I wasn’t sure this was a good thing.

  Romero was something else. He was wildly successful, though. Him and our fathers. I studied Mal’s side profile. Was that how he was able make it this far? When I thought of the connections he had—taking into consideration there were likely a ton more I didn’t know—it struck me that someone had to have been sponsoring him. I think I could connect some of the dots now, but it wasn’t something I was going to say aloud.

  It wasn’t that strange since Romero was his uncle, but what was his end game? Why did he need my Mal?

  “What is it?”

  “I just realized you remind me of Romero,” I answered honestly.

  “I can see it,” Rory agreed. “Such a beautiful man too.”

  Mal scowled at the road ahead. “So, you’d fuck him too?”

  Where did that come from? I bit my inner cheek, trying hard not to laugh. If he wanted me to be honest, then…

  “I’d sooner rip a dick off than sit on one, but if I had to choose, he would be top pick,” Aurora cut in.

  “I would do it now,” Poet seconded.

  “This conversation is over.”

  He drove a around bend and then took a sharp left turn. Seeing what was up ahead, I sat up taller.

  A four-lane road had become more weeds and grass than pavement, and there were various vehicles that looked to be abandoned blocking our path. Aside from that, four proselytes stood off to the side just a few yards away.

  “We have to walk from here. They’ll take the trucks around the other way and meet back up with us,” Mal explained.

  “Why didn’t we take that way to begin with?”

  He put the SUV in park and opened his door. “Because it’s a main route, and I wasn’t putting you at risk. This is the back road. Still dangerous but less so.”

  “You didn’t have to do all that for me,” I protested.

  “Get out,” he replied, exiting the vehicle.

  I dropped my head back and sighed, taking a minute to obey his command. I prepared myself for the heat and followed everyone else’s lead.

  It didn’t take long for our group to assimilate and switch off with the waiting proselytes.

  “How long will it take us to get through this maze of rusted metal?” Takara asked.

  “Not long, if we keep a steady pace,” Rory answered her.

  I took in everything as we made our journey onward. While it seemed the majority knew their way around, this was all new to me. The roadway was practically in half, tarmac splitting apart, allowing dirt to show and endless vegetation to grow.

  The abandoned cars were in a variety of conditions. Some couldn’t have been here that long, while others were so rusted, they’d begun falling apart, covered in overgrowth.

  I wondered what the story behind them was. There were enough that we had to weave around a husk every couple yards. A few had old remains inside, piles of dusty weathered bones no one cared about.

  We were nearing an overpass when Samael abruptly stopped walking. Before I had a chance to ask what was going on, he was shoving me into Aurora. I smacked into her chest, taking us both to the ground.

  At the same time, Jin demanded everyone get down—a mere second before gunfire blasted through the air.

  “Don’t move,” Aurora barked, covering my body with her own.

  “What the hell is happening?” Takara yelled from nearby, hiding with Amo.

  Bullets pebbled what remained of windshields, pinging off the bodies of so many cars it sounded like it was raining metal. The bullets were coming from above us—from the ivy-covered overpass with a rusted fence. I didn’t know who the fuck was shooting or why, but we would never make it back off this road if it kept up.

  The rounds stopped abruptly, and a heavy clanking sound echoed.

  “I think they’re reloading,” Poet remarked from wherever he’d taken cover.

  Excellent, I thought grimly, wiping sweat from my brow. We were too exposed, huddled behind raggedy-ass cars like sitting ducks just waiting for a bullet to the head.

  “Why’d they stop shooting?” Cherry asked after the longest five minutes of my life.

  “They don’t need to waste the ammo. They’re probably waiting us out,” Aurora replied.

  “Is everyone good?” Brody called from his hiding spot further back.

  “In five,” Mal replied.

  “What happens in five?” I whispered to my sister.

  “We need to move,” she replied, still hovering above me like a shield. Her giant tits were pressing into my back.

  “Move where exactly?” I asked loud enough for him to hear me.

  “We go left. Use the other cars as shields. Once we hit the tree line, we’ll be fine.”

  “The fuck? Or they could just shoot us down over there instead.”

  “Watch your mouth. The watchmen only patrol roads. They’ll let us go once we’ve cleared it. They weren’t supposed to have tagged up this far yet.”

  His calm demeanor made me want to shake him. My head spun with all this new information. How did he know all these things? Unable to ponder it properly, I peered around Aurora to see the path Mal suggested we take.

  Freaking how?

  “You want us to go left? You want us to run across three lanes of traffic while dodging bullets?” I couldn’t catch the laughter that followed.

  “Just run really, really fast,” Amo cut in sarcastically.

  “Three,” Mal called out.

  These crazy fucking assholes.

  My heart was pounding so fast I could hear it in my ears. This damn anxiety was making me sweat more than I already had been.

  Aurora shifted so that she was beside me and offered an encouraging smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll do my best to cover you.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “Because you’re my baby sis,” she replied matter-of-factly.

  Well, that made me feel like an epic level bitch. It pissed me off, too. I wasn’t made of glass, yet we were on this road because Samael saw me as fragile. He called for us to move, and, without hesitation, I launched myself forward, feeling a satisfying burn in my calves.

  For a total of three seconds—I know because I counted—nothing happened. The shooting started again directly after.

  In order to not get riddled with bullets, we ducked and weaved around the cars. More than once, I swear I’d almost gotten struck. I could hear the bullets whizzing by. Aurora stuck with me, unnecessarily doing as she said she would. Mal purposely stayed further back—also doing something unnecessary and stupid.

  Takara and Amo made it first, Brody and Jin right on their heels as they all four disappeared into the trees.

  “Move that ass, Lils,” Mal shouted.

  “Shut…up!” I breathed. I was doing well considering how much strain I’d put on myself the past two days.

  We were a few strides away when a screech sounded from behind us, nearly causing me to trip over myself.

  I glanced back, seeing Cherry, holding the side of her face and no longer attempting to run, ducked behind an old pick-up. I couldn’t risk going back to help her.

  After reaching the grassy embankment before the woods, I rushed into the woods and whirled around to see how Cherry was doing. Aurora stopped beside me, Mal right behind her.

  “We need to keep going. Mal said.”

  “What about Cherry?”

  I rested my hands on my knees, clutching my right side to relieve a stitch. I peered through the foliage, trying to find her.

  I could hear her crying and whispering to herself. I couldn’t see all that well from this vantage point. I managed to catch a small glimpse, revealing that she had blood dribbling down the side of her face.

  “You were hit?” Amo’s voice carried from deeper in the foliage.

  The concern in his tone alarmed me. I’d never heard him sound like that before. I turned to see who he was talking to, my eyes landing on Mal.

  He’d already pulled his shirt off to use as a tourniquet. A small hole was visible on the upper side of his right chest, blood trickling out of it.

  I wanted to rush over and do something, but what could I do? There wasn’t anything around to magically fix his wound. Freaking out wouldn’t benefit anyone either.

  “We need to keep moving,” Takara said.

  “She’s right. We can’t stay here. We’ll have to leave the girl. She isn’t going to make it, and we’re not going to save her.”

  The ‘girl’ in question was Cherry. It would’ve been more humane if one of us had taken her out than leaving her life balancing like this, but we didn’t have any other options right now. Samael would always come first.

  Cherry had made it this far being seemingly unmarked by any faction. If she miraculously managed to survive this, her greatest advantage would be that.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  It didn’t take us long to get out of the woods. We took an obvious path straight for approximately twenty minutes before arriving in a field. From that point on, we followed another road.

  When I caught sight of the Brabus in Glady’s Inn parking lot, I was once again left to wonder just who Samael really was. How could he know of this place unless he’d been here before?

  Immediately, the moment we stepped foot in the Inn’s parking lot, proselytes began to exit two of three Brabuses.

  They surrounded us, clearly concerned about their kingly leader.

  “I’m fine.” Mal shooed them away if they were pesky flies. “The room keys?” he questioned.

  “Here.”

  He was handed four plastic cards, passing them all out except for one. He’d paired everyone up. Brody with Jin. Amo with Poet. Aurora with Takara.

  “We can chill here for a few. Let’s meet at the diner in two hours. I’m going to clean this up.”

  He split off from the rest of the group and went to the rear of one of the SUVs along with Amo and Rory. I lingered back so I could talk to Takara and Poet, trying not to pay too much attention to Brody.

  I didn’t know too much about him other than that he’d joined Samael in the incredibly early stages of him building a faction. He was the tallest here and built like a tank. His masculine face had a long diagonal scar going from his left temple to his chin.

  With a rugged beard and his hair in a complete undercut all the way around—no blending whatsoever—and the longer hair on top braided back in a man-bun, he had a peculiar attractiveness to him. The odd icy blue eyes added to the overall allure. The most exuberant I ever saw him was when inflicting violence.

  “Are you two going to be okay?” I asked Takara and Poet.

  “Ha, I plan to take a shower and sleep. I’m exhausted,” Takara replied.

  Samael called my name to get my attention, waiting on me to go with him.

  “Go on. I’ll meet you at the diner,” Poet assured.

  “Okay…”

  I left the two of them together and joined Samael near the Brabus. He had an aluminum box in one hand and a duffel in the other. I couldn’t tell how badly he was bleeding, but it was only natural he’d be feeling pain.

  “Let me carry the bag.”

  “I got it.” He angled his body so I couldn’t grab it.

  We entered our room, and he tossed the bag on the bed, carrying the box straight to the bathroom. I looked around as I followed him. It was obvious that whoever was responsible for this place tried to do their best. The jewel-toned abstract bedding wasn’t too shabby. It went well with the honey-colored walls. The AC had a strange smell to it and was rattling, but I’d rather that than be without one.

  All in all, this wasn’t too bad .

  Samael already had the sink running and a first aid kit popped open by the time I joined him in the simple bathroom.

  The blue tiles had seen better days but seemed to be clean. Same with the shower and tub.

  “Let me help you,” I stated determinedly, taking hold of his uninjured side.

  He allowed me to guide him to the toilet and sit him down on the lid.

  “You’re worrying about me now?”

  “Don’t ask me stupid questions. When have I not worried about you?” I dug through the first aid kit and gathered what I would need. “Remove the shirt.”

  He did as requested, without protest for once. I could feel his eyes on me, watching my every move as I washed my hands.

  “You’re really pretty,” he said quietly.

  “What?” I nearly knocked the kit into the sink, catching it at the last second.

  “Why are you so surprised?”

  “Because…” I gave a shake of my head and found a simple white rag beneath the sink. Getting it damp, I gently cleaned around the entry wound.

  “Because?” he pressed.

  “I’m filthy, for starters.”

  “I love you all the time, but that always reminds me how perfect you are—when you’re bloodied and covered in the filth that made you that way.”

  “Are you in your right state of mind?” I asked, only partially joking.

  “Have I ever been in my right state of mind?”

  “True.”

  I knew he wasn’t entirely bullshitting right now. He’d seen me at my best and my very worst. It had always been the hellish side of me he craved the most.

  The part that was hollowed from grooves of darkness with an insatiable lust for his exclusive kind of volatile chaos.

  “To answer your question, I feel fine.”

  “In that case, you’re pretty too.” I continued to fix him up as we talked. The wound wasn’t bleeding all that much anymore, but the area around it had turned his usual gold skin a deep red.

  “How bad does it hurt?”

  “I’ll survive, but my morality will plummet if you stop taking care of me.”

  He spoke as if he were being serious. How could he flirt right now? He’d just gotten shot. Granted, he didn’t cry out or complain once. It still had to hurt, and this had been completely avoidable. Speaking of…

  “If you went ahead of me this wouldn’t have happened.”

  “Or you’d be the one with the bullet hole.”

  “I’m not someone people count on for survival. I’m also not as fragile as you treat me.”

  He grabbed hold of my hand and held it in place. I looked at him questioningly.

  “I don’t treat you like you’re fragile, I treat you like you’re irreplaceable. I don’t give a fuck if you like my methods or not—I will always bleed for you before you ever bleed for me.”

  I swallowed, feeling my face warm beneath his heated stare. I didn’t know what to say. Of course, I wouldn’t agree with this because I felt the same—vice versa. I wasn’t sure what I did to be given his unending devotion, but it was something I was starting to cherish.

  I cleared my throat and gave a soft tug of resistance so he’d let me go. “We can’t take the bullet out here, but there’s Celox and non-stick bandages until we get where we can. Those should work for now, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  With his consent, I got to work patching him up and finally asked something I’d wanted to know since earlier. “How did you know who was shooting at us?”

  “I know a lot of things. If you play your role right, one day you will too.”

  “And what is that?”

  “Exactly what you promised.”

  I withheld a sigh, having no reply. Everything came back to that. I couldn’t say I hated it, though. After all, it’s what I wanted too.

  I was half asleep when the knock came.

  I could hear the shower running, so Samael hadn’t finished yet. He’d wanted to take one together, but we needed to be careful about his wound getting wet.

  Rolling off the bed, I went see who it was. A quick glance in the peephole showed Amo. After exhaling a deep breath, I pulled the door open and met with a perfect view of his chest.

  “How is he?”

  “He’ll be fine,” I replied, meeting his gray eyes.

  I was glad someone like Amo cared so much about Mal. From the day I’d first seen him in an abandoned gym, Amo had never faltered or done something that could make you question his loyalty to his friend.

  “Can I talk to you?”

  “Me?” I moved back slightly.

  He smiled, an actual, genuine smile, and nodded his head. “Yeah, you.”

  “Sure…”

  He stepped back, and I realized he wanted me to leave the room. I moved forward and cracked the door behind me so that I wouldn’t lock myself out.

  “What’s up?” I asked, glancing around.

  Except for some old guy a few rooms down, we were the only two outside right now.

  “It’s about your brother.”

  My attention immediately snapped back to him. “What about him? Wait—which brother?”

  “I tried to stop him. He wouldn’t listen. There wasn’t anything I could do once he’d made that decision. The role I played didn’t allow that, and I was doing it for someone else.”

  I knew who he was protecting—his baby sister. Everything he’d done as Creed was to ensure he freed her from the purgatory she’d been living in.

  You can be angry at someone for a choice they made, but you don’t have the right to tell them it was the wrong one. Not when it came to your friends or family.

  “I never blamed anyone for what Brax did, other than Brax. But…”

  “You don’t know me well enough.”

  That wasn’t what I was going to say. I’d work with it, though.

  “Something like that.”

  “Then I guess it’s time we changed that.” Without giving me a chance to say anything else, he walked away, heading in the direction of the diner Samael had mentioned.

  I rubbed the back of my neck, kinda confused. He wasn’t wrong. If we were going to continue in proximity of each other, it was long overdue for us to change our relationship.