Page 52 of Take

Holden was taller than me, but only by an inch and broader in the shoulders, more like a muscled, fit linebacker while I was a quarterback. His dark walnut hair hung over his ears, in light curls he was forever pushing back from his face. He was a Scar Tracker and could track scents like a bloodhound. He’d used it to find me when I fucked off in the night to go to the pubs. Then when I was sixteen, he used it to track me when I was left hanging to rot. But it had been too late for our sister.

“Adrian’s pissed.”

My back stiffened. Fuck, Adrian must have called Holden when he couldn’t get a hold of me since I destroyed my phone. “When isn’t he?” Holden often spoke to Adrian to get info on human-trafficking rings. Holden’s Talde focused mostly on children being kidnapped and taken for reasons I didn’t want to know about. The Talde went in and got them out.

Holden’s brow furrowed. “You screw up a job?”

“About to.” My job had been simple. Now it was complicated.

“What’s going on, Wasp?”

A whole lot of fucked up.

Holden sighed. “Whatever you’re thinking, don’t do it.”

I shoved my mug away, the taste now bitter in my mouth. “Don’t do what? You have no idea what’s going through my head.”

Holden abruptly got up, shaking his head. “I do. I know exactly what you’re thinking. You’re my brother. I was there, remember? Do you think I don’t know what you’ve done all these years? Trying to erase what happened by not giving a shit about anyone.” I looked down at my feet. “Jesus, that’s it. You care about her, don’t you? You like this girl.”

I got up so fast, my chair toppled over backward. “They should’ve fuckin’ hunted him down the day they found her. Xamien and his Talde should’ve known the place wasn’t just a hideout for vampires.” I knew what I was saying was illogical, but after being with her, holding her, kissing each scar, I wanted to crucify the bastard. “Jesus, Holden. She has scars . . .” Scars I’d licked and kissed and touched, trying in some crazy fucked-up way to make them better. Make her better. “He fuckin’ hurt her,” I whispered in a ragged tone.

Holden stepped forward to put his hand on my shoulder, but I jerked away from it. From him. “And you’re not responsible for what Drake did. Just like you’re not responsible for what happened to Beth. No matter what you did or didn’t do, Wasp, they were going to kill Beth. I know what you’re thinking. You want to go after this sick bastard. Fuck, you hunted those vampires for twenty years until each and every one of them was dead. Pissed off a lot of vampires, too.” And it was worth it. Worth the sacrifice of all the lives I killed in order to get to them. I had no regrets about what I’d done. “You care about her, then stay here and do your job. Protect her and let the others find him.”

“Protect her?” I huffed, shaking my head as I met his eyes, coldness seeping into me as I spoke the words I knew would change everything. “No, Holden you have it wrong. I was hired to kill her.”

Holden tensed. “What?”

I clenched my jaw and curled my hands into fists. “Anyone can protect her, hide her away someplace. Think about it. Why me?” I sneered. “Because I’m the only fuckin’ one who would kill her if there was a chance Drake could take her.”

“Fuck.” Holden staggered back, his hand in his hair as he sat back down on the chair. “And Xamien knows?”

“Fuck no. Xamien would never consent to anything like this and that’s why he’s been kept in the dark.”

“But Waleron knows?”

I snorted. “Who the fuck do you think set it up? He’d never risk a multitude of lives for the sake of one.” Waleron had suspected Max’s ability six months ago when Max had touched his Ink and calmed it. According to Adrian, Waleron didn’t think much of it until word spread that Drake was looking for a young girl with scars on her who was a Healer. “Drake is after her ability and it’s damn vital he doesn’t get her to use it on him—ever.”

I picked up quiet movement in Max’s room. The mattress creaked as she got up then walked across the hardwood floors. I looked up as she came out of the bedroom and walked down the hall. My heart pounded hard against my ribcage as if it was attempting to break free so it could race over to her, beat next to hers.

Jesus Christ. I was fucked. Cemented. That was what it felt like. All this time, I thought I was chipping away at her shield when she’d been chipping away at mine.

I cared. I fuckin’ cared. Holden was right. She was in me and it wouldn’t matter how many times I had her; I’d want her again.

“Word is she’s a Healer and that’s why Drake wants her back. But that isn’t a reason for Waleron to want to kill her, Jasper.”

“It isn’t.”

“So what the fuck?”

She was in the doorway and our eyes locked. She didn’t smile like I’d hoped. Fuck, the girl never laughed. I hated that. I wanted to hear her laugh while she lay in my arms and I teased her.

Her steady gaze slid from mine to Holden’s. “Because I can heal his Ink.”

Holden looked at me, brows drawn together. “Whose Ink, yours? Or Drake’s?”

I closed my eyes, lowering my head.

Fuck.