Page 78 of Fallout

Parker is on his way. I know it now. I can feel that he’s getting closer. I don’t even know how I know, but he’s not far now—maybe ten or fifteen minutes away.

When he gets here, Blaze is going to kill him.

I can’t let that happen.

I stop and the edge of the balcony and look over the rail. Blaze is sitting on a couch on the bottom floor, casually looking at something on his phone. It’s so mundane but it jars me to see.

Blaze may be a psychopath, but he’s my age. He’s a teenager—probably only eighteen.

“Are your parents alive?” I ask, calling down to him.

He turns to look at me over his shoulder. “No. I told you—they were killed by wolf shifters. My entire family was.”

Right. He did say that.

“What happened?” I ask, wondering if it was provoked. After knowing Blaze for a short time, I wonder if his family was torturing the wolf pack.

“They didn’t like how strong we were.” Blaze stands from the couch, putting his phone in his pocket. “So they came after us, one by one. They knew they couldn’t handle all of us at once. So they planned their attack well. I was the only one strong enough to fight my way out alive. After that, I killed the entire pack, including the children.”

He says it so casually, like murder is acceptable, even expected.

I swallow hard.

There is going to be no reasoning with Blaze. He’s demented.

“I thought phoenixes came back to life.” I chew on my bottom lip, trying my best to look contemplative. “How could they be killed?”

“There are ways.” He narrows his eyes at me. “Ways that I will not be sharing with you or your little pack of wolves.”

He may be a psychopath, but he’s a smart psychopath.

I let out a long breath. “Why do you feel the need to kill Parker.”

Blaze flinches. “That wolf shifter has brainwashed you. The only way you’ll be free from him is if I end his life.”

“He’s my soulmate. If you kill him, I will die also.”

He shakes his head. “You really think that will work on me? Phoenixes may not have soulmates, but I know how it works. You haven’t completed your mate bond, so it won’t kill you. It will be agony, but you’ll survive. I’ll give you a few weeks to mourn him before you and I start our life together.”

My stomach churns.

He can’t be serious.

“Whether Parker is alive or not, I would never be with somebody like you.” I cross my arms over my chest as I stare him down.

He doesn’t even flinch. Instead, his smile widens, looking almost demented. “We’ll see about that.” He pauses, cocking his head to the side. “I believe I hear a vehicle coming down the road. I wonder if that’s your boyfriend.”

My heart races faster.

He’s right—there is a vehicle.

It’s Parker. I know it’s him.

I take solace in the fact that Parker is smart. He wouldn’t have come without his pack. When I was taken, his father would’ve woken up during the commotion. And if I know them as well as I think I do, I know they brought every man that can fight. No matter how strong Blaze is, there is no way he can beat an entire pack of wolf shifters.

Blaze smirks at me like he knows what I’m thinking. “I don’t need to beat an entire pack of wolf shifters, I only need to beat one.”

Can he read my thoughts?