Page 28 of Shattered Jewel
Rossi says to Elara, who’s gripping my hand like I imagine a python strangles an alligator, his voice almost gentle, “We’re not going to hurt you. We just need you to come with us, and it’s clear you won’t follow willingly.”
“Like hell I’m going unwillingly, too,” she spits, and my initial confusion morphs into fury.
Tempest—Tempest, that motherfucker—cocks a gun at Elara, the click echoing in the sudden silence. “Don’t be stupid, Elara. You’re outnumbered and outgunned.”
I hear the hurt seeping into Elara’s words when she responds, “I called you for help. I thought you were helping me. Why would you do this when none of it has to do with you? Other than tonight, I haven’t asked you for anything. And I’m not leaving him.” She tightens her grip so my knuckles almost crack. “I’m not leaving my mother. I’m not leaving my home.”
“We only want to keep you safe.” Tempest risks darting his attention to me. I catch his intention in time to shut my eyes, pretending drugged stupor while I coil.
“We’re taking you away from the Court,” Tempest says to Elara. “They will kill you if you stay. Kaspian and his brothers will be at the front of the line?—”
“Say that again.”
Tempest cuts himself off at the sound of my haggard voice. His attention lowers to me again, but this time stays there.
Well, at the gun I’m holding, pulled from my ankle holster, though it hurt like a motherfucker to swiftly grab it before Tempest caught on.
Caroline Wraithwood, sweet, half-starved, aimless widow that she is, got me in my good arm.
“You’re not taking her anywhere,” I growl, having to scrape my vocal cords together to do so. “Elara stays with me.”
Tempest’s gaze hardens, his grip tightening on his own weapon.
Elara’s nails dig into my skin. “I don’t think adding another gun to the mix will help.”
Rossi intercedes, his hands raised in a placating gesture. “Let’s all just calm down. There’s no need for violence. We only want what’s best for Elara.”
“Fuck you,” I spit, my gun never wavering from Tempest’s face. “You have no idea what’s best for her. None of you do.”
“You included,” Tempest retorts. “To involve her in this, to drag an innocent girl into this vile, corrupt world where nothing but bodies pile up on our shoulders … Be ashamed, Kaspian, not proud, that you’ve fucked her life over so badly.”
I respond with an answering, jackel’s smile, though lopsided and weakened behind the barrel of my gun. “It’s not my fault you can’t separate your own shitty situation from mine. Elara is not your little sister, and I’m fairly certain she can speak for herself and make her own decisions.”
Tempest’s lips curve in a vicious sneer. “Big words for a guy who can barely hold up his gun long enough to aim it.”
“You’re right, I can’t,” I say before my focus swings behind Rossi’s shoulder. “But he can.”
Tempest spins in time to see Axe with an arm around Rossi’s neck and a knife to his cock.
“Rossi probably needs his big swinging dick to keep, you know, being a big swinging dick,” I say idly to Tempest, though my vision grows spotty.
I refuse to pass out, though, and leave Elara to these overprotective carrion eaters.
A low, dangerous laugh escapes from Axe, but it sounds too far away, like I’m sinking in deep water. I blink twice, trying to clear the stars dancing in my vision.
“Axe…” Elara’s tight whisper resonates throughout the silenced room.
Her tone communicates what I’m thinking, which is abject relief at my silent, lethal comrade who knew enough to follow me through the woods and get to Elara, too. A man who answers to the same beautiful, chilling call of this woman.
My relief is short-lived. Fresh blood seeps through my shirt, staining it a dark red.
“Fuck,” I curse under my breath. My grip on the gun wavers as a wave of dizziness hits me. I manage to keep my aim steady and hold on to consciousness by sheer stubbornness alone.
“No one has to get hurt,” Tempest says, his tone surprisingly calm, given the circumstances.
But his words trigger something inside me. A savage rage that’s been simmering beneath the surface for far too long.
“No one has to get hurt?” I repeat, my voice laced with pure venom. “That’s rich, coming from you.”