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“One more minute.”

“No—”

I snapped my mouth shut when I heard something that didn’t belong in the woods. Something mechanical. Fear lit through my veins, and I crouched down to grab Keeva’s arm.

“We need to go,” I snarled.

Her eyes met mine, and I stilled at her emotionless stare. She let me pull her to her feet, but she didn’t move a muscle when I pulled her to follow me.

“Do you know what I fear?” she asked, her voice hollow. “That I’ll lose the one I love.”

Love?

I didn’t have time to wonder what she meant when quiet footsteps alerted me that we weren’t alone anymore. Whirling around, I hoped to everything that it was Zan who found us.

My stomach twisted painfully when I locked eyes with the man who was standing at the edge of the small clearing. I’d only met him once, but his cruel brown eyes and long scar on his cheeks were burned into my memory.

Rowan.

The PARA man who I’d met the night of my birthday. The person who was high up in the government and wanted Keeva and me as badly as Amaros did. This time, he wasn’t in uniform, but in civilian clothes. No weapon was in his hand, but the vicious smirk on his face made me believe he wasn’t alone.

My muscles tensed, and I clenched my hands into fists, wondering if I could get to him before he pulled a weapon. His chuckle was laced with threat, and he shook his head in warning.

“There are five sniper rifles pointed at you right now,” he said, his stare unwavering from mine. “One step, and you’ll have a bullet in your head.”

He could be bluffing. But I stayed where I was until an opportunity presented itself. Keeva was behind me, and her heart rate was similar to mine. I didn’t dare break my stare from Rowan to look at her.

Fuck.How the hell did he find us?

Dread slithered through my limbs and squeezed. How many PARA members were here? No way they could raid the compound and win. Not when there were hundreds of Shadows down there.

“Here is what’s going to happen,” Rowan said, threat deep in his voice. “You’re going to come quietly. If not, we’ll shoot and we’ll drag you out of here.”

Would the Shadows hear the shots? Possibly.

“Fuck you,” I spat out. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“Wrong answer,” he boomed, taking a step closer. “Do you know how long I’ve fucking waited to have both of you? I’ve come with enough manpower to make sure that happens.”

“Maybe we should listen to him,” Keeva breathed out. “If they don’t shoot us, we could have a chance?—”

“No,” I snapped, my chest heaving. After freeing Keeva, there was no way this man would leave anything to chance. They’dthrow us in a hole so deep that even Zan wouldn’t be able to find us.

Rowan let out a low whistle and a moment later, I heard a muffled shot. I let out a small cry when pain exploded in my shoulder. Stumbling back a step, my hand flew to the bullet wound as anguish spread down my arm.

“Kali.” Keeva gasped, grabbing me when I backed into her.

A pained groan left my lips. “Hawthorn.”

The bullet was laced with the poison just like the one Jasper had shot me with. Without giving myself a chance to think about it, I dug two fingers into the bullet hole, swallowing my scream. If I had any chance of fighting, I needed to get it out.

“Grab them,” Rowan ordered.

Panic swallowed me when masked men began emerging from the trees. Keeva yelled, launching herself at the closest body. I glanced down, seeing black blood gush from my wound as my fingers closed around the bullet.

Pain flared, and I gritted my teeth as I pulled it out. The hawthorn singed my fingers, and I let it fall to the ground just as someone grasped my arm. A needle came into sight, and I ducked, refusing to let them shoot me up with hawthorn. My moves were still sluggish when I shoved into the man, making him lose his grip on the needle.

“Don’t,” Keeva shrieked from somewhere behind me.