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New hands landed on me, and I was shoved to the ground with someone grasping the back of my neck to keep my face pressed into the grass. Every passing moment my strength was returning, and when my arms were pulled behind my back, I let out a yell, willing my muscles to work.

“Give her the hawthorn,” someone shouted.

I rolled, tearing from their hold before jumping to my feet. Three masked men were pointing guns at me, and even if Icouldn’t see their features, I could smell their fear. They knew I was dangerous. But even I couldn’t outrun bullets.

Chaos suddenly erupted, and I spotted more bodies running into the clearing. I nearly sagged in relief when I realized it was Shadows. There weren’t many of them, but they were already dropping PARA members. Hands grabbed the head of the man who was standing in front of me, and a second later, his neck snapped before he crumpled to the ground.

Zan stood there, meeting my eyes for a mere moment before he went after the other two who were still aiming guns at me. I had no idea where Keeva was, but didn’t have a chance to look as I launched myself at someone who was rushing at me.

Natural instinct had my fangs sliding out, wanting to tear his throat out. But his neck was covered with some kind of armor, so I went back to what I learned with the Clovers. Only now, I was far stronger than I was as a human. I snatched the rifle out of his hand without needing to exert much strength. He fumbled with his belt, attempting to pull another weapon out, but I smashed the butt of the gun into his face, causing him to go down.

Screams of pain and fear mixed in with Rowan’s orders as the fight continued. Zan was staying close to me, and once there were no PARA members surrounding us, he grabbed my hand.

“Let’s get the hell out of here,” he said between heavy breaths.

“Where’s Keeva?”

“We’ll find her.”

But then his hand loosened around mine before he slumped forward, falling face first into the grass.

“Zan,” I screamed in panic, falling next to him and rolling him over. “No, no. Fuck.”

Blood was dripping down his face from the bullet wound on the side of his head. He was out cold. Lifting his limp arm, I put it around my shoulders until I was yanked away from him.

“Leave him,” Keeva said shrilly. “We need to go.”

“Get off me,” I snarled, shoving her away. “I’m not leaving him.”

She went after me again, wrapping her arms around my stomach, hauling me off my feet. “He wouldn’t want you to sacrifice yourself for him.”

She didn’t understand. I physically could not leave him. Not when he was hurt and in danger. Gripping her arm that was around me, I forced her to loosen her hold until my feet hit the ground. Shadows were still fighting with PARA around us, but more and more government members were pouring out of the woods.

Spinning around, I pushed Keeva away. “Don’t fucking touch me again.”

Her eyes gleamed with anger. “Fine. I’ll help you get him.”

Turning my attention back to Zan, I moved to put his arm around my shoulders again.

“Kali.”

“What?” I asked without looking at her.

“You shouldn’t trust anyone…not even your own blood.”

A small prick pinched my throat, and immediately pain flooded my body. My hold on Zan faltered as my veins burned. I fell on my knees, looking behind me to see Keeva holding a needle before everything went black.

Chapter 27

Zan

Ishifted, attempting to put more weight on one foot, but it was impossible when I was on my tiptoes. Pain spasmed around my neck, and I swallowed my groan, refusing to voice my distress in front of them. Two PARA members were standing at the door of the small room with guns in their hands. Even if I had the strength to entrance them, they had goggles on to prevent that. I’d woken up in this dimly lit room, and the bare metal walls gave no hints as to where I was.

The torture the Clovers did to me was nothing compared to this, which was what I was expecting. Rowan knew Amaros. He was more than aware of how strong my brothers and I were. They had the resources to inflict pain in far more creative ways.

My shoulders were burning from my arms being strung up by chains above my head. But that wasn’t the worst part. The thick metal cuffs that were tight around my wrists also had some sort of spikes inside them that were constantly digging into my skin. From the unwavering stinging, I was guessing there was hawthorn embedded in the spikes.

The wide collar around my neck was the same, causing my skin to break every time I moved my head. Add that to the needlethey shoved into my vein earlier, I had enough hawthorn in my system that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stand on my own.