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“I am not,” she hissed, snarling. She shoved the tip an inch into Jax. His jaw strained but he said nothing, his eyes spitting hate at her. I needed to get her away from them. I backed down a few of the steps. She believed me a coward, and I had to lean into that. I exaggeratedly slammed up the stairs and rounded into the hallway. All their eyes turned to me. I gasped. Imogen’s eyes flared.

“Don’t shoot her,” she snarled.

I staggered back to go up the next flight of steps. “I want her to see what she’s caused.” Her words followed me as I ran upstairs to where I’d hidden the stake.

FORTY-THREE

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I burst into my bedroom.A second passed and the door banged open as I reached for my hidden stake under the mattress.

She yanked the back of my shirt, right before I grabbed it, and tossed me against the opposite wall. Plaster plumed and I hissed at her. She stilled, eyes widening. She was in my face, grabbing me by the neck to drag me up the wall and pin me.

Oh God no.

“H-how did you change?” I’d never seen her so offput. I swung my fist at her. Before it reached her face, she caught it. With a quick yank that twisted my wrist. I yelped.

“You’re the reason they found the cure.” Avarice glinted in the gray depths. “Youarethe cure.”

She moved toward me so fast it gave me whiplash. I avoided her first grab at me, but she managed to take hold of my bicep. I pulled back in the same motion, my shirt ripped and sent the small buttons all over the place.

“Let me go,” I spat. Her eyebrows lifted.

“No.”

That was it. Her arm pulled back and she struck like a serpent. Her nails burrowing into my chest, right above my heart. I flinched back, before she dug them further into my skin.

I lashed out and sank my nails into her face, gouging into her cheek. My stomach soured, but I didn’t stop as blood trickled from the wounds. While I clawed her face, she sank hers fingers deeper into my chest.

If we continued struggling back and forth like this, she would tear my heart out. Dawn spilled across the window over her shoulder. The shutters should have gone down well before now. She must have had one of her people disable them. I narrowed my eyes at her. It all felt like minutes, but I decided within the span of a second. Holding her hand to my chest, I gripped her hair in my fist and used every ounce of strength I had to ram forward, taking her with me. My feet tangled with her skirt, but I didn’t stop.

Gritting my teeth, I wrapped my arms around her and simultaneously shoved us through the windowpane. Glass shattered, raining to the ground with us. Imogen slapped me across the face, and blood burst and tickled my nose. She’d loosened her grip on my chest, so I took the opportunity to scratch her face until it was coated in her blood. She flipped us so I took the brunt of the fall. Pure agony ripped through me, but before she could roll away, I stiffened my abdomen and snaked my legs around hers.

The impact with the asphalt jolted my entire body, and my teeth sank into my tongue. I grunted. She sneered down at me. The sun continued to creep over the horizon. My eyelids became heavy and my body sluggish, but still, I didn’t loosen my grip on her.

Imogen rammed her fist into my stomach. A grunt exploded from my lungs. She lashed her claws at my face, slicing my cheekopen. It was enough to allow me to shove her to turn to her stomach. I got on top of her.

I hooked my arms through hers, yanked them back, and rolled so she faced the sky. Her back to my front.

“The sun will kill us,” she hissed. I stiffened my hold as she bucked.

I gritted my teeth. Not budging.

“Then this is the end of us,” I huffed, tightening my hold. She would never leave us be. I wasn’t willing to live fearing my shadow anymore. Keeping my eyes open became harder and harder. I could tell it was the same for her because her struggles tapered off.

The sun crept over both our bodies. The warmth beaming across my cheek soon became agony. She hissed.

“Let me go,” she shouted, panicked. I reserved my energy to keeping her on top of me. I struck her shoulder with my fangs. She screamed as I drank from her. Her thrashing slowly faded away.Focus and stay awake.A smell of singed meat came from both of us. The sting at my cheek crawled down my neck with every section the sun kissed. I squinted at the sky, struggling to look at the clouds. Everything hurt. I had no doubt the only reason I mustered the energy to stay awake was from feeding on her.

Imogen screamed and the smell of cooked flesh became so intense I had to stop feeding. Her flesh smoked and bits of her body began to flake off.

I gritted my teeth, holding onto her with every bit of strength I possessed.

She suddenly exploded into dust.

I spit ash from my mouth and rolled to my belly. Using my nails, I dug them into ground and dragged myself forward. We’d rolled too far from the house. I wasn’t going to make it.

My eyelids lowered and I went limp with the sun beating down on my body. I was so sleepy.