Page 10 of Bleed the Shadows

We’d moved fast and they’d beaten us. Even with the switchback, they’d been hustling.

Bram narrowed his eyes behind his mask. “Looking for someone in particular?”

It was a test. He’d marked Maeve in the holding room as a clear signal to the other teams.

“One bitch is as good as the other,” one of the other Ghosts (Brock?) said.

Bram’s jaw twitched, and I saw his fists tighten at his side.

“Cool story, bro.” I started moving away from the Ghosts, willing Bram to follow my lead.

We weren’t here to start shit with the other teams. We were here to find Maeve.

Bram stared them down for a beat longer than I would have liked, and I knew he was battling the inner urge to beat the shit out of the other team.

To be fair, Bram was always battling the urge to beat the shit out of someone, but that urge was almost irresistible when it came to men who abused women, and shit-talking women, dehumanizing them, was an open door for far worse things.

We’d learned that from Maeve. From what had happened to her sister June.

My shoulders didn’t drop until Bram turned to follow me away from the Ghosts.

“Fucking dickheads.” His body was coiled, the urge to punch and beat and kick and hurt still roiling under his skin. “They’re out.”

“We can deal with them later,” Remy said.

Remy was right: now wasn’t the time. But unease sat in my gut like a stone.

I’d assumed the other teams would stay away from Maeve after Bram marked her. That his mark — our mark — would buy her safety for the next twenty-four hours.

Now I couldn’t help wondering if I was being naive, and I picked up my pace, my heart racing with the sudden need to find her and find her fast.

Before someone else did.

8

ETHAN

I watchedBram and his friends disappear into the darkness and felt strangely impotent.

It was an unfamiliar feeling. That was the thing about having vast sums of wealth: you could do anything. No problem was unsolvable. Obstacles melted away like snow under the sun.

That was even more true when money was accompanied by information, and I had a lot of both. When money didn’t fix something, a call to any one of the powerful men who owed me favors, the men I had leverage over, did.

But the tunnels were a great equalizer. Here, there was no one to pay. No one to call.

I’d had to stand there, knowing Bram Montgomery and his friends were the only thing standing between the Haver girl and me, and do fuck all to stop it.

Needling the Butchers had felt good. It had also been a test.

I’d had a hunch about them, about the kind of men they were, but I hadn’t known if that hunch was right until I’d made the comment about bitches and seen Montgomery’s fists tighten at his sides.

He’d wanted to come for me then, would have come for me if they hadn’t been so intent on finding the girl.

I had no way of knowing if my comments were out of character for the men who usually wore the Ghost masks — Anton had set up our swap — but that was their problem.

“Think they knew?” Nick said at my side.

The kid was all youthful nervous energy. A mixed bag.