Page 130 of Crave

“He’s alive,” Silas bit out. “For now at least.”

Fuck.

The relief I should’ve felt never came. Because if they left Kieran and my brother alive, it sure as hell wasn’t out of mercy.

“The note.” I muttered. “What was it?”

“Fucking stabbed in the middle of his goddamn chest.” Silas snarled, then there was a heartbeat of silence before— “They’re coming for her. For our goddamn sister.”

The world around me swayed. I lifted my gaze, scanning the shadows stretching out along the property, finding monsters when before there were none. “Coming for her, why?”

My brother didn’t answer.

Not because he didn’t want to.

But because he didn’t need to.

We all knew. The lies trapped inside her head. The things she couldn’t admit, even to herself. It was all there, every single lie she refused to admit…and every single desire that kept us tethered to her.

The moment I ended the call with Silas, a cold determination settled over me. The weight of our circumstances pressed heavily on my shoulders, but beneath it forbidden hunger gnawed at my resolve.

I dialed the head of our security team, my voice steady as it was answered on the second ring. “We have a situation unfolding here. We need a full lockdown protocol in place.”

“Understood, sir,” the slurred voice of Harley came through loud and clear.

I hung up the call, scanned the rustling trees at the edge of the property and turned, heading back inside.

“What the fuck?” Jude’s voice drifted along the hall. “Silas, yeah…I just saw the messages. What’s going?—”

So now he wanted to be part of the family? I strode past him standing in the middle of the hallway with a stupid fucking look on his face and headed for Theo’s room.

Movement came from the hallway of our rooms. She shifted like a shadow, her wide haunting eyes fixed on me. I could tell she’d been crying.

Fuck.

“Gabe?”

I winced at the sound of her voice, and kept on walking until I stopped at Theo’s closed bedroom door, then shoved down the handle and barged in.

My brother lay sprawled across the bed, unconscious, his breathing deep and even. His phone lay discarded on the floor, the screen illuminated with multiple missed calls from Silas.

“Gabe, talk to me.” Our sister’s voice was barely above a whisper. “What’s happening?”

My jaw tightened, no matter how hurt I was feeling, it needed to take a backseat—for now.

“Hey,” I kicked the side of Theo’s bed.

He responded with a heavy snore. That pissed me the fuck off. I strode closer, whipped my hand back and smacked him across the head. “I said,hey!”

Dark eyes cracked open, seething anger poured from between the slits. “Hit me like that again and you’ll be eating through a straw for a fucking week.”

“Oh yeah?” I grabbed a fist full of his hair and shoved his head to the side. “Don’t answer your goddamn phone when ourbrother is fighting for his fucking life and you’ll be the one eating through a goddamn straw.”

He blinked, then pushed upwards, those dark eyes wider with the realisation. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

Then he looked down at his phone.

I saw the moment realisation hit. He scowled, reached out and snatched up his cell and stared at the missed calls from our brother.