Page 66 of Endless Anger (Monsters Within #1)

LUCY

I take off my sweater, leaving myself in only a thin black tank top, and attempt to apply pressure to Willa’s wounds.

To be honest, I’m not really sure what else to do—Asher’s dad is the retired doctor, and I never really had much reason to learn how to treat traumatic injuries like these. Most of Asher’s were relegated to bloody noses and the occasional puncture, but this is almost inconceivable.

Her insides are hanging out . When I tell her I’m going to try and stop the bleeding between her legs, I push down on the area, unable to avert my gaze from the gaping hole in her side.

How the fuck do you fix that? Do they go back in the way they came out, or will touching them rupture something?

I can’t just fucking leave her here though. Even considering it makes me want to vomit.

She’d die here, alone .

Just like Celeste did, surrounded by horrible people.

No. I will not do this again. I will not be helpless and useless a second time.

My throat constricts, emotion clogging the airway, and I ball my hands into fists to get a hold of myself. I’m slowly losing my grip on sanity, and right now, none of us can afford that .

“Lucy,” Willa chokes out through the side of her mouth, smashed against the ground. “Stop. You need…to go.”

I frown. “Don’t tell me what I need to do, Willa. I tell you what to do, remember? I’m your boss.”

“Only when…we’re cleaning up…garbage.”

“Well, close your eyes and pretend then, because I’m not fucking ditching you, and you’re not going to ask me to leave you here,” I snap, hating the bite of my words but unable—unwilling—to leach it from my tone.

Anger’s all I’ve got at the moment.

“This is probably going to hurt, so just…” My hands hover over her broken, battered body.

Fuck. Fuck . Tears sting my eyes, but I blink them away, inhaling deeply.

I rip off another piece of my sweater, offering it to her.

“Can you put this between your teeth? I don’t want you to scream and alert those shitheads, wherever they are. ”

“Where do you think they are?” Foxe asks. “What if they come back while you’re?—”

“I don’t know , Foxe, okay? I don’t know. I’m just…trying here. Keep an eye on the door while I figure out what she can handle.”

Willa bites down on the fabric, and as I start to roll her onto her good side, she grunts low in her chest, as if resisting the urge to yell.

Tears mix with the blood on her face—just one side though, and again I wonder about her left eye.

She spits out the sweater, wheezing. “Lucy…I can’t?—”

“Shut up , Willa, for fuck’s sake.” I release her, and she rolls back. “I’m going to figure something out, all right? Just…just stop fucking talking.”

“Fine…but you…owe me a friend date…after,” she gasps out.

That makes me laugh despite everything. I wipe some of the blood and grime from her face. “Deal. Where do you want?—”

The bullet comes out of fucking nowhere .

I don’t even see it until it’s already lodged in Willa’s back, a massive hole that tears through flesh and bone, stealing the air from both our lungs .

Foxe’s curse is the only thing I hear as a roaring noise rushes between my ears.

On instinct, I shuffle away and see one of the hooded, masked figures from earlier slip through a thin white sheet hung up to my left, concealing another exit.

The figure gets closer, and as they do, I note the emblem on their hoodie; there’s a design that’s faded and scratched off, only a couple of lines remaining. It almost looks like a torch, but it’s too hard to make out, especially with the other insignia that’s been ironed overtop of it.

A three-headed beast.

Death’s Teeth in the flesh.

“Lucy,” Foxe hisses, but I’m frozen in place, paralyzed and unable to look away as the masked man approaches Willa, points the gun at the back of her head, and pulls the trigger once more.

The popping noise is dulled by the suppressor attachment on the pistol, but I still feel it. Still jump when the bullet leaves the chamber, embedding itself in my friend’s skull.

Her one good eye remains wide open. Staring forever right at me.

Silence descends upon the three of us.

I can’t move.

I want to but can’t.

“Oh, for crying out fucking loud!” Beckett races back into the cavern, his fingers yanking tight on his short hair as he takes in the scene. “What the hell is your problem, Tiernan? We weren’t supposed to kill her.”

The masked figure rolls his eyes. “She was seconds from dying anyway after what?—”

“My brother is going to kill me, oh my God.” Beckett paces back and forth in front of Willa’s corpse, biting on his thumbnail, a frenzied look on his face.

A part of me catches the mention of his brother, but right now, I’m truly too far inside my head to register the implication.

Her eye is wide open.

Unblinking .

Forever.

“Oh, quit whining, pussy. We’ll just eliminate the witnesses, and he’ll never know,” Tiernan snaps.

“We need the witnesses, dumbass. And you’re not in charge here, I am.”

“Fine.” Tiernan stalks toward me. “Then, we’ll eliminate one witness. No one will miss this bitch anyway.”

Looking away from Willa isn’t possible; I try, but my gaze is fully stuck in position, locked with hers. Life drained from it instantly, like her soul bleeding out the way her body did first.

My sweater is ruined. I loved that one.

I’m going to die down here.

I’m going to die down here , and Asher won’t even know I loved him.

I mean, maybe he’ll know, but I never said it. Fuck, why the hell didn’t I tell him? Because I was scared? I’ve been scared every day of my goddamn life—that shouldn’t have mattered.

Coming to Avernia was terrifying, but I did it. Defending myself is nerve-racking, but I do that too, yet three little words were my limit? The line I couldn’t cross, all because the fear of abandonment was too strong?

Pathetic really.

I’m fucking pathetic.

A sob rattles my chest, and I try to catch it in my hand, but there’s no use. It spills out like old milk, tainting the air and grating against my ears.

I tremble, dropping my palms to the ground. There’s nothing else to fucking do—no chance I’m going to be able to dart and get something to fight back with. He’ll just shoot me anyway.

My family will miss me.

Asher will. Aurora too. Yuri maybe, and the Fury Hill Animal Shelter.

Foxe—God, will Foxe even recover from this?

What I should’ve been doing this whole time was getting him freed and then finding a weapon, but I wanted to save Willa.

I thought I could .

My arms tremble, my elbows threatening to give out as thick black boots fill my line of vision. There’s pressure on my head, and I close my eyes, hoping that wherever Asher is, he can feel my love for him.

If only I hadn’t spent so much time ignoring him. I wish he’d told me everything three years ago so none of this would have happened at all.

“ Wait! ” Foxe’s voice shatters the silence, and the pressure slips from my skull. I lift my chin, glancing over my shoulder as Foxe staggers to his feet, stumbling toward me. “Wait, don’t hurt her. I got her free and then told her we needed to get out of here.”

Tiernan and Beckett share a look. “No offense, but we don’t really believe you,” Tiernan says.

I whip my head in his direction. “Foxe, shut up . Don’t be an idiot.”

His jaw shifts, but he ignores me. “Fine, then realize that there is no one on this planet Asher Anderson cares about more than that girl right there. You kill her, and there’s no way you’re getting him down here. He’ll want proof of life, and your curse will continue on.”

“ Foxe —”

Groaning, Beckett tugs at his hair again, ripping a few strands out. “Shit. Shit . He’s right, Tiernan, you dumb fuck. Get him out of here.”

My eyes widen as the third masked figure reenters, immediately heading for Foxe. They grab beneath Foxe’s arm, hauling him away, and tears pour down my cheeks.

“ Stop! Take me, leave him! He didn’t fucking do anything!” I shriek, lunging for the exiting pair.

Tiernan fists my hair, and I hiss against the pain as the roots struggle to stay in my scalp, but I still try to go after the others.

“ Foxe! Please, stop! Leave him out of this!” My screams shred my throat, useless as the masked person ignores me, still dragging Foxe along. “You can’t leave me!”

Tiernan lifts his foot, swinging it into my stomach.

I double over, clutching the area as a wave of nausea and agony rolls through me.

The last I see of Foxe is him shoving the masked figure into a wall, but he’s in such bad shape that all the other guy does is push back, and I swear when he wrenches his arm behind him, I watch his shoulder dislocate .

My stomach flips over and over, bile burning my throat.

Everything gets really silent for a long time.

I stare at the ground, dropping my palm and digging my nails into the rocky dirt. “What are they going to do to him?”

Beckett doesn’t reply.

Tiernan walks away, toward the back exit he came in from. “Whatever he feels like, I guess. Not his first rodeo, if you catch my drift there, Wolfe.”

When the screaming begins, I don’t register it at first. My mind is elsewhere, trying to protect me from the noise I guess, even though this is all my fault and I should be forced to listen.

The first notes of Foxe’s despair reverberate in my chest.

How will I ever face Asher after this?

A bubble of twisted amusement pops. I won’t be seeing him anyway.

Still, the horrific wailing persists, growing in volume. Anguish wafts through the cave tunnels, clouding the one we’re in, and I reach up to cover my ears, but it’s not enough. His agony is persistent.

I’m stuck. Paralyzed by the echoes of his misery, the choking sounds, and the pleas for it all to stop.

The pleas are the worst.

I’ve never heard Foxe James beg for anything except for attention. Certainly not mercy.