Page 19

Ever

F rom the corner of my eye, I glance over at Oscar. My grandfather. I’m not sure how to even begin processing that yet, it still feels so surreal.

Just gotta get home. A hot bath, a good night’s sleep, and then maybe I’ll crack open that can of worms. Or more likely, a bottle of rum.

We land outside of the city’s secondary ward, preparing to hike several miles through the woods to get home when Arson suddenly stills.

Before I can ask him what’s wrong, he jerks his head to the left in the nick of time, snapping out a hand to catch the hilt of a blade where his eye was mere seconds before.

“Civilian life has made you soft,” a deep voice chuckles, stepping out from between the trees up ahead.

Talk about a silver fox, hot damn. Might get murdered, might thank him for the attention.

I may be tapped out on mates, but I’m not blind.

Dark hair that fades to a silvery blue is slightly overgrown, ruffled in the breeze.

His facial hair is freshly trimmed, looking like a mafia don that decided to get his hands dirty.

A black t-shirt molds to his torso, matching a pair of combat pants that’s eerily similar to the default outfit Arson prefers.

Tattoos crawl up his wrists and disappear beneath his shirt, but the biggest sense of danger comes from the wicked scar across one of his piercing teal eyes, so bright that there isn’t a doubt in my mind that this man is a myst. One powerful enough that it dominates the air around him into submission.

Arson whips the dagger back at him, embedding it in the tree a few inches above the guy’s head. “And old age has made you slow.”

Ledger, Bellamy, and Myles close in around me and Kiara, a low rumble starting in Ledger’s chest, but he fights off the desire to shift.

With us toeing the line of the barrier’s border, one wrong step lunging for the guy could mean a death sentence, suddenly being forced to shift back to human and giving the stranger an opportunity to attack.

The man reaches up and yanks his blade out of the tree without breaking eye contact, rolling it between his fingers in a move that’s vaguely familiar.

“I’m not paying you to toy with your prey, just do your damn job!” a voice I never wanted to hear again snaps, and I grimace.

Motherfucking Adam .

Wait… job? What the fuck?

Adam actually hired a hitman ?

He really hates me that much? When he’s the one that tried to screw me over and steal my life’s work?

He should have hired a bodyguard instead, because I’m going to fucking kill him.

The man he apparently hired to kill us completely ignores him, attention focused on Arson, eyes dancing with amusement.

Arson scrubs a hand down his face. “Tell me you didn’t seriously take fuckface as a client, Vic.”

Vic shrugs. “Heard you had a bounty on your head; I couldn’t resist.” A slow, devilish grin teases the corner of his lips. “After all, if anyone’s going to kill you, it’s going to be me.”

“Would someone please explain what the heck is going on here?” I demand.

Adam shoves off the tree he was leaning against and snarls, “ Explain? Are you fucking kidding me right now? You ruined my life!” He runs a shaky hand through his unkempt blonde hair, dark shadows under his eyes like he hasn’t slept in weeks.

His clothes are wrinkled, and honestly, he looks like shit.

Bellamy’s pranks can’t have seriously driven him to this point… right?

Almost as if he could read my thoughts, Adam rants, “I lost everything because of you. Nocturne didn’t just blacklist me, he destroyed my family’s business.

We’re ruined, and they cut me off completely.

Nobody will hire me now; I’m finished.” His gaze hardens with a malicious glint.

“You stole everything from me, so I’m going to take everything you care about from you, even if it costs every last dime I have. ”

“Pretty sure you should save your money for rent if you’re that bad off instead of pissing it away on petty revenge. Especially when you’re the one that tried to fuck me over and steal my work to pass off as your own in the first place.”

If looks could kill, I’d be dead ten times over. But I’m not scared of Adam; I never was. He’s always been a weak man, and my biggest regret.

Fuming, he barks at his hired thug, “I’ll double the payment if you drag out the others’ deaths, but the demon needs to be handled quickly. Fates know why, but he’s obsessed with the bitch and could ruin everything.”

This mother fucker.

Rage pulsing in my veins, I lunge, but Bellamy holds me back. Tugging me firmly against his chest, he hisses, “He doesn’t get to bait you into touching him ever again, even if it’s just to beat the shit out of him.”

Voice taking on a friendly lilt, Bellamy casually asks, “Long time no see, Adam! Tell me, how’s the girlfriend?”

Adam scrunches up his face in confusion. “I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“I know, I just like reminding you.” As Adam spouts off, Bellamy turns to Arson and holds out his free hand. “Rock, paper, scissors for it?”

Arson snorts, pointing at where Ledger has already closed half of the distance between them. “Looks like it’s a race, and we’re both losing.”

Before Ledger’s fist can connect with Adam’s face, Vic fades away in a silver haze, snatching up Adam at the last second and reappearing on top of a neighboring tree branch.

Casually squatting on the limb without an ounce of fear, Vic calls down to Arson, “Well, demon, you heard the man. You disappear, and I can finally spring for that inground pool I’ve always wanted. Any last words?”

Without waiting for a response, he throws a knife faster than I can track.

Arson jolts, stumbling back, while my heart lodges in my throat.

The world seems to pause, even the forest falling silent as Arson falls to his knees, grasping the knife embedded in his chest. Pressure builds behind my eyes as I choke out a strangled sound that’s lost in the shadows exploding from his body, the inky blackness drowning us all in a sea of darkness.

I can’t see, can’t feel, can’t breathe . It’s just me and a never ending abyss, leaving me completely isolated and alone.

As it threatens to drag me under, all the darkness is sucked away as quickly as it consumed me, light and sound returning in a deafening rush that makes my ears roar. The others fumble to regain their bearings while my eyes are drawn to where I last saw Arson on his knees.

But as the last shadow siphons away, there’s nothing left.

My heart skips a beat before fear seizes it completely. But as I choke out a sob, a familiar pressure bands around my stomach, stroking against my cheek in an invisible caress. Relieved, my shoulders slump, the emotional whiplash rendering me mute.

The guys are silently seething beside me, but Arson clearly clued them in on whatever trick he’s up to as well, because nobody’s flown off the handle yet.

Vic turns to Adam with a satisfied smirk and holds out his hand. “Payment for the first before I take care of the rest.”

Adam frowns. “That’s not what we agreed on. The job was for all four of them.”

Scoffing, Vic raises an eyebrow and stares him down.

“I’ve been in this business far too long to take out multiple targets without partial payment up front; that’s just asking to get screwed over, while you get everything you want.

So fork over the first half of the bounty, and I’ll dispatch the rest.”

Looking like he bit a lemon, red creeps up Adam’s neck.

“As soon as you take care of the other bastards, you can keep the girls as payment. Everest’s a center, so even if you don’t want her for yourself, she should fetch a good price in the right circles.

More than what I owe by far. Consider her friend a bonus. ”

Even from here, I catch the flash of murder in Vic’s eyes as he pulls a gun and trains it on Adam. “I don’t deal in the skin trade. In fact,” he cocks the gun, “the people that do? I take care of pro bono.”

As soon as he pulls the trigger, Adam’s hand snaps out, knocking Vic’s arm to the side.

Aimed right at Kiara.

With a startled squeak, she disappears in a silver mist, reappearing directly in front of the assassin.

She nearly tumbles from the tree branch as she tries to find her footing, accidentally smacking Adam in the face with a flailing hand.

Before she can break her neck, Vic snaps an arm around her waist, tugging her against him and holding her steady while simultaneously kicking Adam’s shoulder, sending him plummeting to the ground away from them both.

“Are you alright? Did it hit you?” Vic demands, looking genuinely upset at the idea she was caught in the crossfire because of his mistake.

As he skims his palms down her arms, searching for a gunshot wound, he suddenly sucks in a sharp breath, eyes widening and jerking his hands back from her like she burned him.

Oh no. Oh no no no. I know that look way too well by now.

Kiara catches on quickly, gaze locked on his wrist. Or more accurately, the new tattoo seared onto it that’s a match to hers.

‘Fated mates are rare,’ my ass.

“Oh shit,” she breathes, stunned.

Looks like Myles’s bracelet is no match against fate.

Adam’s cursing pulls everyone’s attention, and when I see him pulling his own gun, everything erupts into chaos again.

Ledger shoves me behind him, Bellamy and Myles shout a warning, and Arson resurrects himself, appearing in front of Adam with a wide, malicious grin as all the color drains from Adam’s face.

“You didn’t really think it’d be that easy to kill me, did you?

” In seconds, he has him disarmed and slammed against a tree. “Bell? Care to do the honors?”