Page 42 of Feeding Frenzy (Crimson Coven #3)

FORTY-TWO

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I laid with Jax on the couch of the lounging room next to the kitchen. After Corbin’s, we were all on edge. They’d even begun to plan where to send everyone away from here tomorrow.

Jax curled around me like I would float away. I combed my fingers through his hair, and he did the same to me, albeit hesitantly. He was terribly sweet, and I hadn’t expected him to be.

Baron flounced passed carrying a medium sized box she’d collected from the front porch.

“Catalina, you got a delivery,” she sang. “I think it’s the Jimmy’s.”

I was off Jax in the next heartbeat.

“Really, you’re leaving me for shoes?”

“Blasphemy! They’re not just any shoes, they’re Jimmy’s,” I shouted back, reaching the dining room where Baron popped the top of the box open. She froze, her eyes widening. They were beauties, I knew it.

Dark curly hair, opened, glazed eyes, a mouth open in a silent scream . . .

I’d seen this human before. She was the one that Asher talked to at the club in the pink room. Part of my brain couldn’t comprehend that I was staring at a head inside the box. I just couldn’t compute it.

Baron’s hand shook and she scooped out the jar tucked next to their cheek. Amira & Roberta was scrawled across the front. She screamed and at the same time a loud bang exploded from the direction of the front door.

The familiar sound of a machine gun accompanied an explosion of glass.

“Go, Catalina. Get somewhere out of the way.” Baron shoved me and ran toward the cacophony.

I sagged against the wall. No, I couldn’t just go and hide. I needed to make sure Peter was okay. I rounded into the hall and slammed into someone. I screamed, slapping out, but Ren gripped my wrists.

“Cat,” he breathed and swept me into his arms as he strode the opposite direction I was going.

“Wait!” I thrashed in his arms. “I need to get Peter.” He didn’t listen, carrying me into Bastien’s lab.

“Cat,” he shouted and squeezed my biceps. The pressure dragged me out of my desperation. “Stay here. I will find him.”

“I’m not leaving without my brother,” I screamed.

“Catalina,” Ren roared. “Enough.” I clamped my lips tight, yanked out of my panic.

“Go,” I said choked. Tobias would make sure Peter was okay too. He’d promised.

I staggered against the wall and slid to my butt. I tucked my shaking hands between my thighs.

They would find Peter. They would protect him. Chanting the words over and over was all that kept me sane.

The door crashed open, stubbing my toe. I ignored the pinch and jumped to my feet. Peter staggered in and pulled Sydney in after him. I slammed the door closed.

“Thank God,” I choked and grabbed his arms to scan him. Sydney kept her grip tight on his sweater.

“Where’s Ren?” I croaked.

“I don’t know. Tobias brought us,” Sydney muttered.

Ren had gone to find him. I shoved my fingers in my hair and brushed the waves back from my face.

The door opened and Violet came in and slammed the door behind her. Her shoulders moved exaggeratedly, and she slumped.

“There are a lot of humans with guns.” She pressed her hand to the bleeding wound in her chest. Just a little to the left and it would have turned her to dust. Her nails clawed into the wound. She hissed.

“You’re hurting yourself?—”

“I have to get it out.” She plunged her fingers in her chest and her hisses became louder. She lifted a silver bullet and flicked it away from her. She sagged over with a hiss. That little wound weakened her. If they’d shot any of the guys . . .

“Violet,” I croaked. “You need to get them out of here.”

She shook her head. “The sun is about to be up.”

“And what do you think will happen if you, I and Peter pass out while those humans are here?” Her lips tightened. “Exactly. Get them to the car and drive as far as you can before you hunker down from the sun. Sydney will be able to keep an eye on you both while you’re unconscious.”

“But there’s a lot of them?—”

“I’ll cause a distraction.”

“Catalina—” Peter snarled.

I put a finger up.

“No. I am in charge of you. Of both of you.” I swept my attention to Sydney. “You need to protect her.” His jaw tightened. “We don’t have time to argue. Peter, I will be fine. I always am.”

I turned to Violet, and she nodded once. I swept my eyes around and grabbed the first weapon looking thing I could use. It was a metal bar. A part of some of Bastien’s equipment.

The guys were taking too long, and I wouldn’t have left without them anyway. I peeked through a crack in the door. The coast was clear. I gripped the bar tight, carefully opened the door, and inched forward until I could peek into the hallway. No one was there.

“Go out the back and take any of the cars, they always leave the keys in the glove compartment,” I whispered and refused to look at Peter. I didn’t want him to see the fear in my eyes. Inching out, I left the door semi open so Violet could listen. A large human man stood at the exit, and I purposefully knocked into the wall so he could hear me. He came running after me. I ran into the hallway and kept going until I reached the foyer. Bodies and ash littered the ground.

I huddled behind the turn out into the foyer and lifted the bar. His loud steps echoed as he neared, and I flexed my hands around the metal. I could do this. I was stronger now. It wasn’t like the last time.

His boot thumped into view, and I gritted my teeth and swung up. The pipe smacked into his throat and a loud choking gurgle left his mouth. He dropped to his knees. The bar slid from my fingers as I watched him gurgle on his blood. Red dripped down the corner of his mouth.

My stomach lurched. He was suffocating on his own blood. I pressed my hand to my stomach.

I didn’t think it could get worse, but Imogen’s familiar laugh echoed from somewhere upstairs. I gritted my teeth and turned from the human. A loud slap reached me, and I gritted my teeth, pushing faster until I reached the third level.

I stopped at the top of the stairs and poked my head around the corner. Imogen had four humans with their guns trained on Asher, Jax, and Tobias. She’d forced them to their knees in front of her. Ren lay under chains, hissing and snarling. The ground under him was singed like he’d been using his powers before the silver brought him down.

My chest ached seeing them this way. They looked so pissed.

“Imogen, there is no turning back,” Tobias’s coaxing voice reached me. She set the tip of a sharp dagger to Jax’s chest. “There is no coming back from this. I see inside your head, as much as you try to hide it. You’re hurt.”

“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.