Page 97 of Jagged Souls

Now Bambi lies as nothing more than a red smear on my bedside table, waiting for her mother to come home to bury her.

My fists tighten as I struggle to keep my emotions in check. I want nothing more than to give into my grief for just a moment.

But I can’t.

Not when Micha’s still fighting.

She’s going through hel and isn’t giving up.

I won’t insult her by acting like she’s already lost to me.

“I chose her, Varius, because she isn’t some damsel in distress. She’s a fighter. Your equal. Now fucking treat her as one.”

Mother’s words slam into me, shaming me, and I push my palms against the floor as I let out a ragged breath. My fingers press hard into the stone.

Micha hisses in pain as Antonio skins my mark from her skin.

I tremble as I kneel on the floor, listening to her being in agony but unable to help. Clenching my jaw, I force down my grief. She doesn’t need me to be her husband right now. She needs me to be the Boss of the Shadow Domain.

A cold, ruthless businessman who’ll tear apart Antonio’s entire Family so there’s nowhere left for him to hide.

I have failed my wife too many times.

I will not fail her in this.

Climbing to my feet, I look at my brother. His eyes fasten hard on mine, and I push out the words I know I must say. “Release her soul doll.”

As much as I want her to know she isn’t alone when Antonio kills her that first time, we can’t afford to lose the alexandrite. We only have two pieces left, and if we’re to go after that fucking teleporter, we might need it to kill him.

A flash of approval in his eyes, Khalid pulls the drop of blood from Micha’s doll, and the room falls silent. My heart twists over the loss of her voice, but I tell myself I’ll hear it again soon.

My wife’s a fighter.

My equal.

It’s about time I fucking treat her as one.

Twenty-Six

HIM

I walk outside to find my family. Lou’s trapped Krypto in a nine-foot-wide containment circle, and she and Maddox are sitting outside of it, trying to calm him down as he rages around the small patch of ground. His hackles up, his ears down, he snarls and barks nonstop. His eyes never leave the hole in the ground right in front of the flowers.

The twins are solemn as they finish packing the dirt in on top of Leno. Dayne, still in Maddox’s form, Khalid’s girl, and Stormie are grouped together off to the side, outsiders looking in. Mother stands stiffly beside Enoch, her back to the door, but as soon as I open it, she turns to face me.

Her cheeks are still dry, unlike everyone else’s, including my own. But there is an emptiness in her eyes, a dying part of her soul.

“Stefaan left. He got a call from Goodbye World,” Mother says softly, pulling my attention away from Krypto.

“Did they take it down?” I demand as I turn to her. It’d take fucking ages for a normal person to do, but the three women who make up the hacker group: Mickyla Hatch, Kati Vosika, and Ashley Quiett, all are specialized in electronic magic like Talon was. They are able to make Trojan horses to trace them back to the source or some shit like that. I’m not entirely sure as none of that is my forte. All I know is that they are the only people who can scrub stuff off the internet completely and make sure any downloaded copies all become corrupted too.

She nods. “He’s gone to organize the start of the kill list, but I told him to only make an example out of those who downloaded the video.”

I start to open my mouth in anger, wanting the Blacks to kill them all in the worst ways they can imagine, but she stops me.

“That many deaths, all with the same calling card, will call in the SCU and put more attention on the video. People will be looking it up out of curiosity.”

I clench my jaw as I’m forced to remind myself I can’t be Micha’s husband right now. I have to be a Boss. Otherwise, I’ll never see her again because I’ll make stupid mistakes like that.