Page 242 of Soul So Dark

Leaving Aiden outside, I duck through the hole. But, as soon as I stand up, there’s a pop followed by an ear-splitting scream. My back slams into the wall and my body goes rigid to keep myself upright. The barn fills with Dallas’s hysterical screams.

“Alex! Nooo! Nooo!”

I glance down at my chest, at the small hole punched in my vest on my left pec, about the size of a 9mm slug. Pain radiates through my muscle beneath the impact site, but my skin is still intact. My shock quickly turns to adrenaline-fueled contempt when I look up to see Austin Bostwick pointing the barrel of a gun at me.

My eyes dart to the right of him and my heart sinks when I see Dallas, naked and bound to a metal rape rack. I can’t see her face, covered by her long blanket of hair almost sweeping the ground. Now, instead of her screams, all I hear are pitiful whimpers as her muscles twitch against the restraints.

What…the fuck?

My fists tighten around the ax handle with white knuckles as I step away from the wall. Bostwick’s eyes betray him, awash with fear as I start across the room. I lock onto my target, speeding up with each stride. There’s another pop, then another, and another. Bostwick fires the gun, landing two more shots in my center of mass and grazing my forearm with another.

Amateur.

Blind and numb with rage, I close the distance and wind up. Before he can get another shot off, I sweep the ax upward and sink it into his chest with a sickening thud. But I don’t stop, pushing him backwards toward the wall. I try to reel back again, but the blade sticks in his rib cage. I jerk the handle toward me and give his torso a swift kick with my heel to dislodge it, spraying blood across my vest as it gushes out of his chest. Bostwick hits the wall and falls to the floor, only for me to wind up and bring the ax down again.

And again.

And again.

Soon, the only sounds to be heard in the sweltering barn are my grunts and the thud of the blade hitting the dirt as I hack through Bostwick’s body. My chest heaves as I glare down at his carcass, nothing more than an unrecognizable pile of tattered flesh.

Having neutralized the threat, I spin around and leap across the room to Dallas. Her shoulders shake with sobs and her muscles tremble as I tear at the buckle securing her neck to the apparatus. Crouching down, I lift her head, brushing her hair away from her wet and swollen face. She tries to smile through her tears, but her face contorts, toggling back and forth between terror and relief.

“I’m here, Dal. I found you,” I murmur, leaving chaotic kisses across her cheek. “I’ll always find you. I promise, I’ll always find you.”

“Alex!” Aiden’s frantic voice calls through the hole in the wall, if Aiden could sound frantic.

“We’re alright, just wait!” I call back before he can set foot in the barn.

Alrightis a relative term, but I won’t let anyone else see Dallas like this. I move quickly over her wrists, then her waist, and both ankles, unbuckling each strap as fast as I can before carefully lifting her off the top. She clings to my shoulders as I gently sit her down in front of me, inhaling slow and steady breaths while I tear off my vest and pull my shirt over my head.

As soon as I get it off, I grab Dallas and pull her to my chest. She throws her arms around my neck, clawing at my back as she releases one loud, long, and final scream of horror. At the risk of suffocating her, I hold her as tight as I can, covering her body with as much of mine as possible as we rock back and forth. Finally, she pulls away for a moment, streaks of blood smeared across her chest and neck from my bleeding arm and splatter from Bostwick.

“I thought you died again,” she squeaks, leaving dirty smudges on her face as she wipes her eyes and lets me help her into my shirt.

“Mariposita,” I smile for the first time since I found her, “if anyone’s going to kill me, it’s not going to be some bratty kid with an inferiority complex.”

I help Dallas into my shirt and she holds tight as I lift her off the ground. She gazes around the dim barn, but before she sees Bostwick’s body, I gently catch her head and turn her face back to me.

“He’s done,” I say, leaving it at that. “We’re coming out!” I call out.

Exhausted and overwrought, Dallas tucks her face into my neck as I carry her toward the door.

Aiden saunters in, tucking his gun back into its holster. “There’s no one else here.”

“Anywhere?” I ask with disbelief.

Brantley suddenly appears in the door. “Nothing out there, not even the deer,” he says, surveying the inside of the barn.

“Because they know the werewolves are out tonight,” Wesley snickers as he pushes past him.

The Rhodens split off, walking the perimeter until they meet at the carnage on the other side of the room. Brantley draws his weapon, throws open the one door that leads to the lower level, and disappears down the stairs.

Wesley crouches down. “Mmm,fresh meat,” he quips as he examines Bostwick’s mangled corpse.

It’s not long before Brantley reappears at the top of the steps. “Nothing else here,” he glances at the ground, “except this sorry motherfucker.”

“Someone will be searching for him,” Aiden picks up the bloody ax off the dirt floor, “but Bowen won't lead them here.”