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“You saved his life, so he saves yours. Did that already, rescuing you from me . Turning her in was just… extra. I like twisting the knife in people, so I didn’t mind.” His gaze drops to Artemis’s stomach. “I like putting people in impossible positions, because that’s where I live.”

“It wasn’t impossible.”

Gabriel steps closer. “That horrible, trapped feeling you had?”

I flinch.

“Ah, see, I knew it. You didn’t say it, but it was written all over your pretty face.

That terrifying helplessness would’ve just…

continued. Forever. Until one day, maybe when you would’ve been old and gray and hardly able to recognize yourself in the mirror, the drugs would’ve released you.

And you would’ve missed decades of your life, and Artemis’s, and Kade’s. ”

“Yeah, that doesn’t sound like a fun time,” I tell him. “Are you crazy?”

He just stares at me.

Right.

I brush past him. He gets out of my way, which is good, and I jab the down button with my elbow.

Unfortunately, the lunatic gets into the elevator with me. He hits the button for the lobby, and down we go. He whistles under his breath, his hands in his pockets.

I shift Artemis in my arms.

“I suppose you’d want to know how to wake her up,” he says suddenly.

I eye him.

He just shrugs, a slight smile on his face.

“Sure,” I relent.

“You can’t.”

My body goes cold. “Excuse me?”

“She’ll wake up on her own.” He pats my shoulder. “Just give it some time, yeah?”

“Yeah,” I reply, because… what else can I say?

The elevator chimes, and the doors glide open. Gabriel leaves first, exiting the front door and taking a left on the sidewalk. I go right, to my car, and slide Artemis into the backseat. I buckle her in, carefully resting her head on the seat, and hurry to get us out of here.

Do I take her back to the condo?

Or…

Fuck .

I don’t know. Bow & Arrow?

The last I heard, Antonio was still in the hospital. I’m not the one they call with news, though, and Artemis hadn’t mentioned anything else.

My phone vibrates. At a red light, I scan my screen.

Kade

We need to talk.

Fuck off

I toss my phone on the seat. While stuck in Tem’s apartment, I ordered a new one. New number. But I suppose since he and Saint are chummy, that’s how he got my number.

And through Kade, Gabriel. Of course, I should’ve suspected. It didn’t even occur to me, though, because I guess I just presumed Gabriel to know everything.

Funny how everything twists around and around until something breaks.

Namely—me. My sanity.

Artemis groans.

“Where do I take you, golden girl?” I twist around, checking she’s okay.

She blinks slowly, focusing on her hand curled in front of her face.

“Olympus,” she mumbles.

Her eyes close again.

Fuck .

At least I know how to get to Olympus. I leave South Falls, heading up a windy road that follows the water—barely visible through the trees—and will eventually bring me to Olympus. Or, if I kept going, into North Falls and Bow & Arrow.

Resisting the urge to take her far, far away from Sterling Falls, I keep driving north.

I pass a driveway, and a motorcycle pulls out behind me. I don’t think anything of it until another one does, then another. Suddenly, there are at least a dozen on the road, the purr of each engine blending into a symphony.

One puts on a burst of speed and comes up beside me.

I glance over, tempted to flip the rider off, and recognize the man who found me in my apartment.

Malikai.

A Hell Hound.

He falls back, and two more shoot forward. They ride ahead of me. More surround me. As a unit, they slow, and I’m forced to hit the brakes or run over the two bikes in front.

“For fuck’s sake.” I check Artemis. Her mouth is open, her breathing deep. “Hope you’re having a nice nap. I might get shot.”

Nothing.

I’m not sure how to explain to them… any of it.

I kill the engine and hop out.

Malikai does the same, hanging his helmet on the handle of his bike and ruffling his hair.

“To what do I owe this pleasure?” I ask.

“You’re driving Artemis’s car.”

I dip my chin.

“She’s here, boss,” someone calls out. “She doesn’t look so hot.”

Great .

In a flash, Malikai has a gun drawn from his hip and pointed at me. “You harm her, Avery?”

I slowly raise my hands. “No. In fact, I only just got her back.”

“From?”

How the fuck do I answer that?

Movement out of the corner of my eye draws my attention. They’ve got the backseat door open and are hauling her out.

“Careful,” I bark. “She was stabbed?—”

“Hold,” Malikai calls.

They freeze.

“Stabbed?”

I ignore him and shove toward Artemis. I take over where one has her shoulders, then shift her weight and bring my other arm under her knees.

Because Malikai won’t rest, presumably, until he knows she’s safe, I carry her over and set her ass down on the hood of the car.

Her body is like a rag doll, lolling forward.

He grips her chin, angling her face up. Pulls at her eyelid. Takes her pulse.

“She woke up briefly and told me to go to Olympus,” I explain.

I’m not one to get nervous… I mean, it’s not like I’ve done anything wrong, right? I just have an unconscious girl in the backseat of her own car, we can’t wake her up, and it’s looking more and more like I’m in the wrong.

I straighten my shoulders.

The rip of a motorcycle engine comes from a far way off.

Malikai glances over his shoulder, and someone shakes their head.

The noise grows, until it’s a low roar coming toward us. Around a bend, sloping down a hill, comes not one, or four, but probably twenty bikes.

“Who the fuck?” the Hell Hounds leader questions.

I shrug.

He releases Artemis, and I pick her back up. I put her gently in the backseat, closing her in, and pause with my fingers on the handle of my door.

The closer they get, the worse the sinking feeling in my stomach gets.

I recognize the front man.

Kade Laurent .

“I don’t suppose you need backup?”

Malikai shakes his head. “Nah.”

“Great, then I’ll let you handle this.” I get in the car and reverse it, leaving his guys to scramble to get their bikes out of the way. I speed in reverse until I get to the Hell Hounds’ driveway and spin the tail end into it. The car bumps to a halt, gravel dust kicking up around us.

One last glance down the way gives me a clear shot at Kade.

He’s off his bike, squaring up with the Hell Hounds.

That sinking feeling only grows.

I yank the wheel and hit the gas, and my back tires kick up rocks, spinning uselessly for a second until they grab traction. We take off back the way we came.

Kade bringing a group into East Falls? Practically begging for a confrontation from the Hell Hounds?

He probably didn’t imagine the scene he’d come across… but then again, neither did I.

All I know is, this city is fucked.

And I’m taking Artemis out of it.