Page 7 of Wed Or Dead

Chapter Seven

Gage advanced slowly, letting his claws rip from his fingertips. The guy smelled human. Well, mostly. But he didn’t have the stench of death about him, and usually, that scent came quickly once the heart stopped beating.

Gage put his hand out on the man’s chest. No heartbeat. That should have meant the fellow was dead. But with the supernaturals, should didn’t really apply so much.

Then the one she’d called Curtis sucked in a sharp breath. His eyes flew open, and beneath Gage’s hand, his heart started to beat once more.

Sonofabitch.

Gage had never seen anything quite like that.

Then Curtis’s head and neck snapped back in place.

“Oh, my God.” Kayla’s whisper.

“Not quite,” the guy said, and his eyes—the eyes that still held Gage’s—changed. The blue color faded until only black remained. “But I have heard that demons are distantly related to angels, so who the hell really knows?”

Demons.

And that was exactly the type of being that Gage was staring at.

Curtis glanced at Gage’s hands. “I really hope you aren’t planning to use those claws on me. Especially since I was gonna help you out.”

“You’re a demon?” Kayla asked. She was back on her feet now. “What the hell? A demon hunter at my side and a shifter for a boss? Are there any humans other than me and Jonah in this place?”

Curtis shrugged. “Probably.” He lifted a brow at Gage. “Uh, those claws?”

Gage backed off, for the moment.

Curtis took another deep breath. “Thanks. I’d prefer to die only once today.”

“Only you didn’t die!” Kayla snapped back. “Dammit, I was crying over you.”

“And that was really sweet,” Curtis retorted instantly. “I was touched that you cared about me.”

She tried to grab him through the cage bars.

He leapt away and jumped quickly to his feet. “I had to play dead, okay? What? You think I was gonna take him on? I’m a low-level demon. He’s a shifter. If he’d found out what I actually was, the jerk would have just sliced off my head.”

That was a fast way to kill a demon.

“Broken bones are nothing.” Curtis sighed. “I’ve always had a special knack for healing them. Guess that’s my main talent. But there’s no coming back once you actually lose your head.”

Not for any supernatural. Beheading would pretty much kill them all.

“I was just waiting for Lyle to clear out,” Curtis added, voice reeking of sincerity as he faced Kayla. “I had to be sure he was gone, then I was going to let you know I was all right. I was just about to move when he pushed open the door.”

“Get. Me. Out.” Kayla gritted. Her cheeks were flushed. Her eyes sharp, golden glass.

Curtis yanked his keys from his pocket and fumbled to free her. The second that door opened, Curtis tried to scurry back. Too late.

Kayla slugged him. Damn. That was a powerful right hook. Good thing the demon could heal so fast.

“Don’t ever make me think you’re dead again!” Kayla raged at him.

“Ow! Shit, I was trying to help!” Curtis rubbed his jaw. “I was waiting for the coast to clear, then I was gonna help you get out.”

“And you still will,” Gage assured him. He didn’t know what the demon was doing working there as a hunter, and right then, he didn’t give a shit. He just wanted to get Kayla out of that place.

He had to hurry up and go check in on his pack. Once they were secure, and once he’d destroyed the fool who’d betrayed him to Lyle, then he could come back and bring this compound to the ground.

Curtis nodded. “Right. I-I still will.”

“We need transportation,” Gage said. Number one priority. They were in the middle of the desert. They needed a fast ride. One that wouldn’t be traced.

“There are a fleet of SUVs in this place. I can handle getting transport.” Curtis nodded and rocked back on his heels. “But I’m going with you.”

Like he wanted another hunter riding shotgun.

Before he could refuse, Kayla nodded. Her eyes met Gage’s. “If he stays, he really will be dead.”

She kept acting like he was supposed to care about the hunters. But… fine. Gage pointed at Curtis. “Demon, I don’t trust you.”

“Fair enough,” Curtis returned instantly. The demon was sweating. “I don’t trust wolves, either. One just tried to kill me.”

The demon was a dick.

Curtis grinned. “Want to know why I’m a hunter?”

“Because you’re a screwed up demon?” Gage tossed back as he scanned the area. No cameras in the room. No audio surveillance. Lyle had probably ditched everything so he could speak freely with Kayla. Good. They were clear. Let’s haul ass.

“I’m a hunter because two years ago, a wolf shifter killed my mother. A shifter I’ve spent months tracking.”

Curtis was staring at him a little too intently. “I didn’t kill your mother.” Gage hadn’t killed a demon in at least three years, not two. And he sure hadn’t killed any women. He had a rule about that.

“She wasn’t a demon. She was human.” Sadness whispered through Curtis’s words.

So the guy wasn’t a full demon. A hybrid. That explained the human scent that clung to him—and that had to be the reason why he’d managed to fool Lyle.

Gage had an enhanced sense of smell, even among wolves. But Lyle—that SOB might not have been able to pick up on the slight difference in Curtis’s scent.

Lucky for the demon or else he would have gotten a broken neck much, much sooner.

Or maybe that beheading.

Curtis told him, “Lyle found her body, or so he said. And he promised that he’d help me track her killer.”

Only Gage figured that Lyle had been the killer.

“He promised me that, too,” Kayla whispered. “He swore we’d stop the wolf who’d hurt my family.”

“I can’t forget her,” Curtis said and the pain hardened his voice. “Her throat was sliced open. He’d…clawed her. Torn her open. I-I just wanted to find the shifter and make him pay. ”

Rage was something Gage could understand. So was vengeance.

Kayla’s glittering stare told him that she understood just as well.

“Don’t worry,” Gage promised as they headed for the door. Get out. Get the pack safe. Then destroy. “ We’ll make the bastard suffer.” They’d make him burn.

Kayla knew they couldn’t leave. Several SUVs were there, just about twenty feet away. Riding off in one would be the perfect escape. But…

But she couldn’t do it.

Jonah. Dammit, there had been so much blood pouring from his wound. Was her brother okay?

Did Gage really think that she was just going to race out of the compound and leave him behind?

Leave Jonah and the others?

I can’t get to Jonah while he’s in the med unit. There’d be too many eyes and ears on him in that place. But while Jonah and the other hunters were getting stitched up… We can save the wolves.

“They’re in containment,” she softly revealed to Gage. She wasn’t looking at him yet because she was still plenty furious. He’d hurt her brother.

Gage would pay for that, but now wasn’t the time to go at him for her pound of flesh. Now was the time for fast action.

Curtis wasn’t with them. He was preparing for their big escape.

Crouching, staying low behind a line of boxes, Gage turned to look at her. “What? Who’s in containment?”

The breath she sucked in felt cold in her lungs. We’re the monsters. Time to be something else. Better. “Your wolves aren’t dead.” She wasn’t a cold-blooded killer. Neither were the other hunters. They were doing their jobs. Or what they thought had been their jobs. “They’re in containment at this facility. I don’t—I don’t think they’ve been transferred out yet.”

Shipped out to a far more secure location—one that no one had escaped from since she’d been in Vegas. The hunters weren’t just attacking supernaturals blindly. They had a hit list. Of sorts.

Most of their orders came from Lyle, but he was on a leash, too. Or at least, she’d always thought he had been. The hunters were tied to good old Uncle Sam—or maybe not-so-good Uncle Sam. The government sent them out on missions that normal channels just couldn’t cover.

When they caught their prey, the hunters turned them over to the federal agents for holding. Or for extermination. So the story went. Only now she wondered just how many “exterminations” had truly been necessary?

Her gut clenched. How much blood was on her hands? And could she ever get it the hell off? She was afraid that no matter how hard she scrubbed, the stain would always remain.

“We can get them out,” Kayla said. They had to get them out. Now that she knew the truth about Lyle, leaving the two wolves behind wasn’t an option for her. “We just have to move fast.” Before Lyle realized that Curtis wasn’t dead and that she wasn’t still locked in her own cage.

Gage’s gaze hardened. “When were you gonna tell me they were still alive?”

“Uh, now?” Okay, yes, she should have mentioned it earlier. Would have if it hadn’t been for the whole drugging and gun-in-her face thing. Jeez. She was doing her best.

“Both of them?” Gage bit out. “Shamus and Faye?”

“Yes.” And, well, they’d been mostly all right when she last saw them.

Before she’d headed out to say her “I do” with Gage, Lyle had told her that the wolves weren’t due for transport for another two days. So as long as those plans hadn’t changed, “They’ll be in Block B.” Sequestered. Monitored. Getting inside that area would be tricky, but they could do it.

She wanted this blood off her hands.

Curtis hadn’t returned yet. If they were going, they needed to move, now. They’d get the shifters, then haul ass back for their getaway SUV. If luck was on her side— yeah, right, since when?— they’d bust out of this place before any trigger-happy hunters could spot them.

“Come on.” She barely breathed the words. She had her hair shoved under a black cap and she’d donned the black uniform of a hunter, just like Gage. The better to try and blend in with everyone else. That blending would last only for so long.

But most of the hunters were in the infirmary or out on a mission. Only a skeleton staff walked the hallways and with Gage’s enhanced senses, they would be able to dodge those people easily enough.

He always knew when someone was coming. From what she could tell, Gage seemed to smell the hunters long before she heard them. Such a handy talent.

He nodded, and the hunt started.

Adrenaline raced through her blood, keeping her tense and edgy. But this wasn’t her first op, and she knew how to hold on to her control. They crept soundlessly down the stairs that led to Block B. The transport area. The prisoners housed in Block B were all due to ship off for continued confinement.

The only ones housed there now were the wolves. Category H—for Hostile Holding. “We have to take out the surveillance first,” Kayla whispered. Her hands were sweating. Her heart beating so quickly. Escape had been at hand, but now they were in the belly of the beast again. All by her choice.

You owe the shifters. Do this.

The door to the surveillance room was shut. Her fingers lifted and punched in the access code. Lyle wouldn’t have been able to reprogram all the access codes, not yet. At least, she hoped he hadn’t.

The lights flashed green. Yes. She shoved open the door.

The hunter watching the monitors for Block B spun toward her in surprise. “Kayla? Why are you?—”

Gage lifted his gun. “Don’t move,” he ordered as he stalked toward the blond male.

The hunter froze. “K-Kayla? What’s going on?”

“I’m sorry, Thomas, but those prisoners aren’t being transferred.”

Gage was less than a foot from Thomas now. Could Thomas see the flash of fang? Probably. He was sweating. Trying to back up and?—

Gage grabbed him and rammed the Thomas’s head into the wall. One hard rap, and Thomas fell.

Hell. Kayla raced across the room. “You weren’t supposed to hurt him!”

“And he wasn’t supposed to have shifter blood beneath his nails.” Gage’s nostrils flared, and she knew he was pulling in the scent. His jaw tight, he growled, “The bastard’s lucky that he’s still breathing.”

He was still breathing. But Thomas was definitely out.

Gage’s gaze rose to the monitors. “Shamus.”

She stood slowly and followed his stare. He was looking at the redheaded male wolf shifter who had been brought in first for containment. She still didn’t know how an Irish wolf had wound up in the new Vegas pack, and from what she’d gathered, Shamus hadn’t exactly been the sharing sort.

Blood dripped from the redhead’s side. He stood just a foot away from the silver bars, and he glared straight up at the camera.

Shamus had put two hunters in the infirmary when he’d been brought in.

An animal. Lyle’s words drifted through her mind. See how wild? How vicious? This one will have to be put down before he can kill again.

“Has he killed?” Kayla asked quietly.

Gage nodded.

So have I. When had the line between good and evil become so blurry? Maybe it had just always been that way. “Has he killed innocents?” she pressed.

Gage’s stare slowly turned to her. “I’m getting him out of there.”

Okay, so that wasn’t the answer she’d been hoping to hear. Kayla grabbed his arm and stopped him. “If that wolf is gonna get loose, then turn on humans, I can’t let that happen.” That would just be more death on her. Kayla swallowed. “I’ve seen what wolf shifters can do to humans. I won’t let him hurt innocent people like that.”

Gage stared down at her. “When will you stop judging us all, based on what happened to you?”

She felt that hit all the way to her soul. But Kayla didn’t let him go. “Is he a threat to humans?” Lyle had said so, but now she knew Lyle was a lying sack of shit.

That I trusted for years. That I freaking loved. He’d been a second father to her, only the increasing icy certainty in her gut told her that the creep had quite possibly killed her real father.

No, not quite possibly. You did it. I know you did. Her blinders had been smashed to pieces now.

And I was with Lyle. I fought side by side with him for years and didn’t realize the truth.

She had to clench her teeth to hold back the scream that wanted to break free. She’d been so blind. So driven by rage and anger. Lyle had given her targets, and she’d been only too eager to attack.

“I trust Shamus.” Gage spoke softly to her. His body was tense beneath her hand. “Things haven’t been easy for him. But he isn’t psychotic.”

As wolves were prone to be. Like you, Lyle?

“He’s in control, and as far as I know, Shamus never killed a human in his life, not even those who deserved death.”

Her breath rushed out. Okay, that was something.

“And the woman?” The female wolf. The one with the short, close-cropped black hair, the tawny skin, and the dark eyes that looked like she’d seen hell a time or twenty.

“Faye can’t shift.”

That surprised her. “She’s a hybrid?” Kayla had heard about another wolf like that, once, but that wolf shifter had lived way down south.

“No. She’s full-blooded.” His gaze darted to the screen that showed Faye’s image. “But when she was thirteen, a sick prick got hold of her. A doctor who said he could cure wolves. Faye’s parents wanted her cured.”

“Why?” She’d thought wolves loved their beasts.

“Because they didn’t want to be monsters. Didn’t want her to be one.”

Kayla flinched.

“The doctor pumped liquid silver in her veins. Burned her from the inside out. She’s never been able to change.”

Her eyes squeezed shut. She couldn’t even guess the agony a procedure like that would bring to a child. “What happened to the doctor?”

“The human who got off on torturing wolves?” Fury burned in his voice. “Don’t worry. He’s not ‘curing’ anyone. Not anymore.”

No. She bet he wasn’t.

Not good. Not evil.

Where did Gage really fall on that scale? Where did she?

Her eyes opened. Determination fueled her blood. “Let’s get them out of there before the next guard shift comes to check on Thomas.”

She grabbed the key cards. Headed for the woman first. Faye stood in the middle of her prison. Her head was down. Her body held perfectly still.

But when Kayla and Gage entered the narrow corridor that led toward the caged wolf, the woman’s body tensed. Her head snapped back. “Alpha.” Hope and fear twisted the one word.

Gage hurried toward her. “We’re getting you out, Faye.”

Faye’s dark gaze—her eyes almost looked pitch black—locked on Kayla. “The hunter? She…smells of you.”

Great. Shifter noses. Kayla swiped the key card and jerked open the cell door. “Come on.”

One wolf down.

One to go.

But Faye didn’t move. Her gaze stayed locked on Kayla. “Is this…a trick?” she asked. Her eyes narrowed. “You hate me. Why would you help us?” That gaze slid back to Gage. “Even if you’re fucking the alpha,”

Yeah, I am fucking him. And with shifter senses, well, hell, she might as well be wearing a giant neon sign that said, Hi, I’m Kayla, and I just screwed the alpha.

“Why go against your own kind?” Faye demanded and her soft voice was laced with steely anger.

“Because they’re not my kind.” Lyle wasn’t. He wasn’t Gage’s kind, either. He was just a murdering, sick bastard. That kind.

He’d told them all that Faye was psychotic. That she’d sliced open five men in Vegas. Kayla had seen the pictures, but hadn’t talked to the men. Lyle had told her interviews weren’t necessary. Now she needed to hear Faye’s side of the story. “Why’d you do it?”

Faye held up her hand. Claws broke from her fingertips. “The bastard doctor didn’t totally kill my wolf.”

Were the claws supposed to scare her? Think again. “Five men are now walking the streets of Vegas with your mark on their faces. Why? ”

Because Kayla had to make sure she was doing the right thing. She was going against years of training. Everything she’d ever believed.

Faye’s delicate face hardened. “Those men ,” the word was a curse, “got off on hurting women, and they made the mistake of thinking they’d hurt me, too.” Faye’s lips thinned. “No one hurts me and just walks away. Those days are long gone.”

There was no missing Faye’s intensity. Or the pain that echoed in her voice. Kayla stared at her—and believed Faye’s words.

Not evil. Not good.

Was the whole world a shade of gray? Everything had seemed to be in such big, bold colors just days before.

Kayla turned away from Faye. Staring into the she-wolf’s eyes, it was a little too much like… looking in a mirror.

Same rage. Same pain.

“Alpha?” Faye’s hesitant voice. “Shamus…I heard him yelling…is he…?”

“He’s next,” Gage replied, voice flat. “You’re both coming home.”

Home. The word caused an ache to lodge in Kayla’s heart. Did she even have one anymore?

Don’t think about it. Not now. She just needed to do the job. Get them all out of there with minimum bloodshed, yeah, that was priority number one for her. She slipped around the corner, punched in the code for the next holding room, and tried like hell to keep her control in place.

Time to face the big beast. Shamus would hear her coming, no doubt, but it wasn’t him she was worried about. Well, not too worried. Not with Gage having her back.

We just have to hurry.

Lyle was too confident. He thought the silver was all he needed to contain his captured prey.

Guess you never thought one of your own would turn on you.

Time for Lyle to think again.

“Come near me and I’ll cut you open!” Shamus bellowed and she flinched. Hell, did he have to yell? Did he want to bring all the other guards his way?

Actually, getting cut open by him was pretty likely. So she’d better stay far away from those razor-sharp claws.

“I’m trying to help you,” she muttered as she rounded one more turn and came face-to-face with his cage and him.

Big Red was freaking huge. Had to be at least six-foot-three, maybe six-foot-four. His shoulders were like dang mountains.

“If you so much as scratch her, Shamus, you’ll answer to me,” Gage snarled from directly behind her. Soft moving wolf.

Silence. Shamus’s stare drifted between them. “A hunter?” Disgust dripped from the words.

“I’m the hunter who’s here to save your ass.” She used the key card, and his cell door swung open.

Shamus didn’t move. “Is this a trick?” His claws were up. Before Kayla could answer, he lunged forward—and those claws came right at her neck.

She jumped back, but Gage was already there. He leapt in front of her and locked his hand around Shamus’s thick throat and slammed him back against the silver bars.

Faye cried out as the scent of burning flesh filled the air.

“I warned you,” Gage growled. Then he yanked Shamus away from the bars and dropped him on the floor. “She’s mine, and you don’t ever go at her with your claws. Got it?”

Shamus lifted his head. “G-got…it, alpha.”

Right. When a lesson was burned into you, it was kinda hard to misunderstand.

Psychotic tendencies. That had been in Shamus’s file. His gaze cut to her. Oh, yes, white-hot fury and?—

“Faye,” Shamus whispered the woman’s name like a prayer. The fury vanished from his eyes and was replaced by a look of longing so intense that Kayla felt damn uncomfortable.

Faye had crept near her. Then the smaller woman paused, and rocked nervously from one foot to the other.

“I caught your scent on the hunter,” Shamus said. He rose to his feet in an instant and didn’t even seem to be aware that his back was still smoking. “I-I thought he’d done something to you, that?—”

“Later.” Gage’s snarl but through Shamus’s words. “We’re getting the hell out of here now.”

Kayla got the picture. Big Red was sweet on not-so-delicate Faye. But Faye wasn’t even looking at him. She was looking everywhere else. The cage. The ceiling. The floor. The floor had to be real fascinating the way she was staring so hard at it.

Shamus had been captured when he’d charged at the hunters—coming straight in for a direct attack against them.

“You came at us because we had her,” Kayla said, understanding now. That was almost sweet.

Shamus threw her a fast glance. Wow, wait, his cheeks had just heated. He didn’t look quite so fierce in that instance.

Gage caught her hand. “There’s movement two hallways over. Guards.”

Crap. Okay, the weird love thing between the wolves could wait.

She pulled out her weapon. She’d taken the liberty of snagging it when she’d taken the uniform from the locker room. “I’ll get us back to Curtis.” Then she’d leave Gage because her work wasn’t done. Not yet. “You just stop me if you hear guards, or if you smell them.”

No way would she walk into an ambush. Not with her wolf by her side.

Her wolf? Now she was definitely getting all possessive on him. She was in such trouble.

Gage stopped her twice as they headed back to the garage. She knew he could have just killed the guards they passed. Knew that Shamus wanted to slice them open, but Faye’s light touch on his arm seemed to calm the big wolf. Right then, they were all focused on escape. But judging by the glint in Gage’s eyes, the fight would come soon enough.

She just wondered how many lives would be lost when the hunters faced off against the whole Vegas wolf pack.

Not Jonah. She’d have to make sure he didn’t get caught in the crossfire.

Though it seemed to take forever, they were soon back in the shadows of the garage. When it came to stealth, no one beat the wolves. Just get them away from silver, and they were good to go.

Lethally good.

“How the hell are we getting out of here?” Shamus wanted to know. “There’s a fortified fence out there, patrolled with half a dozen armed guards.”

Once you got in, you weren’t supposed to get out. Unless you were a hunter.

Curtis stood next to one of the compound’s SUVs. He was rocking back and forth as nervous energy seemed to roll from him.

Could the wolves smell him sweating?

“You’re just gonna drive out,” Kayla told Shamus and, from the corner of her eye, she saw Gage’s head snap toward her. “Easy as pie.” Not exactly. She glanced at Gage and found herself caught in his stare.

“We’re gonna drive out,” he corrected.

Right, ahem, he would have caught that bit.

But now wasn’t the time to hash this mess out. Curtis had seen her, and he lifted his hand, indicating the coast was clear. They hauled ass, staying low and in the shadows, as they headed for the vehicle. Shamus and Faye jumped in the backseat and kept their bodies near the floorboard. For such a big guy, Shamus could sure cram in tight. If anyone looked over, they wouldn’t even see those two in the back.

Since she and Gage were dressed like hunters about to head out on a mission, no one would give them a second look, either. Everything was working as she’d hoped. Now if her racing heart would just settle down.

“They’ll track us once we leave,” Curtis said. His voice broke at the end. Fear was definitely getting to him. He must have gotten too nervous waiting alone in the garage. “As soon as they figure out what’s happening, they’ll be on our trail.”

She shoved him out of the way and ducked her head under the dash. It took her less than sixty seconds to disable the GPS tracker. Piece of freaking cake. “They won’t track you now.”

She popped her head up and found Gage staring down at her.

And didn’t the wolf look all solemn and determined?

“We’ll come back for him,” Gage promised her. “We’ll get Jonah out, too.”

She blinked. Okay, she hadn’t been expecting that promise form him.

“Your brother’s safe. He doesn’t realize what Lyle is yet, so the shifter isn’t going after him.”

Curtis had run off and was punching in security codes, trying to get the gates open. And since no one knew he was supposed to be dead, he was schmoozing his way past the other hunters who’d just appeared. Feeding them some BS line about how he was off on another mission. The hunters were buying every word he fed them, and they were all just seconds away from a clean escape.

An escape that didn’t include Jonah.

No.

“When Lyle finds out that I’ve escaped, he’ll turn on my brother.” She knew it. “I can’t leave him behind.” She wouldn’t. She’d freed Gage’s wolves. Done her part. Now they could get out of there. She and Jonah, well, they’d find a way out, too.

I won’t leave my brother. Not even for Gage.

Gage lowered his head. “Yes, I figured you’d say something like that.” His voice was calm. Huh. Weird. She’d thought he would fight with her. Do something. The wolves in the back were dead quiet.

She stepped away from the SUV. “Go.” She cleared her throat. “When this is over—” Kayla stopped, not sure what to say. When this was over, she’d—what? She’d find her hubby and they could live happily ever after? That wasn’t the way things worked. A hunter and a wolf didn’t have a shot at forever. Besides, she wasn’t even sure he wanted to stay bound to her.

Kayla pulled in a deep breath. So maybe she wouldn’t offer any lines about what would happen when this mess was over. She squared her shoulders and told him, “Go take care of your pack.” Then Kayla turned her back on him. Dammit, was she actually tearing up? What in the hell was happening to her? She was a fountain these days.

She took one step, then found her body hauled back against Gage’s rock-hard chest. “Before I found you in that cage, I made a side trip by the infirmary.” His breath whispered over her ear.

Kayla tried to jerk free. No give. “Gage?” Now she was afraid because his low voice had been so angry. So determined.

“While all the medics were busy stitching up the wounded hunters, I borrowed a few supplies from their office,” he growled the words.

Her heart seemed to stop even as a dark suspicion grew in her mind.

The heavy garage door was opening with a groan and shriek of metal. Curtis was rushing back toward them.

“Sorry, sweetheart, but I’m not risking you,” Gage told her and shoved something sharp—a needle!—in her arm.

No. Jonah! She opened her mouth, but Gage put his hand over her lips, smothering her instinctive cry. Her feet kicked back at him. Landed a hit. Another. But he didn’t let her go.

And she could already feel the drug slipping through her system. First her brother, now Gage? Why was everyone drugging her? Such sonsofbitches.

“When you wake up, you’ll be safe.”

And he’d be a dead man.

Jonah. Her eyelids fell closed, and a tear slipped down her cheek.