Page 52 of In the Shadows

“What the fuck is going on?”

“Davenport just killed Jones. No fucking clue why.”

“Fuck,” he growls. “He was a weak link. Our possible way into the workings of the organization.”

“Maybe Davenport figured it out?”

“I doubt it, but it’s not impossible.” I hear him stand from his desk, the chair slamming into the wall behind him as he starts pacing.

“Is there anyone else?”

“One of his guards, perhaps. His cousin, maybe, if we can dig something up on him that we can use to blackmail him.”

“I’ll work on it,” I tell him as I watch the dealer Jones was meeting haul his dead ass up and toss him in the trash, ready for the garbage truck coming down the street.

Maybe I haven’t given Davenport the credit he deserves. He’s not as big an idiot as we thought he was, which means it’s not going to be quite as easy to toss his ass to the curb as we had hoped.

By the time I get back to the compound, my skin is itching with the need for violence. Being so close to a kill but not being on the giving end of it has made me that much more desperate for blood.

I burst into Crew’s office without knocking, as usual, and I find my little lamb in the corner, curled up with a blanket thrown over her. She looks so peaceful when she sleeps, and part of me doesn’t want to wake her, but I know if I don’t, I’m going to crawl out of my own fucking skin.

In the last few weeks, she’s become my safe place, the only thing that can bring me back from the edge when I’m standing on it, and right now I’m ready to find any fucker on the street and end their life.

“Kovu—” Crew starts, but I’ve already breezed past him, approaching my prey with quiet steps.

As soon as I’m close enough, her sweet scent washes over me, giving me just a moment of calm before I scoop her up into my arms, holding her close to my chest, where the organ masquerading as a heart beats heavily.

Camilla’s eyes blink open sleepily, and the most breathtaking smile tugs at the corners of her lips when she looks up at me. “You’re back,” she says.

I nod and bury my face in her hair, taking a deep breath of her fresh scent. It probably makes me a total fucking creep, but I don’t care. I need her. I need to feel her against me so I don’t go kill every motherfucker I can find.

“Are you okay?”

I don’t get a chance to respond before Crew is pulling her out of my arms and into his, the possession in his mismatched eyes completely unrecognizable to his usual cool, calm, and collected persona.

“What the fuck?” I snap, reaching for her, but he quickly turns, giving me his back.

“Not when you’re like this,” Crew says over his shoulder as he takes long strides toward the door.

I glare at his back and stalk after them, unable to allow any distance between me and my little lamb. By the time I catch up to them, they’re standing at the elevator, and Camilla is staring up at Crew like he’s grown an extra head and me like she’s not sure what to think of the exchange.

“Give her to me,” I growl, unable to hold back the rage from pouring into my tone.

“No.” Crew glares at me over her head. “You’re too unpredictable when you’re like this. I won’t have you hurting her.”

His words only have more anger beating down on me, but before I can step in after them, the doors slide closed in my face.

The roar that escapes my throat is barely human.

How fucking dare he take her from me?

How dare he think I’m going to hurt her?

Doesn’t he fucking realize she’s quickly become my reason for breathing?

Doesn’t he understand that every moment I’m away from her is physically painful to me?

I take the stairs two at a time, hoping to beat them to the lower level before he can put her back into her room, but by the time I throw the door open, they’re nowhere to be seen.

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