Page 62 of In the Shadows

CHAPTER FIFTY

KOVU

Iwash the blood from my hands in the garage, quickly removing most of the evidence of my kills. After the first few times I came home covered in another asshole’s blood and it made Camilla panic, I’ve made an effort not to walk into the room like I’ve just committed a massacre, even if that’s exactly what I’ve been doing.

As nice as it is to have her worry for me, I don’t like seeing her stressed, something I won’t always be able to control.

I walk through the complex, stopping by her bedroom door. Or perhaps I should call it our bedroom, seeing as I haven’t spent a night away from her since Bishop found her. I wonder what the others would think about permanently moving her into my room.

Bishop would probably be pissed about it, but it might be worth pursuing. Maybe I’ll just do it without telling anyone and watch them freak out.

I chuckle to myself as I push the door open and find the room empty.

Weird. With the way Camilla was feeling earlier, I expected her to spend the whole day in bed with the blankets pulled over her head.

I shrug and move down the hallway to the living room she often sits in during the day, but there’s no sign of my little lamb there either.

A sliver of panic creeps its way into my chest as I make my way to the next level. Maybe they’re in the kitchen or Crew’s office. They’ve been getting closer the last week, so perhaps he took over for Bishop.

But when I clear the second level, the panic flaring in my chest is beyond anything I’ve ever experienced. Worry and panic are not things men like me are intimately familiar with. The inside of the human body as you skin someone alive? Absolutely. But not this. I try to think back to the last time I cared about anything enough to feel this anxious, but I can’t think of a single instance.

I pull my phone out and try calling Bishop’s phone, only to be met with his voicemail a few seconds later.

Fuck.

I bring up the family group chat and type out a quick message before waiting with bated breath for their responses.

Kovu: Bish, you still got Cami with you?

Crew: You can’t find them?

Kovu: No. I’ve cleared the complex, apart from the top level.

Kaos: You idiots really lost her?

Crew: She’s probably with Bishop.

Kovu: Well, they’re not in the fucking complex.

I shut the chat because, obviously, Bishop’s not going to respond and the other two are useless.

I bring up the tracking app we each have on our phones, connected to the tracker we all have on our person, just in case shit ever goes sideways.

I huff out a frustrated sigh while I wait for the app to load, and when I realize he’s outside of the complex, I’m both relieved and fucking livid.

He took her out.

He took my little lamb outside the safety of these walls, of our fortress, into a city teaming with people that could recognize her.

I know we can’t keep Camilla locked up here forever, but it’s too soon. We haven’t figured out what the hell we’re doing with Charles yet, and that means it’s not safe for her.

I take the steps down to the ground level, storming down the hallway until I’m in the garage, and check the map again. They’re getting closer, which makes me think they’re on their way back, but I’m fucking furious he would take her out at all.

If anyone was going to pull a stupid stunt like this, it would have been me. I’m the indulgent one, at least when it comes to Camilla. So what the fuck was so important that he took her into the heart of New York City at lunchtime?

The door swings open, and Bishop shoves my little lamb through the door before quickly slamming it shut behind them.

Camilla is trembling, her entire body shaking like a leaf as her breaths come through her chest too quickly. Her cheeks are pale, the color I’ve grown used to seeing in her has faded.

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