Page 244 of Psycho Beasts

I slammed my power into them with so much force that I was left with the unexplainable knowledge that they were now brain-dead.

My fear for the girls drove me. I didn’t have to speak.

Five Ortega brothers sat up straight and turned toward the girls. Arms in front of them, they aimed their machine guns at the Black Wolves.

Pull off the safety valves.

Clicks echoed.

The wolf who’d spoken before, who had his gun pressed to Jinx’s head, tipped his head back and laughed. “Yes, we’d heard rumors about your abilities. But it’s truly more impressive in person.”

His face hardened.

“They pull the triggers and we pull ours. We’ve ruled the shadows of this city for five hundred years. Want to test our reflexes?”

The barrel of his gun stabbed harder into Jinx’s temple.

“It was all too easy to follow you. The butler and boy didn’t even put up a fight. Don’t worry, it was a quick death for both of them. Little anyone can do against a hail of bullets.”

Aran was dead.

They. Killed. Aran.

My knees wobbled.

CONCENTRATE.

Jinx looked unconcerned as she slowly stroked her ferret.

Jax shook with rage. Cobra, Ascher, and Xerxes stood still as statues, calculating and assessing.

“You want a trade,” Xerxes said slowly. “Then let’s trade. I’ll go with you willingly.”

The wolf chuckled. “Of course you’ll go with us willingly. Only problem is you’ll shoot us as soon as we release the girls. Can’t have that.”

I inched closer.

DON’T MOVE.

The wolf tapped his lips like he was thinking. “Yes, I do believe we’ll have to kill one of the girls to ensure that you understand the circumstances.” He smiled, and all four men shoved the barrels harder against the girl’s temples. “But which one?”

Look at Lucinda. Focus on her.

Lucinda dragged her fingernails across her forearm, gouging herself with her fingernails repeatedly.

To anyone else, it would have looked like a sixteen-year-old harming herself from anxiety.

She’s your sister.

Memories of her reassuring me she could handle herself, that she was stronger than I realized, flashed before me.

I understood.

Suddenly, the unspoken words that had hung around us when she’d told me I didn’t need to worry about her seemed so loud.

So obvious.

Her fingernails dragged violently until her entire arm was a cut-up mess of flesh. Blood oozed across her arm from hundreds of cuts.

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