Page 172 of Oathbreaker

I realize my gun isn’t in my hand. I must’ve dropped it by reflex when I took the bullet.

I want to scream at the overwhelming pain, but I don’t.

Hunter is coming. Hunter is here.

“Hey, bitch. Why am I not surprised to see you here?” I snarl through my pain and tightly pressed lips.

She tilts her head to the side.

“I will admit, I am surprised to see you here. It’s mindboggling how you managed to survive all the shit we’ve sent to kill you.”

“I guess that whole will to live thing isn’t so overrated,” I shoot back.

She chuffs in a humorless laugh.

“I’ll be taking the kid,” she says. Her lip curls, and a surge of protectiveness makes me want to launch my body over August’s, but I remain steady.

“Hell to the naw,” I drawl.

She quirks an eyebrow.

“Why do you want him, anyway? You and your sugar daddy tried killing him enough times,” I add.

“Oh, we didn’t intend to kill him. At least, not for a while yet. You and I know Hunter will do anything we demand in exchange for his son. Plus, Daddy promised me that I could play with his brain.”

I blink hard.

The. Fuck.

“Is that so,” I say, hoping to keep her talking, buying time for Hunter to break through whatever’s happening at the front of the house and rescue us. “I guess you’re part of The Legion?”

She bristles, her eyes narrowing.

“What do you know about The Legion?” she asks in a calm tone.

I know not a goddamn thing.

“I know enough,” I reply.

The side of her mouth lifts. It’s apparent when she decides to revel in this moment, preparing for a monologue that might be enough to allow help to arrive. I shift to my knees.

“Nu-huh,” she says, lifting her gun again, lining it up to my face. I settle on my hip, but the movement brings me closer to my gun.

I don’t think she notices my new proximity because she walks to stand over me in her high Louboutins that are absurdly inappropriate for the venue.

“You’re pretty enough,” she says after assessing me for a long moment. Crouching down, she reaches out toward my face. Her finger coils around the lock of hair hanging over my eyebrow, and I resist the urge to move my gaze from her gun, which now hangs between her spread knees. “I suppose I can see why he’d want to fuck you.”

Her eyes move up and down my body.

“That is, if one likes to fuck livestock.”

My eyes water with the force of my concentration to stay still. If I could just reach the gun on my hip or the one across from me….

I put extra firearms on my body before leaving the safe room, but with the state of my arm and the fact that she’ll kill me more quickly than I could secure the gun, I freeze.

Hunter, what do I do?

“Fuck. You.” I enunciate, biting into each word.

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