Page 49 of Corrupted

"I would be too," I said.

The other two vehicles might be rigged to explode. They had to decide if they could outrun us or not. Considering we had three vehicles which probably wouldn't explode, we had the advantage.

Reuben nodded to Damon and gestured for us to stand and join Daze and the small army she brought with her.

"There you are." She turned to me and grinned. "Thanks for the invitation."

"Thanks for coming," I said. I glanced back to see Reuben talking to a man around his age.

"Aidan Draeger, head coach of the Dusk Bay Demons," Gianni supplied. "Along with a bunch of the first line players."

That explained the presence of my cousin, and his friend, Coast Riggs, the team's centre. I should have suspected a team owned by Caleb would be made up of people like us.

Aidan gestured for his players to circle around and surround the remaining enemy. He didn't look impressed at being dragged out in the middle of the night.

I turned my attention back to where the minions still huddled. Every so often, one would rise and try to get off a shot, but they missed every time. None of our return shots connected either.

I chewed my lip. Something about this felt off. What would I do if I was?—

"Tell everyone to come back," I said quickly. "Now."

Aidan looked at me, confused as to who the hell I was, and why I was giving orders, but Reuben nodded.

"Do it." He showed no sign of hesitation. He trusted my instincts completely.

Aidan shrugged, but called out the order for his players to trot back behind us.

"What's going on, Coach?" Phoenix asked.

"Hell if I know," Aidan said with a grunt. He glanced at me again.

I looked back, completely unflinching. I was right about this. Without a hint of doubt in my mind.

Phoenix squinted at me. "Are you?—"

His words were interrupted when the other two SUVs simultaneously exploded.

Flames burst from the top of them and spread to either side, instantly incinerating anyone within a few metres. If any of our people were still there, they would have been killed along with Kurt's minions.

"Well, shit," Coast Riggs said. "I feel like we just won the playoffs."

"We might as well have." Aidan looked at me again, this time with grudging respect and a curt nod.

I nodded back and turned away from him, to Reuben. "We need to get home."

"Yes, we do," he agreed.

"I have so many questions," Phoenix said, staring at me.

"I have answers, but not right now," I told him. We had one more piece of unfinished business to take care of here. Then we needed to get home before Kurt could pull any more of his bullshit. Bullshit I was getting thoroughly tired of. We all were.

Whatever happened, this ended tonight.

My back straight, I marched over to our SUV and wrenched open the door.

Leon Graves was still inside, curled up around himself as though he hoped we'd forget about his existence. Or bracing himself in case this vehicle exploded too.

"Mina," he said when he saw me. "So good to see you're still alive. We were on our way to the city when those other vehicles stopped us. They told us to get out, but Hunter and Parker insisted we stay here."

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