Page 95 of A Blackened Bond

His light, sea-green eyes meet mine before widening. There is a slight shake to them before he quickly nods and turns away.

“That’s our girl,” chuckles Annex, putting his Bowie away.

“Let’s move on,” Ezra says, walking over to a large leather sofa and taking a seat. He glances at Mallyn, and we make our way over. Annex opts to hover around Erving, the poor guy flinching with the psycho’s presence.

“What happened, Erving?” Ezra asks, his arm wrapping around my back as I take the space beside him. “Why did they not show up? You told us they would be there.”

“And they weren’t,” Annex adds. “Why was that? Did you feed us some bad info?” Annex edges closer to the shaking teen, his eyes narrowing as the boy shakes his head frantically.

“I-I promise the information was good.” He looks at Ezra, his eyes flickering back and forth between him and Annex as he takes a shaky breath. “You guys know me. When have I ever given you bad information? Iknowbetter. I promise it was reliable. I don’t know what happened, maybe the guy had good instincts or got a tip-off…I don’t know.” Erving’s eyes flicker back and forth between the guys. “But it sure as hell wasn’t me.”

Annex edges closer. “I say we—”

“Annex,” Ezra seethes, his tone dark and serious as he turns from Annex and then back to Erving. “He’s right. He has nothing to gain from becoming our enemy. He’s one of ours.”

One of them? What does that mean? That they work together?

How many people did they have working with them, or for them?

How big was the guy’s operations?

Is this why Creed always seemed to have a stick in his butt about me being around them? Because he was protecting their little secrets?

Annex sighs before pulling away and glancing my way.

“I wanted to show Red some of my talents tonight.” He glances back at Erving as he flinches. “Pity.”

Annex makes his way over to me, earning Erving a little breathing space. He sighs a breath of relief before quickly twisting toward his multiple screens, clicking and tapping away before calling Ezra over.

“As soon as I heard they didn’t show up, I tried looking into it.” The sounds of his fingers on the keyboard ring out around the room as they pick up pace. “I also looked into other sources around us to see if I could get a sample myself. But everyone closed shop. They seem to want a certain clientele, and we do not fit their bill for some reason.”

Annex scoffs beside me as Erving continues.

“I offered a fair price, but money doesn’t seem to be their motivator…I just can’t figure out what is though.” His pink brows furrow as he continues to tap away furiously, flitting his gaze back and forth between his monitors.

“I did a mock-up of what it looks like from the descriptions I’ve gotten. This may not be exact, but…” An image pops up on one of his larger screens: a small, familiar, circular black pill that instantly has me walking toward the screen with my brows pinching together.

The image is followed by a list of its advantages and side effects on the screen.

“This is all the information I could get from what you and my other sources told me. But, Ez…” Erving calls in a hesitant tone as he stops tapping and turns toward Ezra. “If you take more than a couple of them at once, you can overdose from whatevershit they put in it. And it’s not a quick or painless death either, from what I’ve heard.”

“From that little pill?” Annex questions, as he pulls himself up and walks toward the screen.

I look at the small pill on the screen and take in everything he’s just said. That pill…looked exactly like the one Leon and Dean whipped out when they attacked me in the forest. I knew they had to be on something with how they were acting. And I guess that also explains the increased speed and strength they had as well.

I glance at the screen, my eyes narrowing at the small black circle covering the monitor. What the hell was in that tiny pill to make them like that? Andwhothe hell gave it to them?

And why were the guys looking into it? What connection did it have to them?

“What’s wrong, Micai?” A low voice calls softly beside me.

I whip around, surprised, and bump straight into Mallyn. How had he gotten so close to me without me realising his presence sooner?

Had he taken lessons from Gadriel to be so damn stealthy?

His eyes draw together as he watches me, waiting patiently for my response as a strange look grows in his eyes. Was that a look of worry?

“That pill…I’ve seen it before.” I answer, turning to meet each set of eyes now staring at me. The room falls silent.

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