Page 88 of Havoc

“I’m still a little amped up.” I laughed. “I could’ve gone another round before coffee.” I shot him a grin, feeling pleased with all the fuckery I had gotten this trip.

“Leo!” I knocked on his door. “Get your ass up. You’re late!”

“I take it you smoothed things over with Kenna, then?” Jesse matched my grin as he sipped his coffee.

“When have you ever questioned my sex life?” I waited for Leo to drag his ass to the door.

“Never, but this isn’t just about sex, my friend.” He laughed, knowing he was getting under my skin. “I’m thinkin’ it’s more than that.”

“Well, thanks for the heads up.” I banged on the door again. “Come on, man.” I pulled out his spare keycard and held it up to the screen.

“You can deflect all you want, boss,” Jesse started in again as I pushed the door open, “but I’ve never seen you care about anyone the way you do about Kenna.”

A sudden surge of adrenaline tore through me, even as the blood from my head plummeted to my feet.

Instantly, we both pulled our weapons, and I stood frozen as Jesse swept through the suite. I locked eyes with my brother. But Leo’s stare was lifeless.

“Clear.” Jesse’s voice sounded miles away.

“No.” My arm fell as my weapon suddenly became too heavy to hold. I dropped to my knees near my brother and tried to make sense of what I was seeing.

“What the fuck?” Jesse was at my side.

Leo lay on the floor in the center of what looked like the middle of a compass, legs in positions that were inhuman. He looked like he’d been stripped bare and draped in white linen. A bundle of sage smoked beside him, and animal bones and bowls of chicken feet and hair defined the circle. A knife protruded from his chest.

“What the fuck?” Jesse repeated in disbelief.

The blade was buried in the center of my brother’s heart.

“It’s like some kind of crazy voodoo ritual,” Jesse whispered.

My brother was an offering to the gods; my brother was a sacrifice.

My body slowly shut down. Inside my brain, I felt the doors slam shut one by one. Pain flooded my head. Then I felt myself harden as I knelt and studied my little brother. There was no time to mourn.

“Oh, God!” Kenna’s cry registered with me as she came into the room, “Grim?” She covered her mouth as she stepped into my line of vision. I could barely look at her; I was rooted in space. “Leo.” She swallowed back a sob as Jesse went to her. “Who could do this? Why?”

“Jesse,” I ordered. He turned her away, but she pushed past him and made a strange sound. I tilted my head and studied her as she bent over to look more closely at Leo.

“Don’t touch anything!” Jesse grabbed her arm.

“Wait,” she blurted but pulled her hand back. She seemed to focus on Jesse’s arm. “Oh, my God.” Kenna’s horrified expression made me wonder what she saw that I didn’t. I looked at the scribble of lines without emotion.

“What?” Jesse glanced at me then back at her.

“I think I know that symbol,” she whispered and pulled out her phone to snap the morbid photo.

Anger rushed through my blood and filled the emptiness that had taken hold inside me. The possibility she could possibly know anything about what had happened in this God forsaken hellhole burned.

“How could you know anything?” My voice boomed through the room, and she jumped.

“I,” she stumbled as tears flowed down her cheeks, “I might be wrong, but?—”

“Jesse, get her the fuck out of here. Get her to the airport. Send her home.” I couldn’t breathe.

“Grim,” Jesse said softly, and I glared at him and warned him to tread carefully, not to say anything other thanyes, boss. “What about the situation back home? Should she go back alone?”

Fuck.

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