Page 116 of I Will Mend You

I stab through Proctor’s pathetic, limp penis, letting out a spray of blood. As it hangs from two pieces of flesh, I jerk the blade from side to side, slicing through the remaining strands.

His shriek rings in my ears, and he convulses once, twice, three times, before falling limp.

“Two more,” Xero says.

I make a slash at the corner of his mouth, followed by the other to give him a grotesque smile. His body only twitches. Xero drops him to the floor. As he falls, so does a small piece of my trauma. It’s only a tiny chunk in an unwieldy burden that won’t shift until every bastard who touched me is dead.

“How do you feel?” Xero asks, his eyes shining with pride.

“Like I can finally take a breath,” I reply, my throat raw.

He steps forward, his chest heaving, his heart beating so hard its vibrations resound against my skin. “I didn’t know you could be so deadly,” he says in a low purr. “You looked so beautiful when you were severing his cock.”

I grab him by the collar of his bullet-proof jacket, pulling his head down to my level. Our gazes meet, his pale blue hues blazing with fiery intensity. His breath is hot on my face, fanning the flames of my desire. I want him so much, it hurts.

As I lean in for a kiss, an alarm rips through the air.

I jerk back. “What’s that?”

“Perimeter alert,” he snarls. “Someone is coming.”

FIFTY-NINE

XERO

Just as we were making a breakthrough, we’re interrupted by an alert. Pulling back from my little ghost, I step out of the pool of Proctor’s blood and activate my Bluetooth headset.

“Report.”

“A convoy of unmarked vehicles just passed Rectory Lane,” says a voice I recognize from Tyler’s team. “95% chance they’ll take the turnoff to safe house Theta B.”

“Fuck.”

I whirl around and place a hand on Amethyst’s shoulder. Her eyes are still glazed from the slow, sensual retribution she unleashed on that worthless bastard, and her lips are still parted, begging for that kiss. I hate to bring her back to reality, but there’s no time to reconnect.

“What’s happening?” she asks, her voice still breathy.

“We have to move out now. Intruders are approximately five minutes from breaching the grounds.”

She nods, her jaw set with determination. She looks nothing like the broken woman who struggled to face her tormentor. “What are we going to do?”

“Don’t worry. I have a plan.” As we exit the room, I patch into the connection I share with my sister. “Isabel. Report.”

“Already halfway down tunnel E. Do you have Amethyst?” she asks through panting breaths.

“Affirmative. We’re heading toward the east bunker.”

Amethyst hovers at the door, staring up at me through wide eyes. “Are we going back to the house?”

“We’re going further underground, but first, I need to find out how the hell they located this safe house.”

I stride down the line of cells, pausing at the last one occupied by Deputy Chief Carl Hunter. The old bastard glares up at me through the bars, his posture rigid with defiance.

It was him.

Rage ignites in my veins. I unlock the biometric security and stride inside. “Want to confess anything, Hunter?”

He raises his chin. “I knew Delta would come through. We’re comrades, something an ungrateful backstabber like you could never understand.”

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