Page 88 of Guarded By the Nightmare

“Excuse me, dear,” Royce said, setting Omara on the ground, so he could unholster the rifle at his back. “Nine, from here on out—fuck the paperwork.” He balanced his rifle on Nine’s back to snipe at one of the men—and his rifle jammed.

“No,” he growled. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

“How far out are the reinforcements, Daddy?” Sirena asked.

“Close, baby, close,” Royce said, although I had the feeling it was a lie, as he pulled a grenade from his kit, and sent it sailing into the oncoming RRP.

Somehow, someway, all of the alumni dodged it—and after that, they believed in their own powers.

Ones at the front gave a howling battle cry and tried to swarm us. Nine picked up members and threw them bodily, swinging his bulk to crush others, and Royce had pulled out a bladed weapon of his own, putting his trust in his own skills over any projectiles. Omara cursed and had Sirena wedged behind herself, I could sense her mind surging forward, only to be pushed back by the collective luckof the Rho Rho Phi...who were currently being enabled by my boyfriend.

My baby daddy.

And I was going to get them all killed.

“Stop!” I shouted, with my full chest, in horror at my realization. “Just STOP!”

And . . . they did.

All of them were frozen.

“What is happening?” Nine asked, whipping his head in my direction—as did Omara.

“How did you do that?” she demanded.

“I just told them to stop,” I said softly.

And for the first time ever, it’d worked.

After all the gaslighting and cruelty, the RRP had finally been forced to listen to me.

I put a palm across my belly and sobbed, as Sirena set a kind hand on my back. “Keep it together for a little longer, Mina.”

I nodded, wiping my nose with one hand. “I’ve gotta get down there,” I said, rapping on Nine’s thick shell with the other. “Help me to get the door open?”

He cast a glance back at the frozen men, then grunted, reaching down with his hands and front set of legs.

“Please back up,” he warned, and then wrenched the cellar door out of the earth and threw it aside like a discus—where it hit several RRP members and crushed them. He chuffed at that. “Spiders have always been lucky,” he explained, as I hopped into the open stairwell.

“I don’t know how long that’s going to last,” I said waving back, “but I can’t promise it’ll be any safer with me.”

“We’ll take our chances down there till help arrives,” Royce said, deciding for everyone, and hopping down, to catch Omara when she dropped.

“Okay, but stay back, just in case,” I said, as Sirena joined us, and Nine started sealing the entrance back up with silk.

I turned on the shoulder light that came with my vest, and started racing down the stairs.

66

MINA

Trent had quitethe head start—he was sitting casually on the altar-tongue when I made it down, with a lantern at his side, making the teeth around him glint.

“Where is Sylas? What did you do with him?”

“He did it to himself, Mina.”

I strode up to him. I still hated him with all my heart—and he wasn’t allowed to hurt me.

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