Page 112 of A Sin So Pure

When the bullets stop whizzing above our heads, she pulls me up, dragging me through the emergency exit at the side of the store by my arm. She’s already got her gun drawn. I stumble into the alley after her, clutching my side.

“Josie.” Her name is shaky on my tongue.

Adrenaline rushes through me, numbing out my limbs and drawing the world into pin-point focus. There’s a whooshing in my ears, an all-consuming ringing.

“Where the fuck is Wes?” Josie growls before pulling me further down the alley in the opposite direction of the shop’s main entrance.

Gunshots sound from behind us and Josie’s pace increases as we turn down different back streets, all of them somehow empty.

“Josie,” I say again, fear striking through me. My fingers tremble as they clasp my side, coming away slick. Pain courses through my middle with every jolting step. “Josie, I can’t run.”

She whips around, giving me a once over and her eyes widen at whatever she sees. I can’t look down—don’t want to. I close my eyes, fighting the lightheadedness falling over me.

“Shit,” she says. “Okay, we’re going to?—”

But she doesn’t finish her sentence as she’s ripped away from me and thrown to the ground. I yelp as I’m pulled into a strong set of arms. Josie rolls, quickly recovering from whatever strike the attacker dealt. She’s on one knee, gun poised and directed at us.

Freezing metal digs into my temple and my captor’s arm bands across my chest. His hand grips the base of my neck.

A furious scowl is set across Josie’s face. Her eyes dissect the situation with speed, calculating the chances of success if she were to pull the trigger.

“Ah, ah, ah,” a cold voice scolds from behind me, addressing Josie’s murderous glare. “Don’t think I won’t kill Miss Lust here as quick as you can pull that trigger.”

My body stills.

He’s fae.He’s Seelie.

“Josie,” I whisper.

“Let her go,” Josie growls. “Or I will kill you.”

My breathing catches on itself, my lungs hyperventilating as gray tints the edge of my vision. I close my eyes, tight, pushing away my panic and trying to channel calm.

Enough calm to at least connect to my magic.

I have to focus. I can do this. I’ve done it a thousand times.

Pain digs into my skull as the Seelie pushes the gun into my temple with more force.

Shit.

“Put the gun down,” he says.

I flick my eyes open, locking gazes with Josie. I give her an imperceptible nod.

It’s okay, I try to tell her with my mind.

She lowers her gun, tentatively, though she doesn’t put it on the ground.

“On the ground,” the man snarls.

Josie’s jaw grinds as she places the gun at her feet and lifts her hands up in a placating gesture.

“Smart girl,” the Seelie man coos, and my throat tightens with disgust. Then his mouth is next to my ear, hot breath making me gag. “Now, you’re not going to give me trouble, are you, sugar? Let’s move. Someone important wants to meet you.”

Josie’s warm brown eyes are still locked on mine, searching for a way out of the situation we’ve found ourselves in. But I close my eyes again, focusing on my magic, trying to pull it to the surface, past the fear and the pain and the lightheadedness.

“Imogen,” Josie warns, sensing what I am about to do.

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