Page 84 of Grave Curse

Closer, Pirahna. Closer.

He smiled, his pointed teeth smeared with blood and gore. A high-pitched laugh escaped him as I looked at his mouth in disgust, but otherwise didn’t move. He seemed to take great pleasure in giving me an up-close look at the nightmare that he was, before he reached out almost casually for me.

With one purposeful move, I flicked open the straight razor, whipped out my arm lightning-fast, and slit his throat.

All hell broke loose even as wet spray hit my face and Pirahna grabbed at his throat, eyes bulging. An overhead drone suddenly beamed down white light on our position at the end of the strip mall. People were suddenly everywhere, swarming out into the parking lot to congregate where I stood and Pirahna fell to his knees in front of me, almost like a supplicant.

That’s right. Know your place.

I smiled when he collapsed completely, a crumpled ball at my feet. Then Tyr was there, wrapping his arms hard around me, and I swear for just a moment I felt them shake.

“You okay, Snap? Say something.”

Frantically I gestured to Hades, who’d turned and was trying to do a disappearing act back through the hedges, no doubt hoping to make his escape. Ajax roared up on his Harley, along with one of his enforcers from the back of the property, and two more pushed in through the hedges, nearly running Hades over.The older man stumbled back, and suddenly he was in Ajax’s grip, and the world around me seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

“Ah, I see. It’s okay, baby girl, you don’t have to talk, yeah? But I need you to turn around and look at me.”

Distracted, I did as he asked, torn between looking into my man’s beautiful eyes and watching Hades finally get his sorry ass cornered.

Very gently, as if he feared I might shatter, Tyr turned me toward the harsh light from the drone so he could study my face. With that same careful gentleness, he caressed his fingers across my cheek. “My goddess of war.”

I frowned, then looked at his fingertips now smeared with blood. Oh. I guess I did look like something out of a myth. Or maybe a nightmare.

“Listen to me, because this is a vow that I make to you with everything in me.” Tyr caught my chin and forced my gaze to lock with his. “Tonight, I’m going to make sure you never again lose your voice to fear again, okay? I swear I’m bringing this fucker to the end he deserves, and then we’re going to dance on his grave. I just need you to watch it, so you know his time and influence in your life is over. Can you do that?”

I nodded eagerly, because that sounded fine by me, and I offered him the now-bloody straight razor.

“Thanks, but I’ve got this, baby girl. This way may have landed my old man and his father before him in the slammer, but I’m going to finish this fight the old-fashioned way. The Gravedigger way. Romeo,” he called out to one of the people milling around. “Kill the drone light and make sure we have no eyes on us. What we Colgrave men do, we do in the dark.”

The harsh light overhead blinked out, and there was a long moment of silence. “Okay. All signals blocked. We’re clear.”

An overly hearty laugh came from Hades as Ajax and one of his enforcers frisked him before marching him out of the bushes.They stepped over Pirahna’s body like he was nothing more than a fallen log before coming to a halt in front of us.

Instead of giving his uncle his attention, Tyr bent and kissed me, a deep, loving kiss that gave me all the strength I needed before he guided me to the edge of the parking lot and into someone’s arms.

“Take care of her.”

“We’ve got her.” Mabel. Strong. Capable. Chosen family. I didn’t look away from Tyr—I had the crazy belief that if I looked away from him he would die on the spot—but it was nice to know I had my chosen family by my side.

“What are you laughing about, old man?” Tyr asked, slowly circling Hades, whom Ajax unceremoniously pushed toward Tyr before melting back into the circle of people ringing the two Colgrave men. “What could you possibly find funny at the end of your pitiful life?”

“I’m laughing because you’ve finally proven yourself worthy of the Colgrave name, boy. Took you long enough, but I knew if I kept pushing you, you’d finally live up to your potential. You’re welcome, by the way.”

“There are no buyers here for your bullshit, H. You can’t pretend that this—” he spread his arms wide, “was your grand plan, and you’re some genius strategist who actually wanted to end up all alone with no allies to back you up. You know what this is? This moment right here, is you being stupid enough to bring the last of your sheep in for slaughter. And you’re the last to go. Remember how Popcorn went? That’s going to be you. Eventually. But first I’m going to do to you all of the terrible things you did… to Ginger.”

The fear that flashed in Hades’s eyes was delicious. So he knew what he’d been doing was horrible, and he’d delighted in doing it anyway.

Fucker.

“You ungrateful little pissant,” Hades sneered, teeth bared. “If I hadn’t been tough on you, you never would’ve found the gumption to get up off your lazy ass and start your own chapter. Everything you have, everything you’ve built, every fucking idea you’ve dreamed up to become the success you are now, was all because of m—”

Tyr moved lightning-fast for someone so huge. I’d always admired that, but never more so than now. The dim lighting made it difficult to track his every move, but I could hear the impact of flesh on flesh just fine.

That was all it took to make Hades finally shut his damn mouth.

Rocked back on his heels by Tyr’s vicious right haymaker, Hades got his hands up in a classic boxer’s pose, hunched over and feet spread wide. It had to be said, the older Colgrave knew how to fight, because that was the world he’d come from. But when two powerful jabs from Tyr flattened his nose and smooshed it to one side while his eyes streamed, it was clear he was out of practice.

Good.

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