Page 64 of Be My Sacrifice

“Go, it’s me choosing for you. You won’t lose either of us, I promise. Just bring him back safely to me. I can’t and won’t lose either of you.”

“Wait for us, Dinah. We will find and dispatch the Holy Father together.” I nod in agreement, masking my thoughts from him, and knowing that there isn’t a chance in hell I will delay getting this over with, or allowing the Holy Father to escape.

“Go, I will be right here when you return.”

Chapter forty-two

The Liar

Abe

Imovestealthilydownthe hall, my ears listening for any tell-tale signs of anyone behind me, trying to get the drop on me, while I clear my mind of that anguished look on Dinah’s face. She didn’t want me to go, I could see it clear as day across her features. She was going to argue with me, but then I mentioned Sammy’s name, and I knew that my reasoning was sound, despite me being an unhinged lunatic most of the time. We need to find this fucking bozo, the Holy whatever, and get the hell out of here. Our lives are in danger, and I am positive we have stepped into a trap that David, the cunt, has orchestrated.

I’ve never bought into this whole religion, and supreme leader who represents all the faithful, crap that the Brotherhood has been spoon-feeding us since I was born. How could a group of men alone represent God and everyone else? How could they demand your complete devotion, loyalty, and life in exchange for wealth and power? It seemed like the work of the devil they vehemently preached against, while doing the exact thing they were telling you not to. A bunch of wealthy tyrants and hypocrites more like it, and this Holy Father guy was at the top of the pyramid.

If David wanted him dead in exchange for Sammy’s whereabouts, I had no problem doing the killing. One more death tallied on my soul wasn’t going to matter to the pitch-black shade. I wasn’t planning on ever getting into this false heaven anyway. The people I love won’t be waiting for me at its gates, at least not those gates. Maybe the fire and brimstone ones.

My concern was how adamant he was about Dinah being the one to murder him, and how he held Sammy’s life as a bargaining chip over her. Now that’s where I draw the line. No one gets to take advantage of my Atasi but us, and even then, only in the bedroom when she’s down on her knees like agood girlfor us.

Shit,I need to stop thinking about Atasi on her knees. This is definitely not the right time to get a boner that I can’t take care of. Just as I’m doing my best not to picture Dinah with her mouth open, and those pouty lips of hers ready to swallow my cock, a shot rings out, followed immediately by a shit ton more, and I have to dive to the ground, and crawl my way to the next turn in the hallway.

Well, fuck!There’s more than one of them, for fucking sure. I peek quickly around the corner and spy at least five Brotherhood guards, with shotguns and pistols, waiting to put a ton of holes in my body.Fiveagainst one isn’t great odds, but they’re also not the worst I have ever faced. I can do this. I’ll murder them all and help Dinah find who she needs, so we can keep living our lives together.

After everything that we have been through, all the pain, sorrow, and grief, there is no way that I’m giving up now, and there’s also no fucking chance that I’m allowing these assholes to kill me. I have too much to live for now.

“Put down your weapons, cunts, and maybe I’ll spare you, or at least make it a quick death,” I shout around the corner, my eyes targeting one of them and lining up my aim to take him out.

“Hey, stupid, we have you outnumbered. You should crawl out now on your hands and knees, and maybe we won’t put too many holes inside of you,” a gruff voice replies, while the owner shakes his head slightly like I am the one in danger. I pull the trigger, and the guy right next to him goes down with the top of his head blown off.

“You were saying?” I cackle, loving that I’ve taken another one, and by the time I leave here with all of them dead, I will either have caught up with Dinah’s number, or beaten hers. I know it’s a bit morbid, not only to count my kills, but also to be competitive with it, but hell, that’s just who I am, and I’m not here to make apologies for it. Besides, Dinah and Zeke love me the way I am, and that’s all that matters.

“Open fire, this fucker needs to die!” That’s the reply I get. Well, so much for being friendly. I fire back, hitting at least one of them in their extremities, before having to duck back to safety. They keep firing over and over, wasting all their ammo. At this rate, these idiots will be out of bullets shortly, and I can just walk up and shoot each of them in their faces. Well, that is if they don’t have an endless supply handy. One problem at a time.

Just as the bullets seem to slow and I’m getting ready to dash from my hiding spot, preparing to aim at everyone in my sight, Zeke storms down the hall, looking like a badass menace, and getting ready to wage war. He looks like a reincarnated Ares, prepared to destroy worlds.

My eyebrows shoot right up to my hairline with how furious he is. His whole body is wired tight and trembling with rage. His jaw is clenched so rigidly that if he’s not careful, he will fracture his pretty, perfect, prince-charming teeth. He’d still be pretty and sexy even without teeth, though. I shake my head to get back on track, damn my mind is worse than a squirrel looking for a nut.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I look behind him for Dinah, but I don’t see my sexy, ruthless vigilante. “Where’s Atasi?” Panic immediately sizzles through me like an electrical current.

“She sent me to save your reckless, unhinged ass. we could hear the gunfire from our wing of the house, and she figured they were going to pin you down.” He looks around the corner, as shots begin to fire again, and he rolls his eyes and meets my gaze once again with his bright green eyes on fire. “She was right.”

“I would have been alright. There are only about four of them now. The odds aren’t terrible.” I smirk as he slides down the wall next to me, and more gunfire erupts, taking chunks out of the plaster above our heads. “They are going to run out of bullets the way they are firing. Where did you leave Dinah?”

Suspicion rises through me immediately. Why the fuck did he come for me? Did she really send him to come get me, or did he leave her to fend for herself, and come to rescue me again? I swear if he just abandoned her, I will put a bullet between his eyes.

“Slow your thoughts,dick. This time I didn’t choose you. I wouldn’t fucking risk losing her again, no matter how much I care about you, and how you infuriate me with your need to risk your life. She was the one who demanded I bring you back to her.”

A warm sensation starts in my chest, expanding to the rest of my body at the thought that Atasi cares enough about me to send Zeke to get me, and that Zeke didn’t abandon her like last time. I know we have a dysfunctional relationship, the three of us, well, four if you include Sammy, but I wouldn’t ever want to be with anyone else. They are my people, the ones for whom my heart beats and my blood sings.

“Fuck, Abe, get those hearts out of your eyes. You do realize that we could die here, right?” Zeke’s voice is gruff, but I can hear the emotion behind his words:he loves me.

“You came for me,” I smirk and wag my eyebrows at him, while more bullets surround us.

He takes a shuddering breath, reaching forward, grasping my chin in his large palm, and moving his face close to mine until his warm breath slides across my lips.

“I will always come for you. You are mine.”

I crash my lips recklessly against his, still fully aware that we are being shot at and could easily die, but I can’t hold back. The need inside of me for this man is always visceral. It’s a constant humming inside of my veins. My heart has always belonged to him, well, at least a portion. The rest belongs to the dark-haired vixen who told him to come to save me, and left herself alone and vulnerable to an attack.

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