Page 129 of Ashes

The front door swung open just as Ashes reached for the handle. I rose as Stitches filled the doorway, his dark hair hanging limply around him, his eyes darkened, and a scar forming along the side of his head from where he’d cut himself.

“Stitches?” I stalked forward, my throat tight, and wrapped my arms around him. “You’re home.”

He hugged me back, his body shaking. “I’m home,” he whispered as Ashes joined in.

We stayed that way for a long time before breaking apart. When I turned to see what Sin was doing, I found him standing, his gray eyes wavering.

“You going to stand there like an idiot or fucking hug me?” Stitches rasped, his cheeks damp with tears.

Sin surged forward and wrapped his arms around Stitches, the two holding one another. I chanced a peek at Cadence to find she’d gone back to eating her sandwich, her eyes glued to us.

“Enough hugging,” she called out around more food. “Where the fuck is my sister?”

Sin let go of Stitches.

“She’s free too. She’s with Asylum.” A pained look swept over Stitches’s face as his voice cracked.

Ashes peered at me, fear on his face as Sin cleared his throat.

“He’s going to bring her back,” I said softly, hoping it wouldn’t set Stitches off again. I couldn’t fucking deal with him swinging in his closet.

“He will,” Stitches murmured. “When the time is right.”

The fact he accepted it so easily immediately set off alarm bells in my head.

“Well, guess what? The time is right fucking now.” Cadence stuffed the remainder of her sandwich into her mouth and stalked past us to the door.

“You fuckers coming or should I send you a written invitation for this ass kicking I’m about to deliver?”

I smirked at her. “I can’t stand you.”

“Good. Then you’ll hurry your ass up and get this over with. The sooner this shit is over, the sooner I’ll leave you twerps alone. I want answers.

I silently checked with Ashes then Sin and finally Stitches. They all wore varying looks of determination.

“Fuck it. I’ll try anything once,” I said. “Let’s see what the plan is.”

“Follow me, boys.”

“Lead us not into temptation,” Ashes muttered.

“But deliver us from evil,” I added.

“Amen,” came Stitches’s soft voice.

Something was wrong with him, but we’d deal with it later. Right now, we had an ass kicking to deliver.

SIRENA

“Here,” Asylum said, brushing the hair away from my face. “Let me help you.”

As much as I wanted to return to my own room, it didn’t look like that was happening. Asylum had brought me to his place, and that was where we’d been since walking through the door. We hadn’t spoken. We’d simply sat in silence as I tried to hold back the tears.

What had happened in the medical ward. . .

Asylum took the chocolate chip cookie from my hand. I wasn’t feeling great. I’d had a seizure.Twice. I’d been shocked. My entire body had seized beneath the electricity Sully had delivered to me. I’d played along. Asylum had told me to.

I wasn’t sure what would’ve happened if I’d have just come to before that moment, but it probably would’ve ended the same. Cruelty and monsters wouldn’t change directions just because I decided to blink.

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