Page 23 of Savage Kingdom

“Yoro’s most prized possession is me.”

The gun at my back disappeared, and I felt it gently tap the side of my temple.

“Good thing he can’t start a war with a ghost,” the man said in a gleeful voice.

The door opened, and he pulled us out. He saw the guard who was across the hall a few seconds before I did. By the time my eyes had found him, a bullet was already making its way between his eyes.

My body was pressed close to his, the cuff still digging into my wrist from where he was the one dominating us. My arm moved when his did. More shouting and the few men who were in the house were a little perplexed for a moment because they knew that if they killed me, it would be worse for them.

They didn’t realize Yoro was not the monster they should fear.

“On the count of five, we run,” the man whispered.

We took off running. My legs burned from trying to keep up with him at an uncomfortable angle. More shots rang out, then another explosion.

Time seemed to still this time. My ears rang with the piercing noise of the blast, yet my heart remained calm. My legs ached as we ran down the steps, aware time was running out, and I was cheering for this man to make it.

“Turn me around and give me a gun,” I whispered. “They will come from the back, and you can’t cover both ends.”

“I’m going to regret this,” he mumbled as he turned me around in a fluid movement that was so graceful one might think we were dancing. He pulled out a small Uzi and put it in my hand.

“Go nuts, love.”

I did. We ran, turning positions every so often. Glad that it was only a few men and they weren’t shooting to kill.

When I saw six black cars approaching fast, my heart beat hard. This is what hopeful thinking got me. Yoro was back, and I was still going to be stuck in the same fucking circle.

“Thank fuck,” the guy uttered.

The cars came at full speed, making a circle around us, protecting us from the hail of fire that was raining upon us. He let go of me, pulling open the door to the closest car, and dragged me inside.

“Thank you, mate.” He grinned as the cars started to drive away. They kept crisscrossing each other so the men couldn’t track who was in each vehicle. It was smart; he was cunning, and it intrigued me. I wanted to know who he was and what the hell his problem was with Yoro.

The guy turned to me, his amber eyes glowing. It wasn’t lust but pure adrenaline coursing through his veins, fueling him. People reacted to fear in two different ways. One, it shut them down, crippled them, and made them lose control. Two, it fueled them like lava running through their skin, making them light up. Fear didn’t go away, but people learned to react to it in different ways. Some let it control them, and others controlled it.

He took the Uzi from me and put it on his side. He then yanked his hand that was connected to mine. My body leaned with the force, but I steadied myself before I could hit the seat in front of me. He started to work on removing the cuffs.

The first thing I did was rub my wrist since it throbbed.

“Three minutes,” the man who was driving said.

The man next to me gave him a nod.

“In three minutes, the car will slow down. You are going to open the door and jump to the other one.”

I took a deep breath, calming myself and ignoring the pain at my feet. Since I had nothing on me, I counted my heartbeats. One hundred and ninety-five until the third minute came.

The car sped off, going almost a hundred. Then by the third minute, it started to slow down. When it felt like we were going fifteen miles per hour, the man next to me leaned over and opened the door.

Some moments you don’t see, but you feel them. The rumble of the motor, the glide of wind against your skin, the screaming in your ear. A moment filled with fear that makes you feel free.

That’s how I felt the moment I jumped into the other car. It was like being suspended in time, free of all worries. I had never been as free as I was at this moment. Freedom, a word that many people took for granted, but it carried so much weight. I didn’t know what was going to happen to me, or if I would see another day, but at that moment I didn’t care.

For so long, I had been restrained by invisible shackles holding me back, telling me what I should do or be.

I was a weapon, and it was time I started acting like one.

My body crashed against the metal of the van, cold under my semi-naked body. The loud thud of the man followed right after me.

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