Page 146 of Dagger

In a flash, I brought my arm up in a backhanded motion and sliced my blade across his throat. My monster roared with satisfaction as I watched his flesh open from right to left like a zipper. His hands flew to his neck, and he made a gurgling noise.

I brought a leg up and kicked him back into the room, gently closing the door the second he was clear of it. The last thing I needed was for his blood to drip on the floor. I didn’t want to leave any signs. I needed to work through the rooms silently and efficiently and wipe out as many Sinners as I could.

A frightened squeal hit the hallway, followed by soft sobs and the voice of a female begging for somebody to leave her alone. My feet moved toward the room, and I silently cracked the door open and peered inside, my grip tightening around my knife at the sight before me.

A young girl lay on her back, naked on top of a filthy bed with her face turned toward the door. She sobbed as a lanky, long-haired guy rutted against her.

Bile rose through my chest and my blood turned to ice.

Silently, I stepped into the room, holding my finger up to my mouth, indicating for the girl to stay quiet as she noticed my movement from the corner of her eye.

Her shocked stare widened, and I noticed her body shaking with terror.

The monster howled inside my head, and as if on autopilot, I stepped forward and raised my knife before sinking it into his brain stem.

His body convulsed for a few seconds before his deadweight slumped on top of the girl.

I snarled, grabbing his shoulders and tossing him away. “Get some clothes on and get out,” I ordered flatly. “There are men out front who’ll get you to safety.”

Her eyes fixated on me before swerving toward the dead Sinner and back again. “I’m staying with you.”

“No,” I snarled. “Get out.”

“Y—You saved m—me from him,” she stuttered. “I d—don’t wanna leave you.”

I pulled air in through my nose, staring down at her. “Get some fuckin’ clothes on.”

She scrambled from the bed and grabbed a tee from the floor, slipping it over her head.

“More,” I ordered.

Her eyes lifted to mine, and she whispered, “It’s all they gave me.”

My monster roared again, and my chest burned.

“There’s others,” she relayed. “There were three other girls in the van when they kidnapped me.” She looked down at the dead man and spat, “Thatpigforced me up here, but I don’t know what they did with the others.”

“You need to get outta here,” I reiterated urgently. “My brothers will help you. You can’t witness what’s about to go down.”

Her eyes slashed back to the body, which by then was lying in a small pool of blood, and she nodded, tucking a lock of her brown hair behind her ear with tremoring fingers.

I took her elbow and guided her over to the door. “Stay silent. Move quickly, and whatever happens, run for the door and don’t look back.”

“What about you?” she asked.

I cracked the door open an inch and peered outside. “I can look after myself.” My lips almost twitched when I heard her murmur, “You don’t say,” from behind me.

Stepping out into the hallway, I jerked my head toward the stairs. “Go.”

I heard her let out a sharp breath before she slid past me and quickly ran barefoot down the carpeted stairs.

Pulling my firearm from its holster, I stuck my head over the stair railing and covered the girl as she crept toward the exit. With a last glance up the stairs, she opened the door and slipped outside.

I heaved a relieved sigh and slid my gun back into the holster.

The last thing I wanted to do was fire off a round. The instant we alerted the Sinners that something was going down, we’d lose the element of surprise. I wanted to put as many down as I could before we started shooting. Bear may have deserted these motherfuckers to save his own skin, but they were still trafficking rapist pieces of shit who deserved to die.

Turning back toward the corridor, my stare fell on the door situated between the rooms holding the dead men. I snuck over and pushed it open slightly.

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