Page 51 of V for Vindictive

Honestly, I loved the ring I’d been given by the sweet Brit who’d picked up the pieces of my broken heart for weeks while Phillip was gone, and it was a weird knot in my throat when I thought about how Sloan left earlier. The fact that Sloan’s ring remained when he hadn’t made my chest pang spitefully. I couldn’t name the feeling, barely understood what about Sloan leaving hit so hard, but I decided maybe it was for the best.

My heart and head were in constant chaos, conflicted by all I’d learned, all I’d become, all that occurred. I craved normalcy, and Phillip was oddly normal for me.

After staring death and betrayal in the face, I was thankful for the familiarity of Phillip’s presence—the person who’d been by my side from the very beginning. Sure, he’d left, but he came back. He was here. And it washell to be this close to the smarmy jerk and not to be able to kiss him for all he was worth.

When I saw Phillip standing there, covered from head to toe in artillery, ready to tear down walls to get to me, it took everything inside of me not to run and throw my arms around the stupidly large Hunter.

Of course he survived. He always did. Nothing could kill Phillip, I was convinced. Still, I’d been so afraid of losing him, worried that I’d be the entire reason the Austrian was wiped from the face of the earth, that tears poured from my eyes the second I saw the asshole was safe and basically the way I’d left him.

Except, Phillip looked at me like his world had come to a shrieking halt when I’d been captured by the enemy. Like he couldn’t believe I was standing right there in front of him.

His complexion was not as glow-tastic as it usually was. Phillip bore all the physical signs that he hadn’t slept, eaten, drank, or really done anything to take care of himself since however long I’d been locked away by Lux. And I wasn’t prepared to see the overflowing emotion in his eyes every time Phil’s gaze connected with mine.

It made me unnaturally fidgety for someone who’d courageously killed not only a group of elite magic-using Hunters without mercy, but two Shifters who I considered close friends. Someone who brazenly flitted to the rescue of a woman who was intimately connected to the reason why my parents were murdered.

“I hadn’t mentioned it before, but I can track Blood Slayer wherever it is. It’s a sword that’s never truly lost to its owner. Pretty cool, huh?” The Austrian explained when no one asked, his blazing light eyes flounderingwith something left unspoken and glinting in nothing but midday sunlight.

That one look made my throat constrict and stomach twist in a way far too wanton to be within eyeshot of the woman who raised me and all but been missing for nearly half a year.

“But I never imagined you’d be able to wield Blood Slayer.”

Curious, my eyebrow rose in question, but Phillip outright ignored it. I stole another look at the grumpy Hunter, determined to lighten the mood by teasing him a little. “Isn’t it just a sword?”

Phil’s eyes sparked hotly, taking the bait, and he let out an exasperated sigh. “Did you not listen to a word I said?! Blood Slayer only permits its master to use it. No one else can use it. Should they try, it would burn their wicked hands. My baby is a smart little thing, aren’t you?”

And now he was talking to it like a person. Great.

Put out, I tossed the sword over to the ridiculous man beside me. It was still covered in Tiff and Topher’s blood, but I tried not to think about it for the moment.

Too much had happened, and it was difficult to make sense of it all. I didn’t really know how best to react. First the issue of my birth and my mother’s betrayal and death, then Tiff and Topher turning out to be the traitors in my midst. Now with Phil, Grams, the lingering thing between Sloan and I, the sword, it was a bit too much for my brain to handle all at once, so I focused on the simplest of the bunch.

“Seems awful sketch, Phil,” I snarked, giggling when Phillip glared at me. “I mean, Lux and Bad Dudes Co. brought it here, didn’t they? No one got burned. Why wouldn’t anyone be able to use it?”

“Blood Slayer doesn’t work like that. It knew it had to go with you, so it let them touch for a little bit. My baby’s smart.”

Apparently, over two hundred years of lone-dogging it meant you literally went cray-cray and started believing your sword could take commands like some sort of pet.

What a pitiful creature this Austrian was.

I rolled my eyes, very close to calling the man seven levels of insane. “Sure, sure. Whatever you say. I mean, I had it all handled with or without the sword. But thanks, I guess, for showing up after I’d done all the work.”

The Austrian’s expression was overtly sour, and it took every bit of control I owned not to outright cackle. “Not my fault I had to wait on Rose before coming for you. If I had it my way, we would’ve been here hours ago. I would’ve killed anything and anyone who got in my way.”

“Oh?” I asked, smirking.

Phillip cleared his throat and ran fingers through his hair. “It’s good to see you’re still the saucy little lass I’ve grown to love.”

“Love…?”

The Austrian’s eyes widened before he turned away, sword on his shoulder, and grunted. “You get them all then?”

I quieted, suddenly remembering who I had to kill to get here, and the lump in my throat returned. “Yeah. I got them all.” I crossed my arms, fighting off the creeping sensation of regret. “We were betrayed by some of our own.”

Phillip’s eyes found mine again. “By whom?”

I swallowed, watching all the scientists get situated in the large, double-blade transportation helicopter.

Kris was accompanied by Sloan and another Hunter I didn’t recognize in the task of getting everyone safely into the cabin. All I could make out about the new Hunter was his luminous dark brown skin and enchanting green eyes. Otherwise, he wore a mask over his nose and hid most of his features. Our gazes connected for a heartbeat before the strange Hunter shut the cabin door and disappeared.

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