Page 112 of Mason

The way his knuckles go white when he’s tense.

The way his voice drops into something lethal when he makes a promise.

And I know?—

If I survive this, if I make it through this night?—

I’ll have Mason Ironside to thank for that.

I cling to that thought, hold it close like a lifeline, because it’s the only thing keeping me from shattering completely.

When he’s done, when he’s finished taking what he came here to take, he spits on the ground beside me, adjusts his belt, and kicks me onto my side like I’m nothing.

Nothing.

Something wet trickles down my thigh, mixing with the dirt already drying against my skin.

Breathe, Shelby.

Just breathe.

The last thing I hear before everything fades is his boots crunching against the dirt as he walks away, leaving me broken beneath the bridge.

Leaving me for dead.

But I am not dead.

Not yet.

I let my fingers twitch, force myself to move even though my body protests.

The bracelet.

The tracker.

I press it.

A small, blinking light.

A silent scream.

Mason will come.

Mason will kill for this.

And I will never be more grateful for the monster he is than as I watch him annihilating the vermin that did this to me.

32

MASON

Iget one sharp beep from my phone. One signal.

Shelby.

My blood turns to ice, then lava, burning hot and vicious as I stare at the blinking dot on my screen.

She activated the tracker.

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