Page 182 of Seeking Shadows

I nod, swallowing hard. “I wouldn’t expect anything else.”

And then we move.

I expected that. It doesn’t offend me. If anything, it reassures me.

"I want you to choose Mia," I say without hesitation. "Don't you dare look back. You're getting her out of here. If I can't follow, you make sure she gets to safety."

Seth pauses. His eyes lock onto mine, as if recalibrating something he thought he knew about me.

Then, after a beat, he nods. A decision made. A reassessment. He slides a gun into my palm, the cold weight of it grounding me, a reminder that I’m still in this fight—even if my body is betraying me.

We move. Every step is agony. The cast on my leg turns each motion into a fresh reminder of how weak I am right now. But pain is irrelevant. I just have to keep going.

The smell of blood hits first.

Then the bodies.

Guard after guard sprawled on the ground. Some with neat, surgical holes in their skulls, others with jagged, brutal slashes—flesh torn apart like paper. The concrete is slick with dark pools, the air thick with copper and death.

No wonder they’re twins. Both lethal. The way they kill is grotesque. Efficient. Fascinating.

No sign of Nico.

"Nico's not here," Seth murmurs, reading my thoughts. "But he'll be here soon, so we move. Now."

He picks up the pace. I try to match him, but my body resists. My leg burns, every nerve screaming.

Then—

Footsteps.

Too close.

Before I can react, one of the guards—one I assumed was dead—lurches upright. Blood-soaked, staggering, but his eyes burn with fury. He sees me. Sees my weakness.

And he’s right.

He lunges.

I try to lift the gun, but I’m too slow. He crashes into me, and the impact sends me sprawling. My head slams against concrete, the world shattering into white noise. My lungs seize. The gun slips from my grasp.

The glint of his blade is the last thing I see before it comes down—

Bang.

His skull bursts open. A splatter of red. Warm blood sprays across my face, thick and metallic.

Seth lowers his gun, his gaze razor-sharp.

"You shouldn’t have come back," I say, my voice raw, breathless. "You should’ve focused on Mia."

My pulse is still erratic, my body still trembling.

Seth extends a hand. I don’t hesitate. I take it.

I hate this. Hate the weakness. The vulnerability. The fact that I let myself slip.

But then Seth says something that stops me cold.

---