Page 280 of The Reluctant Hero

Owen’s mouth opens and closes, gasping in air, before he screams, “The mansion!”

“Thank you,” Gabe gives him a polite, businessman nod and jams a dagger through his right eye.

I blink at the sight, my eyes moving from Gabe’s steady hand to his blank face. He moves back, settling into the seat to buckle his seat belt.

Cade does the same, his phone at his ear already.

“Run us off the road, kill the driver, and get us out. They have Amanda, and she’s at the mansion.”

I hear Ace losing his mind as I buckle up. Just in time.

Gravity reasserts its dominance without mercy as metal slams into metal. The limo goes into a spin while we brace as well as we can. The back end hits something solid, jerking us to a sudden stop.

Our seat belts come off as a muffled shout rings from the front of the limo. A gunshot cuts it off beautifully. The back door opens to reveal Jake’s grim face. He glances around at us with a phone to his ear.

“She got free, but the last fucker has her phone. We didn’t see where she went,” Cade tells him in a tight voice, shoving his way out.

Ace is back in the front seat of the SUV, barking for us to move it.

“You’re a go on the first level, Heretic,” Jake says grimly.

“Copy,” I hear a dead voice reply before he hangs up.

Tera

“Take that, pencil dick,” I mutter with relish and strike the enter key with gusto.

The virus-lobbing jerk disappears from my screen, leaving me with a smile of satisfaction.

No time for that!

I hurry to pull up my phone and send Southie a message.

“What are you doing, angel?”

My eyes slowly roll up to see Asher standing in the open doorway with his arms crossed. He has his set-in-stone face on.

“Um,” I mutter as my cheeks go red. I’m in so much trouble.

South

I take in the text, thankful I brought the phone with me. Now, I have a clear target to play with.

No one heard the chime but Shade, which amuses me. His sudden head-turning paranoia will pass soon enough. I let him read it over my shoulder, eager for him to see who our target is.

“What the fuck,” he whispers in disgust. “Textbook.”

I send Tera a one word reply, accepting her ban, and tuck the phone away. My statue is very hesitant as I walk up the front steps of the manor, holding his hand.

“Baby,” he whispers cautiously.

I turn toward him and press a finger to my ferally grinning lips.

He blinks at the expression and draws a gun. Not my preferred method, but whatever makes my monster comfortable.

The door is unlocked. It doesn’t surprise me. Neither do the rich snobs mingling in a dining room off to our left. The room is filled with cigar smoke and the smell of liquor.

Not worthy prey. For that, we’ll have to go deeper.

---