Page 156 of Coerced

When I was done, I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and turned around, but the world spun and I had to hang on the brick wall to keep myself from pitching backward into the mess I’d made.

“Are you okay?” Mira’s eyes swiveled to the doorway. “What’s in there?”

“Don’t go in,” I rasped. “It’s Maddy. What’s left of her, anyway.”

“Maddy?” Uh-oh. Travis had heard me. “What do you mean, what’s left of her?”

“Travis, I am so sorry. Maddy’s—” I had to swallow hard. “Maddy’s dead.”

“No.” He shook his head. “No. She can’t be. She can’t be!”

He strode toward the building, Gigi following in his wake, and I hustled over to stop him.

“Move!” he growled. “I want to see her!”

“You don’t want to go in there.” I blocked the doorway. “Trust me.”

Kid, I wish I could pour bleach in my ear and wipe that room out of my memory. I wouldn’t even care if it took a few brain cells along with it. Anything to forgetthat. No way I’m lettingyouin there.

“I want to see her!”

“No, you don’t. Not like this.”

“Get out of my way!”

“I can’t do that.”

“Move!”

He slammed the heels of his hands into my chest, but I didn’t go on the defensive because I knew grief and rage drove him. In other circumstances, I’d say he had the right, but I couldn’t let him in that room. I wouldn’t. No one should see his girl like that.

Kerry came up behind me and saw what was going on. I moved aside a little to let him by, but he shook his head sharply and angled his eyes downward. With a single glance, I understood. His hands and shirt were stained with Maddy’s blood. Travis didn’t need to see that, either.

“She’s gone, Dragon.” Kerry let out a deep breath. “We’re too late. I’m sorry.”

“NO!” Travis fisted his hands in his hair. “No! She can’t be. Shecan’tbe dead!”

“Take him away from here, Gigi.” Mira, at least, was thinking. “This is not where he needs to be right now. Take him to John.”

Gigi grabbed Travis’ shoulder and they disappeared in a wink.

I let out a long exhale.

Kerry and I left the doorway, and he went to find an outside faucet to clean up. At the same time, Mira slung off her backpack and took out a bottle of water.

“Here.” She held it out to me.

Grateful, I took it, swished out my mouth, and spat. My throat was raw from the bile. I took a long drink, which helped me settle down.

“What do you need done?” She touched my elbow with the tips of her fingers.

“Can you seal up the room?” I straightened my spine. “I want to keep predators away and preserve the scene until we can get some wardens out here.”

“Lots of metal around, so that’s easy. Anything else I can do?”

“Just seal it up.”

With a curt nod, she walked away, but I couldn’t move. My brain kept going back into that gore-crusted room. It was too much to take in, the carnage overwhelming, but one detail stood out with crystal clarity. Kerry had spotted something under a bench, and I’d moved closer to see what it was. He hadn’t even flinched as he held up a mask of skin with a hank of blood-soaked hair hanging from it.

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