Page 32 of Huntress and the Splintered Court
“And the hunters are here so why the surprise.” He blinked hesitantly. “Unless you knew I wouldn’t be here. Could a certain hunter have told you that?”
I stared down at his partial shifted hands that were painted crimson. Whose blood was it? My people? His? A mixture of both?
“I don’t know what you’re saying.” But judging by the way he tensed and peered around me, he knew exactly what I meant.
“Cut the shit, Adam. Your little hunter friend sold you out. Kidnapping yourself to get rid of me was absurd even for a backstabbing double-crosser. You’d go against Gideon. He trusted you.”
“Well maybe he shouldn’t have.”
I gawked at him, my face showing an array of emotions from surprise to disbelief all the way to fury. Even as I spouted my accusations, I still hoped they weren’t right.
“Why?” I asked my heart breaking for not only Gideon, but also myself. I thought Adam was my friend in a house of adversaries. I thought Trey was the enemy. His animosity made him the perfect choice. I’d been so sure never once considering Adam.
“Because he’s been leading my sister on for years.”Sister?I wondered and then I looked at him. Really looked. The shape of his face, color of his eyes.
“Carla.”
Adam pressed his lips smugly. “I’m the one that had to listen to her pine over him, cry when he was hurtful. The coming out into the open was just the ammunition I needed to bring others over to my side.”
“And Carla?”
He snorted. “She’s so hung up on Gideon that I think she’d turn against her own blood in hopes to win his favor. Even now, knowing he’s betrayed her in the ultimate way by mating with a huntress, someone we were raised to loathe, she still believes he’ll come around. Delusional. I couldn’t trust her. But with him gone and me leading the pack, I can finally give her the freedom to move on.”
I withdrew the pair of silver plated sai spinning them in my hands.
“What?” Adam mocked staring at the weapons. “You gonna kill me, Isabel? You’ve got no proof. He’ll never believe you.”
“I’ll take the risk.”
“I’ve been your friend.”
“No. You’ve been a liar and have made multiple attempts on my life.”
“That wasn’t me, but others in the rebellion. Kill me and you’ll never know who they are.”
“Can’t risk it. I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re not,” he narrowed his eyes flashing amber at me. “But you will be.”
He charged but didn’t even get more than a few paces before a gunshot rang out. Adam staggered, but I wasted no time. Rushing forward, I sunk the sai into his abdomen angling it upward. I held him as he gasped for air, but I wasn’t prepared for the jolt we received tumbling us back. I landed with an humph with Adam’s dead weight on top of me.
“Well isn’t it my lucky day,” Chad muttered stepping into my line of sight. With a grin he raised the gun in his hand. At this distance there was no way he’d miss his intended target, my head. I thrashed trying to shove Adam off of me, but he didn’t budge. I began to panic as I tried harder to get free. This was it. This was how I died, by this smug bastard’s hand. He pulled the trigger just as someone tackled him to the ground.
I let out an ear-piercing scream. I don’t care who you are, getting shot hurts. Luckily Chad’s aimed changed at the last second, so the bullet embedded into my shoulder instead of my head. I’d take the pain over loss of life any day.
My cry was followed by a roar I recognized. Tilting my head, Gideon’s amber eyes locked on me. He shoved people aside. His sole purpose was to get to me, that didn’t mean he didn’t stop to end people along the way, but he made quick work and soon he hovered above my head.
“Isabel? What are you doing here?” He didn’t wait for an answer because his eyes zeroed in on my gunshot wound. “You’re hurt.”
“Just a scratch.”
If he was curious as to why his second in command was dead on top of me, he didn’t ask, he simply rolled the body off and I took my first real breath since I’d landed on the ground. “Why do you insist on lying?” He pressed his palm on the wound as I sat up with his help unable to use my arm. “Can you stand?”
I nodded and was helped to my feet. I stared up into the eyes of the man I loved. I didn’t know when, but they had melded back to green. “I’m sorry,” I pleaded but he was already shaking his head understandably. “I tried to get here as fast as I could to warn…” Gideon’s eyes went wide, filling with fear, at something over my shoulder. For the second time in five minutes I was shoved to the ground, only difference this time was the gunshot rang out after I hit the dirt. I screamed landing on my shoulder then again as my stomach lit up in agony. I patted myself down but found no new bullet wound. The pain faded and I realized it wasn’t mine. Turning as quickly as I was able, I took in Gideon. All I could see was his backside. His arms were outstretched shielding me. He gasped once then fell to his knees.
“No!” I screamed scrambling forward. I searched for where the shot had come from and saw Reed preparing to take aim again. He was basking in his smugness, thinking he’d won, that he never saw past Gideon to me, as I un-holstered my gun, took aim, and fired. His eyes went wide as I intentionally dealt a nonlethal blow. It was cruel but I wanted him to know he was about to die, to know it was me that ended him and for some reason I took great pleasure in the fear that blanketed his face just before I fired again. He fell to the ground with a hard thud.
Dropping my gun, I scrambled toward Gideon. Cradling him in my arms, I eased him back onto the damp grass. Whether it was dew or blood, I didn’t care. My only concern was for the blossoming crimson that was coloring his once white shirt.
