Page 61 of Whips and Chains
Violet’s screams filled the night air.
17
LEVI
I’d twisted something in my ankle when I’d jumped out of the way, but the sharp pain disappeared the instant Violet’s panicked screams ripped through the night.
All I could see in the back of my mind was her covered in blood. It had been Toby’s blood last time, but I was terrified when I opened my eyes, it would be hers.
“Violet!”
That was Whip’s shout, but it echoed the one in my head. Both of us staggered to our feet, the van disappearing around a corner, already forgotten because getting to Violet was all that mattered.
Glass covered the road, sparkling in the moonlight like jagged diamonds. It would have been pretty if it hadn’t been accompanied by shouts of terror.
Whip and I both reached her at the same time. My gaze raked over her in a panic through the broken windshield. There was blood in her hair and trickling down the side of her face, but it didn’t seem too bad. The woman I’d seen with her at work earlier that day was in the passenger seat, her eyes wide, and she hadherself braced up against her door, as far away from the broken glass as she could get.
A brick sat on the center console between them, a white note wrapped around it, held in place by thick elastic bands.
Dread pooled in my stomach at the sight of it.
I already knew what it was.
But Violet had to be my first priority.
Whip beat me to it. He grabbed her chin between his fingers, twisting her face so she was looking at him. “Hey, sweetheart. You’re okay. Breathe.”
She instantly calmed down at the sound of his voice. He held her frightened gaze, and he breathed deeply and evenly, until her breaths matched his.
Something passed in the air between them. An understanding. A comfort. One he seemed so good at giving her.
Jealousy curdled inside me, and I shoved it away, knowing I had no right to it.
But then it was replaced with anger. And I couldn’t stop the words spewing out of my mouth. “What the hell are you doing here? We told you to stay at the club!”
It wasn’t the first thing I wanted to say to her. It wasn’t even the last thing I should have said, but my heart pounded at the sight of her blood and the realization of how lucky she was the brick had landed between the two women and not right in one of their faces.
She dragged her gaze away from Whip and narrowed her eyes at me. “Last I checked, I wasn’t a dog you could tell to sit and stay. And you weren’t my registered owner.”
I ground my teeth at how reckless she’d been. I fully understood she’d gone through something traumatic, and she’d been acting out of character, but following us, when she knew we were going hunting, was straight-up dangerous.
“You could have been killed,” I grit out.
Her eyes blazed. “Seems like I could be killed at any moment, anywhere, so what difference does it make if it’s at Psychos or here?” Her eyes filled with unshed tears. “There’s someone trying to kill me, Levi. What part of that don’t you understand?”
The problem was I understood every part of it.
And that’s what terrified me.
I was so stupidly in love with her, all I could think about was losing her.
Not that I’d ever really had her. But at least she was alive. The thought of her hurt, or worse, left me feeling so sick I could barely breathe.
X’s footsteps thumped down the alley behind us, and we all swiveled in his direction. He pulled up short a foot or two in front of me, then leaned over, resting his hands on his knees, breathing hard, like the short sprint he’d just done from the car hidden in the alley to where we stood now on the street had been a marathon.
He even squeezed out a wheeze. “Sorry. Would have been here earlier, but that rat had me holed up in the car and was eyeing me like I was a snack.” His gaze shifted to Violet. “Omelet? What are you doing here?” His eyes darkened when he noticed the blood and all the glass.
“They followed us,” I said dryly.
