Page 98 of Banshee
“How?”
“What?”
“How did you find the crack?”
I followed my mother’s gaze to Erebus. He stood against the wall, his face a mask. But his eyes burned with rage as he glared at my father.
“Erebus was the one who found the information we needed,” Zeus said.
“How?” I asked again.
“The how doesn’t matter, Shug.”
“It matters to me, Zeus.” I walked over and stood in front of Erebus. “How did you find the information?”
“Irene—”
“It’s Aspen now,” I reiterated. I tried not to get angry. I knew it would take time for them all to adjust to calling me something else.
“You’ll always be Irene to me,” he said.
“I’m not her anymore. I’ll never be her again. How did you find out, Erebus? Tell me.”
“One of their club whores.”
I nodded with a smile. That was what I figured. I looked up at him. He was handsome; they all were. I could even admit that my brother was good-looking. The Gods of Mayhem could have any woman they wanted.
Except me.
“Did you tell him?” I whispered.
“I told Zeus,” he whispered back.
I heard the roar of the motorcycles and smiled. He was home. Erebus and our past forgotten, I rushed to the front door, swung it open, and stepped onto the porch.
I stood on the porch and watched them all ride through the gate. My mother and sister stood beside me as my eyes locked onto his bike, ridden by Gunner.
“He’s not here,” I whispered.
I spun my eyes to King and rushed toward him. “Where is he?”
“Aspen, I need you to take a breath.”
“I don’t want to take a breath, King. Where is he?”
“Let’s go inside, and I will tell you what I know.”
He put an arm around my shoulder, and I immediately wanted to shrug it off. I wanted to scream and demand he tell me where Banshee was. But something inside told me I knew exactly where he was.
My family followed us into church. Haizley sat by my side and reached over to hold my hand. I knew without asking, without hearing him say the words, that he’d asked Haizley to be here knowing he would tear my world apart.
“The Death Dogs attacked the bar in town,” King began. “When we rode out there, Banshee didn’t come inside with the rest of us. No one realized it until Mimic received a 9-1-1 text from him. We followed the location on his phone, and it led us to the highway just out of town, where we found his bike.”
“But not him?” Zeus asked.
“No, what we did find was Pepper. Dead.”
I gasped, and King stared into my eyes. “Banshee did that for you. Whatever happens to him, he wanted you to be free. Pepper is dead.”
