Page 173 of Blood of the Saints

“How many… how many have you killed?”

“I lost count after sixteen.”

Fuck. Sixteen? Sixteen innocent women’s lives taken by the hands of someone who’s supposed to protect them.

He’s fucking smart. Use the resources you have with the FBI and no one will suspect the man that puts his life on the line to save others. The man who comes off as the charming boy next door who could never do anything bad. He has the perfect cover, one that even I didn’t see through.

He’d probably never be suspected in the first place, but he’s in the perfect position to cover his tracks if he was.

Reaching behind my back, Blais reads my mind, placing his knife in the palm of my hand.

Moving my arm around quickly, I press the blade to Matt’s throat. Tears stream down my face as I look into the eyes of a man I thought I knew.

“You hurt and killed innocent women. You’re a sick, evil bastard.” My hand shakes, but I know what I have to do.

This is my test.

The guys knew what they were doing when they brought me down here. I’m still fucking pissed at them, but I now realize why they did this. They weren’t testing to see if they could trust me. They wanted to see if I trusted them.

Digging the blade into the bloody skin of Matt’s neck, I try to force myself to just do it, to rip off the band-aid and see the life fade from his eyes for good.

Fuck, can I do this?

“You always were weak,” Matt taunts me as my hand falls from his neck.

The darkness in me buzzes the same way it did right before I killed Tommy. The urge to kill him grows stronger the longer I look at him.

My fist clenches around the handle, my knuckles turning white. “You fucking deserve this, asshole.” Pulling the knife back, I prepare to stab the smug bastard in front of me. The last thread of light in me snaps. My darkness is itching for this kill.

A hand wraps around my wrist, keeping me from sinking it into Matt’s neck. A large body huddles up to my back. “So fucking proud of you, temptress. You made your point, but I still have some questions for ourfriendhere. His death will be mine.” Ace lowers my arm, relaxing my hand enough to take the knife from me. The pride shining in his voice from knowing I took their side makes my heart flutter. Even in this fucked up situation, these guys manage to make me feel oddly special.

I’m silently aching at the loss of the kill, but I understand why Ace needs this. Matt is sick, and if he really killed Allie, Ace deserves to be the one to take his life.

Pulling my body back into his, Ace gives me a soft kiss on the top of my head before pushing me into Theon’s arms. The gentleness of Ace’s touch on me doesn’t match the fire in his eyes and the anger in his demeanor as he approaches Matt.

This is about to get good.

Ican see it in her eyes, the hesitation is long gone, replaced by the flaming need to kill. It’s shining so bright, I almost let her do it, just to see this gorgeous woman take out the scumbag in front of me. She made her choice. She was going to sink the knife right into her best friend. She chose to trust us, chose to be loyal to us.

She was two seconds away from ending Matt’s life. That’s why I had to stop her. The bastard's life is mine. He hasn’t admitted to killing Allie yet, but the proof was all there. I want the sick piece of shit to look me in the eye and tell me why he took her life.

Why he took my baby sister from me. Why he’d gone after her, an innocent, beautiful human being who would never hurt a soul.

Allie’s sweet face and addictive laugh flood through my brain. A sound I’ll never have the chance to hear again. Rage floods every part of my body as I think about losing the only good thing I’ve had in my life, until the strong, stubborn Zamira weaseled her way in.

Glancing back, I take in Zamira’s expression. She’s hurt about what she found out today, abouthowshe found out. Overpowering the hurt though, is anger that she isn’t going to take his life. Anger for all of us too. Anger that Matt is not only a fucking deceiving liar, but one who hurt us too.

My eyes shift to Theon, his hands gripping her biceps, holding her in place. I don’t know how I’m going to react when I hear the truth about Allie, so I want to know she’s going to be safe. Theon nods, promising to protect her, even if it’s from me. The last time I completely lost myself, I blacked out wreaking havoc on everything around me without an ounce of control to stop me. I don’t want Zamira to see that, but if she does, at least I know she won’t be a casualty under my hand.

Without hesitation, I spin around, slamming the knife I took from Zamira into Matt’s shoulder. “You fucking killed my sister!” I growl. Matt’s jaw clenches, seething, showing his teeth, well, the ones that are still there. Zamira is a savage, whether she knows it or not.

“Your sister?”

Maybe a picture will refresh his memory. This sick asshole probably doesn’t remember the people he’s killed because he’s a thoughtless jackass with no sense of morality.

Leaving the knife sticking out of Matt’s shoulder, I grab my phone from my pocket and pull up a picture of my beautiful smiling sister, showing it to him.

“Allie. You raped and murdered her, you sick bastard!”

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