Page 80 of Deranged (American Street Kings 3)

We got up and rushed up the stairs, war still raging behind us. But Ink was like a fucking bloodhound with only one target in mind.

I was still figuring out why I was running behind him, searching. Was I looking for Slither, wanting to end his life? Or did I want to find her? Was I searching for Wraith to make sure she was okay, even if I wasn’t sure about the depth of her deception? Judging by the way my heart raced, my head filled with images of her, I knew it was the latter.

“Typical. Fucking coward. Hides whenever shit goes down.” Ink searched across the top floor. I was no fucking empath, but I could feel the rage ooze out of his pores. Part of me was unsure what to expect once we did find Slither. Ink’s anger ran too deep, and once he got his hands on this fucktard, there would be no stopping him. But the problem was, I wanted my own pound of flesh. Truth be told, I thought every King, and now Crow as well, wanted a piece of Slither.

We ran down the hall, the noise and chaos of the war downstairs slowly disappearing into the background.

Ink stilled as he stared at all the doors. “Fucker has to be here somewhere.”

I rushed up to the first door on the left. “We’ll break down every fucking door if we have to.” I reared back and kicked the door. Ink joined, and we had it in splinters within seconds. We broke door after door, but Slither wasn’t in any of the rooms.

Sweat dripped down the side of my face, and I wiped it away with my arm. That was when my eye caught the door right at the end. “Let’s try that one.”

Ink and I both hurried down the corridor, adrenaline burning through my blood.

We started kicking at the door the second we reached it, desperate to get to whoever was on the other side.

The wood cracked beneath our assault, the lock breaking from the frame. The first thing I saw was her face. Cold, lifeless, completely void. And then I saw him, the monster with his inked scales, on top of her, pinning her to the bed. That was the moment everything disappeared, when I lost myself to blinding rage. There were no thoughts running through my head, no noise, no life. Just a frenzy of fury that blazed from the pit of my stomach, all the way up my chest and out my mouth, the devil’s roar ripping from my throat.

Tunnel vision of crimson had me seeing nothing but blood. I didn’t even fucking blink, my feet rushing forward while I only had one goal. To slaughter.

I cursed as I grabbed him, tearing him off her, clawing my fingers into his motherfucking filthy flesh.

“Get the fuck off her!” Pulling him away and slamming my fist in his face happened at the same time, without even taking a breath.

He stumbled back, and that was when I saw it—his dick hanging out of his pants. My mind split into pieces, my heart no longer beating. I glanced from him to Wraith, lying lifeless on the bed, dress torn, arms bound…legs spread open.

Jesus fucking Christ. This wasn’t happening.

This wasn’t fucking happening.

Everything froze. Him. Her. Ink. Me. That exact moment came to a crashing halt, everything except my thoughts.

The horror, it was too much—and I couldn’t think straight, not while I was struggling to breathe.

Torn within the moment, not knowing what to do next, I stood there unable to move.

Was she alive? Was she breathing?

Did I give in to the rage and kill this motherfucker first, or did I listen to the voice echoing from deep in my soul screaming at me to go to her. To make sure she was okay.

God, she needed me. Wraith needed me.

Right then, nothing else mattered. The lies, the bloodlust, the war, the past—nothing fucking mattered. Nothing but her.

I rushed to her side. “Wraith?” With panicked breaths, I hovered over her, brushing her tangled hair from her face, revealing a busted lip and blood smears on her cheeks, a cut just above her eye. “Jesus, what did he do to you?” I untied her hands, her skin torn and raw from the bindings. “Jesus. Wraith.”

I crouched, palming her cheek, willing her to wake up, desperate for her to open her eyes and let me see the color in her irises again.

“Wraith?” She didn’t respond, and fear slammed against my chest, threatening to take me to the ground. “Wraith, please talk to me.” Her body was cold, her face pale. I just…I couldn’t think…I didn’t know what the fuck to do.

“You sick motherfucker! What did you do to her?” I screamed at the top of my voice, panic and rage resonating in every word, dripping like toxins from my body. When I glanced over my shoulder, he was gone. There was no trace of him or Ink. It was like they both simply vanished, but I couldn’t give a shit. I didn’t care that he was gone. All I cared about was her.

Sweeping her up in my arms, I rushed out of the room and down the hall. “Stay with me, beautiful. Stay with me.” My feet couldn’t carry me fast enough. It felt like I wasn’t moving at all, the race against time keeping me frozen in that one moment. Faster, I needed to go faster. I needed to make sure she was okay.

The second I reached the top of the stairs, I met Granite’s eyes, and he immediately knew something was wrong, wasting no time to meet me halfway.

“What happened?”

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