Page 91 of Heart of a Rebel

“Find her?” Cassie steps back when she puts together what’s happening. “No.”

“Babe, stay here and lock the door.” Sebastian grips the base of her skull as he bores his stare into her. “If that fucker’s out there, I’m not risking shit happening to you. Do not open the door for anyone. Understand me?”

She nods and he plants a possessive kiss on her before grabbing a T-shirt and slipping it on.

Sebastian waits to hear the click of the lock before walking away. We might both know this stalker has honed in on Eloise, so there’s likely no threat to anyone else at the moment, but I don’t blame him for worrying. If this guy was willing to grab Eloise in plain sight, I have no doubt how far he’s willing to go.

Pacing the line of buses, my mind trails to the warzone. Sick minds calling the shots on people’s lives. Towns wiped out in the blink of an eye. I might not know who this man is, but I know his kind. He’s a warlord. A predator. He has no intent on stopping until he gets what he wants. And now that the object of his obsession is likely in his possession, I can’t help the sick feeling that boils up thinking about what he could do to her.

If he so much as thinks about touching her, I’m going to skin him alive.

Turning, I punch the side of a bus. And now my fist is really stinging.

“Adrian?” Sebastian looks eerily calm. No, not calm. Worried.

It should concern me. He’s the hothead. I’m the thinker. He’s chaos. I’m order.

Except right now, where my hands are itching to tear the fucking world apart before I lose someone else I care about.

“Keep walking.” I start moving again, not waiting to see if he’s followed.

My phone pings, but it’s the same bullshit as before.No update. No sight of her. No answers. I type back for them not to bother me with bullshit.

Sebastian gets on his own phone and is on the line with venue management, sending our guys to review camera footage. At least one of us is thinking with a clear head. Mine is clouded by the scent of blood.

Blood I’m going to spill if that monster gets near her.

It’s a dangerous fucking thought. My protective side coming out in full force. The beast inside me I’ve only unleashed once, and that was in an actual battle. But I can’t help what the thought of losing Eloise does to my insides.

Turning the corner, I’m blindsided by a body nearly running into me.

“Watch it.” The words are out of my mouth before I put a face to a body.

Mark glares his cold green eyes at me. Then, they move to Sebastian, who looks five seconds away from losing his cool after hanging up the phone.

“What’s wrong?” Mark asks, evenly. Like he doesn’t actually care but thinks his cash cow is about to burst into flames.

“Can’t talk right now.” I push past him and he just chuckles.

But then something freezes me in place. No, not something. But the lack of something—or someone.

“Wait.” I spin around and advance on him. “Where’s Cyrus.”

“Cyrus?” Mark scrunches his eyebrows like he can’t fathom why I’d be asking that question.

It wasn’t a secret that I wanted him to fuck off earlier, but now, the picture’s forming in my head. The unnerving way Cyrus watched Eloise from the side of the stage. The fact that he’s the only one still at the label who was there the night the band signed their record deal. The fact that Eloise’s stalker had access to her schedule, the venues, her life.

A snake hiding in the grass.

“Adrian, what’s going on?” Sebastian comes up beside me.

But I don’t answer his question or break my stare with Mark, which I’m sure has turned deadly from the worried expression on Mark’s face.

“Cyrus, now,” I push.

“On his bus or gone.” Mark shrugs, and I hate how nonchalant he is, even if he has no clue what’s going on. “He’s headed to check on Four Clovers and deliver a bus since one of theirs took a shit. Why?”

“Where’s the bus?”

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