Page 67 of Where Demons Hide

Thirty more seconds and he’d have raped her.

Fury explodes in my chest. Fuck everything Vince taught me. Revenge rushes through my bloodstream at full force. Hatred and anger cloud my vision. The visceral need to rip him apart, limb-by-limb, roars through me until my entire body trembles.

I want to burn the whole goddamn world down.

His lips quirk into a half-smile as he lifts a brow. “You’re just in time for the show. I was just getting started.” He grabs her hip and my mind roars. “Just so you know, she put up a good fight.” His eyes fall to her limp body. “Even when I came on her face.”

He’s mocking the words I said to him about his sister. Twisting them. Turning them.

I see it now, the evidence of what he said on her skin.

I will make him bleed.

I charge across the room, grab him by the shirt, and shove him against the wall. He tries to push me away, but I grip his throat and squeeze until he drops his hands. Every ounce of humanity leaves me, replaced with the fury of every single demon from the fiery pits of Hell.

I don’tfeeltheir wrath.

Iamfucking their wrath.

Franco walks in as my hand tightens around Sylvester’s throat. “Not yet, Cal. You have other things to worry about right now.”

I glance over my shoulder at him as his eyes dart to Makenna.

My chest splits wide open.

Fuck.

He’s right. I have to get her to a hospital. She comes first. She always comes first.

I slam Sylvester’s head against the wall, straight through the sheetrock. “You ever heard the saying,nightmares come pouring out of hell when the devil gets desperate?” I let him go, and Franco’s hand replaces mine around his throat. “I’ll be back for you.” I spit on his feet. “This isn’t even close to being over.” I look at Franco. “You know where to take him. I’ll be there soon.”

Then I lift Makenna into my arms. Her body is frail, her lips turning blue. There’s a pulse, a tiny, muted beat thrumming against my fingertip when I touch her neck. Her beautiful face has lost all its color. I take my shirt sleeve and wipe and clean and fucking rub her skin until I’m worried I might hurt her. My heart thrashes in my chest. Goddammit, I can’t get him off of her fast enough. Fury burns my blood. I. Am. Feral.

I take one more look at Sylvester. “I promise I’ll kill you slowly.”

* * *

The waiting room at the hospital is empty. I kicked everyone else out two minutes after I got here. There’s just me, two sofas, and a table full of useless magazines. That’s supposed to be comforting? Who gives a shit about decorating when their loved one might not make it out of here alive? They need liquor cabinets and punching bags in hospital waiting rooms. That’s what they fucking need.

I’ve been to the nurse’s station at least a dozen times. I followed a guy in blue scrubs through the same set of double doors where they rolled Makenna to the back. It took four security guards to get me back out here, back to this 10x10 fucking holding cell they callcomfort.

What a fucking joke.

There is no comfort when your entire world is fighting for her life and you can’t do shit to save her. I try not to think about the baby, about the way Makenna’s hand was splayed over her stomach when I found her. It was like even in that moment, she was still trying to protect our unborn child. The pain of losing them is more than I can handle, but the rage boiling within me and my thirst for revenge keeps me from falling completely apart.

I should have been there.

Four years of watching. Waiting. Protecting. All the caution. The distance. This—thisis what I’d been afraid of. This is what kept me away.

I stare at the bland, beige walls surrounding me until it feels as though I’m losing my mind. I lock my fingers into my hair, tugging it as I throw my head back.

“You want to take them from me?” I roar up at the ceiling as if challenging God Himself. “Youdareto take them from me?!”

Hell on earth doesn’t even begin to describe what will happen if I lose them.

I’m thirty seconds from making one call and having this entire hospital staff fired when Becca, the nurse Makenna once tried setting me up with, walks in.

“Maybe you should go down to the cafeteria and grab some coffee. You’re making everyone here nervous,” she says.

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