Page 238 of Entangled

I can’t make my fingers grip the blanket; visions of this very day five years ago are locking down my muscles. Of walking into Darkside, our kink club, to everyone watching the emergency broadcast. Of realizing that my mama and dad and Beth, Brooke, and Bailey couldn’t have made it out. They’d been heading home for Sunday dinner, smack square in the middle of the blast radius.

You don’t recover from a loss like that.

I can’t lose my family again.

Gritting my teeth, I rip back the drenched blankets... only to find a heap of red-stained pillows.

My breath swings out of me. I lower my head, shaking harder as I try to catch my breath. I’m perilously close to tears.

It’s not her. It’s not her blood.

Relief is more than a feeling. It’s a prayer, and it takes me a full minute before I can breathe well enough to look around again. So much blood. It might not be Eden’s, but it’s someone’s.

My eyes track back over the violent splatters. The malicious destruction. Whoever did this meant harm—and they’re inside Bristlebrook.

I need to find Eden. Now.

Nothing is touching her ever again.

I don’t trust my legs beneath me as I leave the room. My knees feel like loose hay, and my bloody hands slip over the door handle as I leave.

Somehow, Eden’s right there, and so is Dom.

She’s leaning against the wall, pretty and mussed and tangled. But whole. Uninjured.

I can’t stop myself. I grab her to me and squeeze her against my chest. She makes a small sound of surprise, but then she wraps her arms around me and squeezes me back. Her hair smells faintly of smoke, but her heart is beating a reassuring rhythm against my chest.

“What happened?” Dom demands beside us. “Beau, talk to me.”

I suddenly catch sight of the red on my hands and release her, realizing I’ve left a bloody smear on her arm that she doesn’t even glance at.

Dom catches my shoulder in a firm grip, turning me to face him.

“It’s not yours?” He looks me over with hard eyes. When I don’t answer him immediately, he shakes me. “Beau, tell me you’re not hurt?”

I tear my eyes from Eden as her hands bunch nervously in her dress. “It’s not mine. The room is a bloodbath, though.”

Seeing Eden lets me breathe—and having Dom here settles the rest of the anxiety wracking my gut. However broken things are between us, he’s still my family too.

It steadies me enough for my brain to kick back in.

I meet his eyes. “It’s a lot of blood, Dom. This was a statement. There’s someone here.”

Dom’s brows lower, and I know the look. He’s running through the possibilities.

Then he makes an abrupt, dissatisfied sound and presses his hand against the door so it swings open. He moves into the room, and Eden shuffles closer to me.

She’s blinking fast, but her eyes are foggy, and from the alcohol on her breath, I’d say she’s more than tipsy right now.

Hell of a way to try and sober up.

“Fuck,” Dom swears. “Beau, did you see this?”

I follow him inside, with Eden right on my heels. He’s in the bathroom, staring at the mirror. Written in large, bloody letters is the word, “KILLER.”

I turn to see Eden’s cheeks whiten... right as Dom’s turn dark.

His eyes are molten, savage rage. “The civilians have pushed this jealousy shit too far. Put the bond-fire out. I’m investigating thisnow.”

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