Page 8 of Entangled

“God damn it, Owen,” Sam swears from somewhere close, his voice lowered. “Those assholes were meant to be overstretched. Where was everyone? I promised the men.”

The man stops kicking me, then mutters something back to Sam.

“Fuck!” Sam swears.

I hear a muffled grunt and dully open my eyes to see him flipping the other woman onto her back. He kicks her in the side of the head, and it whips her chin around so she’s staring back at me again. Blood bursts from her nose, and tears stream out the corners of her eyes, but she doesn’t scream, not like me. Her head is whipped to the side until she’s glaring into my eyes as Sam kicks her.

Her rage is glorious. As pretty as the pain that’s shredding me.

“Fuckingbitch,” Sam shouts as he unleashes his wrath.

“Goddamnit,” Owen mutters, and I feel another boot in my ribs. Then another and another. “Shut up. Shutup!”

But I can’t. Won’t. My body isn’t mine right now, and I don’t care what happens to it.

Let it hurt.

The woman is still staring at me, our fingers clinging together while our bodies are torn apart. She’s telling me things with her eyes again, trying to keep me here.

I close my eyes, needing to shut her out, and her grip tightens painfully.

There’s nothing I can do for her. Or for myself, for that matter.

My brutes are dead.

The rest of the world can burn.

Chapter3

Jasper

Survival tip #270

If you’re not the man you should be,

they’ll leave you behind.

Step up.

How in the fuck did you lose the trail?”

My eyes sink shut, even as fear claws at my throat. Fear and fury.

But I have to work to contain my ire—if Jaykob catches sight of it, he’ll undoubtedly assume it’s directed at him. This time, as it happens, I’m in agreement with him. Eden has been missing for five days, but it took us two days to find her trail and leave Bristlebrook. We’re behind, and we can’t afford any more delays.

Too much can happen in five days.

Panic trembles through me at the thought. She’s a brave, determined thing, but she’s only one person. Untrained. Alone.

We’ve taken too long.

“Not helping, Jayk.” Dominic stands from where he was examining the ground and pulls out his compass... but lines of tension bracket his mouth as he adjusts our direction, and I see the mountainous guilt on his shoulders. “We continue south. They’ve been heading directly toward Cyanide City—we just have to hope that’s their goal. We might be able to pick the trail back up when we’re closer.”

Even frustrated as I am, it is fascinating—and somewhat alarming—to see how quickly Dominic internalizes Jaykob’s criticism. I thought we’d worked through much of his fear of failing his charges, but it seems losing Eden has brought his demons to the surface.

It has certainly done so for me.

Jaykob barks a sarcastic laugh. “Great, let me know when you’re ready to pull a crystal ball out of your ass. We can start scrying for her next.”

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