Page 110 of Alluring Darkness

“What about you then?” I ask, stalling for time, as I meet Shelley’s gaze. “You’re not Gabriel’s sister or something, are you?”

“No.” A cold smile stretches her lips as she locks eyes with me. “But you made an enemy of me when you poisoned me in that cafeteria. And I always settle my scores, which is why I was more than happy to provide my assistance in this little revenge plot when Gabriel approached me about it.”

Fuck. Maybe poisoning her in front of everyone like that had been a bit too ballsy. Even for me. Oh well, too late for regrets now.

“Enough talking,” Gabriel snaps before I can reply. “Give him a gun.”

Confusion and disbelief wash through me as Shelley keeps her gun to Connor’s head while pressing another one into his handcuffed hands. But before I can open my mouth to ask about it, Gabriel shoves a gun into my hands as well.

My first instinct is to raise it and shoot Shelley in the head. But even if my aim wasn’t terrible enough that I would never hit her, even from this distance, the problem is also that she’s standing right behind Connor. To hit her, I would need to shoot through my brother.

Connor flicks a glance between me, Gabriel, and the gun in his hands. And I know that he is considering the same thing. Connor has perfect aim and would definitely hit his target from this distance, but the main problem remains. Gabriel is standing right behind me, which means that my body is blocking the shot.

As if he realizes that too, Connor simply shifts the gun so that he is holding it properly, but makes no move to raise it.

“You’re not going to try to shoot me?” Gabriel taunts.

“No,” Connor grinds out.

“Good. Because if you shoot me, I shoot your sister.” He once more pushes his gun harder against the back of my head as if to truly drive the point home. Then he tells me, “And if you try to shoot Shelley, she shoots Connor.”

My brother grits his teeth. “What do you want?”

“I want you to feel what I feel.” There is a savageness in Gabriel’s voice that cuts through the air like a blade. “I want you to feel the pain I’ve felt every fucking day since that night when your dad killed my father. He was my best friend. My family.”

“What. Do you. Want?” Connor forces out between gritted teeth again.

“I want you to choose who gets to live.”

“What?”

My heart drops into my stomach and ice sweeps through my chest because I already know where he is going with this. Inside my skull, my mind is screaming. I don’t want to hear the next words that I know will come out of his mouth. But he speaks them anyway.

“One of you will shoot your precious sibling. The one who shoots first and kills the other gets to live. If you refuse to shoot, I will kill you both.”

44

ELI

My heart pounds in my chest as I run through the forest. But it’s not because of any physical exertion. No, my heart is thrashing for one reason and one reason alone. Raina. If the bastard who took her has touched a single hair on her head, I’m going to fucking tear him apart. In fact, I’m going to do that regardless. Because he dared to put his filthy hands on her at all. She’s mine. And no one touches what belongs to me.

“Left!” Jace suddenly screams from behind me.

I barely have time to whip my head to the left before a man crashes into me from that direction. A jolt shoots through my bones as we collide.

The speed with which he’s moving, combined with mine, sends both of us toppling to the ground. Pain flashes through my shoulder as I slam down on a root with the guy on top of me. Rolling sideways, I try to shove him off me before he can get the upper hand.

He cracks an elbow into the side of my jaw, snapping my head to the right and slamming my cheek into the ground. While blinking to clear my vision, I blindly swing at where I assume his head is. I’m rewarded by a grunt as my fist connects with his cheek.

All around us, chaos is unfolding.

From the corner of my eye, I can see my brothers fighting three other people as well.

Rage and frustration flash through me. Why the hell did we have to get attacked by another teamnow? And I didn’t even see them coming. I had been so focused on those tracks before me, and on that terrible thought that someone might be hurting Raina right now, that I hadn’t even noticed that another team was closing in. Hadn’t even been paying attention to my surroundings. That was dangerous and stupid. But Raina has a habit of making me dangerous and stupid.

I slam my elbows down into the crook of my attacker’s arms, making his hands shoot downwards instead right before he can wrap them around my throat. He lets out another grunt of pain, but doesn’t falter.

Because of how we landed, he is straddling my chest and trapping my body underneath him. It also makes me unable to reach my guns. I need to get out of that vulnerable position. Fast.

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