Page 81 of Notorious

Shewillpush through the pain.

I know because I would too.

It’s what we’re trained to do.

Vulture lets out a small laugh, her eyes directed hard at me as she continues to flick her nunchucks around. “Good move. Shame it is the only one you will get.” She steps forward, herright foot wobbling as she goes. I race ahead, running straight for her. Vulture flicks the nunchucks, aiming for me. They hit my arm as I go, another shock causing my breath to catch, but I don’t stop, stepping and jumping onto the nearest table, my other leg hitting the wall behind her. My legs wrap around her head and I flip her down with a huge thud. The bitch groans in pain when her body smacks into the floor, her nunchucks scatter across the carpet as I slide up over the back of her, grabbing her hair in my hands and yanking back on her head. My knife now pressed to her throat.

“Haven!” Alpha calls out, and I snap my head up to see Crow wrestling the gun free.

My stomach twists when she pulls it from him. He struggles to regain it from her, and they begin to fall to the floor in their frantic movements. I can’t risk Alpha being shot, so I pull the knife from Vulture’s throat, wait for the precise second, aim, and throw the knife. It lands straight into the back of Crow’s head just as the gun goes off. They both moan, and my heart slams into my chest. “No!” I scream out, sitting taller to see who got shot, and they both fall to the floor.

I don’t have a second to see what’s happening before Vulture spins us, smacking me down beneath her onto the carpet and kneeling above me. “You’ve let your weakness become your downfall, Blue Jay. This is why weneverbecome attached, or have you forgotten one of the three cardinal rules?” she snaps, wrapping her hands around my throat.

My eyes bug out of my head as my nails dig into her hands, ripping at her skin. Blood pools from her hand when suddenly a blast sounds, and brain matter splatters like rain all over me. I gasp when Vulture’s body drops on top of me.

Completely still.

Completely lifeless.

My entire body shakes, my ears ringing as I breathe harshly.

A strong, tattooed hand comes into my vision, pulling her dead body off me, and his bright, luminous, green eyes stare down at me, letting me know that he’s okay.

Alpha is alive.

And he savedme.

He leans down, gently easing me up from the floor, his fingers sliding out, wiping the blood from my face. “You okay?” he asks.

Letting out a heavy exhale, I check his body to make sure he wasn’t shot in the process. He seems fine. “I told you not to do anything stupid.”

He chuckles, a goofy grin on his face. “You’re welcome. Now tell me… are you hurt?”

Grimacing from the pain in my arm and back, I shake my head while he helps me stand. “I’m fine.”

Alpha glares. “Sweetheart, you arenotfine. You’re wincing, and we just killed two people who helped shape who you are growing up.”

I turn to look at Vulture, her blood splattering all over the floor, and then I glance over at Crow, seeing the knife sticking out of her head and the bullet wound in her chest.

With a sense of guilt flowing through me, they were, in a weird way, my surrogate parents while I grew up here. Seeing them dead is bittersweet. I know without them, I can flourish into the Haven I should have been. But because of them, I am a stronger, more capable person.

I owe them a lot, and seeing them dead hurts a part of me that I didn’t expect it would.

“I’m fine.” I wrap my arm around Alpha and exhale.

“You don’t have to be strong with me, little lamb.”

Straightening out my chest, I stand taller. “I do. Right now, I do, if I am going to get us out of here alive.”

He nods, his eyes focusing in on mine. “Okay… but when we get back to the clubhouse, youwilllet me in. You’re going to tellme everything.”

I squeeze his hand. “I promise. But what we need to do right now is get to Crow’s office before the guards find this mess. I need to do a couple more things before we leave.”

Alpha simply dips his head. “I’m on this ride with you, baby. Wherever you go, I follow.”

Smiling, I bring my hand up to cup his bearded cheek. “I’m glad she didn’t shoot you.”

He chuckles. “I regret I wasn’t able to stop you from being electrocuted.”

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