Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 154037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
Gun swiveling from side to side, I edged down the steps, boots quietly thudding on the metal as I descended.
That sticky stillness echoed back. No one inside, and the last thing I was going to do was let the asshole get away.
I jumped into action, running for the regular door on the far side of the garage. I tossed it open to the night.
A chill crawled across my bare skin, a cold dread that sank like a stone to the pit of my stomach.
Someone was out there.
In the distance.
A fuckin’ coward running to a safety I would never let them find.
I took off in that direction, boots pounding the ground as I hunted through the night.
It was my specialty. Sniffing out the demons that lie in the shadows. Dragging them out into the light.
The light, my ass.
It was judgement without grace. No room for sympathy. Karma at her fucking worst. When she was so sick of the depravity, her only goal was eradicating it.
Permanently.
No questions asked.
So this fucker had better run fast.
A foul energy emanated from the west, toward the dirt drive that led between the main road and my house. I used my phone as a flashlight as I ran over the loose gravel, my gun pointed out in front of it.
Not great for visibility, but it was going to have to do.
I pushed myself as hard as I could, wearin’ nothing but my goddamn briefs and my boots, a beast that prowled beneath the darkness that loomed from above.
With each second that passed, I felt it increase—the vile presence that wept.
I was getting close.
I hit the bottom of the hill before it began to ascend, and in the distance, I could just make out the form that raced beneath the swath of branches that stretched over the drive.
The shape of what I assumed had to be a man, but it was too dark and he was too far away to make out any real details.
I increased my pace, my lungs screaming as I pounded across the ground. “You might as well stop, motherfucker. I’m gonna find you wherever you go.”
With each furious step, I erased a fraction of space, bringing us closer and closer. Blood pounded in a violent beat through my veins, hatred so fierce for a faceless man. Didn’t matter who he was.
He’d been here.
Near Raven.
He was going to pay for that.
Finally got close enough that I could see that he was tall and lean, though there was no chance I could make out his identity. I pushed harder, shouting, “Get down! On the ground. Might let you live if you do what I say.”
Probably not, but I might need information. Might need to keep him alive so we could find out who had sent him and what his intentions were.
Our list of enemies was long, and we bore no pretenses that one day one of them might catch up to us.
Dread curdled my insides as my mind raced with who it might be. Dread that he might have found me out, and rather than waiting around for me to come to him to show him his end, he’d shown at my door.
My footsteps echoed through the night, mixing with his as he pushed himself as hard as he could.
“One last chance, asshole. On the ground.”
He didn’t give, so I popped off a warning shot, aiming off to his left. Expected him to scream and drop to his knees.
Not the barrage of bullets that came from out of nowhere. Pings rang through the trees, dust flying all around and making it impossible to see.
And it was me who was suddenly on his knees.
Not even sure what had brought me to the ground.
A second later, I could hear the telltale sounds of a dirt bike being kicked over in the distance, the beelike screech piercing the air as the bastard raced away.
A roar burst out of me when a shock of pain bloomed on my thigh. Disoriented, I shined my light on the spot.
Blood poured out of a wound.
The motherfucker had shot me. I wobbled and swayed, before I fully dropped face down onto the ground.
THIRTY-ONE
OTTO
I choked, trying to catch my breath. To see through the disorder. To make sense of what had happened and to find the right course of action.
I realized I’d only been out for a blip since I could still hear the high-pitched engine far in the distance, fucker long on his way to getting away.
I slumped forward when I realized there was no immediate danger, and I rolled onto my back as I gulped through the rage that had taken me hostage.
Raven.
She was in the house.
Safe.
It was the only thing that mattered.
Finally, I got my shit together enough and forced myself onto unsteady feet. I lumbered back up the hill, ignoring the pain radiating down my leg.