Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 98819 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98819 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Hamish spoke to St. James? Why? “What’s going on?”
“Listen carefully because we don’t have much time. Rex is already on his way to you.”
“No,” I gasp. I rise and back out of my townhouse, slamming the door.
“He’s watching you even now.”
I run back to the car. My best chance is to head right to the police station, but Rex is best friends with the Chief. What’s to stop him from pulling strings and getting me ordered into protective custody? His.
I tried so hard to escape him. There’s nowhere I can run that he won’t hunt me down, but I won’t go back without a fight.
“I understand you no longer want to be under Rex’s power.”
“I won’t go back.” He’ll put me back in the cage.
“But no one can stop Rex from getting what he wants.”
He’s right. The sports car’s lights flash, and I stop before getting in. I should abandon the car. I bet Rex has an override to the stealth mode, and if I get in now, the car might take me straight to him.
What should I do?
“If I may offer a solution,” St. James continues. I almost forgot I was talking to him. “Come to the club. I can offer you a safe haven.”
“Rex will find me.”
“Eventually. But Club Empire has served as neutral territory before. I can convince him you’ll be safer if you’re working with him rather than against him.”
The solution sounds so elegant, but I still hesitate.
There’s a whirring sound overhead, and a black drone zooms through the air to hover at my eye level six feet away from me.
“Inara,” the drone says in Rex’s voice. “It’s okay. I’m coming for you.”
I drop my phone and pull my gun. “I’m not going back,” I snarl, aiming for the drone. “I’ll shoot you first.”
To my left, a motorcycle rips down the street at breakneck speed, only to skid to a stop beside me.
I switch my aim to lock in on the motorcycle rider. It’s him, I think at first, but the rider’s build is slimmer than Rex’s. He pulls off his black helmet, and I jerk back when I see a skull bandana covering the lower half of his face.
“Don’t shoot,” St. James is calling from my fallen cell phone. “That’s your ride.”
“We gotta go now.” The rider holds out the helmet to me.
I have to make a decision. My townhouse is full of dead birds. Rex is coming for me. I don’t really trust St. James, but where else can I turn?
“Inara, get in the car,” Rex shouts from the drone.
Crack! I fire my gun and blow the drone away. Black pieces fly off it, and the hunk of dead metal plummets to the ground.
I flip the safety on my gun and holster it, scoop up my phone, and face the motorcyclist.
He’s got long black hair and flecks of gold in his green eyes. I can tell he’s young, in his early twenties, even with the skull bandana hiding the rest of his face. “Hurry,” he barks.
I grab the helmet, slam it onto my head, and swing onto the bike. I’m barely on the seat when the rider jerks my arms around his waist and kicks the bike off the curb. His ab muscles flex under my hold. Before I can brace myself, we’re hurtling down the street.
Rex
* * *
She escaped me. Again.
And now St. James has her. Instead of helping me as he agreed to minutes ago, St. James has decided to become my enemy. For what? He loves his power plays, but what is his end game here?
I slam the steering wheel of my car. “Deploy more drones,” I direct Alfie, who’s installed in this car’s computer system. “Find them.”
“Deploying ten units now.”
I’m racing down empty streets—I had Alfie hack the city’s traffic lights and shut down all east and westbound traffic to clear my route to Inara—but there’s a matte black Lykan on my tail. One of the identical blond twins from Inferno is behind the wheel, the skull mask covering the lower half of his face mocking me.
I let the Lykan pull level with me and then drop back. I’m in an armored car not unlike the one Inara used to get away from me, and I’ve paid good money for it to be as strong as a tank and fast as a sports car.
The Lykan tries to slow with me as I ram its back wheel at the precise angle required to make it spin out. The hit makes the sports car swerve out of control, smashing into a truck parked alongside the road. I accelerate around the crash and then wrench my car to the right, ducking down an alleyway to try to lose my tail completely.
“Alfie, I need you to clear an alternate route.”
“Rerouting traffic patterns.”
A black Jeep is waiting for me at the other end, blocking the exit. The second blond twin is behind the wheel. I order the computer into tank mode and smash into it, pushing it out of my way.