“You don’t need to watch this,” Elijah said. “Go straight to the Guardian’s house.” He opened the back door, holding it for her. “We’ll be there after we make sure this fire takes off. Go straight there. No detours.” He pulled her phone out of his pocket. “Take this with you. Sophia called us with it.”
She nodded, desperate to get away from the sight of flames teasing closer and closer to the bloodied body. She rushed out of the chapel, the sound of sirens growing closer, and was just pushing through the gate when her phone vibrated. She pulled it out, saw her father’s name, and accepted the call.
“I’m safe,” she said, figuring that was why he was calling.
“Good. Go straight to the front of the academy. Now. Don’t stop to talk to anyone or help anyone. Don’t try to grab any of your belongings.” He barked out the order in Alpha voice, the command already forcing her limbs to move.
“Wait, I—”
He hung up the call and she swore as her body automatically turned in the other direction, pushing back through the gate.
What if he was hurt?
She picked up the pace, making sure Mikel’s long sleeves were covering her bloody hands as she ran to the front of the academy, barely able to process the sight of bodies scattered across the grass, groups of terrified people hovering around them. She passed through the gates as the flashing lights of several ambulances and police cars appeared along the road leading toward the first gate into Ironside. Her father appeared in front of her, his hands clasping her arms.
“We’re leaving early,” he said, his words barely registering.
He didn’t look hurt.
He began dragging her to a limousine idling at the curb, and she dug her heels in, trying to yank out of his grip.
“No, I can’t—”
“Get in the damn car, Isobel,” he snapped, his Alpha voice making her head bow and her blood run cold as he successfully shoved her through the car door. “We’re not staying here a second longer. Who knows what could happen.”
Cesar Cooper and her father’s publicist were already in the car, along with several bags and briefcases. They had been packing up while students were being slaughtered.
“You have to let me out,” she tried again. “My surrogates—”
“I don’t have to do anything,” Braun spoke over her, before barking at the driver—his assistant—to hurry up and leave. “Do you have anything to calm her down?” he turned to Cesar next, who nodded, digging into his briefcase, and pulling out a little bottle of pills, which he tossed to her father.
Braun shook out several pills before grabbing her chin and forcing her mouth open.
“Swallow them,” he commanded, snapping her jaw shut.
Her throat obeyed without her permission, and she tried to calm down and think of a plan as her father turned away from her, his voice loud and grating beside her as he launched into a tirade about the dangerous rise of anti-loyalists and how the government wasn’t doing anything to cripple them.
Cripple. She shuddered at the word, her eyes closing tightly, panic lacing tight and hot through her body.
You’re safe.
You’re okay.
Nobody is going to hurt you.
She tried to believe it as her mind rioted, remembering the feel of metal pressing against her face.
You’ll find your way back to them.
Her head started to loll, her thoughts turning fuzzy.
“What’d you give me?” she slurred, cracking open an eye.
Braun and Cesar continued the conversation as though she hadn’t even spoken.
“What’d you …” She swallowed, wondering why her mouth was suddenly so dry. “What …” Her body grew cold and numb, her forehead sagging toward the window, resting there as her mind sank into blackness.
To be continued …
Bonus Scene
WHERE IN THE WORLD IS CARTER?
Kalen made sure everyone was out of the chapel ahead of him before he paused at the back door, his attention fixed to the body now heavily engulfed in flames. There was a tight ball of fear permanently lodged inside his chest. He saw Isobel go down in the crowd, but after knocking down and injuring at least six people as he fought his way over to her, he realised he had completely lost sight of where she was.
That was when it started.
The fear that refused to budge.
They couldn’t lose her again. She was his responsibility now. He promised to protect her.
She had only been out of his sight for a few minutes, but it was a few minutes too long, so he slammed the door and followed the others around to the Guardian’s residence. They were going to need to get out of there soon, just in case the fire caught onto the attached house.
Theodore was the first inside after hurriedly knocking on the door, and the rest of them quickly filled the kitchen. Kalen closed the door behind him, peering over the others to the Guardian standing in the opposite doorway.
She was also peering. Searching their faces. For who?
“Where is she?” Maya asked, a flicker of horror racing across her expression. “Did you get to her?”
“Where …” He fell forward a step, that fear growing heavier, making it hard to breathe. “Is Isobel here?”
“No,” the Guardian stuttered, “she—”
Oscar shoved through them, shocking Maya into silence. Kalen shoved open the door just as Oscar got to him, and all ten of them rushed out of the house, running back to the chapel. They searched around it as Theodore called her number once, twice, three times.
“She’s not answering.” He swore, his eyes pulsing black.
“She’s fine,” Kalen said, keeping Theodore in his sights. “We would feel it like last time, remember? She’s okay. We just need to find her.”
“I’m going to kill someone.” Oscar was pacing, his eyes darting about. “I don’t know who, but I’m going to—”
“Her father,” Elijah suddenly announced, stalking off. “There’s no way he’s going to stick around here with shots being fired.”
They followed Elijah to the family centre, all of them squeezing into the elevator as Mikel punched the button for Braun Carter’s floor. Kalen kept his attention on Moses and Theodore the whole time, wary of the way their faces kept twitching.
Mikel didn’t bother knocking on Braun’s door. He kicked it open, splintering the lock, and they immediately split up to search the apartment.
“No brawny motherfucker here to complain about his door being kicked in,” Elijah noted, stopping only a few feet into the room. “That’s not a good sign.”
Kalen waited, having come to the same conclusion, the fear growing and growing.
“Nobody here.” Gabriel strode back into the living room. “Looks like they packed in a rush.”
“Fuck!” Theodore suddenly shoved one of the armchairs, his eyes flashing black so fast that Mikel barely had time to dive over the coffee table and tackle him before the ferality kicked in.
“Shit.” Moses wavered. He was fighting it, but he was going to lose, and everyone knew it.
Elijah and Gabriel moved to help Mikel, freeing up the rest of them to deal with Moses.
“Fuckkk.” Moses gripped the back of a couch, his talons extending and ripping into the material.
Cian ducked as Theodore managed to throw Gabriel at him, the two of them tripping over the coffee table.