When the prospect arrived, I walked into the living room and found Vike sitting around the kitchen table. He raised his eyebrow at me and shook his head. “We’re gonna go find that fucking Josiah kid, ain’t we?”
“Gotta check on him. If he’s like Dev, fuck knows what state he’ll be in alone. I can’t in good conscience just fucking leave him. Something in his black eyes told me the fucker was crying out for help, but had no way to fucking ask for it . . . his fucking scarred arms, the way he just stares at nothing. Don’t think he has anyone who gives a shit about him. And I, for one, can’t let that shit go.”
It wasn’t long before we found him in an alley near the hospital, ripping up his arms with his blade. The young fucker eyeballed us as we approached, lips pulled back over his teeth as he growled. I held up my hands, watching his unfocused eyes try—but fail—to stay on me. “My name’s AK. I’m here to help. Get you the fuck out of this place and away from that nuthouse. They’ll find you if you don’t come with us and you won’t be getting out again.”
It had taken a fucking long time to get him to move—the kid clearly couldn’t be touched if his freak out when I tried was anything to go by. The brother glared at us from the corner of the alley, body tensed. But when the remainder of the drugs in his system pulled him under, knocking him the fuck out, we took him and got him back to the lodge too.
Vike carried Josiah into the spare room. I laid him down on the bed and Vike took the first watch of him. I went back to Dev, and I sat beside him, praying that when he came around, he’d be back to the brother I knew.
We’d be X and Dev once again . . .
“But he was not?” Phebe said. I shook my head.
“It got worse. Josiah, Flame, came around. He was fucked in the head, but he could be talked to. And I don’t know if it was gratitude or what, but he listened to me. Vike took him to the Hangmen compound, and he became a prospect too. But Dev . . .” I trailed off and looked to him at the end of the bed. My chest tightened. “He couldn’t stop living in his head. He would talk to me, eat. But I would find him outside in the middle of the night, waiting for the men who tortured him to come back.”
“AK.” Phebe pressed her hand on my forehead. “You are burning up.” I took hold of her wrist and brought her hand to my mouth. I kissed the palm and used the beat of her pulse to try and calm my heart. “AK?” she said. “You are worrying me.”
“I got called back to the Hangmen. The war had started with the Diablos, and the prez, Styx’s old man, needed me. He sent a prospect to watch my brother. I had no choice but to go. I was the Hangmen sniper. I was AK. I had to go.”
“What happened?” I caught the tremor of dread in her voice.
“He got free.” I closed my eyes. “He got out . . .”
“You heard from Bird?” Vike asked, talking about the prospect who was watching my brother.
“No.” I tightened my hand on the steering wheel. “He missed today’s check-in.” Flame shifted on the back seat, his knives in his hands. He was never away from me now. Me or Vike. Brother was completely fucked, but he was my brother now too. Fucked or not.
I pulled into the lodge’s driveway only to see the truck was gone. Ice filled my veins and a strange feeling crept down my spine. “Where’s Bird’s truck?” I jumped out of the truck we were in. Vike and Flame were right behind me. I held up my hand, slowly approaching the open front door.
I saw the blood before the body.
“Fuck,” Vike spat. Bird’s hacked-up body lay lifeless on the floor. I ducked down and felt the blood—it was still warm. My heart kicked into a sprint. “He’s only been dead a couple of hours max.” I got to my feet. “Fuck!” I screamed, hands on my head. “Dev!”
I flew to the truck and pulled out of the driveway fast as I could. I broke every speed limit along the way. I tried to get Tina on her cell. No fucking answer. “Dev, don’t have done something fucking stupid,” I said to thin air.”
An hour later I pulled into the driveway to see a truck there . . . Bird’s truck. The blood rushed from my face when I saw the back door was open. There was no sound at all. There were no neighbors for miles. Right now, there was just me and whatever lay in this house.
My stomach rolled when I saw Tina’s SUV in the driveway, Zane’s car seat in the back. “No,” I whispered. I pushed through the door.
My feet were light as I crept through the small farmhouse, searching every corner. I stopped dead in the doorway to the kitchen. A trail of blood, fresh blood, snaked along the floor.
My legs shook, but I forced them to keep going, to step into the room. A sound ripped from my throat when I saw Tina on the floor. Tina’s lifeless body, slashed at the neck and wrists, stab wounds though her heart. Bile climbed up my throat as her dead eyes stared up at me, her face frozen in an expression of shock. Tina . . . fucking Tina. My sister . . . my second mother.
No . . .
Panic took over . . . Zane. I shot through the house, searching everywhere I could think of. The final place to look was their bedroom. The door was shut. My heart pounded so hard it was all I could hear as I turned the knob and slowly opened the door. I saw blood again. Blood from beside the bed. I walked around, bracing myself for what I might find. The gargled sound of choking on blood hit my ears. I flew around the rest of the bed. Dev was slumped against the side of the bed. His blood poured from the gashes that sliced across his wrist and throat. I dove down and took him in my arms. “Dev! No!” The blood kept coming and I couldn’t fucking stop it.
“Dev!” I called out, sobs racking my chest. “What have you done?”
“Safe,” he managed to push from his throat. “Safe . . .” I clenched my eyes shut. “No!” I rocked him in my arms. “Don’t leave me,” I begged as his eyes began to glaze over. “Dev! Don’t you fucking dare leave me!” But he began to still in my arms. His blood was everywhere, on my hands, on the floor. “Dev? Where’s Zane?” I asked as his body started fitting. I held him closer and counted the seconds until he grew still.
Thirty-two seconds.
Tears fell down from my cheeks and mixed with the blood on my hands. “Dev,” I whispered, rocking him back and forth. My chest was caved in, my heart ripped from it. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t fucking breathe!
“Shit,” a voice said from the doorway. I turned my head, not letting my brother go. Vike and Flame stood there, staring at the blood. “Brother,” Vike said in a hushed voice, the fucker serious for once.
“He killed her. He killed himself. He thought he was still there. That they were gonna come for him again . . .” I squeezed more water from my eyes. “I think he thought he was saving her, saving himself. He wouldn’t . . . he’s not a murderer . . .” I glanced down at his dark eyes. “He’s my fucking brother . . .