“Fuck. Noooo.” Kilter’s voice screamed in my head.
I peered at him, needing to see him one more time. But not like that. God, Kilter, stop fighting. He struggled against the webs, but they only tightened around him as the blood seeped faster from his wound.
“Please, Kilter. Don’t. Let me go knowing you’ll live. I need that.”
He didn’t respond.
“Get in the car,” Jasmine ordered.
It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Walking away from him. Not knowing if he was going to survive.
I wanted to leap out of the car and run to his side, hold him in my arms, protect him. Kilter needed someone to protect him for once.
In the distance, I heard sirens. Someone must have reported the gunshots.
I closed my eyes as the door slammed shut and the SUV backed out of the alley. I didn’t know if he was near enough, but I had to try. He was the one person who would know what to do. Who could help Kilter and get him to Anstice.
“Waleron, Kilter is in trouble.”
Silence.
The tires screeched around a corner and horns blared.
“Waleron, please.” What if he wasn’t close enough to hear me? I was uncertain how far my telepathy reached. “Waleron, please, Kilter is hurt.”
“You’re using your telepathy and it’s a great distance,” Waleron said. “Only Ancients and a few rare Reflectors are able to communicate this far.”
I really didn’t care at the moment, so I ignored what he said. “It’s Kilter. He’s hurt. Please, don’t let him die. Promise me you won’t let him die or all I’ve done is for nothing.”
“What have you done, Rayne?” Waleron’s tone was hard.
I ignored him and continued, “He’s in the alley behind a condo building on Queen West. Across from the park.”
Waleron’s voice grew stronger and deeper. “Jedrik and Delara are on their way. Where are you, Rayne?”
I didn’t honestly know. I was concentrating on speaking telepathically and we were moving fast through the city streets.
“Rayne, we never leave one of our own behind. Where are you?”
“Then you don’t have to worry—I’m not one of you,” I replied. “But Kilter is. Save him. He needs to trust, Waleron. He lost it and he needs it again.” I lowered the shields on my mind and wrapped my arms around myself.
Jedrik and Delara would help him. He’d be okay.
A tear slipped onto my lap and made a small wet mark on my jeans. No matter what happened to me, I knew the Scars would look out for Kilter.
I knew with every part of my soul that I loved him. I loved how he walked in a room as if he owned it. I loved how he could be angry, but gentle at the same time. I loved how he was honest, even if his words might hurt. I trusted him because of that.
I knew what he was searching. Salvation from the one thing he’d lost—trust from those he loved. But he had mine. He had all of me.
“Babe.” I tensed, eyes widening as Kilter’s voice penetrated my shield. “Love you, too. Coming… for… you.”
More tears rolled down my cheeks.
“Never give up on me.”
I wasn’t. I wouldn’t. I’d given up once in my life already, and I’d never do it again. But the bitch Lilac didn’t know that.
I turned to look at Jasmine. “Why do you want me? What makes you think I have any value to anyone?”
She smiled and glanced at me briefly before back to the road. “You don’t give yourself credit, my dear.”
“If you plan to use me against the Scars, it won’t work.”
She sighed, her long red fingernails tapping on the edge of the steering wheel. “You were never Anton’s. Did you know that?” I lifted my chin and didn’t say anything as our eyes met in the rearview mirror. “You’ve always been mine. Right from the beginning.” She licked her lips. “Anton was just a minion. He was pitiful actually, but he kept you alive. He could do whatever he wanted as long as you stayed alive until I needed you.”
“What do you mean?” My stomach twisted. What the hell was she talking about?
“I made a mistake a long time ago. One.” Her voice was crass and harsh, while her hands tightened on the steering wheel. “Now I will correct it. He will pay for escaping me.”
“Who?” I had no idea what the hell this woman was talking about.
The car pulled into a circular drive of a large condo building. She shut off the engine and turned to look over her shoulder at me.
Some of my confidence wavered when I met her thin-lipped smile. Shivers ran down my spine. This woman had no remorse, no soul, and for some reason, she thought she owned me.
“He will come back to me or he will live with the knowledge that I have you. I was planning on waiting a while longer, until your husband managed to produce a Scar offspring out of you, but—” she shrugged “—things change. Now, it’s time for him to know the truth.”