Page 65 of Wrong Squad, Right Mess

“Nothing’s done. If you let this happen, I’ll spend every last minute I have trying to kill you.”

He moved his grip from across me to my arm, letting me turn to face him. “This is your place in the world, Yun, and you should accept it. I’ve been kind to you thus far, treated you well, but if you continue with this, I’ll do what I have to do.”

“I came to you to protect them. If you think I give a damn what you do to me, you haven’t paid attention.”

His expression soured, his face losing the ease it had before. It was as though I’d pushed him further then he could tolerate, like I’d snapped past his line of restraint.

He moved so fast I couldn’t avoid it, didn’t even know what had happened until pain exploded through my cheek. My head snapped to the side, my thoughts rattling around in my mind, unable to make sense of it all.

I realized it after a moment—he’d struck me. He’d backhanded me across the face.

Copper hit my tongue—had I cut my lip on my teeth? I didn’t know, but it didn’t really matter.

I lifted my gaze to his, refusing to let go at all. “I will never stop.” I spat that promise out, the only thing that really mattered, the truth. No matter what he did, how he tried to control me, I would make him regret ever touching my men until my very last breath.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Kenyon

My gaze was pinned to Yun, to the blood that spilled from her mouth, dripping over her chin and leaving fat droplets in the soil. My powers gave me the ability to see her pain, the swelling in her face, the large slice to her inner cheek.

Corsa struck her.

That thought repeated in my head like a nightmare. Right there, right in front of me, when I’d promised to protect the one thing that mattered to me, I’d watched her be harmed.

I yanked against the hold that kept me still, but as before, it was entirely unmoving.

Even with that, Yun didn’t back down. She didn’t cower. She stared right back at him as though she had no fear.

The fact that she would go that far for us, it humbled me.

And I wouldn’t allow her to suffer another strike.

“You will fall in line,” Corsa roared back, his voice deep and angry. “You will do as you’re told.”

“I won’t!”

“Then you will suffer the consequences.”

I closed my eyes, focusing on the power that surrounded me, that kept me from moving except where they wanted. It was like a field, like chains that covered my entire body and forced me at their pleasure. An unfamiliar energy source coursed through it, and it gave me an idea.

Not a good idea, but when were any of my ideas good? I had to assume this was connected to the energy we used, just slightly different, and given that it controlled us but not anything inanimate.

This is going to suck…

I sent a silent prayer to whoever might listen just before I reached inside myself, studying my own body, and stopped my heart. It wasn’t easy, everything I had telling me this was a horrible idea, but it was all I had.

My head turned fuzzy all too fast, but I used that power to keep my heart from beating. With any luck, as soon as I fully let go, when I was past that brink, it would start again automatically without my interference, but who knew for sure?

Smart people didn’t go around stopping their hearts, after all.

The world darkened, but the power still kept me standing, holding me so tightly that I couldn’t even fall. Then everything disappeared, forcing me to trust myself—or at least know I was willing to risk it all.

Time stopped for that long moment, which made sense given I was, by all accounts, dead.

Later—I had no idea how long—my brain sparked back to life, my own powers treating the damage done, getting my heart going, and when I gasped and coughed, I got a mouthful of soil. I opened my eyes, my entire body feeling like I’d taken a swan dive off a two-story building.

I was on the ground, but my brain still focused on the only thing that mattered, like even after being dead, I’d held onto a single thought.