Page 68 of Wrong Squad, Right Mess

“He shouldn’t get off this easy,” Ingram snapped.

“Easy?” A scream echoed from that way, followed by familiar roars. “That isn’t going to be easy. He doesn’t matter, but we do, so let’s get out of here.”

We’d dealt with Corsa, we’d survived The Pitt, but if we couldn’t escape it fast, none of it would really matter.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Ingram

Everything in me still wanted to track down Corsa, to take his life myself. It wouldn’t be quick, either, but it would make me feel so much better. Even the screams from him, distant as they were, didn’t eliminate the pull to do it myself. He might suffer under the jaws of monsters, but I wanted him to suffer under my own jaws.

Still, when Yun took off toward the heart, I knew where my priorities lay—I followed her.

We burst through the treeline into the clearing. Usually there would be monsters there, ready to defend the heart, but none did. Were they all too busy with Corsa to care about us? Had that woman helped out in some other way?

I didn’t know, but figured I’d take the rare win we got.

Yun rushed forward, but didn’t reach out to touch the heart. Instead, she stared at it. “Nothing is happening,” she said, tension lining each word.

“Can you sense anything?” Shear asked.

“I feel this pull—I’ve felt it for a while, like it’s drawing me here. I thought maybe when I stood in front of it, the power would flow out of me…” She nibbled on her bottom lip, then flinched. She probably still hurt from where Corsa had struck her.

I could rush out to him, fucking kill him, then be back before anyone even…

“No,” Yun snapped, drawing my attention back. “I’m done with him. I never want to think about him again, so don’t you dare do it.”

I shrugged and crossed my arms, working for innocent but probably missing the mark by some. “I would never. Now, what do we do with this?”

She sighed and reached out. I lunged forward, but Carter stopped her before I could.

“Are you insane?” he asked, voice sharp and panicked.

“I touched it before.”

“Because you had no choice, because you were wanting to die. The fact that you didn’t is a miracle—I’m not about to risk that again.”

“Well, what else do you want me to do?” Yun’s voice matched Carter’s in intensity. “I can’t leave, and I can’t seem to interact with it. I can’t pull the energy from it, and I can’t do a damn thing, so tell me, what the hell I’m supposed to do!” Her chest rose and fell, her breathing sharp and quick and frantic.

Which I understood. We were stuck, and there just weren’t answers.

So I stepped forward. “I can do it.” I stretched my hand out, then drew it into a fist. I knew how it felt to grasp a heart in my hands, to endure the pain, the crush it in my palm. I recalled the many times I’d done it, that I’d withstood the power inside it, that I’d overcome it.

“It’ll kill you,” Kenyon said. “If I thought anyone could survive it, I’d vote for you, but there’s no way. The power inside a stable dungeon’s heart is too much for your body. I can’t keep you alive through it.”

“No,” Yun said, but I ignored her. She’d say no to any idea that risked any of us.

“I’ve destroyed how many hearts? If Kenyon keeps me going, I can do it.”

“It’ll kill you,” Carter said. “And it’ll do that long before you’re able to destroy it.”

“We don’t have another choice,” I bit out. “I’m not looking forward to this exactly, but it’s the only choice we’ve got. If—no, when—I destroy it, you can get your asses through the portal and get Yun back.”

“I can do it,” Carter countered. “I’m combat, I’m tougher than you.”

“I’ve done this before, so I know how to handle it better.”

“It won’t work,” Kenyon said again. “This isn’t a time when I’m just saying it because I don’t like it. I’ve seen what a heart does to you, Ingram, and this heart will burn you up before you can get it anywhere near as weak as it has to be to destroy.”