Page 106 of A Wild Darkness

“What’s that?” I ask in a hushed tone.

“Smelling salts. It won’t be enough to wake him completely, but he’ll be alert for the short time we need him to be,” he tells me.

Pete’s mumbling grows louder while his arm jerks at the handcuffs, but his limbs move slowly and without normal rhythm. He’s trying to free himself, but it’s no use.

“Hi, Pete.” Sebastian smiles.

Pete’s heavy eyelids peel halfway open and scan the room before landing on Sebastian. “Whashgoingon?” he slurs.

“Did you kiss my girlfriend?” Sebastian accuses right off the bat.

What? Why is he asking him that?

“Shouldn’t we talk to him about, uh, murdering innocent women?” I whisper, unsure.

Sebastian’s arm springs out from behind him, waving me off to silence me.

Really?

“You kissed my girlfriend, didn’t you?” he repeats, firmer this time.

“YesIdid.” Pete struggles to lift his head. His attempt at a smile is unmistakable. “Butsheecameontome.” Then his unstable head turns in my direction and gives me a slow wink.

“Don’t fucking wink at her,” Sebastian warns.

Pete ignores him and does it again.

Sebastian rushes Pete, his gloved hand at Pete’s neck, pressing on his windpipe. “Do not wink at her again, or I’ll put this bullet in your fucking head faster than I was going to,” Sebastian threatens, making my heart skip a beat.

Pete ignores him once again and keeps his focus trained on me.

Sebastian’s broad shoulders square with anger. He doesn’t like Pete’s cockiness. “There are a number of reasons why your life is going to end tonight, and the plan was to talk to you about why your reign of terror will end—with me.” Sebastian releases his grip on Pete’s neck and reaches around his back, slipping a handgun from his waistband. Then he screws on what I immediately recognize as a silencer to the barrel of the gun. “But because you touched what’s mine, you don’t get to live any longer, Pete.”

Pete’s legs kick in slow motion as if they have weights attached to them. “Whatdidyouguysdotome?”

“We drugged you, my friend.” A sinister smile grows across the sharp features of Sebastian’s face. “Poetic justice, wouldn’t you say?” His arm extends, pointing the end of the gun at the middle of Pete’s forehead. “You trap women by drugging them, only to then rape and torture them. And for the last couple of days, I’ve had to listen to you brag about it.”

He cocks the gun. The sound echoes throughout the stained walls.

I suck in a deep breath, capturing it inside my lungs because I won’t let it out until Sebastian has shot Pete.

“Goodbye, Pete.” Sebastian pulls the trigger. A loud pop fills the small space.

I cover my ears as a reflex, but there’s no need, since the silencer muffles the sound. “Fuck.”

Blood covers the white pillow behind Pete’s head, but it remains relatively contained to one area.

Sebastian stares at Pete’s body for a beat, then his eyes shoot over to me. “Are you all right?”

I let the air escape my burning lungs, turning my breath into panting. Holy fuck. “Yeah, I think so.”

Sebastian bounds toward me, his boots thundering against the old flooring. “I should have cut his lips off.”

I rub my temples, squeezing my eyes shut. “His lips barely touched mine for a millisecond.”

“I don’t fucking care. They shouldn’t have even come that close.” His brawny arms wrap around me tightly. I’m stiff at first, still shaking, but the longer he holds me, the more my muscles relax. “But you did well.”

My face rests against the cold leather of his jacket, taking a moment to breathe through what happened. Suddenly, the door swings open. Hayden is standing in the frame with a wide smile on his face.