Page 184 of After the Burn

I didn’t speak, my eyes darting to Lila as she banged into the fence.

“Wasn’t she a friend of yours?” Nash smirked, his gaze shifting from me to Lila. “I think I remember seeing her at your house.”

I remained quiet, rage having stolen my voice.

Nash laughed. “She’s quite a handful, alive or dead.” He walked toward the pen and tapped the fence with his knife.

Lila threw herself at the sound.

My hands tightened around the knife I held.

“Pretty little thing when she got here.” He made a smacking sound, “Almost good enough to eat.”

Wren’s fingers closed around my sleeve to hold me back.

If it had just been Nash, I would’ve already bashed his skull in, but several enhanced men were standing with him, watching our interaction.

The look in Nash’s eyes grew dark. “She fought hard… for a while.”

Something shifted inside me. I could hear Ben’s voice again, ‘Patience isn’t waiting.’

Nash continued, “Got bit trying to run.”

My pulse pounded in my ears.

He nodded toward Lila. “I’m the one who put her in there.”

This bastard was daring me to attack him. I knew every reason there was not to. I was smarter than this. But I didn’t know how much longer I could resist stabbing the piece of shit.

Wren hissed, “Taryn.”

The shock of her using my actual name drew my attention away from Nash.

“Don’t do it.” Her eyes begged me to listen.

Nash tapped the fence again, drawing my eyes back to him. “I could’ve put her down.” His smile turned ugly. “But it seemed like a waste.”

Lila snapped wildly at the wire.

Patience.

I took a deep breath.

Knowing when not to move.

Fuck that. I moved… crossing the distance before he had time to enjoy the look on my face.

His knife came up, but mine was already there. Steel struck steel with a sharp crack.

Nash’s eyes widened.

“That’s right fucker, I’m stronger than you.” I mumbled, as I knocked his blade aside and drove my shoulder into his chest.

Nash hit the fence hard enough to make the rotters behind it explode into snarls. Fingers clawed through the wire inches from his head.

He wasn’t smiling now.

Nash slashed at me, no skill, just trying to force me back so he could move away from the pen. I twisted away and caught his wrist. One hard turn and the bone popped.