Page 188 of After the Burn

Nash stepped toward me. “Looks like we finally get to spend some quality time together. Don’t be afraid to call me Daddy.”

The surrounding men started hooting and laughing.

I smiled. “You should probably get that wrist looked at first.”

His face twisted.

Good. I wanted all their attention on me.

Somewhere outside that fence, if the radio worked, my men were hearing every word.

And they were coming for me.

For us.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

TARYN

Trust us.

Adrian’s voice was in my head.

Somewhere beyond the fence, my men were either hearing this or they weren’t.

God, please let them come. If not for me, then for Wren. I prayed to myself.

“Move.” A man yanked my head back.

I stumbled deliberately, buying Wren a few more seconds. She was still holding the button; I could tell by the rigid angle of her arm.

Nash reached for me, just as there was a metallic pop somewhere outside the fence.

Every head turned. Then darkness swallowed the compound, and the generator failed.

For half a second, nobody moved, then the shouting began.

“What the fuck is going on?” The man behind me muttered.

A rifle cracked from beyond the eastern fence, and one of Caesar’s men dropped.

Then another shot, and another body dropped.

“Contact East!”

Another rifle crack, then another, three shots from farther south. There was another that cracked from beyond the fence, and a guard near the gate folded.

All the men spun toward the new threat just as a metal canister sailed over the fence and bounced across the gravel. White smoke poured from it almost instantly.

“What the hell is happening?” I heard someone yell from a few yards away.

The cloud swallowed half the eastern yard, and more shots came through the confusion. They weren’t random but controlled. Whoever was out there knew exactly what they were doing.

Chaos detonated.

My heart slammed against my ribs. “They’re coming,” I whispered, a smile blooming across my face.

Of course, they came, and they weren’t coming alone. We didn’t have the kind of firepower that was erupting all over the compound.