Page 197 of After the Burn

One of Caesar’s men fired until a rotter tackled him. Another ran directly into Beck.

Beck caught him and shoved him into a second rotter. “Make yourself useful.”

The thing latched onto his shoulder, and his screaming followed us as we moved forward.

“Is that your new thing?” Lucas smirked.

Beck shrugged. “Maybe.”

A rotter rushed me, and I drove my knife into its eye. Another grabbed for my hair.

Lucas buried his hatchet into the side of its skull before it touched me. “Fuck off.”

He kissed my temple and turned back toward the fight.

Caesar emerged from the smoke, his rifle gone and a knife clutched in one hand. His face was streaked with blood, stripping away any semblance of the royalty he claimed to be. Instead, he looked more like the scared man he truly was—a person who had gone to despicable lengths to survive.

He charged.

I barely got my knife up in time. His blade struck mine, and pain shot through my wrist. He drove me backward, much stronger than I had expected. I pivoted, let his momentum carry him past, then cut across his side.

He hissed. “I’m going to make you pay for that.”

“I don’t fucking think so.” Beck moved toward us, but a rotter came at him from the side.

Caesar came at me again; I dodged his first swing and drove my elbow into his ribs. He grabbed my hair, and pain ripped across my scalp. I stabbed backward, but I missed.

Then Lucas slammed into him from the side.

Caesar released me, and I spun out of the way.

Adrian and Beck closed in from different directions.

Caesar looked at the four of us surrounding him and laughed. “Is her pussy that good? Worth dying for?”

“Yes.” They answered in unison.

Caesar lunged forward, and Adrian stabbed him in the thigh. Beck punched him in the ribs, and Lucas knocked the knife from his hand. I joined in and drove mine into his chest.

Caesar fell to his knees as his eyes widened in shock, as if the king he claimed to be somehow couldn’t be killed.

I leaned close to his ear. “Long live the fucking queen.” I pulled the knife free, and he collapsed.

I heard Wren whoop from somewhere behind me. “That’s my sister!”

In the past few minutes, she had already forgotten everything Gideon had said, and I was fine with that. I didn’t know her entire story, nor did I need to. That girl loved deeply, and I felt privileged to have her in my life.

Suddenly, a shot cracked and Lucas dropped where he stood.

Everything inside me stopped. “Lucas!”

He came to his knees as blood spread across his thigh. “Just grazed!”

A man emerged from the dark, aiming a pistol straight at him.

I moved in his direction, as did Adrian and Beck. “Lucas!”

The man aimed.