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More importantly, he didn’t correct Lucas when he called me his boyfriend. That tells me everything I need to know.
Even after brushing the tears from his cheek and declaring my undying, utterly devoted love for him, there was still every possibility he’d decide to push me away.
Thankfully, it seems my stray has finally learned where he belongs.
“It’s not my blood,” Adrian reassures.
He looks up at me, and somehow his eyes seem even deadlier than before—there’s a darkness consuming the greenery of his irises, and I know exactly what it means.
He’s had enough. Whatever restraint he had left is gone, and his body and mind are finally ready to let fucking loose.
“Where's the girl?” I ask, never once letting go of his hand. “And Leo?”
“She’s dead,” he replies, devoid of any emotion, yet drops his gaze.
“Leo ran off without us; I don’t know why,” Lucas claims from the side, before adding, “S-so… this means you’re not going to kill me, right?”
I’m about to make some deranged joke about slaughtering him just to watch him shit himself before assuring the guy I’m only kidding—not that his survival actually matters to me—when a deep mechanical thrum rolls through the walls. Hydraulics engage somewhere ahead, followed by footsteps and a cheerful little whistle.
Shit.
A hunter is coming, and the Deadlock doors are already preparing to seal. I glance toward the open room beside us, grab Adrian, and shove him inside just as they slam shut.
Lucas is staring at the sealed door, then at me, his face already losing what little color remained in it. “What about me? You aren’t going to kill me, are you?”
“If you were a threat to Adrian, we’d be having a different conversation,” I claim, turning my back to him.
“But I’m not,” he swallows, voice cracking as he adds, “I swear to you, that was never my intention… I didn’t think it would get to this point… I wanted us all to win.”
“There’s only one winner, dumbass,” I spit, but the guy just keeps on fucking rambling.
“But the twins, they won together—”
“That’s different; they’re identical twins, so they were seen as one. They were an exception.”
Wait a fucking minute. How does he know this? Has he been watching Kill Feed all these years?
The word vomit doesn’t stop as he continues frantically, “I—I don’t understand… but Selene said—shit, I don’t know what to do anymore.”
What the fuck did he just say?
Every fiber of my being ignites, filling flesh, bone, and my fucking organs with fire; however, he isn’t my priority right now. The hunter turning the corner is.
A man steps into view, and the first thing I notice is the scarecrow’s head rising above his shoulders.
He stops when he sees us.
“Move along, Conan,” I demand through clenched teeth, hand over the knives strapped to my torso.
His grip tightens around the hatchet before letting out a hideous laugh. “Not after what you’ve done.”
Chapter 43
Adrian
The room carries the same strange aesthetic as the rest of Kill Feed, and I’ve grown nauseous from the industrial steel softened by Victorian fixtures and streaks of luminous graffiti crawling across the walls. It is all starting to blend into a scribble.
I glance at my watch for what must be the hundredth time.
