No wonder Sabin had locked her up.
“Help!”
The cry drew her back to the present, back to her rage. Why hadn’t Sabin killed these b.a.s.t.a.r.ds yet? They needed to be killed. She had to kill them. Yes, kill…kill…
In the back of her mind, she was aware of her sisters grasping at her arms but they were too weak to stop her. Usually, she tried to stop herself. Not this time. No longer. She was learning to embrace her Harpy, right?
She pounded at the second set of bars, fists again hammering, mouth now watering. Teeth sharpening. Nails elongating. The sight of her must have frightened them, because the men backed away from the bars.
Enemy…enemy…
Finally, the bars crumbled under her ministrations and she burst inside the cell with a screech. One minute men were standing, backing away from her, the next they were on the ground, motionless. More…she wanted more…
Her Harpy cooed happily while Gwen panted, trying to catch her breath as a deep male voice entered her awareness.
“—Aeron and Paris are missing. Sabin, Cameo and Kane are in town, William and Maddox have the women in hiding, guarding them with their lives, so I’m the only one here and I can’t touch her because I’m Disease. So do me a favor and calm her down or I’ll have to do it and you won’t like my methods.”
The deep voice was unfamiliar to her. Good. Someone else for her to destroy. Where was…her gaze circled the room. Or rather, hallway. Oh, look there. Three bodies were vertical. They appeared feminine rather than masculine. All that meant was that they’d taste sweeter.
More. She stalked from the cage, determined to make them fall as the Hunters had.
“Gwen.”
She recognized that voice. It wasn’t from her nightmares, but it didn’t slow her. She rammed the woman in the temple with her fist, heard a gasp, watched the form fly back and slam into a rocky wall. Dust must have plumed around the woman because it filled Gwen’s nose.
“Gwen, honey, you have to stop,” another voice said. “You did this once before. Remember?”
“Well, you did it twice, but the time we’re referring to, you actually almost killed us, and we had to rip the wings from your back.” A third familiar voice. “We hypnotized you to bury the memory, but it’s there. Think back, Gwennie. Bianka, what’s the d.a.m.n code phrase to make her remember?”
“b.u.t.terscotch rum? Hopscotch b.u.t.ter buns? Something stupid like that.”
The memory rose…higher…higher…pushing forward, and soon the shadows around it scattered and light pierced it, shining brightly. She’d been eight years old. Something had set her off…a cousin had eaten her birthday cake. Yes. That’s right. She’d laughed while she’d done it, taunting Gwen, after she’d nearly gotten captured for stealing it.
The tether she’d kept the Harpy on had snapped inside her, and the next thing she’d known, the cousin and her sisters were hovering near death. The only reason they’d survived was that Taliyah had somehow ripped off her wings in the fray.
It had taken her weeks to regrow them. Weeks they’d taken from her memory, as well. My memory, the Harpy squawked. Mine.
Possessive b.i.t.c.h. Memory loss was better than the alternative, a rational part of her brain supplied. The guilt would have destroyed me.
They are weak. They can’t hurt you this time. You can—
“G.o.ds, who would have thought I’d want that stupid demon back in her life?”
“Torin, dude, can you get Sabin here? He’s the only one who can calm her without hurting her.”
Sabin. Sabin. Tendrils of her bloodl.u.s.t faded, leaving room for Gwen’s conscience to make itself known. You don’t want to kill your sisters. You love them. In and out she breathed, slow and measured. Slowly colors sparked inside her mind, the black and red dispersing. Gray walls, brown floor. Taliyah’s white hair, Kaia’s red and Bianka’s black. They were scratched up but alive, thank the heavens.
Then realization struck. You did it. You calmed yourself down without killing everyone in the room. Her eyes widened, and despite the chaos around her, joy burst through her. That had never happened before. Each time she’d lost control here at the fortress, Sabin had been here to talk her down. Maybe she didn’t need to fear her Harpy anymore. Maybe, for once, they could live in harmony. Even without Sabin.
The thought nearly dropped her to her knees. She didn’t want to live without him. She’d planned to leave, yes, but if she were honest she’d admit that she’d expected him to come for her—or to return herself.
“You’re okay?” Bianka asked, as surprised as she was.
“Yes.” She spun, purposely avoiding the Hunter’s cage, and found no trace of the man who had been speaking. “Where’s Torin?”
“He’s not actually here,” Kaia said. “He was talking to us from a speaker.”
“Then he knows we escaped,” she said, clutching her stomach and backing away. What if he came for them? What if she killed him to keep him from locking her up again? Sabin would never forgive her. Would believe beyond any doubt—and that was saying something for him—that she meant to aid the Hunters. Wait, you don’t fear your Harpy anymore, remember? Old habits died hard, she supposed.
“He knows,” Taliyah said as Torin echoed, “Yeah, I know.”
Kaia grabbed her shoulders and forced Gwen to still. “He can’t do anything because he can’t touch us.”
“Well, I can shoot you,” that disembodied voice reminded them.
Gwen shuddered. Bullets were not fun.
“Let’s gather Ashlyn and Danika,” Kaia said, unconcerned with either their audience or Torin’s threat.
“Torin said they’re guarded by Maddox and William,” Bianka reminded her. “Let’s take them, too.”
Nervous energy still pounded through Gwen, but those words had her blood freezing. “Why do we want them?” The girls were sweet and kind and didn’t deserve to be hurt.
“Payback. Now come on.” Bianka turned on her heel and pounded up the steps, headed into the main house.
“I don’t understand,” Gwen called, her voice shaking. “Payback how?”
Kaia released her and turned, as well. “Sabin damaged our wings, so now we’re going to damage his precious army. When the rest of the warriors return and find the women missing, as well as their friends, they’ll freak.”
No, she thought. No. “I told you. Sabin’s mine. I’ll take care of him.”
Both Kaia and Taliyah ignored her, following after Bianka.
“Don’t worry. We may be weakened but that’s what guns are for,” Kaia said, grinning over her shoulder in the likely direction of Torin’s camera. “Right, Tor-Tor?”
“I won’t let you do this,” he replied, his voice hard as steel.
“Watch us.” Taliyah’s voice was cold as ice. Quite a pair they made just then, both unwilling to bend.
Gwen watched her sisters disappear up the stairs. To capture the innocent females, to hurt her man. Well, not her man. Not anymore. But she realized she had a choice to make. Allow things to play out as they were, or stop her sisters, maybe hurting them in the process, and take matters into her own hands.
“Gwen,” Torin said, jolting her. “You can’t let them do this.”
“But I love them.” They’d always been there for her. They’d forgiven her so easily for spilling their secrets. They’d even tried to protect her from her own memories. To do this…
“The men will fight to the death to protect those females. And if your sisters do manage to defeat them—which is a big if since they aren’t operating at full strength—it’ll mean war between the Lords and the Harpies.”
Yes, it would.
“It will divide the warriors here, because I suspect Sabin will choose you. And that will make us vulnerable to the Hunters. They’ll have the advantage. If they don’t already. I haven’t been able to reach Lucien all day. Not Strider, Anya, or any of the others who went to Chicago, either. That’s not like them, and I’m afraid something’s happened to them. I need Sabin to go look for them, but he’s stuck here, fighting.”
Her first thought? She hoped the Lords in Chicago were okay. Her second? Sabin, choose her? Not likely. “He could have had my help, but he doesn’t trust me.”
“He trusts you. He just used that as an excuse to protect you. Even I know that, and I’m not that close to him.” Heavy pause, breath crackling. “Well, you’d better make a decision fast because your sisters are indeed carrying guns and are closing in on their targets.”
SABIN CROUCHED in the shadows. Kane was at his left, Cameo at his right; they were loaded down with enough weapons to take out a small country. Sadly, that might not be enough for the coming battle.
Hunters were everywhere. Coming out of shops, striding down the sidewalks, eating at outdoor cafés. Like flies, they swarmed and buzzed and annoyed the h.e.l.l out of him.There were average-looking women, the bulge of knives and guns giving them away. Tall, muscled men who looked like they’d just come from war and were eager for another were positioned on the rooftops of buildings, gazing down at the town’s happenings. Beside them, to Sabin’s dismay, were children, ranging in age from roughly eight to eighteen. Sabin had already watched one of those teens walk through a wall. Walk through it, as if it weren’t even there.
What could the others do?
He was outmanned, and he knew it. And even as depraved as he was, he also knew he wouldn’t hurt the kids. Hunters had probably banked on that. Could have used a Harpy right about now.
His fingers curled tightly around his guns, his bones brittle. Don’t go there. He’d been surveying the scene for a while, trying to decide, to work up a plan. Rather than feeling empowered, though, he felt more helpless than ever. He just didn’t know what to do.
The worst part was that he’d left Gwen locked up—looked like he was going there, after all—and so another battle awaited him at home. Stupid. He’d allowed his concern for her to overrule his common sense. That was the danger of softening toward a woman. Emotions screwed with your thought processes, made you do stupid things. But he couldn’t go back for her, apologize and ask for her aid. He’d hurt her sisters. Loyal and loving as they were with each other, she would never be able to forgive him.