Free Awaken Me Darkly by Gena Showalter Page B

Hands against the wall.”
    With a long, drawn-out sigh—hell, she was acting like a martyr here—she did as I’d commanded.
    “Do you care so little for your life, Miss Snow? My brother will find me, and when he does, you will suffer greatly for all you have put me through.”
    “Story of my life. He’ll have to take a number.” My motions expeditious and efficient, I frisked her with one hand while holding my gun at her temple with the other. I found a sharp little blade strapped to her inner thigh.
    “Are you enjoying yourself?” she asked as I confiscated the weapon.
    “More than you know.” I holstered my weapon and banded her wrists behind her back.
    She protested weakly but allowed me to lead her back upstairs and outside without fighting. I kept one hand on her arm as we trekked up a hill. The snow was deeper than I remembered, and with every step, powder shifted onto my boot tops, freezing my toes.
    The closer we came to the warehouse, the more she talked about her brother. On and on she went. “He will kill you,” she threatened. “Kyrin has killed more humans than any of our kind,” she boasted. By the time we reached Dallas, I longed to cut off my ears and give them to anyone who would take them, just so I wouldn’t have to hear another word about her brother.
    I gazed around expectantly, and discovered Ghost and Kittie were missing. Only Dallas remained, with Hudson situated in the back seat of our car. Dallas leaned against the door with his arms crossed.
    His eyes shot daggers at me while Hudson, who was inside with his hands still banded behind him, valiantly tried to remove the blue tape covering his mouth by rubbing his face against the headrest in front of him.
    I raised a brow in curiosity.
    Dallas shrugged. “He was too chatty.”
    “Kyrin will—”
    “Oh, for God’s sake,” I said, cutting Lilla off. “Shut the hell up and get into the car.”
    Dallas commanded the door to open, and I stuffed Lilla inside. A bulletproof shield separated the front and back compartments, so I had no fear she’d try to jump into the driver’s seat and speed off without us. When the door slammed shut, locking her in next to Hudson, I glanced up at Dallas. “Where are the others?”
    “They took the women in for questioning.”
    “They shouldn’t have left without my permission.”
    “Your permission?” Dallas laughed, the sound cruel and laced with rage. “Who gives a shit about your permission right now? What the hell were you thinking in there? That you knew better than we did?
    You took each goddamn room by yourself.” His tirade echoed through the darkness, as black and lethal as the night. “Not only is it dangerous, it’s stupid. You could have gotten us all killed.”
    I had to swallow my first reply, the truth. He wouldn’t acknowledge the fact that he was as susceptible to death as every human, that he was only a mortal, not a superhero, without serious damage to his ego. So I simply leaned against the car and said, “I have my reasons.”
    “That’s it?” he barked, incredulous. “That’s all you have to say?”
    “Look, you did your job, and I did mine. It worked out. So drop it.”
    “No, Mia.” He slammed his fist on the hood of the car, then leaned down until his breath mingled with mine. “I did not do my job. You wouldn’t let me.”
    Scowling, I shouldered him out of my way and took my seat inside the vehicle.
    Dallas remained outside for what seemed an eternity. Finally, he plopped into the driver’s seat and said, “I’ve already phoned Pagosa. He’s waiting for us at the station.” His tone was distant, the way he’d speak to a hated ex-wife.
    He was pissed, yes, and felt betrayed. While I hated the distance between us, I’d rather deal with those emotions than with his death.

    I gripped the tops of my thighs. Heavy silence filled the car as we wound down the roads. Blissful silence. And in that silence, a thought occurred to me. I almost grinned. Dawn