When she straightened, Thorne reached out for her, but she took a step back. “Have a nice life.”
Lina turned and headed for the door, but Thorne’s unexpected laughter froze her in her tracks. She whirled to face him. “What’s so funny?”
A trickle of blood streamed down his chin as he struggled to his feet. Sliding his hands in his pockets, he sauntered toward her. “Just that this makes my job a whole lot easier.”
His cryptic words gave her pause. “What does that mean?”
“You’re not leaving.”
“Like hell I’m not.”
He suddenly slid one hand out of his pocket and lunged for her arm. She twisted, wrenching out of his grasp. Kicking out with one foot, she buckled his left leg out from under him. But he grabbed onto the sleeve of her jacket as he fell, and his other hand jerked out of his pocket. She saw the syringe a split second before he jabbed it through her shirt and into her stomach, dispensing the contents into her body.
“What the fuck?” Lina backhanded Thorne, and he went skidding backward along the carpeted floor. She jerked the syringe out of her stomach, but when she tried to take a step forward, her vision narrowed, and her legs refused to move. She crashed to the ground, but her body didn’t even process the pain. It felt as if she’d landed on pillow of clouds.
“What…did you do?” she gasped.
“Sorry, but you’ll be sleeping for a while,” he said, scrambling to his feet and walking over to her. “That huge payout I told you about? See, you’re part of the whole scheme.”
“You bastard,” she choked out, even though a heavy buzzing sound had begun roaring in her ears and her vision was slowly going darker and darker. A feeling of euphoria rose in her body, making her feel like she was soaring in midair. The experience was familiar…far too familiar.
Holy hell, he’d drugged her. He’d injected her with score. And based on the sensations spider-webbing through her entire body, it had been a super large dose, big enough that consciousness spiraled further and further out of her reach.
“Bet you’re wishing you hadn’t refused me now,” he muttered.
She made a grab for his leg. Her hand closed around the hem of his jeans, but then he wrenched himself back out of her reach.
“You better hope I don’t wake up,” she managed to slur. “Because if I do…you’re dead.”
He might have said something in response, but she didn’t hear it. A low, wawawa sound filled her ears, and then everything went dark.
Chapter Thirteen
The last rays of evening light illuminated Keegan’s living room, casting shadows along the furniture and walls. Dagan paced in the opposite direction as Ronin, though they avoided each other’s gaze when they periodically crossed paths in the middle. Thanks to their uber healing ability, neither of them bore any marks from their earlier all-out scuffle. At least, not any physical ones.
“Where is she?” Ronin muttered.
He clearly didn’t expect a response, since it was obvious Dagan had no idea where Lina had gone, but Dagan answered anyway. “I don’t know.”
After Lina had stormed out of her apartment, Ronin had continued to beat Dagan’s ass for another couple of minutes before pulling back to drop a bombshell on him. The Council was going to order their deportation back to Infernum.
What else could go wrong right now?
The news had left Dagan more shaken than he cared to admit. If they were deported, Lina, Brynn, Aegin, and Amara would be left unprotected. Subject to Mammon’s cruel whim.
Even though Dagan had been the sole brother to escape capture by Mammon shortly before they had taken him down, he still bore the mental scars of that event. The knowledge that Mammon had systematically torn his brothers down, then forced them to heal so they could be tortured again and again…he fought nausea every time he thought of it. Especially since it brought back memories of that fateful night when they’d fled their father’s house, back when Dagan had been no more than a teenager.
After a few hours of blissful escape, which he spent walking the streets with some friends, Dagan forced himself to go back home. His heart pounded, as it always did when he returned, because he never knew what he’d find. Mammon had been in a horrible mood when he’d left earlier…once again angered by something Ronin had done. Everything Ronin did pissed Mammon off.
He stepped inside the house, to the sound of violent screams. His stomach knotted into a ball. Ronin again. Mammon must be tearing into him, and this beating sounded particularly vicious. He raced to Keegan and Taeg’s room, but as he expected, they were still out doing whatever stupid assignment Mammon had given them this morning. Which meant it was up to him to stop the brutality he was hearing.