The Forbidden Trilogy(266)

Then his tale whipped back around a tent and dragged Hunter out. He pulled Hunter against his chest, blade to neck. "Kill her, or watch him die."

Lucy hesitated. The choice between Hunter and Simmons would be an easy one, even if that act did send her down a dark road. But that wasn't the choice she was forced to consider.

Without Simmons, Lucy had no way of getting close enough to Steele to stop him. He wanted Simmons, and she could strip him of power and end this all. If Lucy saved Hunter, how many more would die for her choice? If she saved him, and they lost their only chance to take Steele down, would any of them survive?

"You've been commanded to kill us, haven't you? To kill us and bring Simmons back."

He couldn't answer her, but his eyes could not hide the truth. He was about to snap. He couldn't resist his compulsion much longer, but he at least wanted Simmons dead first—a small victory, maybe his last.

"This should be an easy choice for you," he said. "The man you love or the woman you hate."

She did love Hunter. Oh, my God, I love him so much. Even when he'd kept her sphere without telling her, she loved him. He'd fought to save her life, willing to give up his life to the sphere to do it. He'd saved her so many times, and more than that, he'd filled her with something she'd never had before, something pure and beautiful.

She pointed the gun at Simmons, finger on the trigger.

Simmons raised her hands and backed away. "Lucy, please don't do it. I can help you. I can help those kids. Your best friend and her baby—they'll die without me."

Bitch. Stop talking. Her hand shook from the stress. What should she do? There were no right choices here. None.

"Lucy." Hunter's eyes pleaded with her. "We need her. Both of you, run now!"

Sam. Ana. All those kids. She looked at Hunter, his green eyes glowing with his power, slitted like a cat. She needed him, wanted him, couldn't be the reason he died.

Her gun shook again, and she steadied it and pulled the trigger a fraction, staring into Simmons's eyes. They filled with tears and her lip trembled. To kill someone in cold blood, even to save another.... Could she do it? Could she risk what that would mean to her friends and to the world?

There had to be another way.

She locked eyes with Hunter, and he nodded.

She said a quick, silent prayer... and threw the pulsing sphere at him.





Chapter 124 - Drake



Drake stared at the broken vials on the floor as they leaked purple fluids in the hairline cracks in the cement floor. His entire plan depended on those drugs. He stuck his hand in the liquid and sucked it off his fingers, hoping even a small bit would give him some powers. A spark moved through him, looking for a foothold, but died out before it could flare to life.

The emptiness returned, and with it, hopelessness.

Sam. What had Steele done to her? He'd clearly taken control of her mind, made her his puppet. With this drug Drake could've mind-controlled her, tried to save her and Ana. Now he had nothing. No hope of saving them.

Sam sneered at him. "So pathetic."

Drake couldn't argue with her on that.

Her black boot nudged him none too gently. "Get up."

He faced her but didn't stand. "Sam, you have to fight this. He doesn't control you."

Her face contorted into fear, then concern. "Drake...." Her voice penetrated his mind but then disappeared, along with any recognition or awareness. "You're right, he doesn't control me. I follow my father because he is right. Power should go to the people who deserve it, not scum like you."

"Sam, that's not—"

She kicked him in the groin hard. Pain splintered his mind in half, and he had the passing thought that Ana may be the only child he'd ever have after that damage.

Sam didn't seem to care, and it killed him to think he might have lost her forever.

"I said get up."

Drake groaned and pulled himself up. From the corner of his eye he saw Robyn, still in Grunt form, charge Sam.

Electricity filled the room and a zap of light sent Robyn tumbling backward into the wall.

Sam waved her finger like a pre-school teacher—a scary, psycho pre-school teacher. "Nah, ah, ah. Misbehavior will not be tolerated."

What the hell? How was she able to do that? She didn't have that kind of power, unless.... "Steele gave you more powers."

Sam's macabre smile grew. "Aren't you a clever boy? He did give me powers, temporary ones only, but that will change once I make Daddy proud. Although, even with all this power, it's nice to have backup." She pulled a gun from her back. "Move."

Drake walked toward the door, but Robyn glared at Sam and stood her ground. "I'm not going."

Sam laughed. "What? Poor, stuttering I'm-too-scared-to-get-my-blanket-back Robyn is finally standing up for herself? This is good."