But could I do it? Could I bring myself to stab him?
He deserved it, more than anyone.
But I remembered the feeling of having to plunge that very same blade into Brittany. The look of unbridled horror on her face. Having to watch the life leave her eyes. Knowing I was responsible.
The air left my lungs as I drew up my ankle.
Blaine’s whole body suddenly went rigid, his lips pulling away from mine.
Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.
Chapter 32
Going To Hell
A low, guttural sneer emanated from the back of his throat. “You never fail to disappoint.” The primal frenzy brewing behind Blaine’s eyes vanished in a blink, replaced by a cold, calculating mask, wicked smile and all.
The shadow lingering in the doorway shifted, and every inch of me went as stiff as Blaine as I peered over his shoulder.
Adam.
Gun readied and aimed, he faltered back a step at the sight of me. At the sight of me with my legs wrapped around Blaine’s body. My hand tangled in his hair. At the heavy, panting breaths exchanged between us.
“Reynolds, how lovely of you to join us,” jeered Blaine, not even bothering to look over at him. He had known Adam was there the moment he entered the room. “Sorry, love, but the fun’s over.”
His hands fell away as I disentangled myself from him.
Adam’s face was paralyzed in a hundred different degrees of confusion. “Kat…?”
The sound of my name on his tongue seemed to make Blaine visibly ill, because his breathing hitched as he finally took his eyes off me and looked over his shoulder.
Adam clearly didn’t realize it had been Blaine, because recognition hit him like a bucket of ice water being dumped over his head. His grip tightened as he snapped the barrel of his gun back at eye level.
But Blaine was faster. One moment I was pressed against the wall, the next I was pried forward, only to be thrown back against the taut muscles of Blaine’s chest and torso. He was using my body as a shield between him and Adam. “Easy there, Wyatt Earp. Wouldn’t want something to happen to this little vixen now, would we?” He only had one arm wrapped around me, but it was enough to pin my hands down to my sides. Blaine teased the skin on my neck with the very tips of his fingers, and goosebumps perforated down my entire nape as I wrestled against him. He was too strong.
And Adam’s eyes missed nothing. Blaine’s sleeve was still rolled up to his elbow, displaying every last rune. He looked back to me, and his aim shifted…right to the center of my chest. “How do I know you haven’t already?”
He thought I’d been turned. And as horrified as I was, I still couldn’t blame him. Not after what he just saw.
“Adam, please,” I barely muttered, breathless as tears poured from my eyes.
“Come on, Reynolds. Can’t you see you’re scaring her?” Blaine mocked, burying a laugh into my ear.
His head perched right over my shoulder, and I shivered at the contact, the intimacy he possessed as he trailed soft kisses up the side of my neck.
Adam must have seen the unreserved panic in my eyes, because his aim fixed back to Blaine’s head as I pleaded for him to shoot.
Blaine merely clicked his tongue. “Awww, that’s not very nice.”
“Let her go,” ordered Adam. “Let her go, and I’ll let you walk away.”
“Oh, okay.” Blaine started to loosen his grip on me, and I prepared to bolt, only to have his arm tighten around me again. He laughed. “Is that the same promise your old man made poor little Casey? That he’d let her ‘walk away’?”
Adam’s stance suddenly faltered, and his name was all I could manage to utter, seeing his jaw tighten. What was he talking about?
“Yeah, Reynolds, why don’t you educate dear Kat here on the finer points of how your beloved pack takes care of business?” A low growl emitted from Blaine’s throat as his mouth found its way back to my neck. “Tell her all about how your father’s cronies staged Casey’s death so that she looked like she’d been attacked by the same person who killed that Felicia girl.”
“He’s lying,” Adam finally snarled.
“Am I?” Blaine laughed, but it didn’t have a hint of amusement. “’Cause I seem to remember things differently—”
“Don’t listen to him.”
“But it’s such a good story,” Blaine further prodded. “See, poor Casey had an asthma attack a few days before her untimely demise. Unfortunately, paramedics didn’t make it to her in time, but thankfully a dear friend of mine did, after the fact.”
“Don’t—”
“But,” Blaine annunciated, “he didn’t turn her. Not yet. Sadly, word somehow got back to Reynolds’s buddies that she may have been a possible Changeling. And I have a pretty good feeling you know how the rest of this goes.” He could feel the tension leaving me as I fell limp in place. His arm coddled me closer. “That’s right. Daddy Dearest just couldn’t stand the risk of having another Hellhound walking around that he’d rather order her death sentence than bother trying to keep her safe.”