Forbidden (Blood Ties #7)

It wasn’t Hale. I slowly exhaled. No communication was just as fucking terrifying as him reaching out from beyond the grave.

I typed back.Confirmed.

Then I slowly turned my head to the unconscious woman in my apartment. I needed to do something about her. But what?

Beep.

I looked down.

Kane: Bring more drugs and guns.

War was coming, one I wasn’t prepared for because we didn’t have a side we stood on.No.We stood on our own. I turned and headed for my bedroom, then flicked on the light in the bathroom.

Sparse.

Empty.

Stark white tiles made me wince as I strode to the vanity and yanked open the mirrored cabinet door. Bottles and bottles of drugs lined the shelves, enough to start a small clinic. I turned to glance over my shoulder—or knock out a woman I had in my home.

Right now, my brother needed them. I grabbed what I could, as well as fresh needles and more bandages and antiseptic, gathering it all in my arms. Glass bottles clinked as I tossed them on the bed before I went to my closet and grabbed a black pack and loaded them all inside. Guns were next, some of the ones hidden behind the wall in my bedroom. Just one of the many stashes I had throughout the apartment.

I grabbed as many as I could, securing them and a lot of loaded magazines into the bag, and headed out. I never looked back when I pulled the door closed, just headed for the elevator, glancing at the locked stairwell door that I held the only key for. I pressed the code into the keypad and waited for the elevator. The penthouse was as secure as any locked room at The Order. One way in andno way out.

The doors opened with a swoosh, so I stepped in and headed for the garage.

Why hadn’t she screamed?

The thought nagged at me as the elevator jolted to a stop and the doors opened. I stepped out and headed to my Audi parked just outside the access door. Lights flashed as I pressed the key fob, opened the door, and stowed the bag inside. But I didn’t climb behind the wheel, not yet. I moved around to the front to check the grill and the bumper. There was barely a scratch…almost like it’d never happened.

My gaze went to the elevator. I fought the need to go back up there, to make sure she wasn’t some figment of my sick imagination. I licked my lips and could still taste the faint trace of her perfume. No, she was no illusion. She was very…very real.

The heavy thud of my pulse came louder before I turned, pulled open the driver’s door, and climbed in behind the wheel. She would have to wait. I started the car and pulled out of the almost empty garage, heading back onto the city streets.

The rectory.

I’d told them not to go there.

But did they listen?

No.

They didn’t.

Just like I’d told them to clear out and lie low until we got confirmation about Hale’s whereabouts. Because weneededthat confirmation. One fucking message. That’s all it’d take. One more lead. One more opportunity.

Because he was still out there.

I drove the back streets, watching the rear-view mirror the whole way, and turned at the towering sandstone structure of St. Augustine’s Church. My brother’s black Mercedes was parked across the driveway to the rectory out back. I clenched my jaw, then pulled in behind it and killed the engine.

“Idiots,” I muttered as I climbed out, grabbed the bag, and headed for the door. One hardthudwhileI snapped. “It’s me.”

The heavy locks opened with aclunkbefore the door cracked open. I pushed inside, not giving a fuck when the door smacked into Kane’s arm. He fucking deserved that and a lot more. “Where is he?”

“In the back,” my brother snarled, pissed.

Good.

That made two of us.