Forbidden (Blood Ties #7)

But we’dneverbeaten them.

We never hurt them.

Not physically, at least.

But these…relentless savage bastards were something else.

Thud.

The sound of the door reached me through the trees. But I was already surging forward, desperate for the darkness…and to think. I had to find a way out of this. Not only did I need a plan to find Hale’s black site and our sister, I needed to figure out what to do with the woman hidden in our apartment. The one under Coulter’s nose.

The one who could bring us all down.

With one…shrill…scream.

TWENTY-TWO

Helene

“We don’t go anywhere,not until he returns,” Kane announced, sounding pissed off. “You know that, so stop acting like a terrified child and grow the hell up.”

“And what happens when this all goes to hell?” Thomas stumbled toward his brother, his eyes filled with pain and anger. “What then, we just forget about her? We forget about our Goddamn sister? We leave now and we might have half a chance with The Hunter. We find every lead…and we…”

I’d been listening to them fight for hours, sitting on the floor, my hands cuffed over my head around the damn steel pipe for the heater. Everyclangof the steel cuffs drew their gaze, but only for a second before they were back at it, bickering and fighting like…brothers.

“I’m not going to even dignifythatremark with a response.” Kane glared at him, the corner of his eye twitching. “If you weren’t so hurt, I’d—”

“You gonnabeat me, brother?”Thomas sneered. “You’ve never raised your hands. No, you like to guilt trip, and ridicule until you get your way. You like to—”

Click.

The external door cracked open as Riven stepped inside, glancing over his shoulder to the forest before he yanked the door closed behind him.

His face was flushed, cheeks burning bright red, and his breaths were panting, just like he’d been running.

“What is it?” Kane asked, glancing at the door.

But Riven said nothing, just strode past his brothers, grabbed a bottle of Scotch, and poured himself a drink. Kane scowled and Thomas looked nervous, even more than he was before, as Riven swallowed the drink and swiped the back of his hand across his mouth.

“We train them tomorrow.” He looked strange, focused on a spot on the floor between us, like it took all his strength not to meet my gaze as those words hit me like a blow to my stomach.

“Tomorrow?” I whispered.

Only then did he lift those dark eyes and meet mine.

There was something different about them, a kind of horror screaming inside him, one he refused to unleash.

I knew exactly what he meant by ‘train them’. He’d break them down, force them to their knees. He’d make them…make them…he’d make them take his cock. He’d fuck them, use them. They all would.

I winced, trying my best to swallow my revulsion as I glared at Kane. He stood frozen, his skin pale. One shake of his head said it all. “We can’t.”

“We don’t have a goddamn choice,” Riven answered coldly.

“We leave.” Thomas finally said the words caught in his throat. “We take our chances with the information we have.”

“Thomas,” Kane warned.

But it was too late. Rage coiled in Riven’s stare, dangerous and hungry. He jerked his gaze toward Thomas and strode toward him. “You want to leave?” He grabbed him by the shirt, and drove him toward the door, before slamming his fist against the handle and shoving it wide. Cold night air rushed in as Thomas stumbled at the doorway.