Page 107 of Resolve
“I’m fine. Let’s go kill this fucker.”
I squeeze his hand, and he flinches, pulling his hand away. “Dane?”
“It’s nothing.”
I’m still piecing myself back together, so I don’t chase his hand. I hold mine out for it instead and wait for him to show me. He makes a face—like he’d really prefer not showing me—which only makes me want to see it more. Finally, he turns his hand over and reveals the bloody, tattered state of his hand.
I gasp, reaching for his wrist. “Dane!”
He pulls it out of reach and takes my hand with his other one. “You can look at it after this bastard’s dead.”
Aiden nods his agreement. “Kell—”
“I’ll take point. You cover the back,” Kellan growls, moving in front. Aiden shifts his whip sword into a shield as tall as him and three times as wide. It curves a bit overhead for added protection until I think he’s out of metal.
We move down one aisle of cages. The people inside are crashing and slamming their bodies into the metal. Even through the noise, I can hear James’s voice as clearly as if he’s speaking directly in my head.
“You think you’ve fooled anyone, Dane? You should know better than anyone here. Grief is wearing a mask and telling the world you’re fine when inside you’re rotting. The more you tell yourself and those around you that everything is okay, the worse it gets. The more the rot festers.”
Dane scowls.
“Don’t let him get to you,” Aiden orders. “He’ll say anything to keep us distracted.”
“We wouldn't want that, Aiden,” James’s voice echoes in our minds, giving us no clear direction for where he is. “You’ve already lost so many Guild members in this fight against GE. I’m not sure you could handle one more. It’s a wonder anyone still follows you when you’ve failed at protecting your people over and over again.”
A gunshot fires. Kellan widens his stance to block us. The bullet clinks to the ground.
“Good save, Kellan. You think you’ve become stronger now, but it’s still not enough to defeat Charles. As long as he has your gift, strength will never be enough. You won’t be able to protect them all. You’re cursed to watch the others fall while only you survive.”
“Oh yeah? Try saying that to my face, you coward,” he snarls. “We’ll see what words you have when I’m ripping your throat out.”
There’s another gunshot that strikes Aiden’s shield with a hardtink.
Each fire of the gun catapults my heart into my throat as I wait to hear where the bullet lands. If I’ll feel it or hear someone I love cry out in pain.
I won’t let that happen.
Stopping, I send my gift through my feet to the floor, burying it beneath the surface to not give myself away. Dane and Aiden pause with me. It takes them only a second to realize what I’m doing as I seek out James. He can hide all he likes in the dark, but my gift will find and destroy him nonetheless.
James laughs. “You can try, Raegan, but you forget that I can hear your fears. What if you accidentally get Reid or Jack instead?” Metalrattles. “What if you kill all these innocent people?”
Fuck. He’s hanging onto the cages.
“You really are becoming too dangerous to live... like Charles said. How long until you get so strong that you lose control? Until your gift becomes so hungry to devour everything in its path that you can’t stop it? Until it kills the friends you’ve made. The men you love. You think you’re a good person, but you’re a villain in the making. All I have to do is kill one of the people in this room, and it’ll be enough to set you off. You’ll lose control of your gift, and all the people trapped in cages will die. All the innocent lives in the hospital above us will die. There will be no more redemption. Only feeding the world to your gift until it’s satisfied.”
My chest tightens as he gives voice to all my fears, making them feel more real. No, not just real.
Inevitable.
“Enough! Pick on me, asshole!” Dane shouts.
“They should kill you now to save the world while they still can. You’re going to be the end of it.”
“Raegan.” Aiden draws my face to look at his. “What did I say?”
“Don’t let him get to you,” I repeat on a breathless whisper.
“Good. You let him get to you again, and I’ll have Reid pull you out of here.”
