Page 17 of Knight’s Absolution

But each day the torture grew worse, the demons taking him closer and closer to death.

Somehow, he had to make her fall in love with him all over again.

Before it was too late.

CHAPTER 5

Gunner woke the same way he had for the last four months—that scream of agony ringing through his mind. His heart was racing, gut gripped tight, but now with this…shit, this added sense of urgency, of fear that he couldn’t shake.

Pale violet eyes flashed through his mind, and he sucked in a startled breath, rubbing his face. Christ, he recognized those eyes, but why were they in his head?

What in the fuck was going on?

Adrenaline pumped through him, making his barely awake limbs tremble as he climbed out of bed. Christ, he was shaking from it. His body wanted to explode into action, was preparing to fight, preparing for something, but had nowhere to go.

His hands continued to shake as he showered and dressed, and by the time he headed down to the first-floor training rooms, tension vibrated through him relentlessly.

He tried to shake it off, to ignore it.

He and his brothers usually trained on Wednesday, and the way Silas and Lazarus usually went at it, he wanted to be there to make sure they didn’t kill each other. He ignored the way his muscles twitched and his back itched with the urge to let loose his wings and take to the skies.

But he had no fucking destination. This feeling had no outlet.

When he walked into the training room, there was no sign of Silas. What he did find, though, was a furious Grace, with Eve, Mia, and Meredith at her side, all facing off against their mates.

“Now what?” Gunner muttered, not in the mood for this right fucking now.

Grace thrust her phone at him, and his muscles spasmed when he read the message. Another text from Grace’s friend. At least from her phone.

His stomach gripped tighter. Coincidence? That he’d woken this morning with that female in his head?

You don’t believe in coincidences.

He quickly scanned the message.

Goth Girl: You’re not looking hard enough.

Gunner frowned as that sense of urgency increased to almost unbearable proportions, as fire burned through his muscles and gut, urging him to go…somewhere, right fucking now. “Why the fuck doesn’t whoever’s sending these just tell us how the fuck to find her?” he growled out.

“I don’t think it’s that easy,” Grace said. “We know these demons are capable of blocking themselves. Hiding in plain sight. That has to be what’s happening now.”

Gunner drew in a rough breath, trying to calm the hell down. “Yeah, I agree, but we can’t force them out of hiding. Christ, we were probably on top of them last night. Why didn’t they attack?”

“They didn’t want us there,” Chaos said. “Whatever they’re hiding, it’s important and not something they want us to find.”

“I can find them,” Eve said, hands planted on her hips, gaze locked on her mate. “I know I can.”

“No,” Lazarus growled out. “There’s not one fucking chance in hell you’re going anywhere near that place.”

Eve took a deep breath, her gaze not wavering. “My feet don’t even need to touch the ground. You can carry me, fly above them.”

Kryos eyed Lazarus’s mate. “You think you can get into their heads, even through whatever’s blocking them?”

“No,” Laz said with more force this time.

“You’ve seen me work, Kryos. You’ve seen me interrogate them. My powers are so much stronger now,” Eve said, ignoring Lazarus completely. “I want to at least give it a try. If I can help this female, I need to do it.”

“I could come as well,” Mia said. “If for some reason you have to get closer, I could hold them back…”