Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 88849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
I clamped my eyes shut. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t lie to me. I know something huge just happened. What was it? Tell me, Shay.”
“Kellan, there was no—”
“Tell me!” he yelled.
My eyes popped open, shocked. “Why do you think something’s wrong?”
“I just know, Shay. What happened?”
“Matt called me. He threatened me.”
Kellan was quiet on the other end for a minute. “That’s it? Matt scared you?”
“How do you know I was scared?”
“I felt it.”
He felt it? I couldn’t feel him, but Kellan might never get scared though. “How did you feel it?”
“I just did. It was Matt?”
“Yes.” I whispered the word because I felt as if I signed over his death warrant. I should’ve held strong and not said a word, but Kellan had gotten a sniff. He was like a bloodhound on a trail. He wouldn’t have let up until I’d given something to him, and I wasn’t going to tell him about the voice. Something in me clamped steel walls around that secret. No one was going to be told that secret. If they tried, they’d have to kill me first. Then I wondered, as I realized how strong my conviction was, why I was willing to die for a voice inside my head? It was an ally, but why did I need an ally? Who was I at war with?
I turned my car around. Kellan was going after Matt, and no matter how evil Matt was, he was still human. Something inside told me painting would wait. This was the right thing to do, which was ironic. It was dark out when I turned my car down Matt’s driveway, and I knew my brother was there. I felt his anger in the air. It surged everywhere, and then it switched dramatically.
Kellan knew I was there, too.
When I turned my car off around a bend on the driveway, where my car wouldn’t be seen from the road or home, I wasn’t surprised when Kellan stepped out from the woods. The driveway was a mile long, and it was cloaked by the forest.
“You came to do this yourself?” His voice seemed to glide toward me.
Shivers went down my back. “I came to stop you. I know what you’re going to do.”
“He’s a problem. He threatened a Braden.”
“Kellan.” I sighed.
He stepped closer. “He threatened you.”
“And if Giuseppa had been threatened?”
“She’d do it herself. He’d already be dead.”
I swallowed a tight knot in my throat. “Kellan, you can’t kill him.”
“Why not? They’d kill us.”
“With due reason. We’re not exactly normal…things.”
He was bored. “Let’s get it done. I still have to get over to Leah’s unless those two did the deed for me.”
That wouldn’t surprise me. “You can go. I’ll deal with Matt—go handle Leah’s dad. You’re the one who said you’d do it.”
“Deal with me? How are you going to deal with me?” Matt asked from behind us. We whirled around. I was shocked, but Kellan had a feral grin on his face. He’d known Matt was there, had probably been following him, and then came out when my car stopped. That was when I narrowed my eyes. “I thought you were drunk.”
Matt shrugged. “I was. I’m not anymore. Does it matter?”
Kellan smirked. “I wanted him sober. I want him to feel what’s going to happen to him.”
Matt didn’t react. He didn’t seem fazed at all, even scared. There was a zombie look in his eyes as he swayed on his feet.
“You put him in a trance?”
“I did what I had to do. He was passed out in his own piss. I took him out, cleaned him up, and now he’s ready to wake up.”
I closed my eyes and groaned. “Don’t wake him up.”
“I thought you didn’t want him in a trance.”
“You know what I mean.” If Matt woke up, then Kellan really would have to do something with him. He’d find himself in his driveway with us, sober. I wouldn’t want him to make his own assumptions as to how he got there.
“Trance or no trance. What do you want, Shay? Choose.”
“I’m choosing for you to shut up.”
“Just,” he seethed. “Watch your powers. I don’t enjoy being silenced.”
“Okay…” I looked at Matt, who’d been standing there. He looked from one to the other, but the look on his face made me twitch inside. He trusted us. It was similar to a child’s trust in their parent. “Kellan, leave.”
“No.” He moved to stand in front of Matt.
“I mean it.” I touched his shoulder, but drew back, surprised. His muscles were tight, clenched together. That was when I felt a force within my brother that I’d never noticed before. I knew he was darker than the others, but this was the first time that I felt it.
It didn’t sit well with me.
He didn’t move.
“Kellan. I mean it.”
“No, Shay. I know what you’re going to do. You don’t want me to hurt him, so you’ll promise me the moon right now. You’ll say something about you doing it yourself, and you’re going to try to distract me with Leah, that I should be helping her instead. It won’t work. I know all you’ll do is try to wipe his memory. For someone who doesn’t use her powers, you’re dangerous, even to humans.”