CHAPTER 28

P lease, don’t fuckin’ leave me.” Gray’s desperate pleading cut through the silence in the room. His forehead pressed against mine, and the heat of his breath fanned across my skin. Fingers curled into my hair as he held me close. “I need you…”

I need you too.

“Untie me?” I rasped, my throat raw and burning. Fuck, that wire around my neck had done a number on my vocal cords. I could barely get the words out.

“Oh, Jesus fuck.” He let out a sigh of relief as his lips crashed into mine. “You’re okay… you’re okay…”

I wasn’t okay.

“I thought I fuckin’ lost you,” Gray continued. Me too.

“How?” I managed to ask. God, it hurt to fucking talk. Those honey-chocolate eyes searched mine. I’d never been so grateful to see his face in my life .

“Don’t talk,” he ordered. He removed the knife from my boot. “I got you, baby. I got you. We need to get you the hell out of here.”

As he rushed through cutting me out of the ropes, my gaze drifted over the room while I tried to get my bearings. Black walls, wooden floors, no windows, bodies crumpled on the floor.

Sirens, not humans.

And not a single sign of my power. I felt it nestled deep inside me, slumbering and quiet. Thank fuck. I was numb head-to-toe and shaking as the ropes fell away. I couldn’t feel a damn thing—not even Gray.

It’d come back. That much I knew.

“Come on,” Gray whispered. His hands hovered close as I stood and wavered. When he tried to wrap an arm around me, I stepped back. I didn’t want help. I just wanted out of there. Taking the cue, he led the way. “Keep fuckin’ goin’, baby. You got this.”

I didn’t fucking have anything. My legs were jelly, and my whole body shook violently. I had pains in places I couldn’t remember being hit.

And under it all, the numbness of my power began to fade. I did my best to rebuild my walls, but fuck, I was too tired. Fear. Anger. Confusion. Apprehension. The list went on and on, each one slamming into me the closer we got to the side exit. I wanted to crawl into a fucking hole and stay there.

Every body we passed was a siren. No humans. Thank fuck there were no humans. I hadn’t killed anyone.

I hoped I hadn’t killed anyone.

The screeching of emergency vehicles greeted us when Gray shoved open the door. The twinge of panic I felt came from him. If cops were on their way and we had to talk to them, there was a good chance my father would figure out where I was. There was no way he didn’t know about my short and questionable appearance in the greenhouse.

How the fuck had Gray pulled me back?

“Ryder!” Tessa exclaimed as we rounded the building outside. I groaned when she flung her arms around me. Mal and Jake were right behind her. I gave my brother a tight smile, unable to give anything more.

The parking lot was packed with civilians standing around—confused and out of sorts. I caught tidbits of conversations from where we stood. Black smoke. Dead strippers. Prisoners. It was a fucking mess.

I’d made a fucking mess.

“You two need to get out of here,” she said, her tone distressed. “You can’t get caught, Ryder.”

“I know,” I tried to say but couldn’t get the words out of my aching throat. “I—”

“Go, go, go!” Mal interrupted. Before I could move, my little brother grabbed me and pulled me in for a tight hug. “Boise. There’s a diner. I’ll text you. Now, get the fuck out of here!”

“Come on.” Gray took my hand and gave it a small tug. I followed him, getting the hell out of there because what else was I supposed to do?