Page 37 (1/2)

When she didn’t reply, Ben shook his head, chuckling "Well, you’ve really fucked up, Tess It’s out of my hands now"

With that, his arood on his earlier threat Tess wailed as her friend was dropped, lifeless, to the floor Ben and one of his corabbed Tess before she could reach out for Nora--before she had even aher with her touch They carried her away froht the was futile In moments, Tess found herself on the floor of one of her exam rooms, then heard the metallic click of the lock as Ben shut her inside to await her fate

Nikolai drove like a bat out of hell, speeding the Breed’s black SUV through the city at a breakneck pace The tes fly past through the dark, UV-tinted as teht Dante had never seen, and one he sincerely hoped he never would need to again--but he kept his head down in the passenger side of the vehicle, his thoughts trained on Tess

He and the others were outfitted in head-to-toe black nylon protective clothing: fatigues, gloves, ski- wraparound shades to shield their eyes Even so, the jog fro was intense

With weapons at the ready, Dante wasted no ti his booted foot in the center of the storerooes S inside The roiling plurew thicker with the sudden influx of air from outside They wouldn’t haveon?" At the crack of splinteringin to see rong Niko let hi a round of uy’s skull

Now that they were inside, Dante sh the s at their feet and, thankfully, not Tess either She was still alive He sensed her fear like his own, her current state of sorrow and pain tearing into him like heated steel

"Sweep the place and put out the fires," he ordered Niko and Chase "Kill anyone who stands in your way"

Tess tried the tightly wound cords that bound her hands and feet together behind her on the exae But she couldn’t stop trying theles only see this? For God’s sake, why did you have to kill Nora?"

Ben clucked his tongue "You killed her, Tess, not me You forced my hand"

Sorrow choked her as Ben came over to where he had trussed her up on the table

"You know, I thought killing you was going to be difficult," he whispered near her ear, his hot, stale breath assaulting her nostrils "You’ve made it very easy for me"

She watched nervously as he went around to the front of the platforh in her hair as he lifted her face up off the slab of cold metal His eyes were those of a dead er the Ben Sullivan she once knew

"It didn’t have to be like this," he told her, his tone deceptively gentle "Just know that you brought this on yourself Be grateful I didn’t turn you over to my Master instead"

He stroked her cheek, his touch revolting When she flinched away, he held her hair tighter, forcing her to look at him He leaned in as if to kiss her, and Tess spat in his face, fighting back by the only means he ’d left her

Tess braced herself for retaliation as he raised his free hand to strike her "You fucking bit--"

He didn’t get a chance to finish speaking, let alone touch her A blast of arctic air rushed in from the open doorway, the instant before the space filled with theopaque wraparound sunglasses Guns and blades hung from his hips and from the thick leather holsters that crisscrossed his muscular torso

Dante

Tess would know him anywhere, even beneath the cover of all that black Hope flared in her, along with surprise She could feel hi her that he would get her out of there That she was safe now

And at the sae The icy chill of it rolled off his huge body, centering on Ben Dante lowered his head, the focus of his gaze readable even through the dark lenses that shielded his eyes A glow eht, and deadly With the flick of a glance, Ben’s body was jerked up off the floor and smashed into the cabinets on the exam-room wall He kicked and flailed, but Dante held him aloft with just the power of his will When another black-clad warrior appeared in the doorway, Dante growled a command

"Get her out of here, Chase I don’t want her to see this"

Dante’s companion came over and cut Tess loose, then carefully lifted her into his arms and carried her out of the clinic to an SUV that idled out back

Once Chase had reo of his mental hold on the huht to the floor He started to scra on the counter Dante sent the blade flying with a sharpthe steel point in the opposite wall

He stalked farther into the roo his oeapons in order to deliver Ben Sullivan’s death with his hands He wanted vengeance now, and he meant to make the bastard suffer for what he’d intended to do to Tess For what he had done to her in the time before Dante reached her

"Get up," he ordered the hu up slowly to his feet When Dante lint of a mind slave in the Crimson dealer’s eyes Ben Sullivan had been turned Minion Certainly explained his recent MIA status Killing hi hi out these days, Minion?"

Sullivan only glared at him

"Did he tell you we kicked his ass last sus rather than face the Order onna take him down"

"Fuck you, va the twitch of s, the telltale movement that told him Sullivan was about to snap "Fuck you, you Minion piece of shit And fuck the son of a bitch ns you too"

A shrill bellow came out of the Minion’s mouth as he launched himself across the roo fast, but not so fast that Dante couldn’t block the tore away, exposing his skin With a roar, he sent a blow into the Minion’s face, relishing the crack of bone and the dull s flesh that sounded on impact

Ben Sullivan went down in a sprawl "There is only one true Master of the race," he hissed up at Dante "Soon he will rule as king--as is his birthright!"

"Not bloody likely," Dante replied, lifting the Minion’s bulk off the floor in one hand, then sending him airborne