I started toward Kent in a daze, but Luc caught me with an arm around my waist. He lifted me right off my feet and spun around. The room blurred as the entire front window exploded.
Men propelled through, boots first, and they landed with thick rifles aimed. The door flew off its hinges, falling into the wall. The back door followed, slamming against the stove. Men in straight-up tactical gear poured into the house along with the rain, guns drawn.
Not normal guns.
Terror seized my breath as I gripped Luc’s arm, recognizing the EMP-modified weapons.
The men quickly spread out, aiming their guns on every living creature in the room. They could easily kill with just one twitch of the trigger. My wild gaze darted around the room as Luc held me close to his chest. Archer had his hands fisted at his sides. The twins were shifting back into their human forms; each of them had a gun leveled on them. Both Zoe and Grayson were rising, fury etched into their features.
All the men, well over a dozen, wore the same kind of ski masks the men who’d entered my home had. They were the same group that had tracked us down to the house in Columbia. They’d found us here.
One of the men spoke. “All we want is the girl.”
Luc’s breath danced along my cheek. “At the risk of sounding cliché, over my dead body.”
“That can easily be arranged.”
I tensed.
Luc’s chest rumbled against my back as he laughed. “Yeah, that’s not going to be easy.”
“Well, we can make it easy, or we can make it hard.” The man speaking tilted his head to the side. “We prefer the easy way. Give us the girl, or we will start taking each of these people down, one by one.”
The air crackled around Daemon.
“And maybe you’ll take out a few of us in the process,” the man added, voice eerily calm. “But we’ll definitely take out a few of you. Willing to risk that?”
I knew Luc’s answer to that. Yes, he would risk that.
My heart pounded fast as I stared at the gun pointed at Zoe. She was fast, unbelievably so, but would she be fast enough? Or would she be like Kent? Gone before she even hit the floor? The same for Grayson—even though I was confident he still loathed me, I didn’t want to see him die. And what about the others? I didn’t know them all that well, but I liked them when they didn’t seem afraid of me, and I wanted them to make it home to their families, to their expecting wives.
I shuddered as the back of my throat burned. And Luc? I loved him—I was in love with him, I couldn’t deal with him dying.
I couldn’t deal with any more people dying because of me.
And some of them or all of them were about to die because of me. These weapons would kill them all. A startling realization floated to the surface. There was only one way out of this for me.
“Let us have the girl and all of you will walk out of here,” the man said again. “Alive and whole.”
Daemon’s fingers twitched at his side. “Now I am super curious why you all would want a human girl but would let us live.”
I was pretty confident at this point Daemon knew I wasn’t an ordinary human, but he was playing dumb.
The man who was speaking didn’t take his eyes off of Luc and me. “We have no problems with the Luxen or the Origins.”
My breath caught as Zoe’s eyes widened.
“Well, obviously you don’t work for the government, then,” Daemon replied, his tone casual.
Energy ramped up inside of Luc. I could feel it humming through him. His body vibrated with power. He shifted slightly, and I recognized my chance when I had it. He loosened his arm to move me so that I was behind him. I had seconds to make up my mind, but I didn’t need them.
I thought of Kent lying on the floor.
I thought of Mom.
I thought of Chas and Clyde and God knows how many others who’d died because of me. And I thought about how Luc had saved my life, probably more times than I ever could realize, and it was now time for me to save his.
I wrenched free, only catching a glimpse of the shock rippling across Luc’s face.
“Okay!” I shouted, raising my hands. “You guys have me. I’m right here. You don’t need to hurt anyone.”
Horror filled Zoe’s eyes. “Evie.”
“It’s okay.” I stepped forward, toward the man who’d spoken. “It’s going to be okay.”
I knew it wouldn’t be.
I knew it wouldn’t be okay when one of the men gripped my arm and yanked me forward. Things weren’t going to be all right as I was propelled forward toward the open door. And I knew there was a good chance they would still try to kill everyone in that room, but I had to do something. I couldn’t stand on the sidelines any longer.