1
DAMIEN
The tasteof blood remained prevalent in my mind.
There was nothing quite like it—the distinctive metallic taste that teased me. The sharp scent reminded me of my childhood and death. It was nothing more than a stark reminder of where I was and why.
Thinking had become hard two days ago.
Or, at least, what I thought was two days ago.
It was hard to tell how many days had passed. I was trapped inside four walls and one small window, and even that couldn’t help me tell time.
It was dark out right now.
The only light in the room was a dimly lit lamp hanging above my head, and still, I couldn’t see very clearly.
Not that it mattered when my eyes were nearly swollen shut.
My only lucid thought, the only thing that was bright in the dark recess of my mind, was a pair of big brown eyes. The last I had seen her, those eyes were rimmed red, her voice shaky as she begged me not to leave her.
I had tried so hard to get back to her. To her and my brothers.
It seemed fate had an even bigger plan for me.
I didn’t expect fucking Luca Monroe to be alive.
Not after I had tortured him by cutting into his body one hundred and seventy-two times, not when I had watched his fucking body burn and had listened to his cries.
Fucking cockroach.
And I hadn’t expected Leo to betray me, to betray the brotherhood. I had left Catalina under his care.
I fucked up.
Worse was letting the Blood Nation Sinners roam my streets.
They better fucking hope I didn’t get out of this alive because if that was the case, I was coming after every last one of them.
My fist clenched, testing the binding. My muscles protested from the strain, and I let out a small grunt in pain.
They probably fucked me up more than I thought. I couldn’t even tell where the pain was coming from.
My thumb was broken, and I was covered in slashes and blood.
Everything felt like it was on fire. The only blessing I had was that they took my shirt. I couldn’t imagine the sting of the cuts against the hard fabric of the white dress shirt I had been wearing.
I swallowed, but that only made the nausea more noticeable.
Fuck.
I didn’t see how I could get out of this alive.
How I could see Catalina again.
The door opened, jarring me out of my head.
I looked over through the slit of my eyes. I could barely make out his huge figure.