Queen of Quarantine (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep #4) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,217

the face of the asshole who stood pointing a gun at him.

"No!" I yelled as I tried to grab his arm, my fingers barely brushing against his sleeve as he leapt forward, his eyes set on Tatum as she screamed out a warning which came far too late.

The echoing bang of the gunshot blasted through the room and I swear that noise ricocheted right through my soul as Kyan was thrown from his feet, blood blossoming from the wound in his side, the bullet finding a home in his body and my world caving in around me as he fell.

Nash roared something incomprehensible as he lunged forward, reaching for our brother's hand as Kyan fell back to the floor, his head hitting the flagstones with a sickening crack.

Blake was screaming profanities as movement drew my gaze from Kyan to Tatum and the asshole who’d hit her wrenched her into his arms and dragged her out of sight while she screamed Kyan’s name.

For a moment I was frozen, locked between the need to chase after her and the need to help my brother.

Kyan's blood spread out onto the floor as he lay there unmoving and as I lurched towards him, hands grasped the back of my shirt, clamping around my arms and heaving me away again.

He wasn't moving. Not a flicker of anything in his expression or powerful body to say that he was still with us, but my heart thundered in panic at the idea of such an unthinkable thing.

He wasn't dead. I refused it. I wouldn't allow the world to keep turning without Kyan Roscoe in it.

The world was a blur of motion as the remaining Night Keepers fought to get to him and the guards struggled to contain us. My foot slipped in blood as I managed to lunge between them for a moment.

I reached for him, my fingers grasping his and closing tight around them as an arm looped across my chest and tried to haul me back.

"Get up!" I yelled, my grip tightening as I yanked on his hand. "Your wife needs you! Kyan!"

He didn't respond in any way, not so much as a flicker of anything as his fingers stayed slack in my grip.

I was yanked back so hard that I lost my hold on him, a fist slamming into my side and forcing me to whirl on the men who were trying to restrain me.

The others were fighting too, Nash descending into little more than a beast while Blake hollered Kyan's name so loudly that it echoed around the room. But he still didn't move an inch.

"Let me go!" I roared as the rest of the guards converged on Blake and Nash and I lost sight of Kyan between the crush of fighting bodies, more and more hands grabbing me and forcing me away from the others.

"Get the body out of here," Father snapped, like Kyan was nothing more than an inconvenience to him. Some trash that needed to be discarded as soon as possible.

The pounding in my head was loud enough to tear me apart as I thought of that. Of my brother being gone and the hole he would leave in this world. It wasn’t true. I wouldn’t accept it. I’d chase him into hell and drag his ass back here if I had to.

I ripped my arms away from the men trying to hold me, losing all sense of myself as I fought with all the brutality of the man I loved who lay there on that floor, needing me more than he ever had. Bones crunched beneath my knuckles and blood flew, but as I was slammed back against a wall, I was overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

The men holding me were strong and even as I fought against their grip on me with all my strength, they refused to loosen their hold.

I was dragged from the room, pulled through a different doorway to the one where they'd taken Tatum and as I was wheeled around, I found my father's sneering face looking back at me with contempt.

"I tried my hardest to mould you into the man you need to be in a civilised way while you were a boy," he growled as the men hauled me after him down the cold hallway and I continued to kick and fight them.

"Let me go," I warned him in my most arctic tone while my heart raced in panic more potent than I'd ever experienced in my entire life. "This is your only