before the might of Royaume D’élite and survive. Just ask the dead O'Brien boy."
Those words hurt like a blow to the heart and I sucked in a sharp breath at the thought of Kyan lying bloody and still on the floor. But I couldn’t allow myself to focus on that. I needed to stay sharp for the people I could still help.
"Where are you taking me?" I demanded as he hauled me along a corridor towards the stairs.
Three armed guards hurried to surround us and I sneered at them openly, not caring to hide my contempt from them as a gun was pointed at my head and they made me walk with them.
We moved quickly, Father's brusque pace enough to let me know that he wasn't as calm as he was trying to pretend, and I tipped my head back as I shouted at the top of my lungs. "I am the dark in the dead of the night!"
The asshole with the gun hit me in the temple and I hissed a curse at him, but I was almost sure that I heard the reply to those words shouted back to me from one of my brothers somewhere. It was impossible to be certain of who it had been, but just the suggestion that they were close, fighting, battling on, had my strength returning to me and hope swelling in my veins.
I was shoved down the stairs with Father's fingers biting into my arm as he forced me to move faster and faster. The echoing sounds of gunshots chased us out of the building and I took great joy in seeing him scurry like a rat from a flooding drain.
As we made it to the foot of the stairs by the front door, more gunshots sounded from even closer, making my ears ring as the sound resounded off of the brick walls.
Father turned to look between the guards, a momentary slip in his composure showing real panic in his eyes and I grinned at him like a savage.
"The three of you stay here and hold off anyone who tries to follow me," he barked, and they agreed instantly like the mindless goons they were, turning to stand their ground before the door.
Father dragged me outside, taking the gun from the asshole who had been holding it to my head and jamming it against my skull in his place.
"I want an heir, Saint," he growled as I dug my heels in. "But don't think that means I won't kill you. If you prove yourself beyond redemption by trying to escape me now, then I will put a bullet between your eyes and find a woman to cook me up a replacement in her womb. Don't test me on that."
"I wouldn't dream of it," I replied, my voice thick with disdain as I allowed him to march me out into the snow where his Bentley was parked up before the house.
Father wrenched the back door open as the sound of gunfire drew closer and he shoved me into the back seat before slamming it again and getting into the front.
A shot was fired from somewhere much closer just as he pulled away and I whirled around, my eyes widening in surprise and utter fucking joy as I spotted Kyan lunging out of the bushes and firing at us.
"Hear me roar!" Kyan bellowed, his bloodstained chest gleaming in the headlights as Father twisted the car towards him and slammed his foot down on the accelerator.
I lunged forward between the seats, head butting the side of my father's skull as the way my hands were tied made it impossible for me to do anything better, and he swerved violently as he fought to turn his gun on me.
I threw myself down just as he fired a shot and the back window was blasted apart in a shower of shattering glass.
"I warned you, Saint," Father growled as he yanked the wheel around, half concentrating on driving and half on trying to look back to aim his gun at me. "Mixing with low blooded heathens was never going to end well for you."
A violent roar came from the rear of the car and I whirled around in time to see Kyan grab hold of the headrest as he leapt onto the trunk, firing wildly towards my father in the front of the car as he clung on for dear life.
Windows shattered and the car swerved left and right in vicious motions that had me slamming against