and your emotions." He said that last word like it was dirty and I snarled at him as I stepped closer, letting him see every dark corner of my soul lurking within my eyes.
"Fuck the world. I don't care. Without her in it, there isn't anything else worth saving anyway. I don't give a shit if it's right or noble or ethical. My love for her isn't any of those things. It's dark, twisted, dangerous and unstoppable. So if saving her means letting the rest of the world burn then pass me the fucking matches and I'll get the gasoline. Because there isn't a thing in this universe that I'm not willing to sacrifice to get my girl back."
"Wrong," Saint snarled, his dark eyes pinning me in his gaze like he seriously thought he had any chance of stopping me now.
"I don't care what you have to say on the matter. I'm going to-"
"You called her your girl again," he growled, cutting me off with a look so toxic it was practically burning me where I stood. "She's not yours. She's ours."
"Too fucking right she is," Blake agreed, every piece of light that usually shone in him utterly replaced with dark instead as the monsters in us rose to the surface of our skin and scented blood on the air.
There would be death in payment for her being taken from us.
"Then why the fuck are we still standing here?" Monroe demanded, his fury written in every inch of his posture as his muscles flexed with tension. "Let's go and burn the world down for her then."
The rest of us agreed without words as we followed him back up the darkened stairs with the intention of doing just that. I’d tear this place apart brick by brick if I had to, but one thing was for sure, I wasn’t leaving here without Tatum Rivers by my side.
Just a little longer, baby. Your monsters are coming for you. And we won't stop until you're safe in our arms once more.
M onroe strode up the stairs with all the grace of a buffalo in stilettos and I snarled irritably as I shoved past him and took the lead. Honestly, it was like he was trying to make noise with those stomping footfalls of his.
"Fucking megalomaniac," Monroe muttered beneath his breath but I didn't call him out on it.
The way I saw it, he was correct and that wasn't an insult. Power was all that mattered in this life and if he hadn’t figured that out yet then he needed to pay more attention. Well, power and my siren. But my feelings for her defied all logic and I had given up on trying to analyse them. I just had to accept that I was hopelessly enthralled by her and embrace it because I certainly wasn’t going to attempt to give her up. My addiction to her might be my downfall, but if I was going to burn for any reason then I would happily do so for her.
"Try to keep your steps silent," I hissed back at Monroe. "If Kyan can manage it then there's no reason you can't."
Kyan chuckled darkly which really seemed more like an automatic response to my words than a real laugh, but I knew why he wasn't feeling any actual joy and I wasn't going to point it out.
"Fifth floor?" Blake confirmed as we hurried up the dark stairwell and he moved to walk on my left. The gas mask he wore warped the tone of his voice a little, but these things were the best money could buy and I doubted any of the others even noticed the difference. But I had a musician's ear - much to my father's disgust - and the alteration in pitch was quite disconcerting.
"That's where they keep the medical test subjects, so unless they have completely reconfigured the layout of the building in the time it took us to drive here then yes," I said emotionlessly.
"Wow, what crawled up your ass and died?" he muttered and I ground my jaw against the desire to lay into him.
We were all on edge, each of us just trying to find a way to power through this uncertain time and do all we could to bring our girl back to us. His childish comments were a way for him to cope and as irritating as I found them, I was just pleased he hadn't fallen back on the habit of getting himself drunk and