Wolf's Hunger (Mafia Monsters #5) - Atlas Rose Page 0,89

over.

But we weren’t good.

That much I knew.

I battled the erratic traffic, weaving my way toward the bridge. My grip squeezed against the wheel as I punched the accelerator, pushing the Jeep harder, and climbed onto the bridge. My gaze drifted to the darkness that hugged the other side of the riverbank. “I’ll take it back,” I whispered. “Call Harlan, tell him it was all a lie.”

And you’ll find yourself in Federal Prison, Chaos answered.

I didn’t care, anything was better than this. I swerved in and out of the few cars that ventured across the river and exited at the off-ramp. I was already turning, desperate to track him down, and turned down familiar streets. Four or five cars were parked against the curb, but none were familiar. Then again, my Wolves had been in hiding.

I pulled the Jeep up hard outside the Hunting Ground and climbed out. My nerves still hummed from Phantom’s body, and my will was weak and desperate where he was concerned.

I hurried around the side to the empty parking lot and raced for the door, praying it was cracked open and they were waiting for me. But as I neared, I saw it was closed. I turned the handle and yanked, but it was locked, and I didn’t know the code.

Rain splattered against my face, sticking strands of hair to my cheeks as I spun. There were no tire tracks in the mud, no signs they’d been here at all. I turned away from the door and hurried for the front entrance, stepped under the awning, and peered into the darkened club.

Chairs, darkness. No sign of anyone.

I grabbed my phone and slid my fingers down the screen, finding Phantom’s number. I hated to be the desperate, needy girlfriend. That wasn’t me, but this was no lover’s quarrel, this was poison, one that could kill us slowly, and it was all my fault.

“You’ve reached Phantom. Leave a message.”

I hung up on the voicemail and lifted my gaze to the ten-foot fence around the Unseelie compound. Fear trembled inside me as desperate thoughts rose inside me. No, I can’t…not them.

Movement came at the corner of my eye, I spun around, heard the sound of boots against concrete, and hurried after the sound. Was it Arran? I rounded the corner and stared along the gap between this building and the next.

The past rose like a fog to crowd my mind as I moved, following the sound along the side of the Hunting Ground and out to the back. The air grew colder, denser…heavier as I stepped from behind the club and into the Unseelie darkness.

Terror lingered in the empty buildings behind the Wolves’ club. The kind of terror you couldn’t escape, the kind a Wolf like Arran ran from. Desperation drove me forward, step after step. My hands shook with the cold, or shock, I didn’t know. In that moment, I’d do anything to get my Wolves back.

“Such beautiful chaos you create, Carina. Must be the Fae in you.”

I spun at the deep growl and found that beautiful and brutal Unseelie coming closer. “Mojin,” I called his name.

But I was under no illusion. This male was just as dangerous to me as he was to any other mortal who found themselves on the wrong side of the river…and wandering around in his world. I straightened my spine and jutted my chin higher, even as tears rained down my cheeks. “I wish this never happened to me. I wish…”

The Dark Fae just smiled that chilling, foreboding smile and strode closer, pitiless and wild, and stopped in front of me. I flinched as he lifted his hand. It was reflex. One he enjoyed as those midnight eyes sparkled with cruelty. “Be very careful what you wish for.”

My heart leaped as his fingers hovered barely an inch from my face. He searched my gaze, unmoved by my tears, then he lowered his hand and kept walking, making his way into the cloaking darkness of the Unseelie world…and disappeared.

I waited for a second, desperate for him to return and undo all the damage I’d done.

But he didn’t return, just left me standing there…until the salt of my tears slipped between my lips. I turned, made my way back to the Jeep, unlocked it, and climbed in. I was done. No, they were done. Done with me…I’d sacrificed the Vampires for nothing.

FOR NOTHING.

I let out a shrill scream and punched the steering wheel, desperate to hit something, hurt something. Desperate to hurt me. Instead,