Sacred Vow (Angels Halo MC Next Gen #5) - Terri Anne Browning Page 0,40
the two men lying lifelessly on the floor in their own blood. “I can see that. Did you…do this?” I don’t know why I was still whispering, or why I’d just asked such a stupid question. How could my tiny baby cousin have taken on two grown men, let alone killed them? “Ah, fuck, Nova. Is there someone else in here?” I rushed to her, my instincts revving to protect her.
Her eyes skirted around the room wildly, as if she were looking for any other dangers. “No, I don’t think so. It was just them.” Her breathing was starting to even out. “I-I have to call Ryan. That…” She pointed to the guy with the knife sticking out of his neck. “That guy works for Matias Ramirez.”
“Who?” I muttered, but she was already looking for her phone. When she spotted it, she walked over to pick it up, but as she turned it over, I saw the screen was cracked. “Forget about calling Ryan. We need to call Ben.”
She shrugged, then winced. “Go ahead. I have to tell Ryan.”
Frustrated with her, I quickly called Ben. He picked up on the third ring, sounding distracted. “Hey, River. I’m in a meeting with the mayor, honey. I’ll call you back—”
“Ben!” I yelled when he started to hang up on me. “Nova was attacked at the high school. The library is turned upside down, and there are two men…” I glanced at them, still motionless, but it appeared the blood had finally stopped flooding out of them. “I, uh, think they might be dead.”
“Shit,” he muttered. “I’m on my way. Are you or Nova hurt?”
“I’m fine.” I glanced over at Nova, who was trying to call her best friend without slicing her fingers open on the shattered screen of her phone. “Nova’s arm is bleeding, and she’s moving kind of slow, like she’s in pain. I think she might be in shock.”
“I’ll be there in two minutes,” he promised. “Stay together.”
The phone went silent, and I focused back on my cousin. She’d finally gotten her phone to work, and she held it to her it away from her ear so she didn’t cut herself on the destroyed screen. “H-Hey,” she said. “Okay, so don’t freak out…”
“What’s wrong?” I heard Ryan demand. “Nova? Tell me!”
“So, um, I think Ramirez might be a little upset with you for some reason.” She grimaced. She blinked a few times then looked down at her arm. “When did that happen?” she muttered to herself. “Shit, I think I need stitches.”
“Nova!” Ryan roared. “Why do you need stitches?”
She was still examining her arm, not even seeming to hear him. I walked over to her and took the phone from her slack fingers. “Ryan?” I spoke softly into the phone, making sure to not let it touch my ear. By the looks of it, Nova was lucky to have even gotten a call through. I doubted I could make the speaker option work. “It’s River.”
“River,” he exploded. “Is Nova okay? She’s scaring me.”
I wasn’t sure how to answer that without freaking him out more than he already sounded. The times I’d been around him, he’d always been so cool and laid-back, but now he seemed…unstable. “Do you know a person named Mathias Ramirez?” I asked, hoping I could ease him into it.
“Yes,” he gritted out. “Did he do something? Is he there? I’ll kill him with my bare hands!”
“He’s not here,” I hurriedly assured him. “But two men attacked Nova…” I looked around at the mess. It looked like a hurricane had blown through the room. “Or they tried to. They’re…well, the men are dead now.”
There was a long silence on the other end of the phone. “Dead?”
“Yes,” I confirmed. “Pretty sure, at least.”
“But how is Nova? Is she hurt?” I could hear him breathing heavily. “Tell me, River. I need to know.”
“She will probably need stitches. There’s a large cut on her arm.” I couldn’t tell how deep it was from all the blood, but I could make out it was a long slice that went down her bicep. “She seems a little dazed too, but other than that, I think she’s okay.”
“I’m on my way. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” His voice sounded choked. “Please watch over her for me.”
“I will,” I promised just as I heard sirens in the distance. “Ben is here. I should go. Nova needs to get to the hospital.”