eyes slowly dimmed as blood bubbled to his lips. Except, it wasn’t blood. It was oily and black, and the more she stared, the thinner he became.
She felt Talon get to his feet beside her. Jamie swayed, staring down at Lyne’s lifeless form. In a puff of dust, he was gone. There was no spilled blood where his form had been, only a pile of clothing that was floating to the ground. Light sprung from the floor the second the regal clothing hit the ground, nothing but a remembrance of the man who had enjoyed others’ pain.
Something touched her elbow. Something warm, something strong. Jamie turned and stared at Talon for all of a second before dropping the poker and falling into his chest. Hard shudders wracked her body as the poker clanged against the ground. Everything around her seemed to slow down as Talon’s arms wrapped around her, holding her to him as a sob ripped from her throat.
Was it over? It was the only thing she could think as Talon led her from the hall, picking her up. She didn’t know what he planned to do, and at that point she couldn’t care less. She had killed a man — a vile, sadistic man whose goal had been to bring them pain. Jamie’s mind reeled at the thought, pushed it away as cold air hit her shoulder.
Oh, God — Talon set her down the minute she started to gag, held her shoulder with an awkward comfort that didn’t help her at all. As she heaved up her stomach, he gathered her hair and held it back in silence. So many things were running through her head, it was like the wheel was also turning her stomach.
It kept coming, the rancid taste in her mouth permanent. Jamie had thought about killing Chris many times. After he was done with her body, she would lay there in silence and sob softly, wishing that she could just kill him.
He listened to her sob softly, the gagging sounds coming from her throat making his chest hurt as he watched her bowed back. The pain that came from her was devastating, and he felt like he could do nothing to stop it. Talon was heartless, he loved to inflict pain, he loved to make people hurt — but listening to her cry and hack and grieve over killing someone almost had him on his knees.
Talon forced himself not to focus on how soft her hair was and helped her to her feet. Her cheeks had no color at all, her eyes red and puffy, along with her nose. She looked absolutely traumatized. Talon pushed aside the feeling in his chest, the one that screamed at him to take her and run. The fact that Auro was not avenging his brother was a fact that Talon was grateful for. Wherever the man was right now, he had a feeling that whatever he found when he came back was not going to be good.
Chapter 10
Something was wrong, terribly wrong. Auro dropped his case and almost fell against one of the stalls. His heart raced in his ears as he met the confused eyes of the accountant.
“Must go,” he said, almost choking.
Lyne, his mind shouted. It was Lyne.
Everything was a blur from them on. He ran to his car, telling his driver to get to the house as soon as he could. Horns honked, people cursed, red lights were ran, and all he could think of was the pain in his chest that was slowly seeping throughout his body.
His eyes watered as he shot from the car. It had taken only minutes to get to the house, but already the torment he was feeling was so dangerously high that it felt like knives were shredding his heart.
The door opened sluggishly. It felt like his feet wouldn’t pick up fast enough as he ran through the house, calling for Lyne. Why couldn’t he feel him? It had always come so naturally to him, so why couldn’t he now?
Auro knew what was wrong a second before he entered the hall. The door was open. A fire poker lay on the floor.
A pile of his brother’s clothing lay in a heap, nothing but a speck of dust to account for the body he had had.
Auro stared, steps slowing as he came before the remains.
Auro could have sworn later on that he had never felt such fury in his life. Rage and grief overcame him, filled his heart and soul