Page 204 of Glutton for Punishment

Holly screams again, and the sound rewires something in my chest.

What is happening?

Then I spot him… Teeth. Standing several yards away with a smile on his face. One hand raised toward Holly. But instead of sucking her power away, it’s like he’s pressing it into her. Like how he re-energizes his men. But it’s too much. He’s trying to fill her to bursting!

Sly is trying to get to Holly along with several other members of our team, but no one can even get close as the flames shoot out of her body, getting brighter and growing.

Think.

Think.

My gaze locks onto Teeth. Then Duval.

The answer slams into me. “Duval!”

My voice cracks across the battlefield. His head snaps toward me.

“Shield him!”

No explanation.

For one terrifying second, I wonder if he’ll question me, but he doesn’t.

“Shield’s coming down!” He yells to warn the people behind him, and a few moments later a glowing sphere erupts around Teeth.

The smugness drains out of his face all at once. His eyes go wide and wild, darting around the inside of the sphere as he turns a full circle. Both fists slam against the barrier, but it’s too late.

The men flanking him look at the shield in confusion, and Atticus uses the distraction to pick them off with headshots. I run towards the shield, power vibrating beneath my skin, every instinct screaming certainty. Teeth’s jaw drops. A plea or a threat, I don’t care which, as I look him dead in the eyes.

“Continue.” The command leaves my mouth with the force of my new pride power.

Teeth freezes and his entire face goes blank. The tendons in his neck pull taut as he realizes what is happening. His whole body shakes with the effort of resistance, but his arm rises slowly, following my command.

My power has him. “Continue.” I say again, keeping the command live.

The energy that had been pouring into Holly reverses. It has nowhere to go but to pound back into his body as Duval’s shield holds around him.

Light erupts from within him, a network of bright veins burning beneath his skin as the power compounds inside him. His arms splinter with light, fissures of raw power crawling up to his shoulders. The smug hate in his eyes shatters into pure, animal panic.

“No—”The denial is a mouthed whisper, swallowed by the detonation that follows. The ground heaves. Duval’s shield flares like a bursting star, shuddering under the force but holding.

When the light fades, there is nothing left of Teeth. A fitting end for a man who constantly drained others for power.

Duval’s shield snaps back into place in front of him as I run towards Holly. I make it to her on my knees as Atticus and Sly surround us, shooting any enemy who comes our way.

Everything fades around me as my hands tremble to push the hair out of my best friend’s face. Her skin still smoldering hot.

Then Holly sucks in a sharp breath. She’s alive.

Tears fall down my face as I wrap my arms around her.

“Sly, we need to get her behind the shield,” I say urgently. He picks her up as I cover him, and together we get Holly behind the protective barrier.

***

With Teeth gone, the gang fractures. His people scatter in every direction, bleeding into the wider fight. When Holly is stable and handed off to the medical teams, we head back into the chaos to find Maddox. I’m right on Atticus’s heels, cutting across the thinning grounds when gunfire erupts from the trees along the estate wall and we’re caught in the open.

We scatter for cover. Someone seizes my arm from behind—then the barrel of a gun finds my temple, hard and cold. I’m wrenched backward behind a shed before I can make a sound. Atticus is nowhere to be seen, invisible on the other side of the ambush.