Marked By Pain (The Marked #2)(44)

"NO!" I scream, jumping forward from East.

"Your mum and East stay here, and you come with me. Otherwise I kill her, and then them both, just like I did all your other guys," he says coldly, and I don’t doubt him for a second. My mum really pissed him off, and then I pause when I process what he just said, his words making my skin freeze.

"What did you just say?" I ask, shaking my head, not believing him.

"That Daniels, those twins, and the eleven are all dead as they fell for my distraction," he laughs. “Did they really think it would be that easy? That twenty years of planning would just be over if they found us?”

"That’s not true," East says, stepping next to me, and Alaric holds the knife closer to Kelly’s neck, cutting her slightly, and I watch the blood drip down her front.

“It is, believe it or not. Either way we need the Academy, and Mackenzie,” he tells East as I stand in complete shock, sickness filling me at the thought of the guys being in trouble. I refuse to think they are dead, I know they aren’t. I would feel it, right? Like they say people do when you lose someone you love.

"Make your choice, we don’t have much time Mackenzie," my father warns me.

"Where is Ryan?" I ask quietly, hearing Kelly whimper a little as her eyes open. She just stares at me, an empty look in her eyes. Like she has given up.

"Enough, make your choice!" he demands and I step forward, away from East and my mum, who grabs East's arm when he tries to follow me.

"I don’t have a choice, just get out of here with Kelly, and mum, you heal her when you get a chance or she isn’t going to make it," I tell them.

"I love you, and just hold on, we will get out and I will heal her," my mum whispers as my eyes meet East's and he doesn’t have to say a word, he only nods in understanding as he looks close to breaking with fear. He doesn’t stop me, and that means everything to me. He knows I couldn’t live with myself if I let Kelly die and got caught anyway. I look at my father as I walk over and he lets go of Kelly, her body falling to the floor and I run to her, only to get grabbed by my arms by two of the rebels. They hold me tightly as the door opens once more and Stella walks in, a big smirk on her face as she looks around.

"They sent me to say the academy is fully under control, and the water will be ready in ten minutes," she says, “The dress is being taken out the box now.”

"Very good, daughter," one of the guards holding me says and I look up at the blonde woman, seeing the similarities straight away. They have the same bitch face, what a bad thing to inherit.

"You bitch, your parents were never undercover, where they? You betrayed us all the whole time," I shout and she chuckles as she walks over, kicking Kelly out the way, and I glare at her as she steps right up to my face.

"I can’t wait to see you in pain, the pain you deserve, and I hope my laugh is the last thing you hear, Mackenzie," she says, laughing still and then looks over at East and my mum, "I will keep East busy, don’t you worry.”

"I will kill you, I fucking swear to god I will," I shout at her and she slaps me hard across the face, making me stumble and taste blood in my mouth.

"Try it," she says before walking over to where East is, and my father steps in front of me so I can’t see her.

"This is for your own good," he says before placing his hands on my head and pain shoots through my body, making me scream until everything goes black.





Chapter 29





Mackenzie





“Wake up,” I hear someone whisper, something hitting my leg. I shuffle a little, feeling a tightness on my wrists like someone is grabbing me.

“Mackenzie, come on,” I hear again and I blink my eyes open to the bright room, groaning at the pain spreading throughout nearly every inch of my body. I quickly remember Alaric using his pain mark on me. I look down to see handcuffs I’ve had on before, and I don’t even need to try and use my marks. I know the handcuffs are stopping me.

“Son of a bitch,” I spit out, and then hear a laugh. I turn my head to see Miss Tinder and Enzo’s sister Stacy right next to me. There are two other teachers I don’t know also tied up with their own handcuffs on. It was Stacy who hit my leg, and she is still laughing a little.

“If I die, at least I know my brother chose a girl with a little bit of fire,” she says, winking at me.

“You won’t die,” I shake my head.

“How is Enzo? I only saw him for a few minutes the morning before he left to go after the rebels to rescue your friends, and we didn’t have long to discuss everything. He only asked that I keep an eye on you, and make sure you didn’t manage to hurt yourself while he was gone. I knew straight away that my brother had fallen for someone, and I’m happy it’s someone like you,” she pauses, “Someone strong enough to see past his dark and aggressive wall he puts up.”

“I’m not—”

“You don’t need to agree with me. I knew from my conversation with my brother how much you mean to him, even if he never said it,” she says.

“He was with you that morning? I wondered why he snuck out,” I say, thinking of Stella, the lying little bitch. He went to see his sister, of course he did. He wasn’t with her like she said, not that I believed her anyway; Enzo isn’t stupid enough to go to someone like her.