Emerge: The Captive: (Book 3)(97)

With a roar of misery, Quinn broke Ryan’s hold. “Get out of here,” Quinn said. “Before I make you pay for this.”

Ryan cast a last glance at Livia, on her knees in the dirt, and followed Selena without a word.

Emma panted with fury. The effort of simply standing beside the woman who’d taken her son was too much for her. Quinn could see the coldness in his mother’s eyes. She wanted to make Livia suffer.

“Mom,” Quinn whispered. “She’s not worth it.”

The sound of her son’s voice pulled her back. Emma raised her sword and brought the hilt down on Livia’s head. The crack of her skull echoed in the silence around them as Livia slid to the ground in a boneless heap.

“I want to kill this woman!” Emma screamed in frustration. “She should die for what she’s done to my son and our family.” She gasped with the intensity of her anger.

“Mom. Can we go home, please?” Quinn asked, his eyes glued to the gruesome sight of his great-grandparents lying still in the moonlight.

“Yes, we have to go,” Naeemah said as she charged through the trees, coming from the direction of the gates. “If we’re going to get out of here at all, we need to move now.” She reached to pull the unconscious Livia across her shoulders. “Now, Emma. Get your sons and get out of here. I will see to our dead.”

Emma grabbed Quinn’s hand with a gentle squeeze and they were running through the trees, far away from the house, the orchard and the madness of the last hours.

Quinn pulled Santi behind him, hope stirring in his chest at the taste of freedom.

As they stood beside the row of cars his family had strategically placed in the woods for their quick escape, Quinn’s brand erupted, lighting him on fire. Santi buckled under the intensity of the pull. The desire to return to Soma filled them both. Livia still had their power, but Ryan had taken ownership of their brands the moment she fell. He would see to it they returned. If he had the strength to make them obey.

“Quinn? What is it?” Emma demanded, searching him for the source of the pain.

“It’s the Soma brand. They’re calling us back,” he gasped. “We won’t be able to resist it.”

Emma nodded. “I’m going to collar you both. It won’t help with the pain, but it should dull your desire to return to Soma. Eventually, you’ll be able to break the bond of the brand. But you’re going to have to outlast it.” Taking a set of magnetized collars from her hip, she placed one around his throat with a look in her eye that said she would never let him go.

“Do you mind?” Emma asked Santi.

“It’s okay. It won’t be long,” Quinn said.

Santi nodded, closing her eyes as Emma clasped the collar around her throat.

“Quinn?” Daniel stumbled to the car, clutching Graham for support.

“Dad. I’m so sorry. I—“

Quinn’s father wrapped his one good arm around his son.

“Don’t ever apologize.” Daniel’s face paled as he clutched the bloody stump of his arm against his chest.

“Let’s get our boys home,” Emma said softly as she helped Daniel into the front seat.

“Quinn!” Graham slammed into his brother’s chest.

“Little man, it’s good to see you.” Quinn cried, holding Graham tight. “But if you ever go anywhere near Soma again, I will personally nail your feet to the bottom of the lake.”

Graham helped Quinn and Santi into the back seat and a moment later, they were speeding along the dirt roads that ran along the backside of the property.

“Welcome back, bro,” Graham said softly as Quinn’s body erupted in agony, the pull of the Soma brand chasing all thought from his mind.

~~~





CHAPTER

THIRTY-FIVE





Sasha: Fall—The New Moon


Rural New York


“Jayesh?” Sasha charged through the trees and came to an abrupt halt at the edge of the lawn. “Gen?” She shrank back into the shadows cast by the blood red moon, high overhead now. The lawn in front of her sister’s home swarmed with the fleeing enemy. Voices shouted as Livia’s people rushed to secure their captives. This was the Coalition. Livia’s backup. At the center of all their activity, Imogen and her Complement, Lucien, were collared and waiting on their knees beside a roaring fire. Jayesh stood over them, brandishing a blade and barking out orders. A woman led Sasha’s cousin Dean by the collar she’d placed around his neck, shoving him into the caged back of one of their vehicles.

Sasha couldn’t breathe. Had they just traded Dean’s life for Quinn’s? There was no way she was going to stand by and watch her sister and brother-in-law die in place of their parents. And she sure as hell wasn’t going to let Jayesh be the one to do it.

Sasha stepped into the circle of light, heedless of the Coalition agents scrambling to leave. “Jayesh. What are you doing?” she demanded as she stalked across the lawn to her sister’s side. “You can’t do this.”

“Sasha, no,” Imogen said gently. “You have to leave me here, sweetie. It will be okay. This is what Mother Raghavan was preparing me for.”

“You knew this was coming?” Lucien took his wife’s hand.