Rebel Heart series Box Set

by Trina M. Lee

  A close study of Rowen revealed the rage he held reigned tightly. But beneath the angry spark in his eyes of fire lurked a worry rooted so deep I didn’t think he could ever be free of it. Didn’t Arrow see this? Didn’t he care?

  After a glance in the backseat, I was left with my question unanswered. Arrow was staring out the window, his brow furrowed in thought. Feeling my gaze upon him, he turned to me with an inquisitive expression that spoke louder than any snarky words he could have mustered.

  “We’ll deal with this,” I said, hoping to keep the peace between them. “I still think you should let me reach out to Cinder. He’ll know what we should do.”

  “You don’t get it, do you? Cinder is an angel. A holy fucking boy scout. He has rules to follow. If you bring him into this, I’m going to fry.” Arrow rubbed a hand over his bruised face and winced. “It’s one thing to get my ass kicked by demons. Angels? Fuck no.”

  A vigorous shake of my head was met by a scowl. Cinder wouldn’t do that; I knew he wouldn’t. “You’re wrong,” I said, leaving it at that because I had nothing to back up my claim.

  “We could leave the body somewhere, back in the River Valley where she originally was,” Rowen suggested. “Then someone will find her and call it in. Not our problem anymore.”

  Again Arrow scoffed, a sound that I’d come to associate with him. “That’ll never work. My DNA has got to be all over her. Maybe even inside her.”

  Revolting. My jaw dropped. “Gross, Arrow, don’t you wrap up? I found your Magnum box. That’s not fooling anyone by the way.”

  “Of course I wrap up.” The dark nephilim managed to appear offended. Arms crossed, he slumped against the window. “You know I don’t have a small cock, Spike. Give me a break.”

  “I know you don’t have a Magnum-sized one either,” I quipped. Knowing the size of Arrow’s package definitely ranked as the most useless information I possessed. “There’s no shame in being average, Arrow.”

  Rowen took a corner a little faster than necessary. I put a hand on his leg, a gentle reminder to stay calm. Ignoring our penis talk, he tried to find a way to make his idea work. “Is there any way we can scrub the body? Destroy any evidence?”

  “Of course there are ways. Hell, the environment of the River Valley may have done some of it for us already. But it’s too risky. I’m not taking any chances.” There was no arguing with Arrow. He wouldn’t be swayed.

  I was inclined to agree with him. Cops right now would be far more hindrance than help. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any better suggestions. My go-to was Cinder, and I wasn’t sure I even wanted him to see me caught up any further in this situation. I was still figuring out how I got here.

  We turned into the parking lot of one of the many twenty-four hour convenience stores. The parking lot was empty other than one bedraggled guy lurking near the pay phone. Huh, interesting. Didn’t think those were still around.

  “Is that the guy?” Rowen asked, parking as far from the front of the store as possible.

  Arrow reached beneath the driver’s seat and pulled out a large plastic bag filled with smaller bags. After pulling a few small bags out, he crammed the bigger one back under the seat. For a guy who didn’t want to deal with cops, he didn’t do a very good job of hiding his shit.

  “Yeah, that’s him. Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

  The car door slammed, and Arrow stalked across the parking lot. Dressed head to toe in black, he moved like the shadows he possessed. The guy jumped when Arrow stepped into the light. A sheepish grin broke over his face, and he greeted the dark nephilim with a fist bump.

  Their exchange was silent to Rowen and I. We watched as Arrow passed the coke through a handshake so smooth I wouldn’t have seen it if I hadn’t been watching for it. His customer dug around in a pocket for money. At least, that’s what I assumed until he pulled out a knife.

  I gasped.

  Arrow’s reaction was far less dramatic. He laughed in the guy’s face. And then he completely lost his shit. Arrow threw both hands up in an aggressive invitation. He waited for the guy to take a swing, and then he made him pay for that mistake. As Rowen and I looked on in stunned silence, Arrow slammed his fists into the guy’s face. Shadows darted out from him, winding around the guy’s neck, choking off his air.

  The meager parking lot lighting glinted off the knife as the guy swung with growing desperation. A shout echoed as the blade slashed across Arrow’s forearm.

  It just fed his violence.

  Throwing his weight into the guy, Arrow took him down hard on the pavement. I cringed as the hits landed. Rowen sat stiff beside me, face frozen in something between panic and exasperation.

  A face appeared in the convenience store window as the cashier peered out. Immediately he went for the phone.

  “I have to stop this,” Rowen said as he flung open the car door.

  “Rowen, don’t,” I shouted after him, struggling out of my seatbelt as I attempted to follow. “I don’t think Arrow is all there. He could hurt you.”

  Arrow was oblivious to our approach, so focused on beating the guy beneath him bloodier with every punch.

  Rowen didn’t hesitate. A flash like lightning lit up the lot. It threw Arrow onto his back on the ground, but it didn’t keep him there long.

  He rolled over and pushed to his feet with superhuman speed. When he turned black eyes on us, I saw why. Whatever Dash had done to make him snap, it pulled his demon half out in a terrifying way. I remembered the murderous intent in his eyes when he’d smashed me in the face with that bottle. It wasn’t Arrow. It was something so much worse.

  “Stay out of this, Rowen,” Arrow spat. “This is what happens when people try to rip me off. He was asking for it.”

  “Don’t you have enough blood on your hands?” Rowen asked. “Calm the fuck down before you do something you can’t take back.”

  I tried to have Rowen’s back without drawing Arrow’s attention. My hands tingled with readiness, but I didn’t reach for my fire just yet.

  In the distance sirens wailed. Crap.

  “Guys,” I said, my gaze darting about. “We gotta go.”

  Arrow’s would-be buyer lay on the ground groaning and holding his bloody face. He was barely conscious. For a moment it seemed that Arrow would turn his aggressions on us, but the approaching sirens seemed to break through the haze of rage clouding his brain.

  We have a body in the trunk. It was all I could think as I waited for Arrow to make his choice. Shadows danced around his feet, waiting for his next command.

  “Arrow, come on.” Rowen brazenly grabbed his brother’s arm, unafraid of the writhing serpentine shadows. “The cops are coming. We need to leave. Now.”

  My lungs burned as I struggled for each shaky breath. I surveyed the scene before me, both awestruck and amazed by these two brothers, and I was afraid for us all. How had we gotten to this place?

  The threats from Dash and Koda hung over my head. Somehow Cinder believed I would play a role in the fate of Rhine’s sons. Again I wished I could see what he saw. Instead I stood there awkward and frightened, wondering what the hell to do.

  “Please, Arrow,” I pleaded, hands clenched at my sides. “You’re the one who said you didn’t want any cops. Do you want to spend the rest of the night behind bars?”

  His head jerked up, and he pinned me with black eyes that transitioned back to hazel. “Yeah, I think I do. You guys take off. I’ll stay here and take the heat for this.”

  “Don’t be stupid,” Rowen barked, his hand locked around Arrow’s wrist like a vice. “You’re really not making the best decisions tonight.”

  “Get off me, Rowen. Leave now before it’s too late. I’ll take the assault charge for this. I don’t care. Just get my car out of here before we all go down.” Arrow tried to shake Rowen off before flinging his free hand toward me. “Spike, talk some sense into him, would you? Preferably sooner than later.”

  “He’s right, Rowen,” I said, frantically glancing
about, trying to figure out which direction the sirens were coming from. “We need to get that car out of here before we’re all in serious shit for something we didn’t do. Arrow will be fine. We’ll bail him out.”

  The sirens grew louder, and urgency had my heart pounding. I backed toward the BMW, hoping like hell Rowen would follow my lead. Thrusting his chin out in stubborn refusal, he shook his head, but confusion marred his brow.

  “Rowen, come on.” Panic made my voice shrill. I reached the BMW and angled for the driver’s door. If he didn’t come with me, I’d have to leave them both behind. Someone had to bail them out. “Rowen, please.”

  Perhaps it was the way my voice broke or the sheer hysteria on my face, but Rowen released his hold on Arrow and sprinted for the car. I all but threw myself into the passenger side, holding on for dear life as Rowen put the car in gear and peeled out of the parking lot.

  “Take it easy,” I yelped, scanning the streets for the cops I knew were coming. “Don’t draw attention to us.”

  “Sorry,” he muttered, slowing to the speed limit with a glance in the rearview mirror.

  A police car approached from the front, flying past us, headed for the convenience store. Hands tight on the wheel, Rowen tossed the hair out of his eyes with a jerk of his head. “I can’t believe how fast this night went from bad to worse. Every time I think life with Arrow can’t get any more screwed up, something happens to prove me wrong.”

  I couldn’t argue with that. “It’ll be ok. We’ll figure this out.” To me the words sounded as empty as I felt. Starting to get a headache, I didn’t know what our next step should be.

  Rowen caught my hand and gave it a warm squeeze. It was a direct contrast to the chill in his next words. “So what do we do with the body?”

  “I still think we should reach out to Cinder,” I said, unable to stop turning in my seat to stare out the back window. “Anything else I can come up with feels disrespectful to Vicky and just plain wrong.”

  He nodded, easing the car onto a side street. Staying off the main road was a good plan.

  “Let’s go to Arrow’s house,” Rowen suggested, turning the wipers on as a few droplets hit the windshield. It was trying to snow. “We can get Cinder to come there. It’ll give us a chance to get the drugs out of the car. This thing is a heat score.”

  “Ok.” Somehow my lungs began to function again. My breath came a bit smoother, albeit still rather shaky. Having a goal of some kind helped. It gave me something to focus on other than the extreme shit we’d be in if caught with Vicky in the back.

  I kept waiting for the high-strung feeling to subside, but it didn’t. As long as nothing else happened between here and Arrow’s house, perhaps then I would be able to breathe easy again.

  The flash of headlights came out of the dark. I saw the big black pick-up truck as it barreled through the stop sign. I opened my mouth to warn Rowen, but there was no time.

  He saw the truck and cranked the wheel in an effort to dodge the oncoming mechanical monster. Miraculously, instead of slamming into my door, it only clipped the BMW’s rear end. The force combined with the speed sent us spinning in a full three-sixty.

  “What the fuck?” Rowen gasped.

  Before we could make sense of what had just happened, the black truck turned toward us, and the driver hit the gas. The screech of tires on pavement echoed in my ears.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Rowen slammed the BMW into reverse. With the truck advancing on us, he maneuvered the car backward down the street. The headlights in our eyes blinded me. My palms tingled, and instinct drove me to roll down my window and stick a hand out, throwing a ball of fire that exploded across the truck’s windshield.

  “Who the hell is that?” I shouted, relieved when my attack caused the truck to swerve.

  “Someone who thinks Arrow is in here I’m guessing.” The deadly calm in Rowen’s tone was soothing. “Get ready to hit them again.”

  My next shot created a wall of fire, its size directly related to my level of terror. The driver of the truck regained control and came right through it. Rowen swung onto an intersecting street, put the car in first gear and shot through the intersection seconds before the truck hit us again.

  We were moving fast as he went through the gears. Arrow’s quest for a pricey car with some serious power under the hood had paid off. We were leaving the black truck behind.

  “You think Dash sent whoever’s in that truck?” I shoved my hair back from my face, watching as the truck got smaller in the side mirror.

  “Wouldn’t doubt it.” Rowen slowed to a safer speed and made several turns in an attempt to lose our pursuer. “They must know you’re in here now. Arrow doesn’t have fire.”

  I swallowed hard, remembering Dash’s threats. “That’s not going to stop them. Dash would be happy to get rid of me.”

  “Since when? I thought he didn’t want to risk Cinder’s wrath.”

  “He seems to have changed his mind about that.” I had to catch Rowen up on a lot.

  I was second guessing our choice to go to Arrow’s house. If we had a tail, they would just follow us there. Where else could we go?

  We had no time to decide. The black truck pulled out of an alleyway in front of us, causing Rowen to slam on the brakes. I braced myself against the dash, biting back a scream.

  When he tried to back up the car didn’t move. The BMW was frozen in place, going nowhere. Demon power. That was how the truck had managed to head us off.

  I spun around to find Ransom standing behind the car, a hand held up as he projected the force that held the car in place. He was one of Dash’s minions, a lower level demon who, though not nearly as powerful as Dash, remained a force to be reckoned with. The truck door opened, and Skylar hopped out, dark ponytail swinging. Just friggin’ great.

  Rowen cut the engine, pulled the parking brake, then got out. Not content to let him face a demon and a black-magic witch alone, I leapt out after him. Skylar made me more wary than Ransom did. She was a special kind of crazy, and one could never predict what crazy people would do.

  “Wanna tell me what the hell that was about?” Rowen’s demand rang through the night.

  Uncertainty flickered over Ransom’s face. He hadn’t expected to find Rowen driving Arrow’s car.

  Skylar, however, looked pleased to see us. “Funny finding you driving Arrow’s car,” she said, her tone a sinister purr. “How did you manage to be a step ahead of us? There’s no way you could’ve known we’d be coming after him.”

  Ransom stepped out from behind the car, drawing close but keeping the two of us between them. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

  “In about ten seconds you’re going to wish that you weren’t here.” A ball of light glowed in Rowen’s palm. Streaks of light crackled between his fingers. He held lightning in his hand. It never ceased to fascinate me.

  “Where’s Arrow?” Skylar barked.

  With her high ponytail and perfectly applied makeup, she looked like she’d just stepped out of a fashion magazine. A thick but trendy sweater, fleece leggings and Ugg boots completed her look. Nothing about her indicated that she was a witch other than the large, black amulet hanging from a strip of leather around her neck.

  “I’m the one asking the questions, bitch.” The vicious sneer that crossed Rowen’s face was downright sexy. Yet there was true malevolent intent in his amber eyes.

  Skylar laughed, a high, delighted sound. “Oh my, look at you, all puffed up and badass. Real cute.”

  “Did Dash send you?” I jumped in, cautious but ready to rumble with Skylar. We hadn’t gotten off to a good start. She hated me for crashing her creepy demon wedding, and I hated her for being part of the coven that kidnapped and tormented Rowen.

  Skylar opened her mouth to retort, but Ransom cut her off with a hurried, “Dash doesn’t need to know about this. It was a simple misunderstanding.”

  I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of punishment Dash would dole out if he kne
w these two morons could have killed Rowen.

  Though Rowen himself appeared ready to dish out some punishment of his own. He stalked over to Ransom, carrying himself with self assurance and a little bit of attitude. “Really? It’s just a simple misunderstanding that you were trying to run my brother off the road? You can tell Dash that the more he torments Arrow, the more my hatred for him grows. Whatever it is he wants from me, hurting Arrow guarantees that he will never get it.”

  “We’re not here to take messages for Dash,” Skylar snarled. “We’re here to send one.” She took a step forward, causing me to raise a fiery hand in warning. The smile that spread across her face in response said she wasn’t backing down. Hands on her hips, she regarded me with haughty derision.

  “Skylar, don’t,” Ransom warned. “Our purpose here has nothing to do with these two.”

  “So? Doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun. Dash doesn’t give a crap about this one anyway.” She jerked a thumb in my direction.

  Well, she wasn’t wrong. Still, that remark earned the hateful scowl I shot her.

  She didn’t give her demon husband another chance to order her around. Uttering a word of Latin, she hit me with a spell that doused my fire like water, following that with another that took my legs out from beneath me.

  I went down hard, throwing a hand out to catch myself as I fell. Something tore in my wrist, and all I could think about was what a serious injury could mean to my music career. Rowen’s retaliation came swift and precise. Skylar was on the ground writhing as electricity tore through her body.

  Ransom lunged at Rowen, slamming him against the BMW. The attack wasn’t meant to hurt, just to break Rowen’s concentration, which it did. It bought Skylar a few moments to recover.

  I was already up, flexing fingers and wincing as pain shot through my wrist. That bitch.

  “It was just a stupid mistake,” Ransom shouted, fending off a blow from Rowen while trying to focus on his wife. “Skylar, don’t you do it. Don’t you dare fucking do it.”