Page 20 of Temptation
“Not necessarily,” Kane butted in. “I know who you are, Ash. I know about your family, and I know about your little plan to avenge them.”
I turned to look at him, tuning out all the laughter, the celebration, and the figures in red capes, walking around, carrying trays with blood-red drinks.
“What are you talking about?” I narrowed my eyes on him.
“I know everything, Ash.”
“You don’t know shit,” I spat out. “Now get out of my way or—”
“Or what?” Rowan asked. “You’re going to punch us? Tough luck, buttercup, but I’m not moving and you can’t make me. We already lost one friend to the Order and I’m not losing another one.”
“Rowan—”
I wanted to argue. I wanted them gone. But as I looked above his shoulder toward where Skylar stood, I knew that barging in like an angry bull wouldn’t solve anything.
They would still hunt her—they would hunt us.
If I walked up there, I wouldn’t only have to face Dylan; I would have to face this entire congregation and I wasn’t ready for that.
I took a deep breath, letting my lungs expand and then shrink and closed my eyes. “Okay,” I agreed.
“You’ll stop?” Kane asked, and I opened my eyes to look at him again.
“For now. I will stop for now and I won’t do anything stupid, but we need to talk.”
“No shit, Sherlock.” Rowan laughed. “But not here and not now.” He turned around and looked at Skylar and Dylan. “You’re not going to like what’s about to happen. You won’t like it at all.”
“What are you talking about?” I hated the unknown.
I’ve fought so hard to find out everything there was about the Order, and standing here now, told me that I didn’t know anything. I barely scratched the surface of their depravity, and I would’ve gotten myself killed if it wasn’t for Kane and Rowan.
“You’ll see.”
He barely finished the sentence when haunting music started echoing through the room. A female voice echoed around the chamber, her pain evident in every lyric she sang, and like a caress of the wind on my skin, her voice wrapped around me, touching every part of my soul, as if she was singing to me.
I looked at Skylar, but she wasn’t standing anymore. Dylan lifted her up and placed her on top of the altar, with her front facing us. Lauren’s body wasn’t there anymore, and neither was Judah.
I fisted my hands, shaking with rage at the picture in front of me. The devoted look on Dylan’s face as he rubbed Lauren’s blood over Skylar’s half naked body shrouded my vision with red, but Kane again clamped his hands on my arms and kept me in place.
“You are going to hate this part, Ash, but I need you to stay calm. I need you to stay fucking calm, otherwise everything will be lost.”
“What. Fucking. Part?” I gritted out.
Music suddenly changed into a song I didn’t know, replacing the haunted voice of a female with beats so loud, it felt as if they were pounding inside my skull. My whole body buzzed from the rhythm it was creating, and I started swaying with it, my body attuned to the sound of the drums in the air.
I looked to my right at the couple not too far away from us and shuddered when I realized who they were.
“Is that—”
“Our chemistry teacher,” Rowan finished for me. “Don’t look so surprised. Half of Winworth is part of the Order. It would be surprising if they weren’t.”
“I-I can’t—”
“Believe it?”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “Something like that.”
Rowan opened his mouth to say something else when his eyes zeroed in on the door behind me. “Fuck!” he cursed. “I’m going to kill him.”
