Claimed (Blood Ties Book 6)

“Tell her…” Colt croaked in my ear, his voice lifeless and strange. “Tell her I lo—”

Then the line went dead.

The.

Line.

Went.

Dead.

“Colt?” My pulse boomed as I called.

But there was no answer from my son.

Just an emptiness from the phone that hit me like a bullet. Right in the middle of my goddamn chest.

“Colt?” I repeated, then slowly pulled the phone away.

The screen was blank. No call. No Colt.

“Where the fuck is he?” Carven barked, stepping closer. His eyes were wild and his skin gray. Colt was the only one who made Carven look like that. The only one who’d—break him.

I killed her…I killed Ophelia.

I shook my head as Colt’s words returned. “Fuck…FUCK!” The hallway inside the house swayed. “We have to go.” My voice was not my own, sounding distant. “We have to go right FUCKING NOW!”

Fear punched through me as I took a step, then another. Then pushed into a run, before I picked up pace, slamming my hand against the end of the hallway to catapult me toward the rear of the house.

Footsteps pounded in unison. They were a step behind, racing as I dug into my pocket and punched my way through the door.

I killed Ophelia.

The words slammed into me as I stabbed the button and unlocked the Audi. Agony ripped through my shoulder. I didn’t have time to think about the bullet still lodged in it. A remnant from the shoot out in front of the restaurant. I ignored the pain and everything else as I yanked open the door and climbed in.

Bang.

Bang.

“Talk to us!” Vivienne yanked her seatbelt down.

“He killed her.” I stabbed the button and started the engine. “He fucking killed her!”

My mind raced as I shoved the car into gear and punched the accelerator, spinning the wheels before they caught traction. I slammed forward against the wheel as we reversed back down the drive behind the house and hit the street with a brutal jolt.

I ground my teeth, swallowing the agony, using that cold, cutting pain to hold on instead.

“He…killed her?” Carven murmured, glancing my way.

Fuck…

His blue eyes looked almost black under the streetlights as I shifted gears and drove the accelerator all the way to the floor, working the gears as we took a corner and raced toward the city.

I couldn’t answer. Because all I could hear was those hollow fucking words in my head.

I killed her.

My gut clenched at the words.

I killed Ophelia.

Panic made my mind race with the possibilities as we tore along the streets.

Hale’s here. He’s just pulled up in the drive.

Tell her…

Tell her I lo—

I clenched the wheel as oncoming headlights blinded me. The streets blurred through the roar in my head and reflex took over as I hurtled through red lights, pushing the car harder than I ever had before. I jerked the wheel, cutting across the traffic and drove down the wrong way on a one-way street, bypassing the clubs and the bars until I turned one last time.

I glanced at the clock. It’d been thirty minutes since I took that call from Colt…

The longest thirty minutes of my goddamn life.

“There,” Carven growled, reaching for his door handle as I braked hard and skidded to a stop in front of her two-story townhouse. He was out of the car in an instant, drawing his gun as he charged toward the house.

I was a second behind, shoving my door wide and leaving the engine running. My focus narrowed in. All I saw was the empty drive and the dull light through the blinds from inside. “At the back!” I roared, pushing forward.

Carven grabbed the railing of the stairs and lunged, taking them two…then three at a time.

Boom.

Boom.

BOOM.

His boots thundered.

Until he slipped…and hit the stairs hard with a brutal crack of his knees, then surged upwards, pushing all the way to the top with a terrifying roar.

“Colt!” Vivienne screamed behind me as I raced upwards. “COLT!”

But her call went unanswered even as Carven barged through the door, leaving it to slam back against the wall with a bang!

I was inside in an instant, tearing into the familiar entrance. Revulsion coiling in my chest like a wounded serpent. For one panicked second, I jerked my gaze to Vivienne as she stepped into the place I’d once shared with that woman.

The place I’d bought for us a long time ago to keep up that fucking charade of a marriage. Only I was never really here…and she refused to fucking leave, forcing me to come here.

To take care of her needs like a husband should.

I pushed that disgust aside now, tearing past Vivienne and the kitchen to the expansive living room that overlooked the city. Lights sparkled in front of us, spread out like a blanket of stars. But the fucking view wasn’t why I was here.

Blood splatter marred the wall…the sight of that was a fist to my chest.

“The bedrooms.” I jerked my gaze left. “Check the goddamn bedrooms.”

We whirled and raced up the stairs. Carven had disappeared, the slamming of his boots echoed in the resounding boom in my chest.

“London,” he called, his tone dull and lifeless.

I jerked my gaze to the sound and charged through the doorway of the master bedroom.

Through the murky light, I saw it.

A body slumped against the wall. Fear punched through me. But it was too small to be Colt. Familiar black strands of hair glistened with blood. “The light.” I croaked, unable to tear my gaze away as I rounded the bed. “Someone get the damn light.”

Click.

The room was filled with illumination, one that spilled over the…mess in front of us.

I stared…unable to tear my gaze away from the face that should’ve been familiar.

But not like this.

Carven was stopped in front of her. If I hadn’t known better, I’d never know it was her…Ophelia.

One eye was fixed open. The dark pupil was blown. The whites were filled with blood. But it was the caved-in side of her head that held me transfixed. One where her brain should be. But it wasn’t, was it? Because it was everywhere. Gray matter glistened on the midnight-colored hair, clumped with blood. Her head was crooked unnaturally to one side. Broken bones of one arm pierced through the skin. Shards of white smeared with crimson.

Vivienne turned away and retched.

This wasn’t just a murder.

This was rage.

“He’s not here, London.” Carven turned to me. Those blue eyes were not the man in that second…they were the boy. One I’d saved before. One who needed me to save him again. “My brother isn’t here.”

Footsteps faded as Vivienne stumbled from the room. The soft thud of her hand slammed against the wall before she staggered down the stairs.

“We have to find him.” The small shake of Carven’s head broke my fucking heart. “We have to get him—”

“NO!” A shrill scream cut him off. One filled with torment. “NOOO!”

I jerked my head toward the sound and lunged. Carven charged behind me as I stumbled out of the bedroom and down the stairs, heading toward Vivienne as she stood outside the kitchen with her back to me.

I scanned the kitchen counter, searching for a body.

But there was none…

“What is it?” I roared.

She shook her head and turned away…

That’s when I saw it.

Small.

Thick, pink, and severed.

I stumbled forward.

“That motherfucker….” Carven started. “THAT GODDAMN MOTHERFUCKER!”

My mind refused to accept what I was seeing. Still, I knew as I moved forward and reached out to grasp the cold, cleaved-off thumb of my son.

I closed my eyes as the room swayed.

Hale had what belonged to me.

Only this time, it wasn’t Vivienne…

It was Colt.

“I’ll fucking kill him,” I whispered. My voice was nothing more than a croak of air before I roared. “I’LL FUCKING KILL THEM ALL!”