As soon as the taxi pulled up to the curb, Beau was rushing to his feet. The white townhouse before me made me shiver, not knowing exactly what chaos was occurring inside.
I scooted out of the taxi and followed after Beau. He paused at the front door and glanced back at me.
“Find Molly and get out,” he said, his eyes dark and cool. The beast had taken over. His family was under attack and he would not allow them to be slaughtered like pigs. Not by Ares.
I nodded, my throat too thick to speak. Nerves ate up my senses so I focused on my breathing.
Beau gave me one last look, long and delicate, as if memorizing my features. He turned, opened the door and snuck inside.
The hallway was dark and at the sight of fallen soldiers lying in their own pool of blood on the oak wood floorboards, my stomach dropped. I could taste pure wrath in the air, so thick and potent, I choked on it.
“Fucking hell,” Beau hissed under his breath and walked ahead, farther down the hallway.
I tried to keep up, but my eyes continued to stray onto the soldiers. None I recognized, but these were men that protected Scorpios, that fought for them.
They were dead.
Ares had come in and killed them.
I shook my head and sped up to catch up to Beau but paused at the sound of a woman’s scream.
My head jerked to a closed door and without thinking, I sprung forward, throwing it open.
The scent of blood filled my nostrils and I froze at the sight of Molly leaning against the paneled walls, her eyes wide. Then I noticed the other man in the room.
The man who had been at the Pit.
The man who had held me down and called me weak, a slut, garbage.
My body tensed, and I glared at him.
And then behind them lay Beau’s mother, a pool of redness around her, soaking her white nightgown in crimson.
She wasn’t moving, her eyes shut, head tilted back against the floor. Beau’s mother…dead. No, no. He wouldn’t be able to handle that.
“Lex,” Molly breathed out, bringing my attention back to her. “Get away. Run. Now.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but the disgusting man spoke first.
His beady eyes watched me carefully, a bloody smile gracing me in a flash. “Ah,” he began, his nasty voice dragging the word out. “I remember you from the attack at the Pit, little thing,” he added, looking at me up and down as his tongue ran across his bottom lip, making me want to vomit. “Who would forget a pretty bitch like you, huh? I still remember the taste of your skin, the taste of your fear as you were shaking in my arms. Please. Please stop,” he mocked, imitating me.
All the blood left my body. I felt cold, numb. Like I couldn’t move.
I’m not weak.
I’m not weak.
I’m not weak.
“I knew you’d come back for more, lovely. But I’m busy now, you see. Wait in the hall for me, and let us finish what we started,” he said, waving me away and his gaze turned back to Molly. “Let me finally have a bite of this daemon’s neck because I’m going to rip it off her creamy shoulders once and for all.”
Molly clenched her jaw and stepped closer. “Don’t fucking touch her.”
“You stupid whore,” he hissed, and then laughed darkly. “Do you know what I’m going to do once I’m done with you? I’ll rip that fiend baby out of your dead womb and I’ll wave it like a limp flag in front of your Tensley.”
Those words were like a thousand daggers to my chest, over and over again. He wouldn’t touch her. I wouldn’t let him. That baby would mean everything to Tensley.
I took a step forward. I wouldn’t allow scum like him to hurt Beau’s family. Or my family.
Then I felt the air change, growing thicker each second and I looked at Molly. Her eyes were glowing, bright and terrifying blue as she stared at him.
The eyes of a daemon.
“You’re going to bend to my will, Fitz,” Molly hissed through her clenched teeth.
Fitz. I had heard of that name and then it clicked. Fitz Senior was the leader of Ares. He had personally attacked the Pit. His white hair, his white perfect smile.
“You will not touch my son,” Molly snapped, letting them feel the air change, the anger filtering in-between them until it would suffocate him, too. I felt the anger boiling from her, tasted it on my tongue.
Molly wavered, but she continued to increase her wrath, her anger seizing Fitz by his throat. The smug smirk he wore a minute ago long gone and his hands clenched beside him.
“Do you have any final words, Fitz?” Molly whispered, staring back at him, unflinching, unwavering.
Because she was the daemon, Dux of Scorpios and married to the king of demons.
“You’ll beg me,” Molly bit out and her eyes flashed bright, but not fast enough as Fitz looked away. “You’ll beg me to end your life.”
He laughed loudly, the sound like nails on a chalkboard.
“Scared to look me in the eye, Fitz?” Molly moved forward, and he took a step back. “I may not know all the answers to what I am,” she whispered, the surge of power pumping through her once again. “But now I know what I’m capable of.”
Just as her hand darted out, he lunged, catching her hand and yanking her into him.
I stiffened, going to help but Molly moved fast.
She jabbed her elbow with all her might in his thorax, cutting off his breathing for a long second, and he let go in surprise.
And then Molly dug her hands into his arms, blood staining his sleeves and before he could act quickly enough and tear his gaze away, she stared straight into his beady eyes.
“Beg me now, Fitz,” Molly hissed. “Beg me to end you.”
Fitz swallowed but didn’t look away from her.
I couldn’t breathe. The air too thick, too tense. She was too powerful, too strong.
He was entrapped in her spell.
“Please, Mrs. Knight,” he started, sounding almost robotic. “End my life, I beg you.”
“This war is over,” Molly said.
The taste of pain that had already been filling the room intensified suddenly, and Molly let out a broken gasp.
“Molly!” I screamed, clutching my own chest at the sight of the knife wedged into her pregnant belly.
No, no, no!
“Naïve little bitch, you thought it worked, didn’t you.” He laughed viciously again. “I’m afraid this is just the beginning, little daemon,” he hissed and struck her.
Molly stumbled back, crashing into the table, but as soon as her body hit it, she straightened, ready to attack once more.
No!
I yanked a knife from my jacket and rushed toward Fitz, stabbing his side, digging it in deep, but it didn’t slow him down. His beady eyes caught mine and he grinned, swinging his arm.
I hit the desk and then stumbled to the ground, the back of my head throbbing in pain. Another dizzy spell took over.
All I could hear was grunts and footsteps. And when I sat up, I saw Molly yanking the knife from his hand and without a moment wasted, she sliced his throat.
I froze, unable to look away as he gasped, and redness gushed from the deep cut, soaking his white dress shirt. Slowly, so slowly, he collapsed to his knees, then sagged onto his side, gaping at her bare feet.
Molly took even deep breaths, watching the last breath seep from his mouth until he stilled completely.
Then she collapsed to her knees too and fell over onto her side.
I crawled to her, bringing her onto my lap and watched as she lifted her own hands, gawking at them covered in blood.
Wetness burnt the back of my eyes and I held back a cry. I rubbed her arms up and down, hoping to calm her. She was too quiet, too silent as she stared at her bloody hands.
She couldn’t lose the baby. Tensley...Beau...
“Molly,” I whispered, but her eyes were glazed over. “Molly!” Her eyes drifted up to my expression and her bottom lip trembled.
And then it came like a tidal wave.
Molly choked, her eyes growing wet and red, her hands patting her stomach, her white nightgown soaked in blood.
“My baby, my—” She put pressure on her side and leaned against me as I hushed her, tried to speak to her, but it didn’t matter. Molly was out of reach. She was panicking, struggling to stand.
“Daph—” Molly whispered, and my gaze snapped to Mrs. Knight across the room. She saw Daphne’s brown eyes flutter open, tired and weak, but she was alive. Relief flooded my chest.
“It’s okay,” I whispered again, my hands shaking as I combed her hair.
I didn’t know if it was.
I didn’t know if the baby was still alive.
If Molly was dying.
A roar tore through the room like a great darkness had suddenly walked in and engulfed them all. I jerked at the sound to find Beau, his entire body shaking as he saw me.
“Alexandra,” he murmured, relief filling his dark brown eyes for only a moment until he saw Molly clutched in my lap.
Tears rolled down my cheeks as I stared at him, gripping Molly as if death would take her away. “I don’t know how bad it is…the baby.”
Beau’s features hardened, and he marched over, bending down in front of us. In one careful movement, he pressed a hand to her bloody round belly. His nostrils flared, his mouth a straight line of concentration.
Molly looked at him through half-open lids. “Tensley?” Her voice was too weak, too soft.
“Molly,” Beau whispered, his eyes trying to catch her gaze. When she didn’t respond and let her head flop against my chest, he moved closer, his brow furrowing. He looked at me, those deep brown eyes filled with worry, fear. It took my breath away. “We need to get her help.”
I nodded, clenching her to me.
Beau’s dark features were warped into a frown and he shook with rage.
“Stay with us,” he snapped, his fear coming out in anger.
Molly shook her head weakly. “He needs help.”
I froze at her words.
He…her son needed help.
Beau wrapped his arms underneath Molly’s legs and picked her up, a groan of pain escaping her mouth. “I got you,” he whispered to her and my heart thudded deeply in my chest, realizing right then that if Molly lost this baby, Beau would completely shatter again.