“What the fuck?” I gasped.

Emerson’s voice echoed round my head. “I don’t want them to follow Tan and Spence. I’ll lead them away,” I started, realising that our helmets were linked.

Sure enough, a couple of cops took the bait. The chase was on.

I was pleasantly surprised by Emerson’s skills. She weaved effortlessly through traffic, correcting to my added weight without a care. The bike swerved at impossible angles, whipping through the back streets and alleys of Junction City, losing our assailants along the way.

Emerson slowed, turning at a leisurely pace, when out of nowhere two cops came barrelling towards us. A girlish giggle sounded through my helmet speaker, and I swear I’d never heard a more evil sound.

Emerson accelerated at top speed, heading directly for them. They hesitated at the last second, splitting directions and creating a free path through the centre.

She’s fucking mad.

As we shot off into the night, adrenaline spiked my system and my pulse increased, triggering my Variant. Environmental noise became deafening, smells repugnant and the bright neon glow of city lights blinding.

I am free.

Emerson raced along Florian River, the long stretch of road clogged with traffic, all awaiting passage over Hangman’s Bridge—a double-leafed, movable overpass that was currently raising to accommodate a large boat passing beneath.

“Go over the bridge,” I said.

Emerson snickered. “Are you insane? Actually, don’t answer that.”

“I’m serious, we’ll make it.” My eyesight was adapting to the darkness, gaze sharpening on the trajectory of the moving bridge. My hands lined either side of hers on the handlebars, and she flinched. “I wouldn’t do anything to risk your safety—her safety. First: Micah would fucking kill me. Second: who will get her back if something happens to me? There is no way I’ll leave this world without knowing she’s safe. Ever.”

Emerson relinquished her hold, my body curling over her tiny form (which wasn’t difficult). Blasting the ignition, I turned for the rising bridge.

“Fuck! Why did I let you talk me into this?” Emerson gasped as we raced over the edge, bike hurtling forward, completely airborne.

The wind whipped at our clothes, threatening to drag us down to the watery depths below. I flipped a middle finger high in the air, making sure it was the last thing those motherfuckers saw before my climactic fucking departure.

Tyres screamed from the jolting impact as we landed on the other side, engine gearing down to come to an abrupt stop.

“What’s funny?” Emerson puffed. I hadn’t realised I was laughing.

“Nothing,” I replied. “Let’s speed this along, little one. My golden girl’s waiting.”

Chapter 26Psycho

We arrived in an underground makeshift garage filled with luxurious motorbikes lining the walls. Fuck yeah.

Spencer and Tanner were already parked, helmets removed. As soon as I jumped off the bike, a heavy weight ricocheted into me, a hard thump rebounding off my chest. I couldn’t believe it when my eyes processed the midnight blue hair itching against my chin, the trembling arms that circled my waist. Tears saturated my shirt and heaving sobs reached my ears.

“Ava? Is it really you? Fuck, Ava?” My words were jumbled, spilling over one another, my brain desperate for answers that were right in front of me. I embraced her with enough force to let me know she was real, that she was well and truly there.

Then she tilted her head back and gave me those endless grey eyes, shimmering with tears. I buried my face in her hair, bathing in her familiar scent.

“As happy as I am to see this cute reunion unfold, I also want to be reunited with my sister.”

My gaze flicked to Spencer. She was the only one remaining in the garage, leaning back against her bike and perusing her nails. This bitch was starting to grate against my last nerve, but she was right. As much as I wanted to hold onto my sister, we had no time to spare.

Ava relented her crushing hold and latched onto my hand, not quite willing to break contact yet. “They saved me. Micah saved me. We have to get her back.”

“There’s no question, Ava. I’m going to get my girl back, don’t worry.”

Her lips tilted upward, face shining at my words, the outright claiming of the woman I love. Damn right. I fucking love her.

Spencer tilted her head with a sceptical look. “Your girl, huh?”

“Yeah, my fucking girl. Now let’s hurry this posturing along, killer. We got shit to do.”

Her gaze tracked over my features, searching for any deceit. She wouldn’t find any. Micah fucking owned me and I didn’t give two shits who knew. I’d claim that ass any day of the week. Not simply for what she’d done for me—for Ava—but for what she made me feel. Besides Ava, she was the only one to see me for who I truly was, the one to accept me wholeheartedly for who I am. I couldn’t let her go, would never let her go.

“Spence, come and get this bloody mutt before I skin him alive!” I heard Tanner distantly yell, followed by a sharp, animalistic yelp.

Spencer rushed up the concrete steps, following the muscular grunts and high-pitched barks. “That’s no way to speak to your namesake, Tan. He’s just a baby,” she said in a soothing tone.

I turned to Ava with raised eyebrows. She was still attached to my side, her warm palm settled in mine. She gave a light chuckle before leading me through the doors into Micah’s home, the Temple.

As soon as I stepped over the threshold, a small, tawny-coloured ball shot towards me. I could barely process its beady devil eyes and sharp gaping teeth before they were rooted into my upper thigh. I roared from the sudden incision, ready to swat the small fiend to the ground. Ava blocked my hands, managing to unlatch its jaw from my leg and gathering the dog in her arms.

The dog was as tiny as it was ugly, barely reaching my knee. He didn’t even have any fur, bearing a striking resemblance to a wrinkly, loose-skinned ball sack. I involuntarily shuddered seeing my sister cuddle up to the demon chihuahua, who was still eyeing me off for another bite.

Emerson snickered into a glass of dark liquor and Tanner looked pissed, swiping blood away from his own bite, gashed across his neck.

Spencer reared up to Ava, cooing alongside her while stroking the mutt’s back. “Good boy, Franny. You were so close that time.”

I groaned. “Close to what? Please don’t say my dick.”

Spencer huffed. “Your femoral artery. If he aimed for your dick, Psycho, it wouldn’t still be attached. And I don’t think my sister would forgive me if our boy Fran here bit off your manhood,” she finished, arching a brow.

My gaze tracked to Ava, eyes widened in disbelief as if to say, ‘Where the fuck are we?’

Ava tilted a wide smile my way, her gaze shining back with a one-word answer in her eyes: Home.

Blueprint diagrams splayed over the kitchen island and each of us had a tumbler with some sort of liquor. The welcome burn of high-shelf whiskey soothed the lining of my throat.

“These plans are virtually useless, a hoax map to throw people off. People like you. There is no written map of the Caverns. Not one person knows the full layout.”

Spencer grumbled and popped another candy into her mouth. The girl was addicted to sugar. “What the fuck are you doing here, then?”

My eyes narrowed. “Except maybe Maximus…and myself.”

Tanner refilled his tumbler. “After we find Micah, can you lead us to Maximus?”

I stared at him, aghast. “Lead you to him?” I asked with difficulty, then swallowed. “The Caverns are a complex maze, made of interconnecting spirals and circles. Each offshoot has its own function, and to get through each ring, you have to pass a security checkpoint. You want to know where Maximus is in all of that?”