Chapter 16 Run!
Her knees buckled and she would have fallen if Maddox had not caught her by the shoulders. His hands were warm. Too steady for someone bleeding the way he was.
She looked around and noticed the bodies had all been dropped around them. All the men who attacked them were now either out cold or dead—and he hadn’t batted an eye.
"No," Maddox said quickly. "Grace. Look at me."
Her eyes darted up, wild and glassy. Blood dotted her cheeks. Her lips trembled.
"I didn't mean to," she said. "I just wanted him to stop."
"I know," he said. "You did what you had to do."
Her gaze slid past him to the body again. The man's eyes were rolled back. His chest did not rise.
Grace sucked in a breath that scraped her throat raw. "He's dead."
Maddox followed her stare. His jaw tightened. He pulled her closer, blocking her view.
"You're safe," he said firmly. "That's what matters."
She shook her head, tears spilling now. "You're bleeding."
Only then did she notice how his shirt was soaked through. Dark red. The fabric clung to his skin, heavy with it. Her hands hovered, unsure where to touch, afraid she would hurt him.
"You were stabbed," she said, panic suddenly breaking through everything else. "Maddox, you were stabbed."
He pressed his palm harder against his back. "It's not as bad as it looks."
"That's a lie," she snapped, her fingers hovering close as if the slightest touch might scar him. "There's so much blood."
He grinned, "They're mostly not mine," Her eyes snapped up to his they were full of innocence and confusion, he softened immediately. "Grace. I need you to take the bus home. Now.”
Her breathing hitched, but instead of arguing, she nodded blankly.
"What?" She stared at him like he had lost his mind. "No."
"I need you to go," he repeated. "Now."
She shook her head harder. "I'm not leaving you here like this."
"I'll be fine."
"You're bleeding out."
"I'm not," he said, more sharply this time. Then he lowered his voice again. "I need to take care of this."
Her eyes flicked around the garden of bodies and blood. The silence felt too loud.
"You mean ‘we’," she whispered.
Maddox nodded once.
But leaving him to take care of the aftermath of a mess she caused felt wrong. My when people had fucking died! What if someone called the police? How would he explain it all?
"I can't just leave."
"You can," he said. "And you have to."
She stared at him, searching his face for weakness. For pain. For fear. There was tension in his jaw, strain in his eyes, but no panic. No fading. No sign of someone overwhelmed by the guilt of taking multiple lives. It was almost like nothing new to him.
And also, for the first time in her life, she was somewhat afraid of her best friend.
"Please," he said quietly. "Trust me."
That word again.
Trust.
Her chest ached and she had no intention of leaving until his bloody fingertips lifted to graze her cheek, locking eyes with her in a terribly intense manner. She watched him for a few more seconds and wiped her face with trembling hands. "I don't want you to die or get into trouble."
He cupped her cheek, thumb brushing away a tear. "I won't," he reassured.
She held his wrist, fingers tightening like that might keep him there. "Call me when you're done."
He didn’t say anything, because he had no intention of implicating her for the slim chance that the authorities got to him.
She hesitated, "Or better yet, come home please.”
He just smiled at her and told her to go, she nodded then turned and ran before she could change her mind.
As soon as she disappeared around the corner, Maddox straightened.
He removed his hand from his back.
The wound was gone.
Not scarred, not healing. Gone. The skin is smooth beneath torn fabric. The blood was still there, drying, but the injury itself was sealed as it had never existed. Though his shirt was still bloody, showing the existence of a fight.
Maddox exhaled slowly.
"Too close," he muttered.
He rolled his shoulders once, testing them, then lifted his head only to catch the movement of someone recording in disbelief.
His eyes narrowed at Dylan and his friend.
They stood frozen at a very good distance. How foolish were they not to run while they had the chance, they were pale and wide-eyed in horror, watching him like he was something they were never meant to see.
Their mouths moved, but only curses came out.
Maddox's eyes darkened the moment they ran.
They turned and scrambled for safety. Maddox on the other hand did not rush. He stepped over the bodies calmly, bone crunching beneath his boots.
His eyes burned amber.
"You should have run off when you had the chance," he growled, fangs half bared. Then in a blink, he shot forward.