Page 234 of Boys Who Hunt

“Don’t mention it.”

BANG!

More gunshots downstairs draw our attention as the front door is slammed open by two bodies dropping down to the floor. Max steps inside and waves. “I’m here!”

I lean over the banister and yell down, “Max, have you seen Ivy yet?”

He shrugs, but then something is thrown at him and explodes.

“MAX!” I scream and jump down the stairs to get to him.

He’s coughing wildly, and I pull him out of the smoke.

“Do I have my fingers? Please, Heath, you gotta tell me. Do I have all my toes? I can’t feel them,” he says, but when I look him up and down, he seems perfectly okay.

“You’re fine,” I reply.

He breathes out a sigh of relief. “Phew. Anxiety got the best of me there.”

I roll my eyes. What a drama queen.

BANG!

Max drops from my arms and immediately reaches for my knife in my pocket, then chucks it at the guy who shot at me.

“Nice throw, twink,” I muse.

He blushes. “I learned from the best.”

“Who, me?” Silas says smugly as he rushes down the stairs only to jump on a guard I didn’t even notice hiding out in a crevice beside the stairs. Silas climbs on top of his shoulders and slits his throat from the top. The body drops to the floor while Silas is still on top of him, and he uses it as a stair to get off.

“No, my mother,” Max replies. “But thanks for the save.”

“Where the fuck is Ivy?” Silas growls.

“If you’re looking for us … we’re in here.”

We all look up at the sound of that ominous, low voice.

That came from the kitchen.

Silas immediately raises his knives at eye level, so I do the same with my gun, while Max clutches his sniper rifle close as we home in on the room.

Only two entryways lead into the kitchen, at least from this hallway, and no more guards appear to be blocking our way through either door. But it feels like a trap. Still, we move forward, determined to save Ivy and Cora.

Even if she is a liar and a thief.

Even if she felt betrayed because I knew Ivan.

Even if the girl is not her kid.

I want them to be safe … no matter the cost.

Silas

We head inside the kitchen,where Ivy lies passed out on the floor near the gas stove with bruises all over her skin and some blinking object tightly strapped to her chest. Rage takes hold of my savage heart.

“Ivy!” Max yells with pain in his voice as he steps forward.