Silas’s cruel, victorious smirk deepened, his dark eyes glittering with a predatory satisfaction that made my heart hammer against my ribs.

"You want them to watch, Clara?" Silas asked, his voice a low, vibrating purr that cut through the heavy bass of the club's music. "You want my lieutenants to

The heavy steel door shuddered as a barrage of high-caliber bullets struck it from the outside, but the reinforced titanium held firm. Inside the panic room, the air was thick, suffocatingly hot, and smelled sharply of cordite, sweat, and copper blood.

I stood backed against the cold metal wall, m

The red emergency lights pulsed in rhythm with my racing heart. The heavy, metallic smell of blood from the firefight outside mingled with the sharp, terrifying scent of heated metal in Silas's hand.

"The door, or the brand," Silas repeated, his voice a low, gravelly vibration that settled deep in