A sob, a sound that reached in and twisted my heart, erupted from Tashlyn’s lips.

I struggled against the metal shackles, but it was useless. I needed to draw his attention away from Tashlyn and turn all his rage against me. “You sick fuck, you’ve had this torture chamber down here playing out your perverted fantasies with little girls. And all the while, you strutted around town like a big man, like a respectable citizen.” I glanced toward the back of the shelter. “How many girls do you have buried in here?”

He reached up and tapped the chain running across the plank ceiling. “This came with the shelter. The trappers’ used it to hang carcasses and bleed out their kill. Like I’m going to do to the Wolfe I just trapped. And there are no bodies buried here. This was always the first place the police looked.” He chuckled. “Hell, I even had to lead them down here a few times to let them look the place over.” He walked in a circle around me, beaming with sickening pride, apparently at having tricked the police so often. I was just glad to keep his attention off of Tashlyn. “No, I had the expertise that comes from growing up in these woods. It gave me the edge I needed to keep ahead of the investigators. This river is dotted with abandoned beaver habitats, crudely built animal dens that I discovered were the perfect place to hide a body.”

“You are the lowest piece of trash on this earth, Gregor, and I’m going to fucking kill you.”

Landon walked closer and glared up at me. I had to keep his focus on me.

“Still can’t believe that all this time self-important, self-righteous Mayor Gregor was committing the worst crime of all. In prison, they’d kill you for sure. In fact, I would get myself arrested just to get thrown in there with you. Then I could tear you to fucking pieces.”

“Guess you know all about prison. Don’t forget, your dad was part of it all,” he blurted as if that erased his own sins.

“Nope, you fucking deviant, he had nothing to do with the little girls, and you know it. That was you and you alone. You’re all pieces of shit, my dad, Rocky, that scumbag on the floor, even your sister knew what was going on. That’s why she’s sitting in some house with strangers drinking herself into the grave. She’s just as guilty as the rest of you.”

He shook his head and spun around. I worried he was turning his attention back to Tashlyn, but his arm shot out and he snapped the glass covered whip at me. I tightened my fists against the pain. Shards of glass sliced through my shirt and skin, leaving marks that looked as if a tiger had drawn its claws across me.

“You monster!” Tashlyn screamed.

Landon twisted around to face her.

I braced my shoulders and wrists for pain as I lifted my lower body. I got in a solid kick to his back. He stumbled forward and fell to his knees.

Landon hopped back to his feet, and his nostrils flared wide as he turned around with his gnarly whip. It came across my back, slicing through my flesh like butter. Instantly, blood ran in warm rivers down my back. I held my breath to bear some of the pain. I was relieved that he hadn’t touched Tashlyn with the whip. His torture device flew through the cold air again, striking me, leaving my shirt and skin in shreds.

“You always had a smart mouth, Wolfe. But I guess this’ll shut you up for good.” He pulled out the knife I’d used to slit Draven’s throat. It was still coated with his blood.

Gregor shoved it against my throat.

“No, please,” Tashlyn pleaded.

Gregor sneered up at me. “Isn’t that sweet, she’s begging for your life. Bet you never had anyone give a damn if you lived or died before.” He lowered the knife. “I think we’ll see just how much you return that affection, Wolfe.”

He turned back to Tashlyn and made sure to stay out of the circular reach of my legs. I twisted and turned ready to pull the fucking skin off my hands, just to get free. Gregor pushed apart the panels of Tashlyn’s ripped shirt. Tears flowed down her cheeks, and she tried her hardest to squirm out of his reach. He dragged his finger along the scratch on her belly, then pressed his blade against her. She cried weakly as he pulled the tip of the knife along her skin.

“Like ivory silk, young and supple,” Gregor growled.

“I’ll fucking kill you,” I yelled.

He grinned at me over his shoulder and lifted his arm back. The flesh shredding whip dropped back ready to slice the air and Tashlyn’s skin.

Tashlyn closed her eyes. I futilely kicked out, hitting nothing but air.

The hatch was thrown open and daylight poured into the hole. A loud roar followed and a tall figure flew at Gregor, knocking him to the floor. Dane snarled like a wild fucking animal as he grabbed Gregor’s hair and snapped his head back. He pounded Gregor’s face into the floor, splattering blood in every direction. The sickening sound of bones crushing echoed through the shelter. Dane lifted Gregor’s head back and smashed it into the ground again. Gregor was limp but that didn’t stop my brother.

“Dane, it’s done. Let us loose.”

Dane thwacked the asshole’s head a couple more times before finally letting go. He hopped to his feet and looked at both of us. “Shit, good thing I came.”

“Yeah, bro, it’s a damn good thing. The chain running along the pulley is hooked to the wall over there. And there’s a knife under that bastard somewhere to cut Tashlyn’s ropes.”

Dane stared down at the second body on the floor. “Hell, is that Draven?” he asked as he stepped over him.

“Yep, that’s Draven.”

Dane unhooked the chain, and it rattled through the pulley. My hands were numb from being above my head, but my shoulders felt instant relief. My tattered shirt was soaked with blood, and it felt like the skin on my chest and back was on fire. “Right here on the side of the cuffs is a button, Dane. Open these up.”

Dane released the metal bands around my wrists. “Fuck, this is like one of those medieval torture dungeons,” he said with disbelief. “Dad told me to come here and find you. He said I needed to watch your back like you’ve always done for me.”

“We watch each other’s backs, Dane.”

I shot over to Gregor’s lifeless body and turned him to look for the knife. It was still gripped in his hand. I yanked on the knife. He groaned, somehow managing to grip it tighter. But not tight enough. I wrenched it from his grasp and leaned down over him. His face was a flattened mess, and he struggled to take air in through his shattered nose and decimated jaw. “I should let you just lay here and die a long, torturous death, like your victims. But I’m kind of a selfish asshole. I want to know that I was the one who killed you.” I shoved the knife into his throat. Landon Gregor, the man who’d masqueraded around town as a respectable citizen for years but who was hardly even a human being, choked to death on his own blood.

I raced over and cut the ropes on Tashlyn’s hands. She pulled them free and collapsed into my arms. Dane and I helped her out of the shelter. Several state troopers and a few townsfolk, including Finn and Everly were hiking down toward us.

Everly’s face was pale white and stained with tears. She raced past everyone. Tashlyn pulled her arms from around me and ran to her friend. They hugged.

“Thank god, you’re all right,” Everly cried.

“Who called the state troopers?” I asked as the three men tromped slowly down the steep terrain toward us.

Everly took a deep, steadying breath. “I did.” She looked at Tashlyn. “When my uncle knew about the place you lived and I was sure I’d never said a word to him, some things started coming back to me. Mindy, the friend who died in the fire, she’d told me she was upset and that it had to do with my uncle, but after the fire and with him pulling me to safety and everything, I’d pushed it out of my head. I guess that’s why he was nearby when the fire broke out. I was at the store, thinking about everything, and I decided to call my mom. She confessed the entire horrid story to me. I saw Jem and then Dane ride through town and I figured they were heading to Phantom Curve. I knew something was wrong.” Everly looked toward the shelter and then back at us. “My uncle?”