Chapter 35: The cot was bare
"What?"
Kael and Rhea snapped in sync, their voices colliding harsh in the stale air of Freya’s room, the empty cot glaring back like a taunt.
Rhea took a step inside—boots grinding grit into the tiles, amber eyes sweeping the entire room—when a shadow moved.
Freya surged from the wall beside the door—platinum-cyan hair a wild blur, blue eyes glinting murder—and slammed into Rhea’s back with both hands, a shove that sent her sprawling forward.
"Shit—!" Rhea’s curse rang out, sharp and loud, as she crashed to her knees, palms slapping the floor with a sting, the doorframe shuddering from her weight.
Freya didn’t pause—her leg coiled back like a spring and lashed out, boot driving into Kael’s stomach with a meaty thud that folded him in half.
Food packets and the shopping bag flew— The chicken wrap and clothes scattering like leaves—as he hurtled back, slamming into the kitchen counter, the edge gouging his spine.
Pain flared hot, air punched from his lungs in a ragged wheeze, his vision swimming as he clutched the counter to stay upright.
Freya wheeled around—face a mask of cold fury, lips curled in a snarl—and yanked the door shut with a bang, the lock snapping into place as Rhea’s fists hammered the wood from inside, her voice booming through, "Freya, you bitch, open the door. If anything happens to Kael, I will hunt you down and burn your entirety to ashes."