~Serena~

Four men lay unconscious on the cold ground. Jared and I ran to where Declan was, hissing as we reached for the rope binding him to the chair, which burned our hands.

“It’s laced with aconitum,” Jared said. It could be laced with cyanide for all I care, but that wouldn’t stop me from removing Declan from this chair and from this place.

I slipped my fingers between the rope and Declan’s skin, my skin sizzling as it burned. Pushing aside the pain, I grunt as I pull on the rope ...