Marked By Lies: A Reverse Harem Series (The Marked Series Book 1), Paige Orr [new books to read .TXT] 📗

air whooshes out of her lungs as she bends at the waist and as I bring my joined hands down to hit the back of her head she lashes out, catching me across the face with her claws.

A whimper escapes me as I feel the skin on my cheek beginning to sizzle as I back away from the enraged beast. She charges me again, but this time I’m too slow and she gets a grip on my neck, lifting me from the floor and throwing me against the wall.

Before I can even pick myself up, the Harpy is on me in a flare of feathers. She grabs me by the shoulders, her deadly claws piercing my skin, causing me to scream at the pain. She uses her hold on me to drag me up the wall, and I know I don’t have long left until she finishes me off.

Trying to push through the numbness spreading down my arms from her poison, I shakily bring my gun up to my waist, aiming it upwards and hoping it will hit the right spot. I pull the trigger just as she rips one of her hands from my shoulder for the finishing blow, and I gain a moment of reprieve when she stops in her tracks.

Her eyes move down to study her chest as blood pours from the wound, and as her head moves back up to me, I can see the determination to bring me with her to the underworld. I squeeze the trigger repeatedly, watching her body twitch as each shot lands.

Finally, her eyes roll back in her skull and her body thumps against the floor, causing relief to flood through me as I slide down the wall to land in a heap. I’ve heard about how dangerous a Harpies poison can be and I know that if I don’t do something soon with the amount pumping through my bloodstream, then the Harpies' dying wish will be granted.

Looking around the living room, I spy my bag in the wreckage of the coffee table and push to my feet. Unfortunately, my legs don’t want to work and I fall back down to the floor with a whimper. Having no other choice, I drag myself towards the bag, and I could cry when my fingers finally catch on the strap.

I pull the bag towards me, digging through it for my phone as soon as I can. By this point, my brain is starting to go fuzzy, and my vision begins to blur. Unable to see what's on my screen, I click into my messages and call the number from the top text. As the phone rings, my breathing becomes labored and I beg the person to pick up. Finally, the call connects and I could cry with relief at hearing his voice.

“Yes, Miss Greene, what can I do for you?”

“Help me… Please.”

The words are barely a whisper as they pass through my lips and the strength in my arms finally fails, causing me to drop the phone to the floor. I can see darkness creeping in on the edges of my vision, and my eyes begin to close to the faint sound of Zaphyr’s panic.

Chapter Fourteen

Elias

I stand staring at Zaphyr in astonishment when whatever was said to him on the phone causes him to lose his well known cool. I’ve never seen him react to anything like this before, so I know that whatever it is must be bad. He turns to us with his eyes filled with fear as the phone drops from his hand, hitting the floor with a thump in the now silent room.

The others seem to be just as surprised as I am seeing him like this, and I look to Morpheus and Cail to find them looking at him with unease filling their expressions. None of us want to spook him any more than he seems to be, but thankfully Morpheus bites the bullet and approaches him.

“Zaph, I need you to calm down for me, man. What’s the matter?.”

The words don’t seem to be making it through his anxiety, which just sets the rest of us on edge even more. What the fuck could have happened to throw him over the edge like this? Morpheus shakes his shoulders, managing to finally get Zaphyr to concentrate on him.

“Zaph, I can’t help until you tell me what’s happened? Come on man, we can deal with it, whatever it is.”

Zaphyr nods his head slowly, seeming to pull himself together as he takes a shaky breath before answering Morpheus.

“It’s Melissa, I think something bad has happened.”

“Alright man, what did she say?”

“It’s what she didn’t say that’s worrying me. She didn’t sound right, and she asked for help, but something happened and it sounded like her phone clattered to the ground. I couldn’t hear anything after that but silence, I think she’s really in trouble.”

“Okay, so she didn’t tell you where she was?”

Zaphyr scowls at Morpheus like he’s an idiot before snapping at him.

“If she did, I would already be on my way to her! She literally got three words out to me and she seemed to struggle with that!”

“It’s going to be alright man, I can use her number to track where she is so we can get to her. Hopefully, we won’t be too late.”

Morpheus spins around and crouches down to grab Zaphyr’s phone, using it to track where their detective is, while Zaphyr paces back and forth across the office. I exchange a wary look with Cail as we wait on Morpheus to do his thing. If Melissa was investigating these disappearances, then if something bad has happened, It’ll be our fault.

I hate the fact that an innocent woman could be suffering right now just because she decided to help us with something that we should have been able