Crimson Summer || Book Two

Crimson Summer Readers Exclusive

Crimson Moon || Chapter 2 || Told from a 3rd person POV

"He just left the apartment," 

Vailen huffs as she slid into the backseat of her brother Kiem's favorite muscle car and buckles up the second she settles in behind the passenger seat where her eldest brother Myah toyed with his rings with one knee squished against the dashboard. As tall as he was, he needed to have his cars custom made which made Kiem's look like an uncomfortable toy in comparison. 

"It's about time," Myah scoffed while Kiem eyed the parking garage through his rearview mirror with one hand on the wheel while the other scratched his chin. 

"I don't like this, it feels like we just led him straight to the slaughter," Kiem grumbles and Myah gives a faint sarcastic laugh.

"You can't be serious? Caius is CJ's mate. He has every right to take what's his," Myah explains and Vailen watches for any sign of her deaf sibling's 'grand escape' while her brothers argue.

"Not all of us look at our mates as some kind of property to be collared and enslaved," Kiem takes a dig at Myah who smirks as he turns towards Kiem. 

"Are we forgetting the simple fact that, unlike your precious little Evie, my mate tried to kill me?" Myah mentions and Kiem rolls his eyes. 

"Florian was told it was either you or his family. If Evie was a stranger and I had to choose between my entire family and my supposed mate, I would kill him too," Kiem tries to reason and Myah raises his brow.

"What about now?" Myah asks and it takes Kiem a second to figure out that Kiem was questioning his loyalty since Evren was never a stranger. He's grown up with Kiem since he was five and is practically a member of the family. 

"Oh no, I'd be seven bullets down and an only child in a heartbeat," Kiem explains with zero hesitation and Myah presses his fist to his cheek.

"I assumed so and I hope one day Florian feels the same. But he's happy and his family is safe, that's all that matters." Myah confidently says until Kiem asks the question.

"Are you sure he's happy in that big castle all by himself? How can you be so sure?" Kiem asks and Vailen sees a hint of movement and the roar of nitro cycles becomes the dead giveaway. 

"They're coming, let's go," Vailen demands and Myah quickly holds onto the handle for dear life. 

"For the love of the Gods please don't crash this time. I don't think my knees will make it," Myah mentions and Kiem clicks his tongue.

"Crash? Pft, why would you think that?" He asks and both Vailen and Myah can't tell if he's being sarcastic or not. 

"Um, because you have dumbass." Vailen is quick to call her brother out, but he waves it off instead.

"Crash is a very strong word," Kiem huffs and Myah whips his head around.

"You've totaled all of our parents' vehicles at one point and put Onnie in the hospital!" Myah hisses as Kiem closely watches the mirror. 

"But I haven't since like...the last one," Kiem sees a glimmer of the first motorcycle with his disobedient brother storming in the opposite direction. 

It doesn't take long for Caius to follow behind him, but they were headed in the opposite direction than the protection squad was facing. 

"What? The nitrocycle crash three months ago?" Vailen scoffs before Kiem throws the car in reverse and presses the pedal to the floor sending the entire car backward and the people in it forward. Leaving Vailen with a busted lip after she rockets into the back of Myah's seat and burnt tire marks on the concrete.