“ANSWER YOUR FUCKING PHONE, ASSHOLE.” I snarled, listening to my brother’s voicemail for the tenth goddamn time. I winced, hating that sense of foreboding festering inside me. I couldn’t shake it off, no matter how hard I tried.
The damn thing had haunted me since I’d left for a run, and with each mile I ran, it only grew darker…until I cut it short and came home. I sucked in hard breaths, sweat sticking my shirt to my back as I downed my water.
“Problem?” Caleb stepped into the kitchen and glanced my way.
“Just Nick, the goddamn prick,” I answered, watching as Caleb rounded the counter and poured himself another coffee. “Find anything?”
“No,” he sighed and braced his hands on the counter. “Nothing we don’t already know.”
Fucking hours. He’d told me he’d text the moment he dropped Ryth off. “I think something’s—”
The sound of the front door wrenched me from my thoughts. I hadn’t heard the Mustang. But still…
“About fucking time, asshole,” I snapped, striding out of the kitchen. “You said you’d text after dropping Ryth—”
Dad stood in the foyer, dressed in a bloody shirt.
“What the fuck! Whose blood is that?” I was riveted on the stain as I stepped closer.
Elle stepped in behind him. She looked from me to Caleb.
“Dad?” Caleb spoke, stepping past me. “Want to tell us what’s going on?”
That dark feeling grew inside me, opening like a gaping pit.
I stood on the edge of that chasm…the ground falling away under my feet.
“Nick,” I whispered, that blood connection roaring to the surface.
“He’s fine,” Dad answered, stepping closer. “He’s at the hospital.”
But that thundering in my heart said otherwise.
“Ryth?” Caleb asked.
As though he knew…
“She’s gone,” Dad answered, that same unflinching fucking stare fastened on me.
“What?” Caleb stepped closer. “What do you mean, gone?”
“She’s been sent to the Order,” Elle said, stepping closer, her gaze fixed on me. “We saw the recording, we know what you’ve been doing.”
But the way she said it held no flicker of disgust.
No, this bitch was calculating.
Right down to the goddamn bone.
“You fucking cunt,” I roared as I stepped closer. “I’ll kill you…I’ll fucking kill you!”
I lunged, hurtling myself through the air toward them. “Give her back to me! GIVE HER BACK!”
Ryth
Darkness…darkness held me down. I tried to surface, tried to kick to get free. A hard breath sucked fabric against my mouth. My senses clouded…until a low moan tore free, triggering a memory.
I cracked open my eyes, feeling the bounce and jolt of a car. But I couldn’t see anything. I jerked, pulling my hands. Steel links snapped taut.
“Stop moving.” The command came from beside me. “It’s no use.”
I let out a moan as the memory moved in. Nick…Nick was hurt, lying on the floor of a warehouse. “What did you do to him?”
“Nicholas is fine,” my captor answered. “But you, Ryth…you better be ready to be saved by the Order.”
“Nick!” I screamed, even though I knew it was useless. I bucked, my senses roaring now, carving through that murky shroud in my mind. “NICK!”
