“I… I hear you,” she says, voice trembling. “I can see lights. Down the hill a little.”
Blade’s already moving, flashlight sweeping the woods. “Brooke!”
Switch splits off the other direction, boots crunching over gravel and leaves. “Brooke! It’s Switch!”
“Rev?” she calls, and even that single word sounds like she’s holding herself together by a thread.
I follow her voice, my own flashlight shaking in my hand as I push past branches and brush, heart hammering so hard I can hear it in my ears. “I got you,” I shout back. “I’m right here, Princess. Don’t move.”
And then I see her. Curled up at the base of a big tree, arms wrapped around herself, hair tangled, dress torn at the hem. Barefoot.
That’s when something in my chest cracks wide open. I’m in front of her in two strides, dropping to my knees. “Hey, hey, hey,” I say, hands hovering because I don’t want to scare her, don’t want to touch her wrong. “It’s me. I got you. You’re safe now.”
Her head lifts and her eyes find mine, wide and glassy and so damn scared it nearly wrecks me. “Rev,” she breathes, and then she’s in my arms, clutching my jacket like it’s the only solid thing left in the world.
I wrap her up instantly, pulling her against my chest, one hand cradling the back of her head, the other locked around her shoulders like I can shield her from everything if I just hold on tight enough.
“I got you,” I murmur into her hair. “I got you, Princess. You’re okay now. You’re okay.”
Her whole body is shaking, little broken sobs catching in her throat, and I feel it in my bones.
Blade crouches in front of us, flashlight cutting across her face, and I see his jaw go tight when he clocks the red mark on her cheek and the way she’s trembling. “Hey, sweetheart,” he says, voice gentler than I’ve ever heard it. “You with us?”
She nods weakly but doesn’t let go of me, like if she does, the world might start spinning again.
Switch comes up behind him, eyes scanning the woods, hand already resting on the knife at his side. “You see anyone else out here?”
She shakes her head. “I… I heard his car leave. He ran back and then I heard the engine.”
Blade’s jaw flexes. “Good. Gives us time.”
I shift her carefully, lifting her up into my arms like she weighs nothing, and she automatically curls into me, tucking her face into my chest.
“Your feet,” I murmur, looking down at the dirt and tiny cuts already showing. “Jesus, Princess…”
“They hurt,” she whispers.
I shift her higher against me, one arm locking more solid around her back, my chin brushing the top of her head. “Yeah,” I say quietly. “They’re gonna hurt. You ran hard. You did exactly what you needed to do.”
Her shoulders tremble once, like the words finally land somewhere inside her.
“You don’t gotta be tough right now,” I add, lower. “You already were.” Her grip tightens in my jacket, just a little, like she’s holding onto that. And I start moving again, carrying her the rest of the way without another word.
Blade pulls his hoodie over his head and drapes it around her shoulders, layering it over my jacket. “Let’s get you warm, okay?”
And yeah, I know it’s stupid, and I know it’s not the time, and I know damn well Blade’s just being protective, same way he is with anyone he considers family, same way he is with Bella and Bri and anyone else under his wing. But seeing her wrapped in another man’s hoodie still hits something ugly and sharp in my chest. Mine.
The thought comes fast and unwanted, and I hate myself for it immediately. What the hell is wrong with me? She’s shaken, she’s hurt, she just ran for her damn life, and I’m standing here having territorial caveman thoughts like that matters at all right now.
It doesn’t. Not even a little.
All that matters is Brooke. Getting her safe. Getting her home. Making sure she’s okay. Everything else can go straight to hell.
I tighten my hold on her anyway, not to claim, not to pressure, just to steady her, and she curls into me like she knows exactly where she wants to be, like this is the only place she feels steady right now.
“Truck’s right here,” Switch calls, already moving ahead, flashlight sweeping the path.
I carry her up the small incline, every step careful, every instinct in me screaming to keep her close and not let her out of my sight for even a second.
