Hacking into the digital footprint that everyone left behind.
Keeping tabs on the monsters who roamed this world. Then manipulating their reality into anything I wanted it to be.
Right then, I was itching to use my hands in a whole different way. The hacking Iachedto do involving much sharper objects than a keyboard and screen. The violence I forever thirsted to enact winding my nerves into disorder.
“You’d better make sure I’m a part of that plan,” Silas warned.
I wanted to tell him no. Insist he wasn’t thinking straight. The hate and worry would only drive him to make mistakes. I knew firsthand how that shit went down. I also knew well enough there’d be no chance of keeping him away.
“Let me figure out a plan with my brothers, then we’ll ride.”
He hesitated, then asked, “You sure you want to take this on?”
We both knew this was risky.
“Absolutely.”
My life was sacrifice. I did whatever was required to protect the vulnerable.
A complete offering to Sovereign Sanctum.
Silas and his MC were under that umbrella. Our accomplices in arms, though their goals varied a bit from ours.
It went deeper than that for me. The need to crush the demons that roamed. The fucking twisted thrill I got when I did. The violence that burned inside me close to unbearable until the moment it was unleashed.
He blew out a strained sigh. “Can’t thank you enough for doing this. I can’t let anything happen to her…”
Pain bled into the last.
Old rage whipped through my insides and butted against the grief.
“We’ll get her back.” It was a thick, gritted promise. “I’ll text you later.”
Without saying anything else, I ended the call, doing my best to fight off the horrors that wanted to consume. Knowing full well what Silas was feeling right then.
I sucked it down and forced myself to keep moving.
My boots thudded against the damp dirt as I followed the rugged path that had been carved by my feet. Branches of oaks and pines hung heavy overhead, their thick trunks interspersed with the spindly pines that grew dense in this part of the forest.
Duke panted behind me, his tail swishing back and forth as he trotted along, the only companion I needed.
We kept moving down the side of the mountain on the east side of my property in the direction of the river that ran the border of my land. It was the area where I got the most trespassers since a campground sat right above the farthest northeast line, hikers ignoring the slew ofNo Trespassingsigns I had staked up on the fence that surrounded the perimeter.
I hopped over a fallen tree then ducked under a low-slung branch, pushing it out of my way as I slid down an incline. The soles of my boots dug in for traction as I hunted through the underbrush.
The sound of the river grew louder as I angled my way down the harshly sloped terrain.
I suddenly froze when I felt a shift in the air. The hairs lifted at my nape and my pulse increased. Couldn’t shake it, this creeping sense that skittered over me.
Inclining my ear, I listened to the sounds of the forest. The faint rustle of the trees as the breeze blew through and the rush of the river at the bottom of the ravine.
I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was that set me on guard.
But I could feel it.
Something wasn’t right.
Duke’s ears twitched as he listened, and his golden tail went rigid.
