Kreed ran his fingers through my hair in soothing strokes as the SUV finally made it to the road. He pressed his forehead to mine. “Little raven,” he said softly, tipping my chin as he brushed the pad of his thumb over my cheek.
The tenderness in his tone overwhelmed me completely, washing over my battered psyche. It was the voice of the man I’d fallen in love with, stripped of all pretense and armor, raw with concern and relief and something deeper that I didn’t dare name.
I had so many things I wanted to say, so many fucking questions, but I couldn’t get my mouth to form words. The last of my strength finally gave out, the adrenaline keeping me conscious exhausted. I collapsed against him, my body surrendering to the inevitable as consciousness slipped away. My head fell to his shoulder, my breathing slowing to match the rhythm of his heartbeat.
Perhaps it was for the best. Perhaps, finally, I could rest knowing I was safe in the arms of the man who had moved heaven and earth to find me. The last thing I felt before the darkness took me was his lips pressing softly against my hair and the whispered promise that no one would ever take me from him again.
The humof the road was the first thing I noticed, a low, steady vibration confusing my foggy mind. I didn’t know where I was, but I immediately knew I wasn’t inthatroom, the place I’d been held for too fucking long.
I blinked awake slowly, my eyelids heavy, and the world began to focus in fragments. The soft blue dashboard lights. The blur ofpassing bare trees through tinted windows. And the strong scent of smoke.
For a long moment, I thought I was still trapped in some fever dream, my mind conjuring the impossible to torment me with hope. The warmth surrounding me felt too perfect, too complete, but gentle fingers threaded through my hair and familiar tingles danced down my neck.
Kreed.My body and mind sighed simultaneously.
His chest rose and fell beneath my cheek, and of course, my mind thought this had to be another cruel trick, another way to break me down when I woke up alone, confined to a bed.
My head lifted slightly, and his eyes were on me with an intensity that made my breath catch. The relief in his gaze was so profound it was almost painful to witness. My eyes ate him up, his full lips, pierced nose, chiseled cheeks, the two tiny scars just under his eye, and his expressive brows. He looked better than any memory I conjured.
God, I missed him, and as if he knew how much I needed to see his lips form into that perfect frown, they turned down at the corners. My heart fluttered. “You came,” I whispered, my fingers lifting to his cheek to touch him and make sure he was indeed real. His skin was warm as I brushed over his scar.
His mouth curved into something that wasn’t quite a smile but was infinitely precious, soft around the edges in a way that transformed his entire face. “I had a promise to keep. I told you I’d always find you, little raven.”
The nickname warmed places inside me that had gone cold with fear. My lips trembled as I tried to form a response, tried to find words for the overwhelming flood of emotion threatening to drown me. I wanted him to say it a dozen more times. “Took you long enough,” I managed, attempting levity but hearing the way my voice cracked. The tears came then, hot and unstoppable, blurring his face.
He caught the fallen tears with his thumb. “Don’t ever fucking do that to me again.”
A watery laugh bubbled out of me. It was a sound I’d wondered if I’d ever hear again. “Now that I’ve crossed kidnapping off my bucket list, I have no inclination to repeat the experience ever again.”
Those gray eyes formed a speck of seriousness. “We’re going to talk about what you did, but not until I can let go of you, which might be a few days.”
Ah, yes, me sneaking off after drugging him and his brothers. Slowly, the initial rush of relief began to ebb as everything else came crashing back. The burning house. The stage lights. The auction. My stomach hollowed out, becoming a pit of acid and guilt.
“The other girls,” I blurted, pushing away from his chest to look at him directly as I thought of Crystal. “I can’t leave without them. We have to go back. They’re still?—”
Kreed’s expression fell. “I’m sorry, little raven. It’s too late. We’re already miles away, and the house is probably nothing but ashes and rubble by now. If any of them made it out, hopefully they ran.”
My chest burned with anger and sorrow. I couldn’t help but think of Crystal and the other girls who weren’t as lucky as me. They didn’t have what I had. They didn’t have Kreed. I might be safe, but they might not be, and despite the terror still holding its claws in me, I knew I must find a way to help them. Maybe not tonight, but soon.
I glanced around the car, noticing the absence of some important players. “Where are Brock, Raine, and Fynn? Are they?—”
“Raine and Fynn are safe,” Brock quickly assured, but I caught the pause that followed.
There was something else, and I realized he had left out a name. He’d only said Raine and Fynn were safe. “And Brock?”
Grayson’s fingers wrung on the steering wheel. “No one’s heard from him yet.”
I pushed farther away from Kreed, suddenly not so relieved. “We have to go back. We have to find him. We can’t leave him behind. He’s my cousin, I can’t?—”
“Chill, menace,” Maddox said from the front seat, twisting toglance at me. “We won’t leave anyone behind. Fynn and Raine are already working on it. They’ll find him. You know they will.”
I sagged into Kreed’s arms, my brief burst of energy spent, but my mind wouldn’t stop racing down dark corridors of possibility. If anything happened to my cousin… God, how many more people would get hurt or worse because of Rusty’s greed, his lust for power, or whatever the fuck it was he was trying to achieve? I didn’t know anymore what that was, but I had few family members left. I couldn’t lose him.
The SUV began to slow, and my heart gave a little lurch when I saw Brock’s house.Holy shit.We’d made it.Against all odds, despite every obstacle Rusty had thrown in our path, we’d actually made it out alive, but the threat still existed. Rusty wasn’t dead, and until he was, I couldn’t let my guard down. Not for a second.
Grayson killed the engine, and before Kreed reached for the handle, the door swung open, a gust of fresh air breezing through the car. I hadn’t seen Mason move, but suddenly he was in front of me, pulling me out of the car and lifting me clear off the ground. His arms squeezed tight as he spun me in a wild circle, making my wobbly head hurt.
“Mason,” I gasped, clutching his broad shoulders as the world spun around me in nauseating circles. “Put me down before I throw up on you.”
