I pulled my shoulders back and stood straighter. “I’m not leaving without her.”
Ace lifted his hands in mock surrender. “I’m not suggesting this as our first course of action, but if we can’t find her, we need to escape. And we need to be on the same page. We can’t do her any good it we’re recaptured.”
He had a point. I knew he had a point. And it didn’t suck as far as points went, but I still didn’t like it.
“Fine,” I said through clenched teeth.
Ace nodded at the door. “Can you hear anything?”
I shook my head but leaned forward to press my ear to the unfinished wood. Nothing. Nothing except Ace breathing down my neck. Without looking, I reached back and shoved him away. “I can’t hear anything with you mouth breathing in my ear.”
Ace snorted but thankfully didn’t say anything else. I waited a few more minutes, time passing slowly. I wanted to be sure. Once I turned this doorknob and stepped out of the basement, we couldn’t turn back. And yet we couldn’t stay here and wait, either.
Still not hearing a sound, I reached out, slowly turned the doorknob and pulled the door open. Warmer air rushed in, flowing around me with the scents of pine and cedar. I poked my head out and looked both ways. It had been dark by the time we entered the cabin, and exhaustion had started to pull at my limbs. From what I could recall, the main entrance opened into a foyer and living room. To the left sat the kitchen, to the right a hallway with doors that probably led to bedrooms. At the end of the hallway, there had been another door. This door.
I stood at the top of the basement stairs and stared down the hallway at the living room. Empty. I let out a long pent-up breath. So far so good. I turned toward the kitchen. Might as well pick up a few knives on my way out. I didn’t dare check the rooms for Nala. What if hunters slept there?
I walked to the edge of the living room and peeked around the corner. The kitchen also sat empty. I padded into the room with Ace on my heels and searched for some knives.
I didn’t sense Nala nearby.
In fact, I didn’t sense her at all. I plucked a sharp knife from a knife block sitting on the counter. If only our bows and arrows were sitting nearby, too. But luck wasn’t on our side. I nodded at Ace and moved slowly to the front door. The wood panels groaned under my feet. Pausing at the door, I leaned forward. I couldn’t hear any talking or movement outside, but for all I knew, a guard could be standing on the other side of this door.
“Is there a back door?” I asked.
“Not that I saw,” Ace whispered back. Dammit. I hadn’t spotted another exit either.
“Should we try to climb out the window near the back?”
“The windows aren’t that big,” Ace replied. “And none of them open to the back of the cabin. I think it will be faster and cause less of a commotion if we slip out the door and walk calmly to the back of the cabin to get over the fence to the woods.”
That had been my assessment as well, but it felt nice to have Ace come to the same conclusion.
“We’ll meet whatever we find on the other side of that door together,” Ace said.
Well, that was just... sweet. I nodded and turned the handle. Of course, the hinges whined as loudly as possible as I opened the door. Peering outside, I didn’t spot anyone. I glanced at Ace. He shrugged. Now or never. I took a deep breath and slipped out the door. Ace followed close on my heels and shut the door behind him. No turning back now. With quick steps, I turned the corner of the cabin to head to the forest around the back. I held my breath the entire time. We didn’t speak. Our surroundings filled with the sounds of my rasping breath, the crunch of gravel and dirt under my boots and my heartbeat thudding loudly. Less than twenty feet separated us from freedom.
Darius stepped out from behind the cabin, his mouth turned down. His gaze met mine briefly, before his expression hardened and his gaze drifted to someone behind me.
“You’re not going anywhere, Em,” a man spoke behind me.
I froze where I stood, still staring at Darius as every brain cell in my head screamed at me to turn around. I’d recognize that deep timbre voice anywhere. I’d heard it cheering me on, teasing me, supporting me, and talking me up when doubt got in the way. This voice had walked beside me my entire life. We’d shared the same trauma, the same past, the same womb. I turned around and faced my twin brother.
12
Taller, stronger, and faster, yet apparently not smarter, my brother stood about ten feet away from me and Ace, blocking our exit from the narrow path between the cabins. With Darius on the other side of us, we were trapped with only kitchen knives as weapons. I waved the knife between us.
“Make this make sense,” I demanded.
Paul sighed as if I’d asked him to help clean up after a party instead of explaining why he was working with the very people who’d abducted me and had previously tried to kill me.
“Why don’t you come back inside?” he asked.
I crossed my arms over my chest, careful not to slice myself with the knife. “And if I refuse? If I run? Are you going to stab me or will you get your lackey to do it for you?”
Darius grunted behind me.
“Of course not,” Paul said. “I’ll tell them to shoot you and aim for your shoulder. I can’t have you running off to give away our position.”
