“I love you, and I’m going to marry you,” he says while I fist his shirt, refusing to let him go.
“I love you too,” I tell him.
Yuri grabs his arm, but Damien pulls it free. “Don’t fucking touch me.”
The look on Yuri’s face has me clutching Damien tighter, fisting his shirt until my fingers ache.
Turning back to me, Damien says, “Call Max and tell him what’s happened.”
I try to keep him with me, but he grabs onto my hands and gently pulls them away before taking a step towards Yuri. When I try and lunge for Damien, Misha wraps an arm around my waist, holding me in place.
“Let me go!” I yell at him.
“I will in a minute. Just calm down, Sitka.”
I look up at my oldest brother, and the anger I feel shocks me to my core. I’ve never been so mad at him, never felt so betrayed and hurt by him, and whatever he sees in my eyes has him looking away, watching as Yuri and Damien walk down the trail to Misha’s truck.
“I don’t know why you’re looking at me like that,” he says. “We’ve always told you what we’d do if someone dared to touch you.”
“This is different and you know it,” I say. “Damien isn’t some asshole just trying to get into my pants.”
“Maybe,” he says. “We’ll find out soon enough.”
Grabbing my arm, he walks with me out of the woods and then lets me go so he can walk to the truck. I chase after him, buthe’s faster and stronger than me, and when he shuts the door in my face, I pound on the door and scream that I’ll never fucking forgive him if he hurts Damien.
He ignores me and drives off. I stare after the black truck, too shocked to do anything else, but seeing Damien get further away from me, sends a rush of terror through me that snaps me back to the present. Grabbing my phone, I call Talia.
As soon as she answers, I say, “They took Damien.”
My voice is shaking and I can barely catch my breath.
“What? Who?” she asks, before quickly hollering for Max.
It’s his voice I hear next. “What happened?”
“My brothers know, and they took him,” I say. “I don’t know where. They just left in Misha’s truck.”
“Fuck,” he growls. “We’ll find him. Just stay where you are.”
Hanging up, I turn on my heels and take off running for the cabin. As soon as I see the light up ahead, I pick up my pace, sprinting for the door. Bran won’t hear me knock, so instead I barge in and start flicking the lights like crazy while I stomp my foot against the wood floorboards.
Bran sits up, looking over the back of the couch to see what the hell is going on, and when he gets a good look at my face, he jumps up and signs,What’s wrong?
I sign as fast as I can, giving him a quick rundown of what’s happened. When I stop, he signs,I’m going to get him. Go to your mom, and I’ll text when I can. He’s going to be okay, Sitka. They won’t kill him.
That doesn’t make me feel better, I sign back, feeling like I’m going to vomit while a thousand different scenarios run through my mind, many of them far worse than death.
I’ll find him, Bran signs again.
Grabbing my hand, he pulls me out of the cabin, running with me back to my house. He lets me go when we get to thegarage. Grabbing the bike he’d been using earlier, he starts it up and signs,Go inside and wait. It’ll be okay.
I nod, but I’m not convinced and he knows it. There’s no time for him to try and make me feel better, so he doesn’t. He does exactly what I need him to do and races off down the driveway, not giving a single fuck that the bike isn’t street legal.
In a daze, I run back home to my mom. I scare the hell out of her and Nyx when I barge in through the front door, slamming it behind me while I yell for her to help me. They both jump up from where they’d been sitting on the couch. Nyx is at my side in seconds, whining and nudging my thigh with her head. She doesn’t calm until I drop to the floor and wrap my arms around her, letting her see that I’m alive and unhurt, on the outside at least. The inside is a different matter.
“What’s wrong?” my mom quickly asks, dropping down beside me and cupping my face, forcing me to look at her. “Why are you so muddy? What happened?”
Tears blur my vision when I tell her what happened. “Damien and I took a walk,” I say, refusing to elaborate, “and when we came out Misha and Yuri were waiting for us. They took Damien, Mom.”
