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My fingers itch to take her into my arms and protect her, but we can’t protect her from what’s already inside her.

“We need to get her to the hospital.” Caden glances at the guys on the ground.

I give a different whistle so Eli will come find us. He returns the whistle, stating he’s on the way.

Harper’s hair is damp around her head. Caden brushes it away from her face. Her previous updo is half falling down in the back.

She lifts her face and says, “Penny stabbed Tanner. Tanner killed Will.”

“Will’s alive, little nympho.” Caden glances at me with worried eyes.

Penny might be in real danger if she stabbed one of them. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. Something warm hits my heart even as a pang of worry squeezes it. I’m really proud of Penny and hope she isn’t hurt.

A weak smile pulls at Harper’s mouth. “Good. Because being buried out here would suck. I don’t know where my dad is. People shouldn’t have to worry about where their loved one is buried.”

I swallow around the thickness in my throat, knowing that could have been her. Stuck in some shallow grave for eternity while we hunt fruitlessly for her. I kiss her forehead and meet Caden’s eyes.

“She needs the hospital now,” I say.

She’s sweating but also shaking like she’s too cold. Caden nods and sweeps her into his arms, passing Eli on his way to us. Eli turns and watches Caden run for a second.

“What’s wrong with her?” He looks at the guys who are now standing.

“Zach drugged her.”

“Fuck.” He looks like he wants to take off after Caden and her, but we have to deal with the other problem.

“Penny and Jack are still in there.” I brush my hair out of my face. “There are three in there. Tanner, Zach, and one other.”

Eli nods. He grabs one of the guys and rips the mask off. Trace Masters. Eli’s smile is cold.

“Better hope you go to jail for this, because otherwise Mike Cook will eat you alive.”

Trace doesn’t say a thing, but his eyes narrow.

The other guy is someone from another school that we’ve seen on the drug tapes. We force march them to where we parked.

When we arrive at where the car was, the car is gone and Brandon stands, waiting with Caden.

“You good to watch these three while we get inside and find the others?” I clap Brandon on the shoulder.

“Yeah. Whatever you need.” Brandon runs a hand through his hair. “Those fuckers need to go down.”

I nod. As one, Caden, Eli, and I turn back toward the house and make our way over quickly. Something moves off to my right, and I gesture for the others to lower. Each of us drops, kneeling on one knee in the dark.

There’s a group of five people heading to the house. All in black. Weapons drawn.

One peels off and heads in our direction. When he reaches us, he lowers to the ground. His vest declares him DEA.

“You Caden?” he asks.

Caden gives a sharp nod.

He nods back and looks over his shoulder. “I’m Agent Reynolds. We have a mutual friend. This is a joint strike force with the FBI. What do we know?”

“They took four girls and three guys from the dance. Three of the girls and one of the guys are on the way to the hospital. One girl is drugged and one of the guys was almost killed and suffered a severe asthma attack. Group was six guys total. No guns that we know of. Three, we have locked down by the dirt road with one of the victims standing guard. Three remain in the house with one girl and one guy. One of the assholes has been stabbed. We were about to go in and get our guy and girl out.”

He nods and presses on something near his collar. “You get that?”