AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I stay still as humanly possible.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
Those were definitely footsteps.
Fuck.
I take off in a sprint, as fast as I can manage, ignoring the sharp pain in my ankle. As beat up and exhausted as I am, I did stab him in the stomach. There’s no way he can outrun me. I dodge and weave through tree after tree while trying to keep an eye on the ground below me. I can’t afford to fall again.
I quickly look over my left shoulder to make sure I can’t see anyone behind me. When I don’t see anyone, I spin my head back, only to run right into a solid wall of muscle.
15
Finn
Istumble backward and wrap my arms around the curly head of brown hair that just slammed into me to prevent us both from falling on our asses as she struggles against me. “Harper?”
I’m looking right at her, but until she speaks, I won’t let myself believe it’s really her, that I really have her in my arms. But she doesn’t just talk. No, she continues to thrash in my arms, growing more and more panicked by the second. “No! Get off of me!”
“Harper, calm down.” I try to keep my voice as even as possible as she beats at my chest with her fists.
“No, no, no! Let me go!”
I grab her face between my hands, forcing her to look me in the eyes. “Harper, it’s me. Look at me, Angel.”
The second the nickname leaves my lips her eyes snap up to mine. I’ve never been so happy to see those deep emerald eyes, even if they are filled with tears. Her shaking hands grip onto my wrists. “Finn?”
“Yeah, Angel. It’s me.”
A strangled sob leaves her lips, and her legs give out from under her. “Oh my God. You found me.”
I quickly scoop her up in my arms. “Always. I’m so sorry it took us so long.” She buries her head in my chest as sobs continue to wrack her body. I place a soft kiss on the crown of her head before moving back through the trees as fast as possible. She’s wearing next to nothing, and it’s only going to get colder out. There will be time to hold her in my arms later.
“I’ve got her,” I say out loud. Knowing everyone just heard what happened through the coms in my ear that each of us put in before we broke off into the woods. I feel a burn behind my eyes as I speak the words, words I wasn’t sure I would ever get to say.
“You-you have her?” I hear the crack in Ronan’s voice.
“Yeah. I’ve got our girl.”
“Where are you? I’m coming to you now.” The urgency in Ronan’s voice is evident.
“No. It’ll take too long for you to find us, and it’s getting cold out. Meet us back at the cabin. Grab some clothes and the first aid kit out of the trunk of your car.”
Mac’s panicked voice sounds through the coms. “First aid kit? Clothes?”
“How bad is she, Finn?” Ronan asks.
I look down at my sweet girl, wearing nothing but a tattered shirt and covered in cuts and bruises of various colors. One of her ankles is black and blue, she has pretty decent abrasions around her wrists and ankles from being tied to that fucking bed, and her feet have a generous amount of scrapes on them from running through the woods barefoot. And those are just the injuries I can see at first glance. Who knows what lies beneath the surface? “She’s alive, but . . . she’s pretty beat up.”
There’s a beat of silence before Ronan speaks again. “We’ll meet you there.”
I continue to carry Harper through the woods as she cries into my chest, repeating over and over again, “You found me, you found me, you found me.”
I walk toward the house as fast as possible, minding my step as I go. The last thing I need is for me to trip and drop her. Finally spotting the treeline a few yards ahead, I place another firm kiss on the top of her head. “We’re almost there, Angel.”
As we break through the trees, I see Enzo and Dante leaning against the front of their car, first aid kit and clothes in hand, while Mac and Ronan pace around the driveway. As soon as Ronan spots Harper in my arms, he moves toward us.
“Baby . . .” Ronan chokes out. I can already see the tears pooling in his eyes. There have only been a few times I’ve seen this man shed tears, and every single time, they’ve had to do with the woman in my arms.
