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I was certain this one hadn’t been marked.
Apprehension gusted, awareness full, as if the air was suddenly saturated with depravity. The raven cawing as it flew overhead an omen.
My stomach twisted and my chest felt too achy and tight.
I could just feel it—this was bigger than I was prepared for. Dangerous.
You no longer have to go it alone.
I hurried back to my car so I could try Ezra again. I opened the door and leaned in to grab it where I had left it in the center console, only I froze when I heard the snap of a twig off to the side.
Frigid cold streaked beneath my flesh, and I gulped as I shifted a fraction, then I breathed out in relief when Samson stepped out from the woods.
“God, Samson, you scared me.”
He must have already been out here scoping the area, picked up a clue, an indication from when Ezra had been stabbed.
“You shouldn’t be out here, Savannah,” he said as he approached.
“I know,” I told him, turning back to reach for my phone. “I was just calling Ezra. Who lives here? I think my sister—”
He was suddenly there, right behind me, his hand ripping my head back before he smashed my face into the edge of the roof of my car.
Pain splintered out from the point of contact.
Cracking.
Fracturing.
Agony.
Agony.
Splitting me in two.
Blood gushed, running down over my eyes in a hot river, falling like tears down my cheeks. I struggled to remain coherent. To fight. I flailed, catching him with my elbow in the chin.
It didn’t do anything to stop him, he just yanked harder at my hair, sending spikes of torment stabbing into my brain.
He pushed his mouth to my cheek. “You stupid bitch. I warned you. I warned you both, but neither of you were fucking paying attention.”
Then he bashed my face against the frame again.
FIFTY-THREE
EZRA
“Goddamn it.” I tossed my phone to the table after trying to call Savannah for the hundredth fucking time. It wasn’t like I hadn’t expected it to go to voicemail, but I’d been praying for a miracle.
Praying that she’d suddenly answer, and in that throaty, sexy voice, she’d accuse me of being overbearing.
I’d take that title a million times over if it meant she was safe. If it meant she was whole. If it meant I got to hold her in my arms tonight and she knew it was exactly where she belonged.
I scrubbed a palm over my face like it might stand a chance of breaking up the terror. The clot of mayhem sending rage scattering through my cells. Fury that blotted out reason and sight.
We’d hunted all over the fucking town for her. For Hayden.
I had every hand on deck, each officer covering different sections of the town and extending all the way out through the county.
Lanie out east covering the rural neighborhoods and farms.
Bryant downtown.
Maliq taking the west quadrant in the more industrial area and the homes surrounding it.
Samson was out in Crestwood Village and beyond.
While I’d driven like a madman down every single road and alley, trying to pick up a trace.
None of us had come up with anything.
It was like she’d fucking disappeared out of thin air.
My chest clutched so painfully I was sure my heart cracked right down the middle.
This couldn’t happen. I wouldn’t let it. I had to find her. I had to.
I ripped at my hair as I paced the area between my kitchen and the dining table, turned and strode the other direction before despair had me stopping.
Faltering.
Just fucking lost. My world that had finally felt like it was coming to life going bleak and dim.
Ryder stepped up from behind, and his hand went to my shoulder in a show of support. “We’re going to find her, brother.”
My crew had shown at my house fifteen minutes ago to join the search.
Caleb and Paisley.
Ryder and Dakota.
Beth and Cody.
I had a map spread out on the table, this one larger than the one we’d used at the station. We’d each been assigned an area, and I’d given them implicit instructions to stay in their cars and contact me, no matter what they found. The last thing I was willing to do was put them in the line of fire, but I couldn’t deny their demand to help, either.
They all loved her, too, this woman who had slipped right in and become a part of us.
Paisley had picked up my kids from the after-school program, and we were just waiting on my mother to get here to stay with all the children so we could head out.
Each one of my officers were still on the hunt, instructed to report back if they picked up on anything at all. A hunch. An innuendo.
I didn’t fucking care.
Just as long as we found her.
I felt like shit that I’d sent the kids to their rooms, but I hadn’t wanted them to overhear the conversation. Didn’t want them to hear the hushed urgency that had lashed from my tongue as my friends and family had gathered around me. As I’d run down the list of shit that occurred over the last few weeks.
