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Lincoln covered his face with his hands and rubbed his eyes. “I don’t want you to see that.”
I replayed that first day when I’d seen Mikey beating him in my mind. My chest tightened, and my jaw began to ache from clenching my teeth so hard.
I licked my lips and blew out a long breath to steady myself. “Sawyer and I don’t want to see that either, but you’re here, and I don’t want you to be in this alone. Let us in with you. You shouldn’t have to face him alone.”
Sawyer got up again and went to the barn door, looking outside. After a moment, he turned back to us. “I’ve gotten Lincoln a reprieve for today. I’ll wait until this evening to tell my dad about the computer being shipped, and I imagine he’ll make a move to intercept it right away. Tomorrow, Mikey will probably be back.”
A knot formed in my belly. Mikey would be extra brutal once they had the information they needed. “You’ll need to say something so that they don’t hurt Lincoln too badly. And also protect yourself. I don’t want you getting caught in a lie either, Sawyer.”
Sawyer massaged the back of his neck. “I know how to handle my father. It will be fine. You should know, though most likely I’ll be going with him to search for the computer.”
I drew in a shaky breath. That meant I would be on my own. Sawyer wouldn’t be here to protect Lincoln and me. I took another glance at Lincoln. He was okay for now, but we weren’t actually awake and moving around. He was injured, and I wasn’t entirely sure how severely.
If Sawyer wasn’t here, and Lincoln was in as bad a shape as I feared, I would be on my own.
Nine
Sloane
I exited my dad‘s office and pulled the door closed behind me. He had a good layout of the compound now. Sawyer and Lincoln had helped me draw up a map. We would be leaving first thing in the morning.
I wished I could fast forward the next twelve hours and wake up ready to go. The house was full of life as everyone gathered and talked about their plans. Their energy hummed around me, both making me restless and wanting to curl under my blankets in bed.
My mom’s voice rang out over everyone else’s. She was ordering a few of the other girls around the kitchen. It was Sunday night. We always made a big meal for the whole pack and gathered.
My mom was making a beef roast for dinner. I could smell the tender meat cooking all the way from here. My stomach grumbled, but I had no desire to eat.
I flexed my fingers at my sides and looked around the hall. I’d only been back for a few days, and I was already leaving again. Once this was all over, I never wanted to leave this house again.
That wasn’t entirely true. My mind drifted to Lincoln and my conversation earlier. The beach would be amazing. How I wished we could go there and just forget everything that was happening.
Movement to my right caught my attention, and I turned to see Willa standing in the hall entryway. She gave me a little wave before limping down the hallway toward me.
She was more mobile than she had been, but I could still see the thick bandage wrapped around her upper thigh, hidden by the fabric of her sweatpants.
She wrapped her arm around mine and rested her head on my shoulder. “I heard the news. We’re leaving first thing in the morning. Well, you and most of the pack.”
“We have to go back for those girls. Sawyer was able to give me more information about where they are.” It was too bad that we hadn’t been able to help them before, but Willa and I had barely made it out of there alive.
And Lincoln…
Willa clung to me, her nails biting into my forearm. “I didn’t realize there were any other women there. I feel bad that I was so obtuse.”
I gave her a small shake. “You were a prisoner, and Alpha Dane was a bully to you. You couldn’t have known.”
Lincoln had mentioned them a few times, and part of me felt guilty for not going for them when we ran, but if we had, Willa and I would be chained up in the barn with Lincoln.
“Hmmm, yeah, maybe.”
I put my arm around her shoulders and led the way down the hallway towards the stairs. “I heard Jacob is staying behind.”
If the unthinkable happened to me, I knew Jacob would keep Willa safe.
She lifted her head up as we rounded the corner for the stairs, and her grip on my arm tightened as we slowly made our way up. “I wish you were staying behind, too. Ian’s going. He volunteered. Sloane, I’m so scared.”
I couldn’t deny that there wasn’t a knot forming in my belly and that I didn’t think I’d be able to eat or sleep tonight, or in the morning, for that matter. “I’m scared too, but I have to go. I have to get Lincoln out of there.”
Willa sighed, gripping the banister as she hauled herself up the last step. “Are you sure I can’t talk you out of it?”
