“Then get used to it, Alpha Bradley. You took the damn job.”
Sighing, I look away, unable to take her steady glare.
She’s right. I just never thought it would be this hard.
“Okay, I’m on it,” I say. “Keep me informed.”
“Will do,” she answers, waving me off.
When I turn my truck towards town, I have every intention of going to the main meeting room and helping to set up emergency supplies in any spare public buildings. I even text Gen and get her on task to have the others meet me there.
But when I actually reach town, I turn towards the side streets that will take me home. There’s a nagging feeling in my chest I just can’t shake, and I won’t be able to focus until I know Alisha’s okay.
On the way, I check my phone again and see she hasn’t replied to my last text. I try calling, and when she doesn’t pick up, my heart jumps in my chest, filling me with anxiety.
Maybe she’s just resting. We had a big night.
The memory of her trembling in my arms, crying out with joy, and begging me for more should give me pleasure, but it just increases my fear.
I can’t have found her and won her back just to lose her like this!
In desperation, I text Scarlett and Grace, but they don’t respond, either.
By the time I reach my street, I’ve got my foot flat to the pedal, pushing the truck as hard as it will go. When I screech into the driveway, I lay down enough rubber to almost shred my tires and barely stop before I smash the nose of the truck against the garage.
The house looks quiet and peaceful. I wonder how anything in this town could ever look that innocent, especially at a time like this.
The dead Shadow, then the snake, and the fucking rock—how do I suddenly have so many things to worry about?
Knowing that seeing Alisha alive and well is the only thing that will soothe me, I run up the steps and open the door, almost slamming it into the wall in my eagerness to get inside.
If she’s sitting on the couch reading a book, I’m going to look ridiculous, practically smashing doors down to get to her. But you know what? I don’t fucking care. So long as she’s safe.
A quick look tells me she is not on the couch or in the kitchen. Her scent is too faint, and my heart twists in my chest, making my blood run cold.
A breeze is flowing down the hall from the back room, and as soon as I turn down the hall, I see the chips of glass all over the floor. I know what I’m going to see before I get there, but I have to go right through the door to confirm it with my own eyes.
The window has been shattered into pieces, the frame in splinters, with only a few shards of glass dangling from it.
I think of the mutilated body in the woods, and the kind of sick mind it would take to put so much effort into everymaneuver simply to unnerve the enemy, or for the sheer joy of chaos and violence.
Or both. This is one sick bastard we’re dealing with.
I walk closer to the window, seeing strands of Alisha’s long black hair caught on the glass. A few drops of her blood are scattered across the sill, leading into the nearby woods.
It has to be her ex—and he’s taken her!
Chapter 22 - Alisha
I try to struggle free of Paul’s grip, but his hands are like iron as he drags me through the forest, forcing me to walk ahead of him further and further away from the town.
“Paul,” I gasp, trying to get a decent breath of air into my lungs. “You don’t have to do this.”
“I know,” he says, his tone light and friendly. “I like to do it. I enjoy it.”
He shoves me forward, and I almost fall right on my face. The fact that he just let go of my hands makes me feel like I might have an opportunity to get away, but the way he shadows my steps suggests he wants me to run.
So he can chase me down, catch me, and rough me up a bit.
