“Their numbers had to have taken a hit fromthe Savages.”
“But obviously not enough of one.”
“Obviously not,” he muttered as he watchedthe gauge creeping closer to E. “We’re going to be walkingsoon.”
The words just left his mouth when headlightsmaterialized on the horizon. Four more headlights followed thefirst set. The glow from those vehicles illuminated the countryroad and the yellow line running down the middle. Grassy fieldsfilled with cows rolled past. Those cows were sound asleep, but thecrickets and tree frogs continued their song.
He barreled past the vehicles and wasstarting to climb the next hill when what he saw in those vehiclesregistered. In the rearview mirror, red lights flashed as the firstvehicle did a U-turn before racing after them. Kyle yanked thewheel to the side of the road and hit the brakes.
“What are you doing?” Lucy demanded.
“That’s my family,” he said.
He shifted the truck into park and jumpedout. Lucy was climbing out of the pickup when the first SUV pulledup behind them. The headlights turned off to reveal Brian sittingbehind the wheel with Abby beside him. Abby’s mouth hung open asshe gazed at them.
Then a back door flew open, and Cassidyjumped out. She sprinted toward him and threw her arms around hisneck. Kyle hugged her close as Dante, Abby, and Brian exited theSUV and approached.
More vehicles parked behind the first, andmore doors opened and closed. Footsteps pounded against the groundas they ran across the grass and pavement.
Despite everything he’d endured, he couldn’tstop himself from smiling as he watched his siblings, their mates,his parents, and the Stooges running toward them.
They crushed him in a giant embrace that hadthem all grouped together like football players in a huddle. Theyruffled his hair and clung to him as they slapped his back. Hismother sobbed as she clasped his face and studied him like she’dnever seen him before. He despised the tears in her eyes.
“What happened to you?” his mom demanded asshe leaned back to survey him. “Are you okay?”
“I’m okay,” he said, “but I have to get to mymate.”
“Where is Melanie?” Cassidy asked.
“In Hell,” he answered honestly.
CHAPTER 42
Melanie jerked againsther bindings. She bounced against the two men sitting beside her asscreams resonated in her head. She didn’t release any more of them;she wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of that, but they were anincessant racket in her mind.
Kyle’s blood slid down her face and drippedoff her chin. She couldn’t get the image of the blood exploding outof his chest from her mind or the look on his face a second beforehe disappeared.
“Cut it out, bitch,” one of the men spat.
In response, she leaned over and sank herteeth into his shoulder. She bit down until his skin broke andblood spilled onto his shirt. He released a startled shout andslapped her in the side of the face.
“Don’t do that,” her father commanded fromthe front seat.
“The bitch bit me,” the man snarled.
“We don’t abuse women.”
Those words were laughable consideringeverything he’d done to her, but it didn’t seem to count if he wasthe one doing the abusing.
When she kicked out again, the other manswore, and Delilah turned in her seat. Melanie reeled back when shesaw the syringe in the woman’s hand, but one of the men grabbed herhair and held her still as Delilah sank the needle into herthigh.
“Fuck you!” Melanie spat as Delilah pushedthe plunger.
Delilah smiled as she calmly recapped thesyringe and turned around. Warmth spread through Melanie’s body.She resisted the fog creeping across her brain, but blackness roseto encase her.
***
Melanie woke to discover herself surroundedby glass. Though her heart hammered and a cold sweat coated herbody, she didn’t move. Instead, she lay there, taking in hersurroundings and hoping they would somehow change, but they didn’t,and they wouldn’t.
