Page 164 of Barinov

“No! No!” I spin in a frantic circle, my heart slamming against my ribs. “Bella!”

There.

A flash of white. The echo of her laugh mocking me from the darkness. I chase her deeper, the trees closing in until the canopy blots out the moonlight. I run until I can’t feel my legs. Until the world is nothing but the sound of my own breath and the ghost of her laugh.

Suddenly, the trees break. I burst into a clearing bathed in the sickly red glow of a dying flare.

Bella’s standing in the center. She turns, her eyes wide and full of love. She reaches out a hand, and for a heartbeat, I think the nightmare is over.

Then she thins. Fades into the mist. Her form stretching and darkening until she’s gone. Standing in her place is the same eerie, hooded figure, silently waiting for me in the center of the kill zone.

Chapter 41

CADE

The Reznikov’s - Alpine, NJ

60 days since Bella’s kidnapping.

“Holy shit,” I whisper, leaning closer to Sabine as a figure hooded in black silk glides into the clearing like a reaper.

Lex’s sweaty body stumbles in after him, breathing sporadically.

“Rez is terrifying,” I add under my breath, the words catching in my throat.

“You think this is bad. Imagine what our boy is seeing right now, chéri,” she breathes. Her voice is steady, but her eyes are blown wide, reflecting the madness unfolding merely ten feet away.

“Where the hell?” Lex chokes, shaking his head hard to clear it. “Where is she?!”

He’s blind to us. Blind to his own father standing three feet in front of him. He’s completely lost in the darkness of a nightmare where the only light is that of a girl who’s not here.

Lex turns in slow circles, eyes wild and chest heaving as he reaches out. “I’ve got you,” he rasps. “You’re safe. Just stay with…” Panic floods his eyes. “No. No, no, no. Bella, wait!”

He lunges forward, arms closing around the cold, empty air. His face contorting with a grief that makes my chest ache.

“Baby, please,” he whispers, sweat rolling off his shoulders.

My stomach drops.

“Come back!” he roars, his hollow voice echoing through the dark.

I take a step forward. A hand clamps like a vice around my wrist.

“Don’t,” Rez warns, icy-teal eyes blazing as he yanks his hood down.

“Rez, he’s—” I start, my voice shaking.

“Don’t,” he growls, the cool, black silk of his sleeve rustling against my arm. “You take one more step and it’ll be the last fucking thing you do.”

“But—”

“Listen to him, Cade!” Daniel cuts me off, stepping into my line of sight. “My son has this.”

“Heart-rate’s spiking. One-seventy and climbing,” Knox’s voice crackles in my ear. “You’re up.”

A shadow steps out of the trees. Moonlight drags over Laing as he strolls into the clearing. The dragon inked across his bare chest writhing under it with each step.

“Iz is with me,” Laing calls out. “Where the fuck did you think she’d be?”