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Almost there.
Then a huge body was gripping me around my middle with a crushing pressure, and I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think.
Fuck fuck fuck.
What had we practiced? Every thought seemed to have left my head, as I struggled to control the panic.
The kubotan! I could have cried with relief as I remembered Cade showing me how to use the tiny self-defence item Arlo had given me for my birthday. I lowered my arms, stopping my flailing, and let my body stop struggling as the guard began to drag me back towards the castle. As quickly as possible, desperately trying not to let the panic overtake me, I worked my hand into the zip pocket of my jacket and pulled it out.
Inhaling a huge breath of the smoky night air to bolster myself, I jabbed it into the back of his hand as hard as I could. He let out a howl of pain, loosening his crushing grip on me. I gasped for breath, relieved tears filling my eyes, but then he was there again, ripping the kubotan from my grip with an angry roar and pinning my body in place. Fuck, he was too strong; I couldn’t stop him.
Suddenly, his weight was gone, and I was falling backwards. I landed on top of him with a grunt, momentarily stunned. Scrambling to my feet as fast as I could, I saw Mack standing behind the guard, a large rock in his hand.
“You looked like you were having a bit of trouble there.” He pulled up his balaclava, grinning at me.
“I had it handled.” Relief filled every fibre of my being, as he grabbed my hand and we jogged through the trees to the car. I was dimly aware of Lena’s voice in my ear saying, “Allan acquired,” as we broke through the treeline. I yanked the car door open, throwing myself in the back seat as Mack slid into the driver’s side and started the engine with a roar. My whole body started shaking.
“Group two accounted for. We’re leaving,” I managed to hiss into the speaker, before I lay back against the seat, closing my eyes.
“This’ll help.” I heard Mack’s voice coming from the front and Kinslee’s low reply, followed by the sound of her coughing and spluttering. Then a metal flask was being pushed into my hand by Kinslee, and I opened my eyes, pulling my balaclava off and tipping the flask to my lips.
“Fucking hell,” I managed to choke out as the fiery whiskey burned a path down my throat, heating me from the inside.
“Fireball.” Mack glanced at me in the rear-view mirror with a grin, before returning his attention to the road. As I took another small sip of whiskey, the second going down more easily than the first, I noticed his eyes flicking back and forth between the road and the rear-view mirror.
My breathing slowed, and I tugged off my gloves, before pulling my earpiece from my ear. We were out of range now, and we’d meet up with the others later. I remembered that my phone was stashed at our final location, so I couldn’t contact the others until I’d seen them in person. As Mack took us through the empty roads, I hugged my body, all my thoughts with Caiden and the others. I hoped they were okay. I needed them to be okay. I couldn’t stop the rising panic racing through me. What had taken them so long?
“First stop.” Mack slowed the car, turning into the industrial estate where Kinslee was parked. As the car came to a stop, she turned in her seat to face me.
“Are you okay?”
How could I answer that? “Yeah, I’m good.” I gave her a small smile, hoping she’d buy my lie.
“Call or message me as soon as you can.” She reached out and squeezed my hand. “They’re going to be okay.”
“Thanks,” I whispered. She slipped out of the car, and I clambered across to the passenger seat, contorting my body to move through the small gap between the seats. We’d agreed that she didn’t need to be there for questioning Allan and Joseph—the less people that were around them, the better, but she was on standby in case we needed anything. Weston had set up an alert system on the apps on our phones, so that we could send an SOS message with one tap. Of course, I didn’t actually have my phone at this point in time, so I had to hope that nothing would go wrong between now and the rendezvous point.
Mack started the car up again, taking us away from the Alstone area and onto the motorway.
“What do you do? Like for a job, I mean?” I felt a sudden need to make conversation, to take my mind off the panic bubbling up in me as I thought of everything that could have possibly gone wrong.
He glanced over at me. “This and that. I’m a tattoo artist, among other things.”
“Oh. That sounds fun.”
“Yeah, it is. I did most of your boyfriend’s tatts.”
And there went my plan to get my mind off Caiden. I thought back to him, peeling off his T-shirt and watching me notice his new tattoo. That look on his face, the combination of nerves, excitement, and love… fuck, he slayed me. I still found it bizarre that he even had any kind of nerves or was unsure around me. He was so confident, so commanding, that when he bared his soul to me, it took my breath away.
Mack continued speaking, shaking me out of my thoughts of my boyfriend. “Hit me up if you want any ink done.”
“Thanks, I will.”
We turned off the motorway. “Not far now.” Our surroundings changed from fields to industrial as we drove, and my body thrummed with a mix of fear and anticipation.
I kept talking to take my mind off my nerves, as I twisted my hands together in my lap. “Have you ever had to do any really bad tattoo cover-ups?”
“Loads. Normally names. Never get anyone’s name tatted on you. Bad idea.”
