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Aidyn parkedhis truck in the lot across from the big tree. He was in the shadow of the building, but he had a perfect view of the area around the base of the tree.
He was slightly early but wanted to be here in case Elena managed to come down earlier than usual. He’d spent the entire day thinking of all possible scenarios to get her and her mom off the mountain without bloodshed and war. He felt stupid that he hadn’t come up with anything.
All their dealings with the BRR to date had shown them that the BRR was willing to enact violence with the slightest provocation. What they were about to do wasn’t slight at all.
After an hour, he became restless. After two hours he was worried. He didn’t know where her cabin was, or he’d go right up there and get her now.
He stepped from his truck and paced around it, burning off some of his worry and energy. Finally, he saw the vines move and he froze.
She rose from the vines and hurried across the road toward him. Once her feet hit the parking lot she picked up speed and he ran to meet her. She jumped in his arms and he scooped her up effortlessly and hurried them to the relative safety of his truck. Opening the door he set her on the ground and pressed his lips to hers. He heard her gasp.
He pulled back to look into her eyes with the light from inside his truck. The left side of her face was bruised and swollen.
“Who hit you?”
Tears filled her eyes and he softened his voice. He ushered her into his truck and closed the door. Stomping around the back of his truck, he sucked in big breaths of air to calm himself. After climbing into the driver’s seat, he turned to Elena and examined her face.
“Honey. Who hit you?”
Her bottom lip trembled. “Craig.”
“Why?”
“I snipped at him this morning. He told me it was my duty to marry and have babies and I asked him why he and Hanalore didn’t have babies if it was so important.” She swallowed. “He slapped me. I think harder than he meant to. He apologized later.”
He held the steering wheel with an iron grip and his jaw clenched tightly.
He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry this happened.”
Tears fell down her cheeks and he swiped them gently away, careful not to press on her swollen cheek. Leaning over, he opened his glove box and pulled a tissue from a box he had in there.
He handed it to her and she stared at it. His brows wrinkled and he cocked his head.
“It’s a tissue. To wipe your tears.”
“Tissue.”
She gently took it from his fingers and rubbed it between hers. She dabbed at her tears and looked at the tissue.
“It’s falling apart.”
“It’s disposable. Once you use it, you throw it away.”
“Why? You could use a handkerchief.”
Nodding, he said, “Yeah. We used to. But people down here got too busy to have to wash them. Plus this is more sanitary.”
“Okay.”
He started his truck and turned onto the road leading to the HOG. He needed his teammates to see she was in danger. They didn’t question his decision. Not vocally. But he knew what he was asking made them all uneasy.
“Where are we going?”
“To the HOG. Our home. My teammates and mine. Tate wants you to draw a map of the mountain and where your cabin is.”
“Okay.”
