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Jace smirks at me and then turns his head away. My stomach twists as I begin to piece things together. I remember last night.
Falling asleep in the bed beside Raegan…
And then?
I woke up to men in our cabin. I’d thought it was Ryder and Wild playing a prank on us at first. But the voices were harsh and threatening. Noncompliance had one of them bashing me in the head. I remember the cracking of my glasses under a heavy boot.
I’m fucked without my glasses.
“Rae,” I whisper, my voice raw as if someone clawed at my esophagus for hours straight. “Rae?”
Why is my throat so ravaged?
My fuzzy mind connects the smokey scent to the equation. In and out of my consciousness, I remember fire. Not a campfire. No, something big. Worse. Catastrophic.
Panic swells up inside me. Where are my parents? My siblings? What’s happened?
“Dez?”
Jace nudges me hard in the ribs with his elbow. “They’re passed out. Can’t hear you, dude.”
I go to rub my eyes but learn they’re bound behind me. When I begin to struggle, Jace chuckles. Ignoring him, I squint, trying to learn where my sisters are. They were taken with me. I remember their hushed, terrified mewls.
We were kidnapped.
It’s so absurd and mind-boggling, I can’t begin to understand why or by whom. Was Jace kidnapped too?
The thundering inside my skull is relentless. The more I try to figure out what’s going on, the worse it gets. I’m tempted to close my eyes and forget all about it.
So I do.
Sometime later, I jerk back awake.
The sun peeks over the horizon behind the trees as our vehicle rolls to a stop. So much for figuring out this nightmare. How could I fall asleep?
A wave of dizziness washes over me. Something’s not right. The blow to the head fucked me up. I wonder if I have a concussion. My sisters may need me and I’m over here snoozing.
I sit up, squinting once more, to see if I can place where we are. We’ve driven for a while down the sole road that leads to our home but haven’t made it anywhere near town yet if the never-ending forest surrounding us is anything to go by. The truck’s engine shuts off and car doors open.
So many faces in this truck that all blur together.
Where are my sisters?
“Finally,” Jace grunts, pushing a sleeping kid into my lap. “I need to piss.”
My own bladder screams in protest, but I don’t dare ask to join him. I look over the child, blowing dark hair out of his face. Not a Jamison. Definitely one of theirs. The relief is short-lived because I soon hear a small voice.
“Ronan?”
I can’t see him, but he’s here somewhere. How did Kota get here? Is the rest of my family here as well?
No.
If Dad or Rowdy or Ryder where here, I wouldn’t be tied up in the back of this truck. Sickness curdles my gut. It takes a deep breath to keep from puking all over the kid sleeping on me.
“Ronan!”
“I’m here.” My voice crackles, but I think he hears. “I’m here, Kota.”
