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I should be holding his hand, not her.
Ignoring the bitter, green monster inside me, I make my way over to Rowdy. He has Destiny by the bicep, pulling her through the tent opening. She’s almost out when suddenly she’s jerked back.
Fuck.
Jace is awake.
In the moonlight, I can see his jaw muscle ticking as his hold tightens around Destiny’s ankle. Rowdy makes a soft grunt as he tries to extract Destiny from Jace’s grip. She’s jerked again, this time completely disappearing back into the tent.
Rowdy growls and dives into the tent.
The whole tent trembles and quakes as a struggle ensues. Then I hear the wet, tearing sound of a knife piercing flesh.
Over and over and over.
I take off running in an effort to help Rowdy. By the time I reach the tent and am crouching down, I’ve heard that sick stabbing sound probably twenty-five times or so.
Please let Rowdy be the one doing all the stabbing.
I can’t stomach the idea of losing him to that fucker, Jace.
Before I can stick my head inside, Rowdy emerges from the tent. Destiny is limp in his arms, covered in blood. He’s also wearing it splattered all over his face. His feral expression meets mine and then he nods.
It’s done.
We’re getting the hell out of here.
He takes off at a clipped pace, carrying Destiny like she’s a sleeping princess in one of the fairy tales Mom used to read to us. Rowdy’s more like an avenging dark angel, dangerous but protective.
Glancing back, I notice Ronan squinting at me. That’s right. He can’t fucking see a thing. I grab his other hand, happy to have an excuse to touch him and soothe some of my jealousy, to guide him in the right direction. The three of us follow after Rowdy, struggling to keep up with him. For someone carrying another human, he glides through the forest like he’s a soulless wraith, not a man with a size thirteen boot.
All that can be heard as we rush through the forest is our harsh breathing. Each step away from that fucked-up camp feels like one step closer to eventual freedom. We just have to get far enough away that we won’t be discovered easily.
After running for about forty-five minutes, Rowdy comes to a stop. He gently sits down with Destiny in his lap before fumbling for a bottle of water. I take the break time to do the same, sharing one of my bottles with Kristen and Ronan. While they’re occupied with the water, I slide the backpack off my shoulders to dig around in a pocket for a hard case. Once I locate it, I hand it to Ronan.
His eyes widen as he accepts the case. Then he flips it open and removes one of his spare pairs of glasses. He sets them on his face and then grins at me.
“Thank you,” he whispers, eyes roaming over my face in appreciation.
My heart warms. I’m glad I’m the first thing he sees after this nightmare. Pride fills my chest. I grab hold of the back of his head, pulling his forehead to mine again.
“I fucking missed you.”
“I missed you too.”
Letting go of Ronan, I make my way over to Rowdy. He’s frowning down at Destiny. She’s awake but staring off into space, a vacant expression on her face. I squat beside them and reach into my pack for something to clean her face off with. Once I locate a packaged towelette, I rip it open and start to swipe the blood off her skin.
Rowdy grunts, shooting me a warning glare before snatching the towelette from me. Gently, he cleans her face, murmuring soft assurances to her. She doesn’t flinch or respond.
“We need to get going again,” I say to Rowdy, careful to remain out of arm’s reach. He’s still acting like a cornered animal protecting his young. “It’s not safe.”
He gives a shake of his head as if to clear it and then meets my gaze with a more human stare before nodding. I step back, allowing him his space, as he rises to his feet once more. Destiny’s head lolls toward his chest and stays there. He hugs her tighter to him. It makes me glad that we sent his backpack and tent with Raegan since he’s apparently going to carry Destiny the whole time.
Rowdy nods down to his back pocket. I bend over to see what he needs. As soon as I see the familiar knife hilt sticking out, I can’t help but grin at him. Sure, it’s covered with Jace’s blood, but it’smyknife. Well, the knife I share with Raegan. I take it from him, unable to keep the anticipation of seeing Raegan’s expression when I give it back to her out of my mind, and tuck it away in my pack.
She’ll be so fucking happy.
We start forward again, but Ronan stops me, his hand gripping my wrist. I turn toward him, frowning at the utter look of despair on his face.
