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“Plans?” I questioned as a deep moan ripped through the darkness.
I jerked my gaze to the sound coming from her phone. There was something familiar about that moan. Something that hit me in the chest like a fist.
Moans played out in stereo. The sounds of fucking made my stomach clench. I knew…I knew instantly. It was Nick’s recording. The one he watched over and over again on his phone. The recording of all of us.
“Mom,” I whispered, my gaze finding hers as that moan in the darkness came again.
“Ryth,” Nick's low groan reached me.
“Nick?”I started forward as that shift in the shadows came once more.
Three men stepped out of the darkness, coming from where Nick moaned…and in the middle was the priest. The one from the wedding…I jerked my gaze to the name stitched onto his black jacketHale Order of the Lost.
“We can’t have this messing up our plans,” mom murmured as the priest and his men stepped forward.
They surrounded me, closing in with menacing, stony stares.
“You’re coming with us, Ryth,” the priest declared, nodding to the two others with him. One of them grabbed me, his hold like a vise around my arm.
“No…” Nick groaned.
I wrenched my arm from my attacker's hold and tore away from them, stumbling backwards.
“It’s for the best,” mom answered, her voice cold and unfeeling as she glanced at the screen of her phone. “You’ll be safe where you’re going.”
“Nick!”I screamed, tearing my gaze from her and frantically searching the dark.
But they were on me in an instant, yanking me back as I lunged. I caught the dark outline of my stepbrother, his arms bound behind him…a dark patch soaking through his white shirt.
“Take her,” Mom commanded. “Take her to the Order…keep her away from the truth.”
Panic roared. I fought, lashing out with all I had, until a hand clamped over my mouth and my nose was filled with the pungent, bitter sting of chemicals.
The warehouse swayed. I kept trying to fight, bucking in their hands, my gaze fixed on my brother.
“Nick…” I cried, my voice strange and warped.“Nick…help me…”
Until I plunged headfirst into the darkness and knew no more.
epilogue
TOBIAS
“Answer your fucking phone, asshole.”I snarled, listening to my brother’s voicemail for the tenth goddamn time. I winced, hating that sense of foreboding festering inside me. I couldn’t shake it off, no matter how hard I tried.
The damn thing had haunted me since I'd left for a run, and with each mile I ran, it only grew darker…until I cut it short and came home. I sucked in hard breaths, sweat sticking my shirt to my back as I downed my water.
“Problem?” Caleb stepped into the kitchen and glanced my way.
“Just Nick, the goddamn prick,” I answered, watching as Caleb rounded the counter and poured himself another coffee. “Find anything?”
“No,” he sighed and braced his hands on the counter. “Nothing we don’t already know.”
Fucking hours. He'd told me he’d text the moment he dropped Ryth off. “I think something’s—”
The sound of the front door wrenched me from my thoughts. I hadn’t heard the Mustang. But still…
“About fucking time, asshole,” I snapped, striding out of the kitchen. “You said you’d text after dropping Ryth—”
