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Tobias
“Ryth!Ryth, wait, I’m sorry!”
I cracked open my eyes and shoved upwards, crying out as a sickening wave of agony ripped through my thigh.Ryth…Ryth…I scanned the room, finding the empty space beside me on the bed before I jerked my gaze to the door.“Fuck!”
“Come back!”The female voice sounded, along with panicked steps that faded.
For a second, I forgot where I was, wherewewere. Until Caleb’s faint roar reached me.“Where is she?”
But that motherfucker, I knew.
I shoved out of bed, nearly screaming with agony as my foot hit the floor. His betrayal…and his selfish fucking ways. It all came rushing back as I stumbled around the foot of the bed. The Order. Her dad. The diner…and the doc. I gripped my thigh and bent over, moaning as I snatched a pair of cut-off sweats from the floor and yanked them on.
If Caleb hurt her.
“I’ll kill him…” I grunted, yanked the waistband high, and stumbled for the door, slowing long enough to grab a gun from the dresser, then tore out the door. “I’ll fucking kill him.”
I half-stumbled and half-ran, tearing through the living room before I plunged outside. The sun hit me like a blow, boring into my eyes, blinding me for a second. “Fuck.”
I lifted my hand to shielding myself from the glare. Trees blurred all around me. I tripped and staggered, calling out as I ran. “Ryth!Ryth, where are you!”
I focused on the blur of the forest and the silver sedan that glinted in the sun. I didn’t know where I was running, didn’t even know where we were. But I couldn’t just stand there. I sucked in hard breaths, letting instinct take over, and scanned the towering trees.
“Ryth, stop!”Caleb called from deeper in the forest.
I gripped the gun, catching movement in the corner of my eye. The doc’s sister stood there, staring into the forest as I raced past.
“I didn’t mean to scare her.” Kit said, fighting back tears. “I didn’t mean…”
I don’t think she even saw me. I gripped the gun and left her behind, charging through the trees. Sticks snapped under my feet. Pain followed, biting.
She needs me…
She needs…me.
Gone was the forest. Gone was the pain. Ryth was all I thought about. Movement came from somewhere deeper, hidden behind a bush. The flicker was nothing more than a blur. Still it was there, leading me forward. I tore around a tree, pivoting, and caught sight of a rotting fallen trunk stretching too far for me to go around. I drove my feet into the ground and lunged, only for my knee to buckle the moment I hit the other side.
A moan burst free as I slammed to the ground.
“Ryth, stop!”Caleb roared.
But the sound was closer…
Just through the group of trees in the distance.
I ground my jaw against the agony, using it to propel me upwards. But I had no strength anymore. I had nothing. I slammed the gun against the tree, using it to brace myself, and shoved forward. My feet blurred as the ground seemed to tilt.
“No…don’t you fuckingdare,”I growled.
I drew on my last ounce of strength to keep myself upright and lifted my gun.
“No! NONONO!”she screamed.“Get off me! GET THE FUCK OFF ME!”
All I heard was her terror. All I felt was her fear. I clenched my jaw and wrapped my finger around the trigger.
Caleb unleashed a curse, his muffled words growing deeper and softer the closer I came, until I rounded the thick clump of brush and saw them.
“It’s me, baby.” He held her, kicking and thrashing, against him. “It’s me, princess. It’s me.”
