Page 25 of Shattered Home

“What do we do with her?” The man holding me, based on the deep tenor of his voice, asked.

“Bring her,” another voice responded.

“And the others?”

“Leave them. They’ll be dead by winter.” The voice paused before continuing, “Jab her. We don’t need her flailing about on the way back.”

Before I could consider what that meant, a sharp pain hit my upper arm. I had worked in the medical field long enough to know the feeling of a needle sinking into my skin. The man holding me threw me over his shoulder as whatever he shot me with invaded my muscles, weakening them. My head began growing hazy, the vision of everyone sleeping becoming blurry.

The man released the hold over my mouth and I knew what I needed to do before I lost consciousness. I had tried to protect myself, but it was time I learned I was probably always going to be the sheltered girl that needed someone else’s help.

“Rainer!” I yelled with all my might, the sound of my voice like I was underwater.

I wasn’t sure if it was loud enough. I wasn’t sure if they had heard me. Or if they could find us. All I knew was that we were idiots to think we could outrun someone that was watching us. My last thought was that maybe I would see my family sooner than I thought and then everything was black.

Chapter Sixteen

Rainer

“Rainer!” The shout woke me immediately, my body sitting up straight as I reached for the gun beside my waist.

The yell must have alerted everyone else because Mina and Sasha sat up, rubbing their hands over their eyes. My eyes fell to the empty spot beside me, the spot I made sure Alessia was in before I fell asleep.

Where the fuck is she?

My mind knew the answer, but I pushed it away. I refused to believe that had been her shout. I refused to admit that I had fallen asleep, allowing us to be attacked once again. And why the hell was Alessia always the one awake?

“Oh god no!” A shrill voice came from the other side of the dead fire.

Elizabeth was sobbing, no’s falling from her lips repeatedly, as she searched around her. Emmanuel was doing the same and I realized with horror that the twins were missing.

My brain tried to reason that Alessia had taken the twins out for a walk, maybe to get some more water. But she wasn’t an idiot, even if I would never admit that to her. She wouldn’t have taken them trekking through the woods in the middle of the night.

Knowing there wasn’t much I could do to soothe Elizabeth and Emmanuel’s worry, I glanced around the area until my eyes fell on Murphy. He was the one on watch. The one who was supposed to make sure this didn’t happen.

He was my best friend in the entire world, now possibly the only person I had in this world, and at that moment, I wanted to throttle him. How could he let this happen?

Stomping toward him, I knew he saw the thinly veiled anger burning under the surface of my skin because he held up his hands. The gun dangled from his open palm, the gun that was supposed to prevent this.

“What the fuck happened?” I snarled, trying to keep my temper at bay but doing a shit job of it.

“I don’t know, Rainer,” he choked, and I watched as his gaze roamed the area.

I didn’t have to ask who he was searching for. Lately, he couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. I’d tease him if I didn’t feel the same way. It had been easier to ignore how incredibly stunning she was when I hated her spoiled ass. Now it was almost impossible to overlook when she was working her ass off and becoming tougher than I would have ever given her credit for.

“She’s gone. Now what happened, Murphy?” I clenched my hands into fists, trying to avoid the urge to push my friend against the tree at his back.

“I must have fallen asleep. I don’t know what happened.”

Cursing, I stormed away from him, knowing if I stood there any longer, I couldn’t hold back my fists. And if I knew Murphy at all, he was beating himself up more than I ever could.

Calming my steps before I reached Emmanuel, I stopped before them and asked as gently as I could, “Are they gone? You can’t find them?”

At my words, Elizabeth cried out, sinking to her knees. I couldn’t imagine what she was feeling, having her children ripped right out from under her nose.

“No, we can’t find them. They’re gone.”

Nodding, I knew that was most likely the case, but I had to be sure. Had to know that they weren’t hiding in the woods for some reason. But those kids were smart, they knew better.

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