Page 45 of Deadliest Throne

PAIN RADIATES THROUGH my skull. Groaning, I sit up, a ringing in my ears drowning out the sounds of the fair.

It takes me a moment to come to. “Raven!” I shout, scrambling to my feet. I remember standing guard at the back door, someone called for my attention, and then I was hit in the back of the head really fucking hard.

“Raven!” I shout again, running into the bathroom. With a pounding head and racing heart, I kick in every door of every stall. Nothing. She’s not here.

Throwing the main door to the bathroom open, I frantically look around. Hunter is standing there with Andrew.

“Where is she?” I shout.

His eyes snap over to me. He sees the state I’m in and that Raven isn’t with me, and his whole body goes stiff. “What the fuck happened?!”

“Someone fucking ambushed me,” I snarl. “Doesn’t fucking matter. We need to find her now!”

“What's going on?” Link finds us, and fuck, this isn’t going to be good.

“Someone took Raven,” I pant out, looking around for her.

“I’m sorry. What the fuck did you just say?” It’s the voice that tells me there’s a good chance I might fucking die.

“There’s no fucking time for this!” I shout. “Find her!”

“I’m going to kill you,” he promises. “You, take Andrew home now.”

“I want to help!” Hunter protests.

“You get our son out of here right fucking now. We will not put him at risk.”

“Fuck!” Hunter shouts, pure terror on his face. “Find her. You better fucking find her!”

We all split up. He takes off with Andrew. Link handles the parking lot. While Taylor and I take the fairgrounds. We call in every single BVC crew member who’s here and order them to join the search.

The whole time I feel numb; I'm in soldier mode. One singular focus: Find Raven, and make sure she's safe.

We shouldn’t have come here, Link was right. It was too soon. Someone was waiting for their moment, and they fucking took it.

I run around, trying to spot her, any sign of her, but there’s too much going on. It’s crowded here, kids running around. It’s like finding a needle in a haystack.

“Fuck!” I shout, panic starting to sink in. No. No, I will not lose her. Not again. No, no, no, no!

My eyes scan the crowd again, and then I spot her. She’s in the arms of some man over by the emergency exit.

“Raven,” I whisper, eyes widening. I take off through the crowd, running and jumping over things while pushing people out of my way without a fucking care in the world.

And then one of the guys looks out of the crowd and right at me.

He doesn’t panic, he doesn’t try to hide. He just gives me an eerie smile. Then he takes something out of his pocket, points it to the sky and fires off a few rounds.

The shots ring loudly through the park. And instantly people are screaming, running for safety.

“No!” I scream as I try to rush through the mob of people coming my way. “Raven!” I scream so fucking loud. Dove. Please.

I’m pushing people to the ground, not caring who I hurt at this point. All I want to do is get to my girl.

I'm too slow, though. I pull my gun, firing a few shots, hoping if people think I'm the shooter they will run from me.

It works, only it’s too late. When I get to the back exit, I see them shoving her into a black SUV.

With a roar filled with terror and determination, I start shooting the tires of the SUV as I run towards them with every ounce of energy I have. I run and shoot as they swerve through the dirt lot.

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