Page 16 of Underworld

She slips her tiny fingers under my chin and lifts my face to meet her gaze. Smiling sadly, she protests, “You would never hurt me, Z. You protect me more than anyone.” She giggles. “My own personal bodyguard.”

“I didn’t protect you this time,” I whisper.

“You can’t ALWAYS protect me, Zane. I’m stuck with my dad for a while. But one day, we will get away.”

I continue wiping the dirt from her face. “I promised I would protect you,” I say, feeling a bit lost.

She boops me on the nose and smiles despite the fact that her face must hurt. “And you do.”

I growl at her insistence. “Fine. One day we will get you far away from that fucker.”

She nods as she says with a smile, “I know.”

A week later…

Jace jumps down from the tree house, and I follow. I heard the yelling and screaming. What the fuck is happening? I watch as Jace runs toward a struggling Jane. Her father is dragging her out of the house. I start running toward them when I’m suddenly grunting against the ground. Looking up, I find a large, masked guy on top of me.

I punch and kick, trying to get this guy off me, but it isn’t making any difference because of my size. I may be big, but I’m still just a kid. The guy holding me down is a full-grown adult. He grunts when I land a solid punch to his cheek but doesn’t let go of me.

He yells something, and suddenly, there’s another masked figure on top of me. I scream and fight as hard as I can. Fuck! I’m getting tired when all of a sudden, the weight holding me down is gone. I sit up, quickly looking around.

“Where the fuck did they go?” I ask quietly.

“I don’t know, but . . .”

Hearing Howe’s voice, I look over to find him staring behind me, eyes wide. I twist to see Jace standing quietly, his fists clenching and unclenching. Looking around again, I take in everything. That’s when it clicks. Where’s Jane?

“Where’s Jane?” I ask, but it seems like no one hears me. I jump up off the ground and run over to Jace. I’m standing beside him when I look in the direction he’s staring. I don’t see anything, so I look back to our leader. My eyes widen when I see tears sliding down his face. Jace never cries. I haven’t seen my brother cry in all the years I’ve been with him. He’s the strongest guy I know.

I continue watching as he reaches up and rubs his chest, grimacing. Shifting so that my side brushes up against his, I ask quietly, “What are we going to do?”

Jace looks over at me with sad eyes. He looks so lost. So broken. Turning, he stares back in the direction I assume Jane was taken. He remains silent, not answering my question. I can’t do anything but stare in the same direction as my brothers.

I promised that I would protect her. I failed. I promised that we would take her away from her father. I failed at that too. I’ve failed my Sunshine. There’s a sudden searing pain in my chest, and I reach up to rub at the spot. Fuck, that hurts.

Right here, right now, I make a silent vow that when I find my Sunshine, I will protect her no matter what. I will protect her at any cost.

Chapter Fourteen

Jane

Present Day…

“Alright, we need to head to the cave for a few meetings today,” Jace says as he grabs his to-go mug off the kitchen counter.

I point to the mug. “Coffee?”

He raises a brow. “Do I look like someone who would drink coffee?”

Rolling my eyes, I reply, “No, I guess not. Tea?”

He smirks. “Of course, it’s tea.”

I let out a groan of exasperation. “Please tell me someone in this fucking house drinks coffee. I will die if I have to drink dirty plant water.”

“It’s tea, not plant water,” Jace defends.

Putting my hand on my hip, I pop it out with attitude. I point to his mug and gripe, “It’s a bunch of plants in hot-ass water.”

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