Page 1 of Surviving the Darkness

Chapter 1

Knox

Knox

Four months ago, a call from Jace changed our lives forever. Finding Meadow has proved to be a nightmare. After four long months of searching high and low for the love of my life, we still had no leads. She vanished out of thin air; her stalker took her, and there was nothing we could do.

Jace took a bullet to the chest, and we’re lucky he survived. It was touch and go for a while, but when he came out of surgery, the man was out for blood. Once he realized Skylar had also been taken, the doctor had to sedate him, so he didn’t tear his stitches.

After two weeks in the hospital, Jace was finally released, and there was nothing to stop him from hunting down the fucker who took the girls. We repeatedly had to remind him not to overexert himself, which meant no torturing anyone until he was fully healed. For the most part, he listened. But when he found that Skylar had been trafficked, he went on a killing spree. I’m not entirely sure if the people he killed were part of the kidnapping or they were just men who got in his way.

Turns out, he has feelings after all. Blew my damn mind, but I had no interest in stopping him from going berserk if it meant we found Meadow. We found Skylar in a shipping container in Texas, where we searched high and low, in case Meadow was placed with her but no luck. Sky was able to answer some questions once she’d been cleared of the drugs pumped in her system. She was able to give us details about the men who grabbed them—the details then leading to her handler, who Aidan and I tortured. Phoenix watched and listened to all the information the piece of shit gave us.

Finally, we got a lead that she was being held in Oregon. The guys and I took off as soon as we had a direction to start and called Jace, Hunter, and Declan to meet us. We aren’t sure what we’ll be walking into, but we need to prepare for anything.

The drive to the location she’s being held took way to fucking long. Looking at the building makes the hairs on my arms raise and goosebumps cover my skin. Call it intuition or a third eye, but I know Meadow is inside that building. I’m worried what condition she's in, but I know if I rush in now, whoever has her could kill her before we reach her. We have to play this smart. I need a clear head; I’m the fucking leader for heaven’s sake.

I instruct the guys to fan out and cover all potential exits. I see only two doors, so Declan and Hunter head to the rear and cover that entrance while the rest of us converge on the front door. Gun raised, I take a deep breath and barge into the warehouse.The sound of the door slamming into the wall echoes across the open space and shouts ring out around me. One guy runs toward me, so without hesitation, I shoot him in the chest, and he hits the floor, blood pooling around him.

Jace takes the opportunity to walk around me and head in the direction the dead guy on the floor came from. Out of sight, I hear more gunshots ring out, and the sound is deafening, but I can’t worry about that right now. Even with all the chaos, my only focus is finding Meadow. I look to my left and notice Aidan in a fight with some huge-as–fuck guy who could rival Mike Tyson. A flash of silver catches my eye, and I notice he’s got a knife in his hand. He tries to stab Aidan, so I raise my pistol once more and shoot the guy in the face, blood splattering all over Aidan. He wipes it off with a breath and nods in my direction.

We methodically make our way through the warehouse, leaving no one alive. Bodies are piling up, and seeing so much bloodshed brings me joy. Jace is busy dismembering some guy in the corner. Once the warehouse is clear, we still haven’t found Meadow anywhere; there must be a door or something we missed. I know she’s here; I can feel it. Seething, I do another sweep and notice a door inside one of the rooms that we missed on the first pass, and the anger I feel at not getting to her sooner is simmering under my skin. Opening the door, I find stairs which appear to lead to the basement. I call out to the guys before heading down. We exchange a glance, then start down them, taking another guy out in the process. How many fuckers are there? We must have killed at least ten men by now.

At the bottom is a heavy metal door. Throwing it open, I see a man moving away from a naked girl huddled in a corner, screaming with her hands over her ears. Aidan wastes no time and shoots the man in the face and drops to the ground with a hard thud. The girl looks at the body and screams even louder. In the dim light, I can’t see the details of her face, but it has tobe Meadow. I walk closer and see her dark chestnut hair and the tattoo on her arm. Vomit lines my throat as my eyes roam her body. Gashes and scars cover every inch of her skin.

I reach for her, but she pushes me away and begins rocking back and forth, whispering something I can’t understand. “Meadow it's me; it’s Knox,” I say lightly, trying not to frighten her. No response, so I yell her name, the sound of my voice enough to quiet her screams.

“No, Knox isn’t here. You’re not real; you’re not here. If you were, you would have saved me months ago. You’re not real!” Meadow screams.

Hearing her say that guts me, and when I look over at Aidan and Phoenix, I see they aren’t doing much better. Phoenix has tears streaming down his face while Aidan stares at her, mouth open, yet no words are coming out. She’s rendered us speechless. We had no idea what state we would find her in, but I didn’t expect this. I pick her up as she just keeps repeating the words. “Baby, it's me. I am real. Please listen to me. I love you. Please, baby,” I plead, but her mind is too far gone right now. Aidan comes over and doses her with a sedative he had in his pocket.

Meadow’s body relaxes and she lies limp in my arms as we walk out of the warehouse. Jace and Declan douse the house in gasoline that they found stashed in a nearby shed, and we light the son of a bitch on fire. I’m glad to see this place go up in flames. As we walk toward the car, I can feel the heat of the fire against my back, and I take a deep breath and let it all out. We got her back. That is all that matters. Meadow is in my arms again. Kissing her forehead, I whisper words of love in her ear, letting her know she is safe, and we aren’t going anywhere. We will get through this together.

Logically, I know she can’t hear me while she’s sedated, but I need to get it off my chest. When we arrive at the Escalade,Phoenix opens the back door and slides in, then I hand her off to him, so I can get in without hurting her. He passes her back to me as soon as I’m situated. That brief moment when she wasn’t in my arms was too much for me. Right now, I need her in my arms to keep my demons at bay. Phoenix grabs a blanket from the back and covers her naked body with it as he sniffles.

“Fuck man, what the hell did they do to her? My beautiful Princess; she is going to need us now more than ever.” Phoenix looks at me, devastation in his eyes.

I nod my head because every time I look at her, I want to burn the entire fucking world to the ground. Aidan asked Hunter to drive us home, so he could be in the back with us. Phoenix is holding her feet in his lap, and Aidan grabs one of her hands. I guess we all need to touch her, reassuring ourselves that we got her back. The trip home is going to be rough; I just hope Meadow doesn’t get jostled around too much and cause her more pain.

Looking her over again, I see that most of the marks are scarred now, but there’s a fresh cut with the letters DS, right on her fucking chest. The cut must have been done today as there is still dried blood around the edges of the cut. What the fuck is this shit? My mind is reeling with possibilities. Are these the initials of the asshole who tortured her? Did she do this to herself? So many fucking questions and so little answers, but that will come with time, I guess. Rubbing a hand over my face, I exhale a breath, trying to rid myself of the anger boiling under my skin.

Fourteen hours later, stopping only for gas, we arrive home. When we get inside, we call the doctor to come and check Meadow over. I take her up to her room to offer some resemblance of normalcy for when she wakes up. I know she’s going to need time to adjust. Luckily, she’s still out from the sedative we gave her, so when the doctor arrives, he won’t have issue checking her for injuries, physically anyways. When the doctor walks through our door, all heads snap to him; themedical bag he carries slung over his shoulders as he makes his way toward us.

“Evening, gentleman,” Doc says.

We all offer a nod in response, and I give him a brief overview of how we found Meadow and that we aren’t sure the extent of her injuries. He just looks at us and asks to see her, so we bring him to Meadow’s room where she is lying under the covers. I wanted to bathe her but figured it may be better for the doc to see her first, so I don’t unintentionally hurt her. All of us surround her bed while the doctor examines her.

“Men, I know you care about her, but I can’t do my job if you are hovering over me. I think it would be best for you to leave the room until I am done with my exam,” Doc says.

I bristle at the thought of leaving Meadow in a room with someone she doesn’t know. I shake my head, absolutely not. No. It was bad enough we left her side to go downstairs and wait for him. Aidan must feel the same thing as me because he is shaking his head ‘no’.

“I won’t tell you again. I need to examine my patient, and I think if she were awake, she would want privacy. We don’t know what she’s been through while she was gone. You need to let me do this,” Doc angrily says.

I guess we can’t fault him for that logic since he’s right, but I still hate the idea of leaving her alone. She has been alone enough. “Come on, guys, let the doc do his thing, and we can wait right outside the door,” I tell them as I lead the way. In the hallway, I sink down to the floor with my back resting against the wall. My head thuds against the wall as we wait for the doctor to finish his examination.

Chapter 2

Aidan

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