Page 20 of Darkness Falls

"Things are going to be more complicated. The plan right now is to leave here in the morning so we can get there and prepare to get her out just before the ceremony. I'll slip into the crowd on the wedding day and walk right into the compound. It’ll be the best chance to get in unnoticed," Seb tells me.

"No. We're going tonight," I say firmly. I'm done with these assholes making all the decisions and making me wait to go get Callie.

"Fine," Seb breathes out.

That was way too easy, I think. Are they just not in the mood to fight me on it, or is there something else that they're not telling me? "What else is going on?"

"Don't shoot the messenger," Barrett says while laughing. “You're not one hundred percent healed from when you were shot. Seb is going into the compound alone to get her. You will have to suck it up and sit in the SUV with me unless something goes wrong."

"No." I'm stern with this. "I'm not sitting this out, and we're goingtonight. If there's anything else you two would like to discuss, let me know, but until then, we're done here."

Seb stands up to walk over to me. "Ky, Barrett and I don—"

I put my hand up to interrupt him. "I'm a grown-ass man, and you're not going to make decisions for me. I don't care what happened to me. We all have a risk of being injured every time we work a job. Are you going to keep me from doing those too?"

"This isn't a job, and you know it. You’re too invested in this. You have too many emotions around getting her back," Seb says.

"And he doesn't?" I scoff, pointing over at Barrett.

"He does, which is why he is staying in the SUV." Seb's brows crease.

"I'm going. You're not keeping me away from her, and I'm done talking about this," I state.

"Fine," he tells me, and I finally have the small win I was aiming for. "Let's go over some of the details of the compound and then go back to the house to cook dinner. What do you think you want to eat?"

"I don't care. Show me what you were doing before I came down."

The two of them nod, and we go over the full layout of the compound that Soren sent over. We had a rough idea from what Callie told us, but this is more useful. After spending a little bit of time memorizing every single possible detail, we call it a night and go back to the house.

Seb stops in the kitchento cook, leaving Barrett and me alone. I use it to my advantage. "How do you think this is going to go when we get her back?"

"I don't know. Callie is strong. The only option is to believe she will be okay."

"She better be okay. I don't know if I'll ever forgive myself for letting him take her if she's not."

"You know that wasn't your fault, Ky."

"I should have protected her. She was in my bed, my room, and I let him take her from us."

"You got shot. How the hell else were you supposed to defend her?"

"I'm still alive. So clearly, I didn't do a good enough job."

We sit in silence for the next twenty minutes while Seb finishes cooking. Apparently, we're having spaghetti, not like it matters. Seb brings plates for Barrett and me before heading back into the kitchen to grab his. I grab my fork and take a bite. Just like I expected, the red sauce and noodles are bland. Nothing has any kind of flavor anymore without her here.

I glance over at Barrett and find him staring at me, so I scowl. A few bites later, I look over to Seb, and he’s also staring at me. For fucks sake. These two are acting weird. It’s like they’re waiting for me to have some kind of meltdown or something. I shake it off, finishing my food before going to my room to pack.

I'm exhausted, most likely from the stress of the day, and it wouldn't be a bad idea to get a little nap before weleave. I lay down and stare up at the ceiling, thinking about my wanderer. She is my last thought before darkness pulls me under.

Chapter 10

Callie

The day I've been dreading is finally here. My father sent someone down to grab me from the basement this morning so I could start getting ready. Here I am, staring out of my bedroom window, wishing I could be anywhere but here.

My fingers brush along the spot on my thigh where Barrett carved his initials. Part of me wonders if this was all worth it. Was I always destined to end up here? If I had just gone through with the wedding all those years ago, Kyler wouldn't have gotten shot. The guys would be living their lives without worrying about me, my father, or any of the bullshit this society stands for. Maybe Sebastian would have met his half-brother, Maxton, before my father killed him. There are so many ‘what ifs’, yet here I am, right back where it left off.

My wedding day was never going to be a happy occasion for me. Panic gnaws at my very core, but I have to try to keep it together.

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