Page 91 of Knot Your Baby

“Not for me,” Zane adds.

“Not for any of us, I suspect.” I look at Thorne who has done a three sixty when it comes to Freya. Not that I’m complaining.“But it might be too early for Freya. Especially when she finds out he caused this.”

“Let’s get her and Stone home and talk about it later,” Thorne murmurs as another nurse nears us, and there’s a vulnerability there I’ve never heard from him before.

“Okay. I’ll get her discharge papers started,” I volunteer. “They won’t question me. And I’ll get security to help us as we leave.”

Thorne takes his phone and hits a contact. “I’ll get some back up…just in case.”

Two hours later, I’m behind the wheel of our vehicle, with Zane riding with me at the front as we travel home through the back roads. Thorne sits in the back with Freya and the baby.

Freya is staring out of the window, like she is still wondering what the hell is going on.

Our car is flanked by two more SUVs carrying security that Thorne hired to put off any potential target by having multiple layers of protection.

“You think they’ll try something?” Zane asks, eyes scanning the tree line as we take another turn on the winding mountain road.

“Not until they have more evidence.” Thorne nods to the security cars around us. “This is just a precaution.”

“Until the DRA accepts the truth, we have to keep Freya and the baby indoors,” I reply, my knuckles white on the steering wheel.

“What’s that up ahead?” Zane lowers his head and points.

I slow slightly, squinting through the windshield. “I don’t see anything—”

The trees to our right rock, and a large black SUV comes from nowhere and heads toward us. I grip the wheel as our vehicle swerves, tires skidding on loose gravel.

“Fuck! It’s an ambush!” Zane shouts, drawing a gun from the glove compartment. “This is not the actions of the DRA.”

Up ahead, one of our security vehicle’s brakes hard, and I slow our car. But just as I do, three men burst from the tree line, holding guns to our windshield.

“Fuck!” I fight with the steering wheel to spin the car in a controlled skid, positioning us in the opposite direction only to see another SUV traveling to us at speed.

“Who the fuck are they?” I try to maneuver the car to one side of the road as a shot is fired at our vehicle.

Freya screams as the car rocks.

Thorne roars. The sound he makes is so primal it makes the hair on my neck rise. He grabs Freya’s head and pushes it into his lap. He tries to reach across Freya to grab Stone, but he’s knocked to the other side of the car when I can’t control it and it skids to a stop. Only now do I realize the first shot was aimed at the tire.

Figure in black tactical gear emerges all around the car, holding their weapons at our faces as all the doors are flung open and guns thrust into the car.

“No!” Freya screams, trying to claw away from Thorne.

I turn to see a black figure walking away, clutching a small bundle. The other men walk backward protecting him but keeping their guns trained on us.

“We’ve contained the threat from ahead.” I hear it on our radio. “I have two men down, though.”

I grab it and yell, “They have the baby!”

“Fuck! Stay in the vehicle,” the security guy says. “I’ll deal with it.”

“No, I’m coming.” Thorne’s voice is coated in anger as he takes the weapon that I hand him before he looks at Zane and says, “Stay with Freya.”

“I’m coming,” she sobs.

“You’re staying here,” Thorne hisses.

“I need my baby.” Her teary eyes lock on his. “Please.”

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