Page 19 of Rescued By the Mothman

I dashed to check upstairs while he headed to the kitchen. No sign of Clarissa, but Delaney’s room was empty. I ran back down.

“His stuff is gone.”

“Fuck,” Rez swore. “She isn’t here, and her car has gone.”

“Would he hurt her?”

My question came out so filled with the feral rage boiling inside me that Rez stepped back.

“I honestly don’t know anymore.”

Before I could respond, Rez’s phone vibrated in his pocket. He grabbed it, and it glanced at the screen before putting it to his ear.

“John, what are you doing? Where is she?”

Rez glanced at me. I tapped an ear hole and nodded to let him know I could hear.

“I’m getting out of here. But I need money. Cash. Put everything you can withdraw in a bag. My parents left a safe deposit box of jewelry, too. Find the key. I’ll tell you where to drop it. If you do that, I won’t hurt her.”

A growl ripped from my throat.

“John, buddy. Come on. That’s your sister.”

“Don’t buddy me. You made my whole family turn their backs on me. For you. A fucking monster.”

“Your family turned their backs on you because you turned so hateful they didn’t recognize you anymore. Because you were leaning so hard into hate that you thought ostracizing others was the best way to live.”

“Get the money.”

The line went dead. I realized I was shaking, trying to hold my anger back. If he hurt a hair on her head, I’d rip him limb from limb as slowly as possible. Rez let out a rumbling growl of his own. I clenched my fists and tried to sound calmer than I was.

“Do you have any idea where he could have gone?”

“No. But I’ll send the pack out to get his scent. There are thirty of us. We can cover a lot of ground.”

He pulled out his phone. I took a few calming breaths. This was part of the job. Waiting. Using the local community to getinformation. But this time, it felt like torture. I’d rather have been roasted over the coals of hell than have to stand here and wait for information to come to me now. Rez gave instructions to the pack over the phone, and I tried not to twitch with frustration. I had to do something. I sent out a location tracking ping to everyone who needed it and took to the sky.

Chapter 14

Clarissa

I sat in the cold cabin watching my brother try to start the fire. He was getting more and more irritated.

“Just let me do it, John.”

“I’m not untying you. You’ll try something.”

“What could I possibly try? You are stronger than me and you were always faster. We’re miles from everywhere.”

Eventually, he got a small fire going, and I shuffled closer to it. John sat down in a chair, his face like thunder. He’d chloroformed me back at the house, and my head was still groggy. I’d woken up here.

We were in a small cabin that I’d completely forgotten existed. Dad used to bring us here as kids. But I hated the damp and the hunting they did. So eventually it was just Dad and John. It must have been mentioned in the will, but I’d taken little notice of it. I hadn’t been here for 15 years. I doubted I could have found it on my own anyway, it was so remote. So even if I got a chance to run, I’d potentially die lost in the forest.

My mind flicked to Sable. He flew. My mind kept jumping to the thought of his arms wrapped around me. His eyes gazing into mine. Whatever there was between us, it meant something, and I knew he’d be looking for me. I picked at the rope binding my wrists behind me. It was tight, but I thought I could wriggle at it and loosen it a bit. It would hurt like hell to get my hands out. But I had nothing else to do while we sat here.

My stomach roiled. My own brother. Who I’d looked up to as a small girl, had become a stranger to me. I watched the fire crackling. My stomach rumbled.

“Is there any food?”

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