Page 89 of Connor

I lift his head and slam it back into the ground, and he groans.

“Connor! Connor! This way!” Rainbow yells as Dad hauls me off him, which is a good thing, because I would have killed him. Police run onto the scene, and one of them grabs the man underneath me as I jump up and follow her mom through the small clearing. We’re running, in between chickens and goats and small run-down timber houses all the way, but my vision is zeroed in on the path we’re headed in.

“In this one. This is my old one. He held me here for months once,” she says, panting, as the three of us race to an old run-down cabin that looks like it isn’t fit for animals, let alone humans.

I don’t hesitate as I slam my shoulder into the door. It cracks open immediately and the timber flies into the room. I stand there, letting my eyes adjust to the darkness, before I see her. Crumpled in the corner. Covered in a rug. My heart drops to my feet.

“Daisy!” I scream as I run to her, falling to my knees and gently rolling her over.

“Medics! We need medics!” her dad yells out the door as I feel for her pulse along her cut and bloodied neck, hands shaking as I touch her seemingly lifeless body. When I feel her pulse, nice and strong, I can breathe for the first time all day.

“She’s breathing,” her mom says beside me.

“Pulse is strong,” I say as I look her over. There’s a large lump on her head and blood down her neck onto her top, but otherwise, she looks okay.

“She’s sedated,” Rainbow says, looking over her daughter carefully before she lifts the blanket that covers her. I hold my breath and don’t release it until I see Daisy is still fully clothed, wearing the same clothes she had on this morning, none of it torn or misplaced. No one has touched her. We got here in time.

“Oh, thank God,” her mom cries out, releasing a breath with me.

“How do you know they drugged her?” I ask, looking over Daisy’s face, seeing her eyes closed, her breathing shallow.

“Their favorite way to consummate and create life is a game of cat and mouse. They drug you, then wait until you wake up slightly, and then let you attempt to run while still under the influence, so you stagger and stumble around the forest before they hunt you down. They say it’s the closest way to Mother Earth. Like an animal preying on its mate,” she explains, and I grit my teeth. This commune is so fucked up. I’m going to burn this place to the ground.

“I’m getting her out of here.” I put an arm under her legs and one under her shoulders and lift her into my embrace.

“Are you sure you’re okay to lift her?” her dad asks worriedly.

“I’ve got her,” I tell him, walking out of this shithole with her cuddled close to my chest, straight to the car, where the medics check over her quickly before we lay her in the back seat, her parents on either side of her.

Dad and I let the police look after the rest as we jump in the truck, and I drive like a madman out of this poor excuse for a commune to the main road, where a medic chopper waits to take us to the nearest hospital. Which just so happens to be in Whispers, where Hudson is prepared for our arrival.

Which is a good thing, considering that bullet that went off is lodged in my side.

With a bloody shirt and burning pain, my worry stays on the love of my life.

45

DAISY

Iwake slowly, the thud in my head only slight. Holding my breath, I open my eyes slowly, carefully, waiting to see Joseph and fisting my hands, ready to throw a punch.

“Baby girl?” The voice doesn’t match who I expect to see. “Hey… there she is,” he murmurs, his voice sounding sweeter than I’ve ever heard him sound.

“Connor?” I ask, opening my eyes wider and seeing him at my bedside. I panic a little, looking around quickly before realizing I’m in a hospital bed, and the faint memory of flying here enters my mind.

“You’re in the Whispers hospital. You're safe. We all are,” he says, and my panic subsides as I take a breath.

“Hospital?” I ask, my brain still foggy and trying to keep up with everything.

“We found you at the commune. Your mom and dad and I…” he says, and in his words, I get a flash of a vision with vibrant blue eyes.

“My dad?” I ask him, frowning.

“The man at the commune has been arrested. Most of the people there were taken in for questioning. Your mom has already given a full statement and provided a myriad of information on them. There will be historical charges as well.”

“You came?” I ask shakily as a tear falls down my face. The reality of the situation now makes sense. I was kidnapped, taken against my will, and drugged. “How did you even know?”

“There was never any doubt. I saw on the distillery cameras that you were taken. Your parents filled in the rest for me. I got to you as soon as I could.” He grabs my hand, and as he moves, I see him wince. My nerves come back with a flurry.

---