Page 252 of At the Edge of Surrender

Motorcycle engines chugged as they came to a stop on the other side of the house, and one by one, they shut off. I grabbed my phone and dialed, the command biting out of me the second River answered. “In the back.”

Thirty seconds later, River, Theo, and Cash came running around the side of the house. Aggression lined their bones. Each of them prepared for war. To fight for these two girls who’d become an intrinsic part of us.

A part of this family.

Exactly where they’d always been purposed to be.

I just needed to convince Emery of that.

I was already shouting as I ran down the steps in their direction. “Everyone spread out in the woods. Think Emery and Maci are running.”

Confusion twisted Theo’s dark features. “Why?”

“Emery found out something about me that she doesn’t know how to handle.”

“Fuck,” Cash rumbled, and his gaze swept over the dense forest. He lived in the farthest recesses of it, and no one knew its hazards better than him. “You think she’s running for town?”

“Hope so.”

It was then a piercing scream ricocheted through the summer air. Riding on the cool breeze that carried through the trees.

Panic seared through my being. A cold draft that threatened to freeze me over.

Emery.

“Oh fuck,” I wheezed, and I took off in the direction it came from.

My brothers were right behind me.

“Emery! Emery! Maci!” Their names ripped from the deepest parts of my soul. Bellows of desperation as I raced into the woods.

It was instantly dimmer here beneath the towering pines, their spiked tips reaching for the blue sky, the branches of the stately oaks covered in lush leaves a woven tapestry overhead that obscured and shaded.

Not to mention the dense vegetation that grew on the forest floor. Bushes and vines and shrubs that gathered thick to obstruct our path.

I blew right through them, angling in every direction as I ran through the maze. My pulse pitched and screamed. An anguished pound that thundered in my ears.

My ears that suddenly picked up on cries.

Cries to the left of me.

Cries that I recognized.

Terror crushed my chest, and I turned course and raced through the woods in that direction. Branches slapped against my face as I barreled through.

“Oh my God. Maci.”

She was on the ground in a ball. Rocking. Her hair matted. Blood was smeared on her face and shoulder.

Dropping to my knees, I scooped her up as a rasp of shock and horror and relief blistered through.

A clash of confusion.

Where was Emery?

She would never leave her.

“Daddy!” Maci wailed it as her little arms locked around my neck.

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