Page 140 of Darling Wildfire
Vetticus rounded on him. “Get rid of the bodies. Load the rest into the car.”
The cabin door squeaked again and slammed as Vetticus stormed inside, palming his cell phone.
I stayed down in the dirt and the men left me alone, moving about the clearing as they removed the bodies and made ready to leave. I lifted my head, my eyes automatically going to my daughter. A man was lifting her body into his arms and I staggered to my feet, stumbling over to try and get to her.
Nyx intercepted me.
He grabbed me and pulled me down near the tire where Atlas was struggling to his feet.
“North, she’s gone. We need to go,” Nyx said.
“Vetticus went inside,” Atlas ground out, wincing in pain but he stayed upright. “Now’s our chance.”
I looked once more at the blond hair cascading over the man’s arm as he retreated towards the back of the SUV, then turned away.
Nyx was right. This time she was really gone.
She was…gone.
As quickly as I’d found her, I lost her again.
I spared one last glance towards Preacher’s body as he too was lifted and dragged away, but I felt nothing but emptiness. Not even pain could reach me now.
I turned away and we hurried as quickly as we could into the dark forest.
68
ATLAS
We were in a different kind of hell. After we’d gained some distance from the cabin, North shifted into SEAL mode and took over leading the way. It was like watching a wall fall into place in front of all the pain—both physical and emotional. I didn’t want to think about everything I’d just witnessed. The darkness was all around us, just waiting for us to stumble and let it in. I knew if that happened, there would be no escape for us and that hell would be worse than getting caught by Vetticus.
Hours later, we staggered to a stop near a quiet stream. My back was numb and my adrenaline was going which helped dull the pain. Nyx knelt next to me near the stream and pulled off his shirt. Without a word, he dipped it in the water and tried to gently clean the cuts made from the whip.
I hummed in pain as the first drops of water hit and my shoulders shivered. To distract myself I watched North. He was standing on the other side of the creek, staring behind us as though he could see back into that clearing. There was no emotion on his face, just the dead expressionless mask of a man in survival mode.
I couldn’t take any more water on my back and I stood up. I hid a wince as I turned to Nyx.
“Let me see your hand,” I said.
Nyx shook his head. “It’s fine.”
I scoffed. “Sure. You lost a lot of blood though.”
His lips thinned but North spoke before Nyx could say anything.
“Let’s keep moving.”
His gaze didn’t linger on us more than a brief second before he climbed up the far bank and continued through the trees. Visibility was low. The only light was from the moon as it filtered through the trees. The rest of the night we pushed past every limit we had to put as much distance between us and Vetticus as we could. Nothing mattered but our continual movement. Even if it was tenuous. We were free. And that drove me way past the point whereI was sure I’d collapse.
Nyx walked in front of me, clutching his hand to his chest. His breathing was ragged but he doggedly kept walking. North was several yards in front of us at all times looking like he had no end to his reserves. But I knew the comedown for us would be brutal. It was only a matter of time before we crashed.
As the forest began to lighten with dawn, my mind went back to Albatron. Even Vetticus was afraid of him. I mean, who kneels for someone like that? Then to just murder a bunch of people to make his point to Vetticus. There was a pang in my chest as I thought about Preacher. I’d grown really fond of the guy. To see him tortured and then abruptly shot dead was fucking with me. Not to even touch the things that happened with North’s daughter. I shuddered, feeling my throat close with emotions. Nope, not touching that either.
But who was Albatron?
He was obviously the person behindAtroxand probably a shit ton of other dark avenues. Regardless of who he was, I knew he was now another name added to the list of people we needed to take down. Vetticus had killed the people we loved. But Albatron had been the nail in the coffin to seal the deal. And what had he been doing out in the woods? Why would he care about what Vetticus was doing with his personalAtroxteam? All my questions just led to more questions—most of them I really couldn’t care less about honestly but they were running through my mind all the same. If anything they were a welcome distraction.
“Let’s stop for a minute,” Nyx rasped.
