Page 6 of The Truths We Seek

All semblance of reason leaves me and I turn, feeling the blade slide against my skin but not caring. I swing at him, my fist connecting with his jaw before he has a chance to react, and I pounce, using every ounce of my weight and height to beat him into submission.

Except then I feel the air leave my lungs as his blade enters my stomach.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Again and again until I fall to my knees.

He laughs, spitting blood on the ground beside me. “Fucking idiot. I should just shoot you and be done with it, but then it’s over too quickly. You wouldn’t get to watch me take her.”

I try to push to my feet but I can feel the energy fading from me. Glancing over at her, shame floods me.

I failed her.

He’s going to take her and there’s nothing I can do.

My phone buzzes in my pocket but I can’t reach for it. Not while he has the gun trained on her.

He hits me in the jaw and I slump to the floor, trying to keep my eyes on her.

Wake up, Quinn.

I reach in my pocket for my phone, trying not to draw his attention. He lifts her from the ground, draping her in his arms like she drank too much. I pull up the message from Meyer, trying to type out anything that will let him know there’s a problem, but I can’t look at the phone. I just hope something makes sense.

“Oh, I’m going to have fun teaching you not to run from me, Quinn baby.” He pauses, looking at me as I finish trying to send the message. He walks back to me, a wide grin on his sadistic face, and I make a vow to Quinn and myself that if I survive these wounds, I’m going to make him hurt. So slowly that he’ll beg me for death.

He kicks me in the side and the little breath I have left whooshes from me as he stomps on my head. He laughs again and everything fades to black, his laughter ringing in my ears.

CHAPTER FOUR

RORY

Rage filters through me like ice taking form beneath my skin. I don’t think I’ve ever been so focused, seen so clearly, as I do now.

The paramedics arrive so quickly, I wonder if I spaced out for a second, but as I move out of the way and they start working on Hunter, I realize it’s not just me. Meyer looks as shocked as I do, but then, neither of us expected to be covered in blood tonight.

Especially not our brother’s.

“His pulse is thready, we need to move him. Now.”

I shake my head, trying to shed some of my rage so I can pay attention to what they’re saying rather than playing out the scene of how Trent is going to pay for all of this in my head.

“How bad is it?”

The paramedic doesn’t answer him, but from the grimace on the guy’s face, I know he doesn’t think Hunter is going to make it.

Fuck him and his assessment. He doesn’t know the man he’s working on. Hunter’s will is stronger than almost anyone I know. He’ll survive out of sheer stubbornness alone. I’d bet my life on it.

In a blink, Hunter is loaded onto a stretcher, covered in gauze and wires and fuck knows what else and we’re following behind as they rush out the front of the building with him.

Flashes go off from the cameras of the media still out here as the paramedics rush Hunter into the back of the ambulance. I stand here, covered in blood, hopeful that my brother will pull through, despite the medical assessment, but my mind is on the girl who stole my soul without even realizing it.

“I’m going to get her. I have her tracker, it won’t take me long.”

It’s then I notice the crowd that has gathered around us. Close enough that they can get a piece of the action, but not so close to appear like the vultures we all know they are.

---