“Is Sully leaving?” My voice cracks with panic. I feel the intensity of Wolf’s stare on the side of my face, but I don’t look at him. I turn my head to scan the trees Sully disappeared behind as Rush slowly drives through the gate and pauses.
“He’s just checking the perimeter. Once he gives us the all-clear, Rush will bring us up to the house,” Wolf says.
I don’t take my eyes off the trees and bushes along the fence. It’s then that I notice barbed wire curling along the top of the entire fence line. I crane my neck to look for the barbed wire fence on the other side.
Where are we?
“Somewhere safe.” Wolf’s minty breath stirs the loose hair on my neck, and I turn my head to look at him. “You’re talking out loud, baby girl.”
Behind Wolf’s head, I see the trees dancing and swaying, taunting me with a melody only they can hear. Before I can open the door to join them, the car moves forward. Rush drives up the rest of the bumpy gravel driveway, and I keep one eye on the dancing trees in the distance. I swear one of them smirks at me, and a sudden urge to find Sully overtakes me.
“I bet those trees would just love a night with Sully. They’re trying to lure him in, but it won’t work,” I murmur. I don’t miss the raised eyebrow and smirk that Wolf sends Rush over my head, but I’m too preoccupied to care too much.
“That’s the Vicodin talking. Sully’ll be right back.” Wolf plants a kiss on the top of my head.
I ignore him and bite my nail, plotting a way to distract the trees. We pull into an attached garage before I can really plan out my rescue mission, and I blink in the sudden darkness.
“C’mon, Red. I’ll show you around,” Wolf says as he slides out of the car and holds out his hand for me.
Without hesitation, I slide my hand into his. Warm tingles shoot up my arm when he wraps those beautiful tattooed fingers of his around mine. I glance at his eyes, those endless dark windows into his soul, and I feel a little bit more like Alice falling down a rabbit hole.
And just like Alice, I welcome the adventure with open arms.
I let Wolf help me out of the car and lace our fingers together as I follow Rush into the house.
I only give the quick tour of the house half of my attention. The other half is mesmerized by the swirling tattoos on all three of them. It feels like they’re moving—dancing—to a beat I can’t hear. I idly wonder if it’s the same beat the trees were dancing too outside. I feel like a snake being charmed by Rush’s octopus tattoo as it slithers up his arm, swirls around his neck, and dips beneath his collar before peeking up at me with a wink.
A small part of me recognizes that this isn’t normal—trees don’t smirk and dance and tattoos don’t swirl and wink. We’re walking down a hallway, and I consider for a moment if I’ve had a mental break from all of the—things that happened earlier. But if I was actually having a total breakdown, would I be aware of it? Maddie would know—
“Oh my god! Where are my cousins?!” The words are loud in the quiet space, and everyone pauses.
Rush turns around to look at me. “They’re safe.”
Some clarity filters in, softening the edges of my fog a little. “But where are they? Oh my god—they were with me! Where are they?”
Wolf pulls my attention from his brother with his arm around my shoulder. I let Wolf turn me toward him.
Wolf’s uncharacteristically serious dark eyes meet mine, and he says, “They’re safe. We have security on them—and men watching them. I wouldn’t leave them unprotected—”
I felt hysteria burn in my belly. This awful acidic burning sloshes around, and I have no idea how to stop it.
“What do you mean, security? Why are there men watching them? Does it have to do with whoever t-t-took me?” With each question, each sentence, my hysteria grows and my voice gets louder and higher.
Visions of red-eyed demon men swarming me cloud my vision, and a hot flush of fear rolls through my body.
I don’t give anyone time to answer my questions. “I need to go home. Now. I need to go! Now, Wolf!”
Cold sweat coats my body, and my knees feel weak.
“Shh, it’s alright, baby girl,” Wolf says as he brings his hands up to cradle my face. He leans in so our noses just barely touch. “You’re safe here. We’ll never let anyone touch you again.”
He swipes his fingers underneath my eyes, and it takes me a moment to realize that I’m crying. Tears fill my eyes as I grab his wrists, holding him to me. Everything else disappears—the hallway, the house—everything as I slice myself open a little more to show him the fear eating its way through my gut.
“I’m scared, Conor,” I whisper.
“I know, baby girl, I know.” He places small, soft kisses on either side of my mouth.
With each brush of his lips on mine, I feel a little less hysterical. Each touch grounds me a little more.
Fear holds me immobile in a vast and deadly ocean, and Wolf has quickly become my life raft. I’m not sure if I should be alarmed at how quickly it happened or relieved that I’m not alone.
“Let’s get you cleaned up, okay?” Wolf whispers against my mouth. I nod my head, unable to release my hold on his wrists.
As if he can read my thoughts, he nods a few times. I let go of his wrists, and he smooths his hands down my neck and shoulders, never breaking eye contact. His hands skim my sides to land on my waist, infusing his warmth. He lifts me up, and I wrap my legs around his waist.
I bury my face in his neck, placing my lips on the flower etched on his skin. Sandalwood invades my senses, and it feels like my soul takes a breath for the first time in hours—days.
Wolf carries me through a bedroom and into an en suite bathroom. I don’t pay much attention to anything until he sets me down on the counter. Reluctantly, I peel my face and hands from his neck where it was safe. His hands bracket me on the counter, and he leans in until he’s all that I can see.
“I don’t know what to do now.” The admission leaves my lips in a whisper, and I feel my eyes well up again. I curl my hands around the edge of the counter and beg Wolf with my eyes to help me. I’m in uncharted territory, and I feel like the ocean is rising up around me now again.
And I don’t fucking know how to swim.
“You’re going to take a shower, and I’m going to get you something to eat. And then you’re going to sleep.” His gaze searches mine, and I nod. A muscle in his jaw clenches when he spots the tear slowly rolling down my cheek. “Just those three things, okay? Nothing else.”
I sniffle and nod. “Shower, eat, sleep.”
Wolf stares at me for another moment before he spins around to turn on the shower. I take a quick look around, enough to realize that I’m sitting on a wide white-and-gray marble double-sink vanity top. The walls are so light blue they’re nearly white, and the space is decorated in soft whites and grays. A double window lets the darkness of the early morning in. Three black and white photos of the beach hang on the wall next to me, and the shower is almost as big as the one at Summer Knoll.
The sound of water hitting the shower floor pulls my attention away from the spacious bathroom. I watch the muscles in Wolf’s broad back flex and move as he fiddles with the temperature settings on a panel inside the shower.