Chapter 26 #2
Soren lunges forward with extraordinary speed, slamming into me and knocking us both to the ground. Pebbles bite into my back as we hit hard, his body covering mine. More shots ring out, bullet strikes pinging off the pavement near our heads.
Shouts of alarm rise behind us. I glimpse Damian grappling with a blood-soaked and enraged Bianca, fighting to wrestle the gun from her grip as she snarls and struggles.
Soren curls himself tighter around me, shielding me from the firefight with his own body. His heart hammers against my chest, breaths labored against my hair.
“It’s okay, I’ve got you,” he murmurs, fierce and reassuring at once. “I won’t let them hurt you. Never again.”
I cling to him, tears threatening at the protective ferocity in his voice. At the unshakable knowledge he would die for me, even now.
Even after everything.
Maybe there’s still hope for us after all.
Bianca’s colorful language fills the air as Damian pins her. Soren hauls me to my feet as soon as Damian secures Bianca, his strong hands gripping my arms. His gaze rakes over me, searching for injuries.
“I’m sorry,” I blurt out. “I never meant for any of this to happen. I was just trying to—”
“Aubrey.” He cuts me off, voice strained. “Just…be quiet for a minute, okay? Please. Just let me wrap my head around having you back; we don’t need to go there right now.”
I snap my mouth shut, nodding mutely. Soren’s eyes squeeze closed for a long moment, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallows hard. When he opens them again, they’re bright with unshed tears and he crushes me against his chest.
“I’m so damn glad you’re alright,” he whispers hoarsely. “I thought…” He trails off, shaking his head as if he can’t even voice the possibility.
His hands gentle on my arms, thumbs rubbing soothing circles into my skin. The tender gesture makes my heart ache. I long to throw myself at him and hug him back but I remain still and stiff in his arms. I want to beg for his forgiveness.
Soren guides me toward the waiting car, opening the passenger door and easing me down onto the seat. Damian roughly binds Bianca’s wrists and ankles with zip ties he pulled from his pocket before carelessly shoving her into the trunk.
He slams the lid with more force than necessary, and I wince as her head smacks sickeningly against the frame. A vicious, vindictive part of me thinks she deserves worse after what she’s done. The rest of me just feels exhausted. Hollow.
“My parents,” I rasp out as Soren slides into the passenger seat in the front of the car. “Are they…?”
“They’re both fine,” he assures me, and Damian climbs into the driver’s seat, starting the engine. Damian glances at me.
“My father is alive?”
Soren nods. “Yes, and your mother has been worried sick about you.”
I sag against the seat in boneless relief, eyes fluttering shut. They’re okay. Against all odds, we survived this nightmare.
As Damian pulls out onto the road, the suffocating silence stretches between us. I wonder if our relationship will be as lucky. If we can ever find our way back to what we were. If he’ll ever look at me the same way again, after the secrets I kept. The danger I put us all in.
After an hour of pure silence in the car, Damian pulls into a gas station.
Soren climbs out with him and then leans back in through the door.
“You won’t run,” he tells me, and I hastily shake my head.
He nods once, shutting the door, and Damian wanders into the gas station while Soren goes off to the grassed area by the road.
He pulls his phone from his pocket, and starts talking into it, making me think he is in a video call.
Watching him through the window, I feel sick, wondering why he couldn’t use his phone in the car.
Damian comes back to the car before Soren returns, a bag in his hand. He slides into the driver’s seat before passing me a soft drink and some hot food in a paper bag. I open the bag and find a hotdog.
“It’s all they had.”
I nod when a bag of chips lands in my lap.
“Eat,” Damian tells me as I gaze through the window to see Soren walking back to the car. He slides back into the passenger seat.
Damian tries to pass him a bag of food. Soren shakes his head and plucks a bottle of water from Damian when offered. Damian shrugs, biting into his hotdog while starting the car. I remain silent, twisting the bottle cap of my Coke when my nagging curiosity gets the better of me.
“Are you taking me to the council?” I ask Soren, and I see Damian’s eyes flit to me in the rearview mirror. He doesn’t say anything, and my gaze moves to Soren. His jaw clenches.
“I should. If you were anyone else, I would hand you over,” he says.
My lip quivers.
“But you’re my fiancée. If anyone has to punish you, it will be me,” he adds. My heart flutters in my chest.
“Rhett marked me,” I blurt like an idiot.
“I’m aware. I’ll handle that once we are home.”
“You’re taking me home?”
“Yes, home, Aubrey. Now, stop with the questions. Eat, and try to sleep. You’ll need your strength once home.”
This time, Damian looks at him nervously. “What’s happening once we are home?” I ask, unable to keep the tremble from my voice.
“I’ll be marking and changing you,” he answers flatly and I know I won’t be getting a choice in the matter so I say nothing and nod.