Chapter Sixteen
“Rainer!” The shout woke me immediately, my body sitting up straight as I reached for the gun beside my waist.
The yell must have alerted everyone else because Mina and Sasha sat up, rubbing their hands over their eyes. My eyes fell to the empty spot beside me, the spot I made sure Alessia was in before I fell asleep.
Where the fuck is she?
My mind knew the answer, but I pushed it away. I refused to believe that had been her shout. I refused to admit that I had fallen asleep, allowing us to be attacked once again. And why the hell was Alessia always the one awake?
“Oh god no!” A shrill voice came from the other side of the dead fire.
Elizabeth was sobbing, no’s falling from her lips repeatedly, as she searched around her. Emmanuel was doing the same and I realized with horror that the twins were missing.
My brain tried to reason that Alessia had taken the twins out for a walk, maybe to get some more water. But she wasn’t an idiot, even if I would never admit that to her. She wouldn’t have taken them trekking through the woods in the middle of the night.
Knowing there wasn’t much I could do to soothe Elizabeth and Emmanuel’s worry, I glanced around the area until my eyes fell on Murphy. He was the one on watch. The one who was supposed to make sure this didn’t happen.
He was my best friend in the entire world, now possibly the only person I had in this world, and at that moment, I wanted to throttle him. How could he let this happen?
Stomping toward him, I knew he saw the thinly veiled anger burning under the surface of my skin because he held up his hands. The gun dangled from his open palm, the gun that was supposed to prevent this.
“What the fuck happened?” I snarled, trying to keep my temper at bay but doing a shit job of it.
“I don’t know, Rainer,” he choked, and I watched as his gaze roamed the area.
I didn’t have to ask who he was searching for. Lately, he couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. I’d tease him if I didn’t feel the same way. It had been easier to ignore how incredibly stunning she was when I hated her spoiled ass. Now it was almost impossible to overlook when she was working her ass off and becoming tougher than I would have ever given her credit for.
“She’s gone. Now what happened, Murphy?” I clenched my hands into fists, trying to avoid the urge to push my friend against the tree at his back.
“I must have fallen asleep. I don’t know what happened.”
Cursing, I stormed away from him, knowing if I stood there any longer, I couldn’t hold back my fists. And if I knew Murphy at all, he was beating himself up more than I ever could.
Calming my steps before I reached Emmanuel, I stopped before them and asked as gently as I could, “Are they gone? You can’t find them?”
At my words, Elizabeth cried out, sinking to her knees. I couldn’t imagine what she was feeling, having her children ripped right out from under her nose.
“No, we can’t find them. They’re gone.”
Nodding, I knew that was most likely the case, but I had to be sure. Had to know that they weren’t hiding in the woods for some reason. But those kids were smart, they knew better.
Running a hand through my hair, I paced, trying to come up with a plan. We had already wasted time yelling around the camp; they had a head start on us. And it was too dark for all of us to hike back through the woods, but Murphy and I both couldn’t leave, not when we knew someone was out there.
But fuck, if they had been able to grab the twins, plus Alessia, I would be outnumbered on my own. And although Sasha was tough, even with the two of us, we probably didn’t stand a chance. Not when she didn’t have a weapon.
A firm hand on my shoulder halted my pacing and I glanced up to find Murphy. The grin he normally wore was nowhere to be seen, his eyes haunted under the moonlight, and my anger at him quickly faded.
He was the most optimistic person I knew and I saw none of that in this moment. My anger meant nothing when it came to being there for him. He had been there for me for two decades, I could be there for him now.
“It’ll be okay, Murphy. It will all be okay.”
Murphy gulped and fear stared back at me when he whispered, “What are we going to do?”
Gripping his shoulders in my hands, I made sure he saw the seriousness in my stare. “We’re going to get her back. No matter what.”
Glancing up at Emmanuel and Elizabeth, I raised my voice so that everyone could hear. “We’re going to get them all back. I promise.”