Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Blair
Dara went to the bathroom a good twenty minutes ago to try and cool her body down with a shower. I tap my fingers against the table. What’s taking her so long? I jump up off the chair and start walking around, needing to move before I lose my shit. The poor girl has no idea what is happening to her. She is probably freaking right out, and I don’t really blame her. I would too. I hope she hasn’t seen the tattoo yet.
My poor princess. I just wish she remembered who we are. It would make everything so much easier to explain. It’s been torture since the day she was taken away from us. We lost a part of ourselves. A part we haven’t been able to get back until now. Dara was our princess—ours to protect with everything that we have. She was one of us. Without her, we aren’t whole. She looks at us as if we are total strangers. And in her mind, I guess we are. But that hurts more than I can explain.
That’s why I can’t wait for her to get her memories back, to remember us and Silvia, her home. She won’t understand, at least not right away, but given some time, she will come back to us.
Something soft smacks into my face. I whip around to find Oliver grinning on the bed. I flip him off before grabbing the pillow and throwing it back at him. Fucking arsehole.
Harlan clutches my shoulders. “Settle the fuck down, Blair. She will be fine. She just needs some time to cool off. Relax.” He pushes me to sit on the bed.
I manage to stay there tapping my foot on the ground for another five minutes. “Okay, I have had enough of this. Something is happening. One of us needs to check on her,” I practically yell out in frustration. Everyone jumps to their feet.
Declan’s been sitting in the corner staring at nothing, being his usual reserved self. Oliver has been driving me mad throwing the pillows up and down for the past five minutes, and Harlan has just been mute, most likely quietly plotting our next step.
“Fine, I will check on her. I don't want us all barging in there at once. That’d give anyone a fright,” Harlan finally says as he walks to the bathroom door.
He knocks and waits for her to respond. Twenty seconds pass. Still nothing. My stomach stirs and something doesn’t feel right. He knocks again and again. Nothing but silence greets him. Next thing I know, he pushes it open. It bangs against the wall. I jump up, followed by the others, and stand behind him.
“Fuck! She has gone.” Harlan punches the wall, swearing under his breath.
I move farther into the room. It’s empty. My gaze snaps to the opened window above the toilet. Are we really that bad that she had to flee? “FUCK! Why in the hell would she escape? We are here to help her—not push her to run in the opposite direction,” I growl.
Declan starts pacing. “Think about it. Four strangers rock up and take you to a hotel room and say to trust them. They will explain it all soon. I would be freaked out by that too if I was her.” He throws up his arms, shaking his head. He does have a point.
“All right, let’s move. We can’t stand around waiting. Let’s go get our princess back and head to the portal before it closes,” Harlan says, brushing past me. We follow him out.
“Okay, first stop is her house because she probably went back there. She won’t be that far ahead of us,” Oliver says as he jumps into the back seat.
As soon as I pull the door shut, Harlan speeds off down the road. Glancing at the rear-view mirror at my brothers, I am met with worried eyes from all of them. Declan’s brain is working in overdrive trying to figure out if we will be able to find her in time.
A short while later, we arrive at her apartment and get out.
It’s close to four in the morning and the street is deserted. There is no one around at this hour—they are all tucked away in their beds. Which is where I hope to find Dara; in bed. Safe.
Dara definitely has changed from the girl we once knew; fifteen years is a long time. I’d know. I’ve been silently counting down the days until she’s back with us. Now that she’s within our reach, I’m not sure who this Dara is anymore. She’s different, and I’m looking forward to discovering more about her.
We head inside the foyer thanks to the security door being propped open I shake my head that needs fixing it’s not safe and take the elevator up to her floor. Since we’ve been watching her for a few months now, we know exactly where she lives with her friend Kayla. That girl is definitely someone who has bite—in a good way. That’s something like don’t fuck with my best friend or I’ll kill you. Exactly the protection Dara needed. Guilt washes through me at the thought of taking that away from her, but we need her in Silva more.
Harlan storms over to the door and starts knocking. He waits a good couple of seconds then tries again. I stand back, folding my arms over my chest. Finally, footsteps sound on the other side of the door and light floods through the bottom. It opens, and Dara’s friend is standing there in her pyjamas, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
“What the hell? What do you guys want?” Kayla almost growls.
“We are here to see Dara. Is she in there?” Harlan steps forward, trying to look behind her.
Kayla opens the door farther and gestures for us to come in. “Yeah, she is in her room. She won’t appreciate being woken up. She has had one fucked-up night. She ran back here not that long ago.”
We all head along the hallway toward her room. Kayla knocks on Dara’s door and waits for her response. She pushes the door open before flicking on the light. Her room is empty, and the bed is made like she hasn’t been here.
“What the fuck? She was here, like, an hour or so ago,” Kayla exclaims and begins pacing the room. She storms back out in the direction of the kitchen. We follow closely and crowd behind her as she picks up a piece of paper from the bench.
“Oh, my fucking god. She didn’t? What the hell, Dara? You can't do this to me!” Kayla yells. She scrunches it up and throws it away toward the bin. We all stand there, waiting for her to explain.
“Okay, what is going on, Kayla? What did the letter say?” I ask, putting a hand on her shoulder.
Kayla stays mute, placing her head in her hands. We give her a few minutes to pull herself together. “She’s gone,” she whispers.
Fuck. My gaze snaps to the guys, who all look as panicked as I feel right now.
“What do you mean she is gone? Where did she go? You need to let us know, Kayla. We have to find her, so we can help her. It’s a long story, but she is very important to us and we need to know where she is to keep her safe,” I explain, trying to be as calm as I can, but fuck it’s hard. Inside I am freaking out, praying that we will be able to find her before she falls into the wrong hands.
“She had this trip planned to go hiking in the forest, up east in the Dandenong Ranges. She goes there when she needs to clear her head. That’s the only way she can, by being out in the forest amongst nature,” Kayla explains.
I know exactly how Dara will be feeling. It is her home. It’s mine too—where I feel most relaxed. I rub my hand on Kayla’s back and tell her it will be okay. We will go and find her, make sure she is safe. What I don’t tell Kayla is that she might not see her best friend again. I can’t stand to witness the pain and hurt in her eyes, knowing that I’ve caused it.
“All right, Kayla, I hate to leave you like this, but we need to go,” Harlan explains, wasting no time as he starts walking toward the door, eager to get going.
“Please make sure you bring her home in one piece,” Kayla says, wiping away the tears from her eyes.
I smile then pull her in for a quick hug. She collapses in my arms, tears soaking my T-shirt. After pulling back, I quickly turn around, heading out the door to catch up with my brothers. I don’t look back, unable to watch her friend break down.
We are down the elevator and out the front door in record time. Harlan takes the lead and has all of us sprinting to the car. As soon as we hop in and I slide into the passenger seat, he speeds off down the road, the tyres screeching against the bitumen.
“I feel sorry for Kayla. I hated lying to her.” I rub the back of my head.
“Your heart is too sweet, bro. She will be fine. Finding Dara is our main priority right now,” Oliver says, his voice cracking at the end. I have never seen this side of him before. He is always happy, making jokes, and never sad or upset. He doesn’t like to show emotion. The disappearance of Dara has gotten to him, to all of us, but we will find her. We’ve come too far. And if I know my brothers—as well as I think I do, we won’t be giving up now.
Thinking of her, I imagine her in the forest with the sun radiating off her beautiful long dark hair. I bet her crystal blue eyes will glisten in the light and be even more breathtaking than usual. I let out a sigh. Harlan punches my arm, jolting me out of my little daydream.
“Do I even want to know what you were thinking about?” Harlan raises his brow at me.
I shrug my shoulders. “Nah, nothing you need to worry about, bro.” I lower my head.
We drive nonstop for what feels like hours until we reach the area where Kayla thought Dara was heading. Finally coming to a crossroads, we decide to take a left; our instincts tell us she went this way. When you’ve been made into a warrior for her and have taken an oath to protect her at all costs, this is the type of thing that comes naturally. Back in Silvia we can sense her and know roughly where she is always. But here it’s not as strong and only works when there isn’t a lot of people around.
A short time later, we pull up to a quiet parking lot with just one car in the park, and that car happens to be the one we are looking for. We all let out a breath of relief that we have found her. Well, not yet, but at least this is a start.
We are coming for you, my princess, and we will find you.