51. Roseland
Roseland
Ihold my gun up as I slip around the corner, moving my gaze from point to point. Where is he? It’s so quiet. Are we too late? No, we can’t be. I still have two hours.
Raven’s plan went wrong. I don’t know how I know, but the plan to ambush Father didn’t work. As soon as she snuck away, I saw the car following her; the driver turned his head, and all I saw was a man in a bird skeleton mask. He knew I was there.
He knew what we were planning.
I’d raced into the street screaming.
I tried to catch up.
I’d rung the others, but they didn’t pick up. They were gone. Fuck knows where. Just gone.
The tracking app brought me here, but it took too freaking long.
The car drove out ten minutes ago, but her tracker is still inside. I glance at my phone, check again, and then pocket it and move deeper into the warehouse.
I click my torch on, checking before flicking it off and crossing the space. I’m moving fast and quick, but there’s so much here. It’s a freaking maze.
My skin prickles, adrenaline dumps into my blood stream, making all my senses sharp enough to cut.
The dirt and metal smells so strong I can taste it.
The sharp contrasts of those dark and deep shadows hiding everything within, and the shine of light bouncing off greedy metal poles and panels.
Forgotten machinery lies like dead corpses where they were abandoned.
The night’s cool wind licks my face, drying the anxious sweat that beads my forehead.
All I can focus on is moving forward, deeper into this maze. I’m alone; I sent Pix a message. If he got it, he will meet me. God, I hope he got it. It’s just me and whatever I’m going to find in here.
Please don’t let it be her corpse.
Please.
I’ll pray to any god, any devil. Just give me one more chance to get this right.
Let her be alive.
Let her be in one piece.
Let me not be too late.
Where is the pack? They should have been here. Something’s happened to slow them down. There’s no way that Blaze and Sage wouldn’t have been here. King and Rolly would have fought tooth and nail to get to her. Where are they? I sent them so many fucking messages.
Why don’t they check their fucking phones?
I realise I’m breathing too loud and try to quiet it down.
I’m not surprised they aren’t here, not truly. This was planned, all of it. I can feel the methodical and evil stench of him all over it. Whoever did this, that mystery in the leather mask, whoever was taunting us, tempting us here, is gone.
Whatever he’s left behind is a message.
Is she alive?
Is she dead?
I accidentally bump something with my foot. The metal pole rolls across the floor, despite my efforts to stop it. The echo of the harsh sound spreads further and further. It goes on and on, and just goes to show how empty this building is.
Don’t go any further. Turn and walk away.
No, I have to know one way or another.
My senses come alive when I catch a whiff of something, the dust motes swirl in the air.
Movement that gives away the fact that I’m not alone.
Not anymore. They’ll know exactly where I am because of that sound, but I know where they are, too.
I tense, ready to spring, gun in hand, finger on the trigger.
I’ll kill everyone.
I don’t hear a scream, I feel it. In every part of me. In my soul, in my heart, in every part of my aching muscles. It reverberates off my eardrums, circling my mind, sending every thought scattering and dragging fear straight to the front where it drowns everything else.
“DON’T HURT ME!” The shrill, high scream stabs at me.
“No,” I whisper. “No, not again! Fuck!” I stand up, risking calling out. “I’m coming. I’m coming,” but my words don’t get above a whisper. My chest is so tight I can barely breathe.
If she’s out…if it’s who I think it is…
My heart slams into my chest, and I explode into a run, racing through the warehouse, barely checking for danger. All I can hear is her screams.
“NO! Don’t leave me. Please. I’m scared! Please! Please!”
It’s her voice, but it’s not her. She’s crying so loudly. So lost.
I’ve met this voice twice. I know exactly who it is, and if she’s out, then things are really bad, and it means that something went horribly wrong.
It takes everything I have to slow down long enough to check. Everything in me screams to get to her. To make sure she’s safe. To protect her. She should never be alone. Not her.
I round a corner, holding my torch up, and she’s standing there in the door frame, shaking, tears streaming down her ghost white face. Her hands hang by her side, and her chest shakes as she sobs, with her eyes so swollen I’m surprised she can see.
Gone is everything capable about her. She looks exactly like what she is. A little girl, traumatised and hysterical. She’s got no defenses, no way to protect herself or attack, she is utterly helpless.
As I track the torch down, I see that she’s wet herself, the stain spreading down the inside of both her legs, the smell acrid. She doesn’t look like any of them. But then, this alter never does.
“Dove?” I whisper, licking my lips. “Dove, are you okay? Baby, talk to me. It’s okay, Rose is here. I’m here. I found you. Dove, I came. I’m here.”
I inch closer, moving slowly, with my hand up so she can see I mean no harm.
“Mr Rose?” she sobs out. “Mr Rose!” she screams my name like I’m her salvation, and didn’t I promise to always take care of her? “I had an accident.”
My throat thickens, and it’s hard to swallow so I can get the words out.
“It doesn’t matter. None of that matters. You’re safe.”
“I’m scared of the dark!” she whimpers out in a broken voice.
“He left me in the dark again. I’m naughty.
I’m a bad girl. Mr Rose, don’t leave me!
I’ll be good, I promise I’ll be good this time!
” Her voice rises to a hysterical, pleading scream that has me swallowing hard on the tears that spring forth.
“No, you’re not. You’re a good girl,” I say urgently, wishing I could undo all the horrors that monster has inflicted on this poor child. “You are my good girl. I’m here to take you away. I’m going to get you somewhere safe.” Shit, it hurts to speak. Where is Raven?
FUCK! I’ve never seen her this messed up.
When I found her all those years ago, I was the only person she would trust, the only person she would speak to without screaming.
I had no idea that this tiny, helpless omega child would be a witness to the monster of monsters.
What she’s seen is anyone’s guess. All I care about is protecting her.
I ease towards her, sheathing my weapon. She doesn’t move as I approach; she just continues making that high keening sound of a child, lost and wounded.
“Where is Kest and Raven, Dove? Where is Raptor? Are Merle and Jay all right?”
“Raven was naughty, so Kest got hurt. It was my fault. I didn’t run. I was too scared. The bad man laughed. He said I should have run, and it’s my fault because I was too scared. I’m sorry!” She screams the last word. “I’m sorry. Come back. Come back, Raven. I’m sorry. Kest…don’t leave me alone!”
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
I close the last of the space between us and pull her against my chest, hugging her hard.
“You’re okay, they forgive you. They know it’s not your fault. They won’t leave you; they will never leave you.”
I’m careful when I shine the torch over her back, seeing stripes of red and black. Whip marks. Her skin’s torn open, so messed up, I can’t tell which is skin and what is material. Kest must be holding the pain.
“It wasn’t your fault,” I whisper, trying to push my horror away. “You were such a brave, good girl. It’s not your fault.”
I've gotta get her out of here. Now.
I glance around and then snatch her up, ignoring the blood and urine, and hurry out of the warehouse, running as fast as I can. We get outside, and Pix looks at me, his expression grim.
“Hurry!” I say harshly.
He reacts instantly, crouching down and setting the warehouse on fire. It goes up like we doused it in fuel. It will buy us some time and help cover our identities. This will give us a few days to hide Dove and make it so it looks like we all died in there.
“It’s your call, Pix. You can wait for them. I can do this alone.”
He looks at Dove in my arms, still sobbing, her face buried in my shoulder, her blood seeping into my shirt.
“She needs us more. They'll forgive or they’ll forget.” He shrugs. I see how much it hurts him, but I don’t call him on it. I don’t ask him again. This is the only out he gets.
“Let’s go, Roseland, the night is going to end soon, and we need to disappear.”
We run.
I don’t know what’s going to happen, but to keep her safe, we’re going to have to stay one step ahead in a game that I keep losing. The terrible consequences are that it will cost this pack that I love so much their lives if I fail again.
No, I will not fail. Next time, we’re going to beat him. We have to. I just don’t know how.
“You’re a good girl, Dove. Let’s get you somewhere safe. We’re going to protect you. I promise.” My gaze finds Daega’s. “I’ll protect you both. I’m sorry, Daega. So sorry.”
For a moment, I think of the pack and regret, deep, sharp, and bitter, hits me.
I miss them already, but my priorities have been set in stone for five years.
We climb into the car; Daega gets in the front while I cradle Dove in the back.
I glance out the window, begging them to show up, wishing like hell for a miracle.
They don’t appear, and then it’s too late. I toss my phone and Merle’s out the window, and Daega does the same. My chest aches. Daega whimpers and slaps a hand to his bond bites.
“At least you aren’t in cuffs this time,” I murmur.
He snorts a laugh and then starts to cry, wiping the tears from his eyes as fast as they appear. It breaks my heart. I want so badly to make it better.
But I promised. I can’t change. I won’t.
Dove needs to be protected.
On that, we are all agreed.
I just wonder if we’ll be in one piece at the end.
“Okay, Rose, where am I taking us?”
“Away. We need to go away, where no one knows us, where no one can find us.”
He’s silent for a while, and then I hear him whisper.
“RIP my Alphas.”
And then, we’re gone, like ghosts, we’re less than living, but not quite dead yet. We’re just pain and regret and grief tangled up in memories that burn too bright and yearnings that will never be silenced.
And there’s only one thing left to say.
“Goodbye.”