Page 5 of Living Without

“Who?” Dodge asked from somewhere.

“Fang. He was supposed to watch her. He goddamn swore he’d take care of her. I’ll kill him. Shoot him between the eyes.”

The door before me opened and I was thrown in, landing on my hands and knees.

“Take a moment,” Dallas ordered. “We’ll find him and get answers. She’ll need you, Vicious. She’ll need you to be fully aware to help find her.”

“And then I kill?”

“Then you kill, with us at your back,” he promised.

The door was slammed shut behind me and locked, but still I didn’t move. I didn’t move because I was bleeding. Only no one could see the blood. It was on the inside.

Red.

Rage.

One second.

Two.

Three.

I was up and destroying the room. My mind wild, my heart bleeding, and my soul shattering. She’d been taken. Not Nary. Anyone but her.

Fuck.

Christ.

* * * *

STOKE

Two hours later

It wasn’t too late at night when my phone rang on the bedside table. We’d gone to bed early, ’cause I’d worked my arse off at the construction site. My woman was sitting up before I’d even moved. Rolling, I snapped the phone up and answered, “Yo?”

“Stoke. Dodge. You need to come to Caroline Springs, brother.”

I was sitting before the movement registered with my brain. Fuck. Something had happened. His voice… Dodge’s voice was rough with fear.

Shifting so I was sitting on the side of the bed, my feet planted on the floor. I barked into the phone, “Brother?”

“Just get here, bring Mally and Josh.”

Hell. My gut dropped. My heart pounded.

Nary.

Something had happened to our girl.

“On it.” I hung up the phone. Standing, I turned to my woman who was also ready and standing on the other side of the bed. Her brows were drawn low in worry, her mouth pinched tight in fear. “Get Josh, pack what you can, but hurry, love.”

“Declan?” Her hand went to her throat.

“I don’t know, love. He didn’t say anything. Let’s just get going, yeah?”

With a nod, she raced from the room to wake Josh. I wished to Christ my feet could move, but panic overrode my senses and I was frozen to the spot.

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