Page 112 of Reclaimed

How am I supposed to believe that?

“I’m on my way,” I croak, ending the call. I only make it two steps before I’m spun into a wall, hard and impenetrable. I lash out, striking with the heel of my palms against it. I need to move. I need to get to Isla.

“Stop.” Corjan moves his face in mine and grips my shoulders. “Get in my truck, Aiden.”

“I have to go,” I wheeze. The words rip painfully up my throat.

He shakes me. “Get in my truck. I’ll drive you. Lee and the others are already on the way there.”

At the mention of my eldest brother, a tremble runs through my body and some of the anxiety tamps down. Lee’s the closest I’ve had to a father figure since I lost my own. He’ll know what to do.

Corjan speaks urgently to Bree, kisses her intensely, then climbs into the seat across from me.

“Go.” I fling my seatbelt over my shoulder.

Corjan clicks on his own and reverses onto the road.

“The guys were already at Mom’s. Lee’s halfway to the club with Jack and Jude behind him in Jack’s SUV.”

“How did he hear so fast?”

“Sutton. When you didn’t pick up, he tried Lee’s phone.”

A million scenarios race through my head. Not many of them good. Some unfathomable. My fingers ache with how hard I clench my phone as I fire off texts. I need answers.

Corjan’s tires eat up the pavement. The stretch of greenery out the window is nothing but a blur. We’re the farthest away, but at the speed Corjan’s pushing, I’d be surprised if we’re the last to arrive.

My chest contracts, and I rub my fist against the hollowed spot where my heart is supposed to sit. My torso is aching, gaping, cold. Thinking about how terrified I know she is splinters something inside of me. Isla’s a fighter. She always has been. She’s going to be doing anything she can to keep herself and our baby unharmed.

The love of my life is fighting to stay alive. I nearly gag as the thought crosses my mind.

“The baby isn’t mine.” I admit gruffly to the sound of pavement rushing beneath the tires of Corjan’s truck. “I want him to be. I need them to live so I can have the chance to be his daddy.”

“They’re going to live, Aiden.” Corjan doesn’t even address my admission.

“Do we know who has her?”

Corjan’s exhale is weighted with the truth. “No.”

I nod. Once. Solidifying the facts. “Okay.” I breathe in. Out. My palm crashes repeatedly against the black leather dash. “God fucking dammit!”

“They have someone following them. We’re going to find her.”

“Can you go any faster?”

The engine revs.

“Thank you.”

That helpless feeling slithers back into my veins, inky and impossibly dark, like it never left. I punch a contact in my phone, turn it to speaker. While the ring fills the car, I throw up a shattered plea.

Keep fighting, starshine. I’m coming.

30

Isla

My stomach roilsas the car lurches forward again. I press a protective hand over my abdomen.

---