Page 5 of Into the Dawn

It’s a sorry state of affairs when a father isn’t willing to trade a hostage for his own flesh and blood, but Rusty was never normal, and I can see the holes in my plan already. If I manage to get John back, he’ll tell the law. Rusty knows that. Especially if Jed was involved with the murdered women in Sutton.

Vanessa’s father is never going to let John go willingly. He’ll close ranks and kill him to protect his son.

“Well then, failing that, just tell me how to get in unseen, and I'll go in there and get him back myself. I won't tell them where I got the information if I get caught.”

Simple.

She mutters a string of expletives. “Do you have a death wish? You need to come up with a better plan than that. Or an army. Plus, you’re forgetting one tiny detail? I don’t know where he is.”

From the muffled sound of her voice, I can tell she's got her face buried in her hands as she deliberates over what to do. It's the same pose she had sitting on John's front porch the first time I put the idea of us running away together to her.

She was merely hesitant then, afraid her family would come after us. Afraid they'd go after Evan for retribution. Eventually, I convinced her to go, or, thought I had. That we were in love. We were mates. That was all that was important, and the rest would work itself out.

Maybe I pushed her too hard, and she only agreed to leave to keep me happy, then changed her mind back again. I’ve tortured myself with the details countless times, never really having a proper answer.

Because I stuck to the plan and left, but she didn’t follow, and I haven’t heard from her since. But now that she’s here, I’m too bull-headed to ask her why. It’s not going to fix things between us anyway.

I never told anybody what happened, just stayed away, working and travelling and distracting myself from the pain. The line I gave everyone was that I wanted a change of scene. Then I slunk back with my tail between my legs to help out when Evan bought the bar.

It was too fucking embarrassing to admit the truth, that my own mate didn’t want me.

So I pretended that it didn’t happen, and that she didn’t exist because it was easier. I could fool myself into thinking I didn't really care that she’d ditched me.

But who am I kidding?

She's my mate. And I'm still fucking furious.

3

VANESSA

“You can't go charging in there, Ben. They'll kill you.”

Lying on my back, I stare up at the dark inside of the shell covering the bed of his truck and fight back the panic I feel at his ridiculous plan. A remnant of carpet tossed in the back protects my back from the metal, and thankfully, I have enough room to stretch out my legs. Resting them against the side of the truck top, I sigh. He has no idea how bad things have gotten in the compound, and the type of people he’s dealing with now.

Ben and I are like strangers, talking to each other from either side of the barrier, when once, we were best friends. And then, when we got a little older, we realised why we were so drawn to each other… we are mates. Were mates? I don’t know what we are now, other than broken.

How did things get so fucked up?

Or should I say, how have I managed to fuck things up so spectacularly, once again?

Bringing my hands to my face, I rub the rough rope against my eyebrow and try to push away a strand of loose hair that’stickling my skin. I’m hot, sweaty, and the smell of damp hiking equipment is driving me crazy.

“What do you expect me to do? Just let you go, head back to Sutton and get on with my life knowing that John is stuck somewhere with your fucked up, inbred family keeping him prisoner? That's not gonna happen.”

Ben’s anger is palpable, like a living thing sucking in all the surrounding air and leaving me struggling for breath. I don’t blame him. I’m angry too. I just don’t know what to do about it.

I grit my teeth against the rising urge to struggle in my bindings and escape, just to get away from the cloying atmosphere. But if I run, he’ll never trust me.

He might never soften this hardened attitude he has now, but I’m not going to let anything happen to him. It’s the very least I can do. And to do that, I need him to believe I’m on his side.

“I'm not saying that. I'm just saying you can't storm in there and take John by force. It won’t work. Not without help, withoutmyhelp. I don't see anybody else here looking to join your stupid mission to get yourself killed.”

And that's what it would be… suicide.

“I'm not getting Evan involved. He has a baby on the way. And a mate now. It’s too dangerous.”

Ben’s words are like a sucker punch. His wayward brother is starting a family, the man that nobody thought would even make it to his twenties without ending up in jail or dead has the family that was supposed to be ours.

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