Page 61 of Graves & Griggs
He snores a lot. Every night since they’ve been here, after our parents put us to bed, they sneak in here to sleep on the floor. Then they wake up early and sneak back into their room. Sometimes I don’t even hear them go. It sounds silly, but I like them in here.
At first they started sleeping in here because we didn’t want to stop playing a game even though it was bedtime. Then they just started coming in because. I put all the stuffies on my bed on the floor for them so it would be a fluffy sleep.
We heard the grown-ups say that tomorrow they’re going home. I’m glad that I’ll get to see them open the Christmas presents I made them. They haven’t been here long, but they’ve become some of my bestest friends. Thinking about them moving far away makes me so sad. But Aries promised they would come see me lots, and I believe him. I believe them both.
I wait for the sound again, but it’s quiet. Maybe I was just dreaming. Then it happens again! A loud thunk from outside. This time it sounds different. Maybe closer… Maybe it’s…
“It’s Santa!” I say as I hang over the bed.
“You think?” Aries asks before smacking Ryder’s arm. “Wake up! Santa is here.”
“What?” Ryder asks. “Santa?”
“C’mon!” I say as I jump out of bed.
I hear Ryder and Aries following as we run into the hallway. I look to the living room, standing on my tippy-toes to see over the railing. The Christmas tree doesn’t have any new presents, and the stockings are still empty. Sadness fills me before another thunk comes from the backyard.
“He’s here!” I say, jumping up and down before running down the stairs.
“This is a bad idea,” Ryder says.
“Stop being such a baby,” Aries says with an attitude.
“I am not a baby!” Ryder retorts as I head for the door.
I almost make it too before Ryder puts out an arm, stopping me before grabbing my coat from the closet and putting it on me.
“It’s too cold out there,” he says as he concentrates really hard on zipping up the jacket, then he forces me to step into my snow boots as they do the same.
I smile at him, but I can’t help but bounce on my toes. If we don’t hurry, we might miss him.
Aries opens the door, and together we all run out to the backyard. I look around in every direction, high and low. I look for his sleigh or his reindeer, but I can’t find them. I hear that sound coming from the back of the house again, though, so I take off sprinting, leaving the boys in the dust because if anyone is going to catch Santa, it’s going to be me. After all, I’m the one who woke up to him first.
My cheeks hurt as the snow falls around us, butI can’t stop smiling. I’m going to finally catch Santa on Christmas Eve. I’m going to?—
Chapter Twenty Eight
Zayden
Apiercing scream wakes me up. I’m on my feet and out the bedroom door in less than two seconds, grabbing the knife on my bedside table as I go. In the hallway, I run into a disheveled-looking Griggs, who appears to be in a similar fight-or-flight state.
“What the fuck was that?” Ronan asks, stepping out of his room as my angel emerges from ours.
“Vincent? What’s going on?” Skyla asks as a few of her other guys pile out of the room.
Liam pokes his head into a room a few doors down. His body goes rigid, and he runs to my boys’ room.
“The kids are gone!”
“WHAT?” I snarl as another ear-piercing scream rings from outside, followed by the sound of my boys shouting.
Chills cover my body, and I’m leaping down the stairs, taking the entire flight in three steps before tearing through the living room. I barely stop to slip on shoes, then my feet are ripping through the frozen ground.
The snow is falling fast, practically blinding me, but it’s not enough to stop me seeing what’s in front of me. A man in a longblack trench coat is standing just under the glow of the back porch light, a crowbar at his feet and little Seraphina wrapped up in one of his arms, held by her throat with a gun to her head.
My gaze flies around us to see Ryder holding his stomach, groaning, and Aries unconscious on the ground, a gash above his eyebrow. A rage without end fills me as I move closer to the figure, freezing in place as his eyes meet mine.
No.
