Page 59 of Take

I FOUND HOLDEN’S CAR HIDDEN in the side of the hill with a shitload of brush all over it. I yanked each branch off with frustration. Ever since I left the cabin, I had the urge to go running back.

To beg. Beg her to forgive me.

Jesus, it was pathetic. I was pathetic.

The paint chipped off the roof as I dragged a heavy branch across it and whipped it aside. I watched it fly through the air, land hard and roll down the mountain out of control.

Like me. I felt like that branch, unable to stop the caring. Bombarded with emotions I hadn’t let myself feel in a century. Maybe it was partially because of where we were. Here in the mountains where I swore I’d never come again.

My heart sat in the pit of my stomach, no longer steady and rhythmic but all fucked up and stealing my calmness. I didn’t like leaving her. But I had no choice. The risk was too great that Adrian would find someone else to do what I had been hired for. Drake had to be taken out before that happened. And Holden and Guise were the best to keep her safe.

I was betting I had two days. Two fuckin’ days to hunt down the bastard who hurt her. I wanted nothing more than to cause destruction, but there was way more to this than I cared to admit.

I loved her. I fuckin’ cared and I loved her and I had to fix this. I couldn’t lose her.

I wanted to hold her in my arms while I slept. I wanted to watch her walk across a room toward me knowing she was mine. I wanted to be the one to make her laugh. See the flash of brilliance in her eyes as she tilted her head back and released the sound trapped inside her.

I loved her fight; the way she tried to hide it behind her soft words in the beginning and then . . . and then her smartass remarks back at me. I thought of when she purchased two rooms that first night, her tiny smirk and lift of her chin as she strode away from me. Defiant and cute.

She hadn’t been scared of my reaction. She wasn’t scared of me, but she sure as hell was terrified of Drake.

“Jesus.” I smashed both fists onto the roof of the car. I knew what I had to do. I had more connections in the underworld than anyone and it would be easy to get word to Drake that I wanted to meet him to make a deal. My reputation would make it possible. Anyone who’d heard of me knew I’d do anything for money. And I was betting on Drake knowing that. What might give me away was Drake being a Scar Reflector and able to read and feel emotions. If he discovered my feelings for Max, he’d see right through my plan.

My plan. Fuck. It was a risk . . . no, it was a high-risk that had been tapping at my mind since the moment I found out he was a vampire. I didn’t know I’d go after him until now, but I was alive because I never stopped thinking every scenario in my head. And fuck, I wanted to kill the bastard who took Max . . . no, Breanna . . . the little ten-year-old girl who saw her mother die, her entire Talde and then broke her for six years. Six fuckin’ years.

He crushed her soul until she buried every part of who she was, and that girl . . . that girl with the defiance, the fight, the strength and the gentleness that soothed all of it with her beauty. Fuck, she’d trusted me. Gave herself to me and there were no words to repair the damage I’d seen in her eyes.

Words wouldn’t repair it and I didn’t deserve another chance with her, but I’d take away the fear she tried to hide from everyone by killing Drake. I knew he was stronger than me. Fuck, he was a hybrid, an ancient who could Trace. He was alive because he was intelligent as hell and despite the Goddess killing his Ink to make him weak, he’d become strong again. Drake would never stop until he got what he wanted.

But I knew how his mind worked because I’d encountered the cruelest unsavory fuckers in this world, and there was one way he’d trust me. I’d have to become like him—a hybrid. A vampire.

I folded into the car and drove down the treacherous dirt path, and the further I went the more anxious I became. It was as if my cells were running frantically through my body searching for her . . . for Max.

I took out Holden’s cell and scrolled the contacts until I found Xamien. It did a half ring before he answered. “Holden?”

“Jasper.”

“Max okay?”

“She’s safe. For now.”

Xamien was quiet, but I could hear the tension in his breathing.

“Waleron with you?”

“Yeah and Balen. We’ve picked up the trail not far from you. The vampires who came to the airport are headed in your direction. You sure she’s safe there? We should catch up to them before they get close but—”

“Can you get away from him?” I didn’t need Waleron overhearing the conversation and Xamien was going to erupt the moment I told him.

Xamien paused, obviously already suspicious that something was going down. “Who?”

“Waleron. And you need to keep your shit together.”

“What the fuck, Jasper?” I heard the denim of his jeans as he walked. He must have put his hand over the phone as his voice became muffled as he said, “Waleron, give me five . . .” then it was clear again, “tell me.”

“I was hired to protect Max, but if things went bad and there was a chance he’d take her . . . I was hired to kill her. I didn’t know it was Drake at the time—”

“You’re dead.” Xamien’s low tone was menacing and I could tell he was barely holding on. Any second he’d hang up on me and then . . . then he’d hunt me.