Page 70 of After the Fall
The hairs on my neck prickled. Something was wrong. I turned to Wyatt but he was already gone, having clamored into the driver seat quicker than a bolt of lightning. “What…” Before I could formulate any words, he slammed the SUV into reverse.It lurched back in a sudden jolt, stopping inches from Savannah and Connor. They jumped into the car, and Wyatt sped out of the parking lot, tires squealing.
“We didn’t see them at first,” Connor explained out of breath from the passenger seat. “They’d been knocked out unconscious and left at the bottom of the stairwell. I thought the lights had been turned out for the trick-or-treaters.” He shook his head and muttered under his breath. “I shouldn’t have let my guard down. Stupid of me.”
“The guards,” Savannah explained, breathlessly, from beside me.
“As we climbed the stairwell,” Connor continued, “I smelled something rank. I could see into the apartment. The door was wide open.”
“It’s been ripped apart,” Savannah sniffed. “It looks like everything’s been…” her voice lowered and I thought she might cry, “torn apart.”
“But why?” I gasped. The building was in a nicer part of town, and we had never had a break-in. It was a safe, family-friendly neighborhood, one that had been way out of my price range as a journalist.
Savannah shook her head. “I don’t know. But Connor made us keep going without stopping, past our floor. Then we hurried down the back stairwell. That’s where we found the guards,” she shuddered.
I put my hand on her knee, giving it a light squeeze. “Thank you,” she mouthed silently.
“It’s the Carders. They’re looking for me,” whispered the voice beside me. “They’ll do whatever it takes to get me back. Even…” he gulped, and I felt the apology searing through him, “hurt the ones I love.”
All eyes turned to my dad, and the SUV shook as it swerved across the median.
“Wyatt,” I screamed.
“Sorry,” he muttered, turning the steering wheel sharply to the right. He glanced back at me in the rearview mirror. “Do you understand now why I kept you inside the mansion? You’re not safe, Harper. Not unless you’re with me.”
My heart sunk. Wyatt was right.
The only thing more terrifying than what was happening with the Carders and their freaky sasquatch army, was the realization I was going to be stuck living with my ex-boyfriend.
THIRTY-SIX
WYATT
The mansion feltlike a shitty reality show, the kind where they put a bunch of annoying people together under one roof.
“You’re going to wear a trail in the hardwood with all that pacing.” Valentina drummed her long red fingernails on the dining room table.
I didn’t stop. The guys we’d sent to Stirling County should’ve been back hours ago.
“How’s your head feeling?” Harper came to my side and rested her hand on my arm. “Did the electrolyte water help?”
“That’s quite the little nurse you’ve got there.” Valentina rested her head on her chin and raised her eyebrows.
“She is.” Joe had been standing at the back of the dining room, which had turned into our command center for the mission. “He’s lucky to have her.”
“I’m not sure lucky is the right word.” Valentina rolled her eyes.
A bolt of lightning flashed, lighting up the dark room. The French doors opened and the wolves tumbled into the house.
“Ugh.” Valentina wrinkled her nose. “Cão molhado.”
“Shut it, Princess. This wet dog bites – and understands Portuguese,” Bannon said, giving an actual growl and snapping his teeth at her.
Bannon and Connor had called in some more of their pack, and Valentina wasn’t wrong. A musty odor had wafted in with them.
“Are they housebroken?” Tank muttered.
This time, three of the burliest-looking bearded men snarled.
“Easy.” Harper stepped in between the wolves and the dining room table.