Page 70 of Rune
If this was one of the parents or princesses, shit was serious.
Cain got to his feet.
Spike reached for a gun on the end table.
I started to stand.
The front door opened.
And there was Carmen.
Beaten to shit, cradling her arm, eyes frantic.
“Jesus Christ,” Cain hissed.
I was on my feet and across the room in the span of a breath.
“Baby…”
She threw herself into me, a sob catching, then breaking free as my arms went around her.
“It’s okay,” I said, trying to give her a comforting squeeze without hurting her, since I had no idea where she might be injured. “You’re all right now.”
Her hot tears wet through my shirt as I turned to face my club brothers, seeing their matching masks of concern and confusion.
I locked eyes with Spike—our resident first aid guy, since he had a stomach of steel for even the gnarliest of injuries. I mouthed ‘first aid kit’ and watched him rush off to get that.
Croft got up to grab a box of tissues, placing it on the pool table beside where we stood.
When she was finally out of tears and sniffling hard, I reached for some and handed them to her.
“Let’s sit down,” I suggested, leading her over toward the couch and carefully pressing her down. “What happened?” I asked when her head finally lifted.
If possible, I’d swear she looked worse than she had just fifteen or twenty minutes before.
There were bruises all over her face. Her eye was swollen, her lip fat, and there was some dried blood from cuts on her cheek.
But the way she was cradling her hand was what had me the most concerned.
“I was sleeping,” she said, voice so small that she needed to clear her throat and try again. “And I heard someone on the stairs. I… I tried to get to my gun in the drawer where you put it.”
I could feel Croft, Cain, and Spike’s gazes on me, their minds likely full of questions. But they’d have to wait.
“But they were fast. He smashed my hand in the drawer. Then… then he threw me on the bed.” My stomach tensed. “And they handcuffed me and bound my ankles. Put duct tape on my mouth, so I couldn’t cry out.”
“Sofia?” I asked.
“Road trip.”
“Okay. Good. What happened then?”
“The one threw me over his shoulder. And I knew… I knew I couldn’t let them take me. So I threw myself off his shoulder. He fell. I fell.” With her arms and legs bound and no way to brace herself, that had to be a hard fall. I had a feeling her whole body was black and blue. “Then I started slamming my feet into the wall to wake up Chip.”
“Good. That was smart.”
“He came eventually and… I think he shot both of them. But they ran.”
“And you came here.”
