Page 41 of Unhinged Obsession

I kiss her like I almost lost her, because I fucking did.

My hands cradle her face while hers slide into my hair. Every ounce of terror that's been trapped inside my chest for the last few years when I realized there was a possibility that The Society could take her from me, seems to evaporate.

My little dove kisses me back just as desperately, meeting me with the same urgency until I forget anything exists but her.

“I love you,” I whisper against her lips, the words breaking apart as I say them.

She smiles against my mouth.“I love you,” she whispers back.

BLAIR

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

I’m about to suggest to Elijah that we should just head home and come see Beau in the morning. I didn’t think of it earlier, but I feel like turning on the bright lights of the barn this early in the morning would just disturb their schedule. Buster, for sure, will think it’s time for breakfast.

I don’t get that far because Elijah’s phone pings, and when he shows it to me, it’s from Benjamin. I’ve just now realized that he never showed up in the cemetery when Elijah messaged him.

‘Meet me in the barn, I have something to show you’ is all the message says, and instantly I realize that something is off.

Elijah’s response comes immediately, almost too immediately, the words leaving him before I can even process anything. “That’s not my brother.”

Elijah is already pressing Benjamin's contact before I've even formed a coherent thought, let alone verbalize it. Lifting the phone to his ear while his eyes continue scanning the darkness surrounding us, he stands up first and then pulls me to my feet. The call doesn't even have time to ring properly before it disconnects.

He tries again. One ring. Click. Elijah’s expression hardens. "Something's wrong." He doesn't raise his voice when he says it, but I hear the certainty behind the words anyway. Whatever relief we'd found walking away from the cathedral tonight evaporates instantly as he slips the phone back into his pocket. He reaches beneath his shirt, and I realize that he’s getting his gun ready for whatever is headed our way.

He checks the chamber with practiced ease before lowering the weapon alongside his leg, his entire demeanor changing so quickly it almost feels like watching someone else step into his body. The warmth that had been there only moments ago disappears beneath something colder, something far more dangerous.

"This bullshit ends tonight," he says, glancing back at me over his shoulder. "No matter what."

I simply lace my fingers through his free hand and let him lead me toward the barn, falling into step behind him exactly the way he silently asks me to.

We don't make it halfway there before someone screams so loudly and so suddenly that I physically jump.

"ELIJAH!" I know that voice.

"Paris?" She comes stumbling out from the side of the barn, probably from a side field. She’s at a dead sprint, tears streaming down her face so heavily that they're catching in the blood running from her nose. Her usually perfect ponytail has nearly fallen out, strands of platinum hair sticking to her damp cheeks while she struggles to catch her breath.

"They hurt Ben!" is all she gets out before she almost crashes into Elijah. Luckily, he catches her by the shoulders, steadying her as she sobs so hard the words barely make sense.

"Please..." she cries, grabbing handfuls of his shirt. "Please help him... please..."

"Paris." Elijah's voice drops into that calm tone that only a big brother could use at a time like this. “You need to calm down. Where is he?.”

It’s impossible with the way she’s shaking, but she tries again anyway. It doesn’t work. Nothing about her expression settles. Nothing about her breathing slows. It only gets worse, like the act of trying to fake calm is pulling everything she’s been holding together completely apart at the seams.

“They hurt him,” she sobs again, the words finally breaking free in a rush that sounds like it’s been trapped inside her chest for too long. Her hands come up instinctively, trembling as they press against her own face like she’s trying to hold herself together physically. “I can’t wake him up.”

"We were checking on the horses because I’ve been so worried about them after everything,” Paris starts. “Someone came in with a Saint’s mask and grabbed me. Ben came after us," she continues, her voice breaking completely. "He was trying to get me away from them, and..." She shakes her head violently as fresh tears spill over. "They hit him with the end of a gun."

She presses both hands over her mouth as though she's trying to stop herself from falling apart.

"They hit him so hard..." Paris whispers. "He just... he fell."

Another sob escapes her.

"I've been trying to wake him up and both of our phones are missing." She looks desperately between Elijah and me, her blue eyes wild with panic. "Please... please help him."

Elijah grabs my hand and nods toward Paris. I know what he wants me to do without him having to tell me. I grab her hand and pull her with us as he shoves open the heavy doors to the equestrian center.