Page 35 of Chasing Dawn

“Neutralized. Leighton?” Vente asked.

“Got them all rounded up. Had three who took it a little badly, but I knocked them out rather than put them down. They might have had noble intentions.” Her tone suggested it was unlikely.

“Vance, go get your girl. She can be the judge and jury today.”

I swung my scope back toward the SUV where we’d left Dawn. Although I couldn’t see clearly through the trees, I saw her golden hair, washed out in the darkness, clearly enough. She was out of the SUV and talking to someone.

Fear pulsed through my chest. Her shoulders were stiff, and while I couldn’t see her face, I knew what she looked like when she was scared.

“Someone has Dawn,” I shouted down the comms. I abandoned my sniper rifle in the tree, jumped from the branch, and hit the ground running.

Vance had been right. We shouldn’t have brought her. Fear made my hands tremble, and I gripped my sidearm as I ran. She just had to hold on. I couldn’t lose her again.

CHAPTER 23

DAWN

They said it would take less than twenty minutes for the whole operation to be completed, and while it sounded like a short amount of time to end a nightmare, each second dragged on. I wanted to close my eyes, so when I opened them again, it would all be over and my guys would be back in my arms. If anything happened to them…

Dread sat heavily in my gut.

I looked out in the direction of my old home. To the left was the woods and the cavern where I’d stored all my precious things. It was where I’d healed as much as I could before I escaped. I’d dragged my bleeding body across this very grassland toward town and safety.

It was a waking nightmare that I didn’t think I’d ever escape, let alone heal from, but here I was, alive and free from the wounds that had plagued me, both physical and emotional.

I rubbed my hand across my flat stomach, the large, raised scar still prominent even outside my clothes. Being back here was awful but bearable, mainly because of the guys. My Omega knew that while they walked the earth, I was safe. They’d never let any harm come to me.

They couldn’t protect me from the emotional pain of seeing my family again though. I’d been trying to steel myself against the memories.

Someone knocked on the window, and I breathed a sigh of relief. That was quicker than I expected, but when I turned toward the window, I screamed.

“Dawn? Is it you?”

Dread made my skin tight. “Stephen.”

He was holding a gun to the window, but I thought it was almost by habit more than a threat. “You’re dead.” Again, a statement, and not a threat.

Stephen might have been my husband, but he’d never been particularly bright. “Obviously not.”

He shook his head and tapped the gun against the glass. “Get out of the car.”

“No.” I’d promised Vance I wouldn’t leave the car, and I kept my promises.

The gun shook, but Stephen switched off the safety. “Get out of the car, Dawn.”

Sucking in a deep breath, I mentally apologized to Vance. Turns out he was right and this wasn’t safe, but in my defense, why the fuck would Stephen be out here in the middle of the night?

“What are you doing out here?” I asked gently as I climbed from the SUV. “Why aren’t you in bed asleep?”

Stephen looked confused about why I was asking. See? Not very bright. “The guy Alpha Derrick sold the pups to was murdered by a vampire, and Alpha has upped security just in case.”

Great. Fucking great. I led my mates into a trap.

Stephen’s eyes dropped to my stomach, my flat, empty stomach. “You’re alive. Is our baby…”

Pain stabbed me in the chest. “Still as dead as he was the moment you cut him from my body, you fucking asshole.” The searing ache in my chest was making me reckless. “You killed us both. I was just unlucky enough to survive.” I reached out and shoved him. His gun hand dropped, and he stumbled back a step, surprised. I’d never really been a violent person, as it wasn’t in my nature. The only time I’d ever gone feral had been the day when Alpha Derrick had almost killed me, and Stephen had tried to finish the job.

“Dawn,” he murmured softly, and I hated it. Once upon a time, that softness had been a balm, but he’d never protected me, and I knew that softness coated a cowardly heart.