Chapter 6

　　Julian's POV

　　I was waiting by the car when Eva came out.

　　She had changed out of the clothes she had been wearing in the practice room, coat on, bag over her shoulder. She had a sour expression on her face.

　　"I can drive myself," she said when she saw me standing by the passenger door.

　　"I know."

　　"Julian."

　　"Gran can't handle seeing us like this," I said. "If we walk in there separately, if she picks up any distance between us, it'll upset her. You know how she gets."

　　Eva stopped walking, her expression careful.

　　"So you want us to pretend," she said.

　　"For her sake. Just for the visit."

　　I could see her working through it.

　　"Fine," she said. "For her. The moment we leave that building, we go back to how things are."

　　"I understand."

　　She got in the car without another word. I walked around to the driver's side and pulled out.

　　We were twenty minutes into the drive when she looked at me properly for the first time.

　　"You look awful," she said.

　　"Thank you."

　　"I'm being serious. When did you last sleep?"

　　I kept my eyes on the road. "I'm fine."

　　"You're not fine. You look like you haven't been to bed in days." She shifted in her seat. "What's going on?"

　　I exhaled. "A rogue has been sending other rogues after the pack. His holdings got absorbed into Ironwood a few months back, and he's been making us pay for it ever since.

　　It's been constant; I haven't had much time to rest. His name is Damien."

　　"How long has this been going on?"

　　"Weeks."

　　She shook her head slowly. "You're going to run yourself into the ground."

　　I didn't answer because she wasn't wrong. Between managing the rogue attacks and trying to find my way back to her, sleep had been pushed to last on the list.

　　I didn't tell her the personal side of it, that he held a grudge due to the fact that I had almost beaten him to death for forcing himself on Cynthia.

　　We drove in silence for a while, not comfortable but not an unbearable one.

　　We were forty minutes out from Stormvale Valley when my phone buzzed on the dashboard.

　　My beta's name is on the screen.

　　I picked up and connected my earbuds to my ears and kept my voice neutral. "What about?"

　　"They took Cynthia and the boy." His voice was tight and low. "Damien's men grabbed them about twenty minutes ago. We have a location, but Julian, you need to come back now."

　　Everything in me went cold.

　　Eva was looking out the passenger window. I kept my face completely still and measured every word before I said it.

　　"How many men?"

　　He told me, and I told him I was on my way and ended the call.

　　Eva turned to look at me. "What happened?"

　　I thought about telling her the truth and decided against it. If I told her it was Cynthia, she would shut down. Whatever small ground I had managed to cover today would be gone before we even reached the nursing home.

　　"It's my mother," I said. "She's been kidnapped. I need to go back."

　　Her expression shifted immediately, the closed-off look dropping. "Is she okay? What happened to her?"

　　"I don't know the details yet. I need to go." I pulled into the nursing home car park and stopped the car. "You go ahead and see Gran. I'll come back as soon as I can."

　　She looked at me for a moment. I held her gaze and kept my face steady.

　　"Okay," she said quietly. "Go. I'll stay with her."

　　She got out. I watched her walk toward the entrance and told myself I would explain everything later. That this was the last time I would lie to her.

　　I pulled out and drove away.

　　Eva's POV

　　The nursing home had that particular afternoon calmness to it, soft sounds from televisions behind closed doors, low voices down the corridors, the smell of flowers over something more clinical underneath.

　　I signed in at the front desk and stepped in.

　　I was thinking about what I would say to her. Whether she would be lucid today, and whether she would ask about the ceremony.

　　I didn't hear anyone come in behind me.

　　A pungent smell hit me in the back of my throat. I started to turn, but my legs gave out almost immediately. I grabbed for the wall and missed completely.

　　The floor came up fast, and I was swallowed in darkness.

　　When I opened my eyes, my wrists were bound behind me, tied tight enough that my hands had gone numb. I slowly tried to look around.

　　Exposed ceiling beams, corrugated metal walls, and broken machinery along the sides. An abandoned repair shop, light coming through gaps in the paneling.

　　"Good. You're awake."

　　A man was sitting on an overturned crate a few feet away, watching me with the patience of someone who had nowhere else to be. Broad-shouldered, with a scar running from his left ear down toward his jaw.

　　I pushed myself up as far as the restraints would allow and looked around quickly. One visible exit. Two men standing by the door

　　"You're Damien," I said, realizing instantly.

　　He smiled cynically. "Julian mentioned me."

　　"He said you had a grudge against the pack."

　　"Against Julian specifically." He stood and crossed toward me without hurrying.

　　"He took everything from me. My pack, my business, everything I spent years building. All of it gone."

　　He stopped in front of me. "I've been waiting a long time for the right opportunity."

　　"I had to get him away from you. Cynthia and her son were never in any real danger." He said it almost casually.

　　"I just needed Julian running in the opposite direction."

　　Something clicked in my chest and settled there cold and heavy.

　　Julian had gotten that call and told me it was his mother. But it had been Cynthia and her son all along. He had known exactly who had been taken when he left me standing in that car park. He had looked me in the eye and lied without flinching.

　　An hour ago, I had been sitting beside him in that car, feeling sorry for him. I had worried because he looked exhausted. I had almost believed we could still speak to each other like two people who had once loved each other.

　　God. How had I been that stupid?

　　He had chosen Cynthia again. Not over me this time. Over the truth. Over honesty. Over the one thing I had begged him for.

　　The hurt hit so hard it almost made it difficult to breathe. I swallowed it down. I could hate him later.

　　Right now, I was tied to the floor of an abandoned building with a man who wanted me dead. There was no time to fall apart.

　　"You were always the target," Damien said, crouching down in front of me so we were level. "Specifically, you. Because destroying you is the only way to make Julian suffer for the rest of his life."

　　"Someone will come for me," I said.

　　"Eventually." He reached behind him and came up with a knife and held out my hand. "But not before I give him something to carry for the rest of his life."

　　The blade caught the light, and my stomach dropped. "No…no, please, my hand!" I let out a strangled cry.

　　I kicked out hard and caught him in the knee. He grabbed my left hand and slammed it flat against the concrete before I could pull back.

　　I twisted, clawed at his wrist with my free hand, bucked against his weight with everything I had. My fingers were my life.