“No, please. Come with me,” I plead, feeling my body start to shake as real fear hits my bloodstream and my limbs start shaking in that terrible way I’ve come to dread.
My vision starts winking when Jared shakes his head and I realize he intends to stay here and go back out there by himself.
“Shh, take deep breaths and do what I say, Cupcake. Get Miah and Jace and tell the others to initiate emergency procedures, okay? I’ll be right back before you know it.”
I’m ready to start falling apart when he kisses me deeply and shoves me away in the opposite direction, hissing at me to run, to save the family before anyone gets to the house.
I have no choice when the light goes off and plunges the tunnel back into darkness and I start running, stumbling against the dirt walls and scraping my legs painfully as I try to negotiate the space as fast as my legs will carry me.
I’m practically sobbing by the time I run face-first into what feels like a solid steel door, but I find the strength deep inside to pull myself together and start searching for the keypad Jared told me about.
It feels like hours instead of seconds when I feel the little square box scrape my fingers and I wince when I rip it open and slice my finger along the sharp edges of the cover.
Light bursts out and my bloody finger slips and skitters over the digits before the lock releases with a click and the door opens with a sibilant hiss.
I don’t pause to check the house for intruders or even look left and right. I just run up the stairs at a sprint and fall into Miah’s room with a desperate cry.
He’s up and over me so fast that I rear back in fright before clutching at him as my breath wheezes out.
“Jared. Tunnel. Intruders,” I get out, choking as the attack tries to grab hold of me.
Miah curses and grabs Clari before snagging my arm and dragging me towards the other side of the house at a run. Clari and I are both flung none too gently into Jace’s room, and then the commotion really starts.
Jace and Wyatt are both up now, and I hear Mama and Pop and a sleepy Josh join the party as the men start throwing on clothes and leave without another word.
Pop springs into action and starts punching codes into a secret panel that he pulls from Jace’s closet, and before we know it there are steel shutters coming down over the windows and a large steel panel comes out of the wall to cover the door.
We’re sealed in together and all terrified when the first round of gunfire starts exploding through the air and I hear Ellie crooning softly to Al as Clari hugs Josh tightly to her and covers his ears just before my vision finally blinks out and I collapse with a shudder.
I don’t want to be a widow before I wake from this.
Chapter Fifteen
Jared
The rage I feel at just the thought of some animal that close to my baby while she slept has me vibrating before I hit the panel leading back into the cottage.
Now that Paulie is safe and I know my brothers are on the way, I feel that cool, emotionless haze settle over me. I’m in combat mode right now and I almost pity the idiots foolish enough to dare try this move when I slide back into the darkened cottage and hit the kitchen silently, sliding a long knife from the butcher’s block before melting into the shadows.
The sound that woke me was a footstep, and it pisses me off that I could have missed it if not for the gravel that Miah had delivered just yesterday to complete the renovations.
Whoever this is is a pro, I can tell because I haven’t heard another scrape or sound since pushing myself into the corner to wait for their entry.
If they were already inside, I think I’d know it. I’d feel it on the air and just have a feeling if someone else were invading my territory. It sounds strange but SEALs are like animals. We can smell and sense our enemies the same way a lion or wolf scents their prey.
I know the exact moment the fool slides the door open without so much as a squeak, and I almost laugh thinking that that’s why he’s taking so long.
He oiled the door first to make as little noise as possible.
I know what he’ll see when he gets to the bed, since I took a few seconds while Paulie threw my shirt on to arrange the pillows and sheets just to fool him.
It’s almost laughable when I see the shadow slide into the room on near silent feet and aim his gun straight at the pillow that would have been cradling my wife’s head.
He pulls the trigger without a blink before repeating the process on the other side. The silencer is nothing but a hiss in the still air, and I take those precious few seconds to throttle down the rage his actions have wrought and stalk him slowly.
I was just going to hurt him a little before calling the cops and giving them one of their own back, but after knowing that he came here specifically for Cupcake, all bets are off.