Into the Fading Twilight (Starlight Grove, #2) (110)

Roger watched me for a moment. “You think she’s dead?”

“No.” I scrubbed a hand over my stubble. “Whoever this is, they kept Heidi alive for a period. I think if we can find Piper in the next forty-eight hours, we’ll find her alive. But if Pete wants to search that trail, good on him. He’ll be out of our hair, and maybe he’ll find this asshole’s hunting ground.”

Roger was quiet for a moment, and then he began shaking his head. “You’re diabolical. You know that, right?”

I shrugged. “Only to assholes.”

“Come on,” Roger muttered. “Let’s see if anyone got anything good on their canvasses. I’m asking stores to pull their footage from last night. Maybe someone at least got the direction Piper was traveling in or caught someone following her.”

It was a long shot, but you never knew. So we made the rounds. We talked to officers who’d spoken with various shop owners and citizens. When I glanced at my brother, worry set in.

I stepped away from the Starlight Grove officer, who looked barely out of high school, and crossed to Wylder. He stood behind the bar, gaze unfocused, fingers curved around the counter.

“Hey,” I said softly. “This isn’t on you.”

“My employee.”

“Who I saw you watch get into her car. Just like you watched Cora and Aidan.”

Wylder blew out a harsh breath. “I should’ve had her text me when she got home. Then we would’ve known twelve hours earlier.”

“Wy,” I said quietly.

“I didn’t do enough,” he ground out.

“That’s bullshit—and the past talking.”

I knew my eldest brother carried scars similar to mine, yet his were somehow worse. Because while he blamed himself for not being there when our brothers needed him, he’d also seen it all unfold in real time.

He’d gone into our father’s workshop just in time to see our dad stab Maverick. In time to see Orion grab the gun. In time to see our father go down.

He saw all the hellish aftermath as emergency services arrived. And he was the one who kept Mav alive.

“Sometimes, the past is the greatest truth-teller,” Wylder whispered.

“And sometimes, it’s a dirty liar. Don’t let him win. Not now,” I ground out. Wylder had worked so hard to get himself together. He’d battled back from a war with alcohol, built an incredibly successful business, become a mentor in the program that had helped him beat his addiction, and he was the best brother anyone could ask for.

But maybe all of that was just hiding a different sort of war inside him—one he hadn’t dealt with fully.

Radios crackled, instantly putting everyone in the room on alert. Roger lifted his to his ear, his face going hard. When the muffled voice stopped, he straightened. “They found Piper’s car. And there’s blood.”





CHAPTER FIFTY


Nova




THE CHANGING OF THE SEASONS MEANT THE SUN WAS leaving us early. And today, that felt fitting. The growing darkness crept around Kol and me as we sat on the back deck.

It had become our spot, the place we’d go when we simply needed to be. Or we needed to process.

We both probably needed more than a little of both tonight. But as twilight gathered, I held on to the moon rising with it. It might not have been a full one, but even the tiny sliver in the sky gave off a glow. And the building darkness only made the moon shine brighter.

A beacon of hope.

Hope we desperately needed. Hope I wanted for Piper. Hope I wanted for us all.

I’d gone with Dex and Brae to pick up the kids for a sleepover at their cabin while Kol had spent the rest of the day at the overlook where Piper’s car had been found. It was obvious someone had met her there, hurt her there, taken her from that spot. Roger and his team were looking into Piper’s new boyfriend, but none of us had a name for him.

But all of us were terrified for Piper—Aidan, Fiona, Wylder, Brae. Maybe Cora most of all. She’d looked sick when I left and the Boot reopened for patrons. I’d asked if she’d come over after her shift, but I wasn’t sure she’d actually show. Then again, we all had to deal in our ways, and I wouldn’t push her.

Kol was certain that whoever had taken Piper was the same person who had taken Heidi. He just had no answers about who that was.

And that destroyed him.

I looked over at the man beside me and really took him in. The rising moon battling against the twilight cast him in shadow and light, just like the gold and green in his eyes. Both were like the man himself. He was darkness and light, and the combination was beautiful.

I moved then, unable to hold myself back. Climbing into Kol’s lap as he sat on the top step, I wrapped myself around him, my legs encircling his waist as my arms went around his neck. Suddenly, we were face-to-face.

Brushing the hair out of his eyes, I studied his beautiful features. “I love you,” I whispered.

“I know.”

That knowledge was a gift. That he was so sure of my love for him. “Tell me what I can do.”

Kol exhaled, the air whistling between his teeth. “I should be the one comforting you.”

“What makes you think you aren’t?”

“I’m not good at it. Out of practice.”