Hellen rode her four-wheeler for miles until she reached the forestry truck she’d left parked to the side of a rarely used path leading into the swamp. Reaching it, she left the four-wheeler several feet behind the truck. She lowered the tailgate, then extended the tri-fold ATV ramp and drove her four-wheeler up and into the bed of her truck. She locked the tailgate back into place, strapped down the four-wheeler, then hopped in the truck and settled in for an hour and a half drive back home. She knew by looking at the clock on the dash that it was far too early to contact Havoc. He was not even close to being a morning person, besides, he had Analise now, and was surely snuggled all warm in bed at this time. Brandt would read her the riot act and ask more questions that she was willing to give answers to. Barron was not answering her prompts and was as shut down as tightly as Emmalyn was. Not knowing exactly what was going on, only that everyone had tried to reach her at some point in the last few days, she decided to just keep a low profile until she arrived.
Pulling into her driveway with the morning sun blindingly greeting her, she hopped down from the driver’s seat and slammed the door. She took a minute to assess everything. Nothing seemed out of place. In fact, everything seemed just as she’d left it. She searched for her house key on the key chain attached to her belt loop and let herself inside her house. Stepping into her living room, she knew right away something wasn’t right. The smell of old food permeated the house.
“Emmalyn?” she called out. “You here?”
There was no answer, and the house was unusually quiet. So still in fact, she knew Emmalyn was not in the house. Hellen inhaled, trying to determine how long it had been since Emmalyn left based on her scent. It was then that she scented a strange man, and blood. “Oh, shit,” Hellen rushed out, starting down the hallway leading from the living room to the bedrooms, and then the back of the house where the kitchen and the denwere located. She found some of Emmalyn’s things in her extra bedroom, but just as she’d expected, no trace of Emmalyn. She continued through her house, coming to a stop in the kitchen where there was dried food splattered on the kitchen island and the floor beside it. In fact, there was still cold, dried roast in the Crockpot on the kitchen island.
Hellen noticed a pile of her comforters and quilts on the floor in the den and hurried over to them to snatch them up and see if she could get a good scent from them. What she picked up had her realizing that Emmalyn was the one that had been injured. It had been Emmalyn they were trying to contact her over.
“Hey, girl. Where the hell you been?”
Hellen spun and instinctively reached for her weapon to aim at the unexpected voice behind her, but realized after the fact she’d left it with the injured male she’d saved. “Jesus, Havoc. You could have gotten shot!”
“That’s not a nice way to greet your only brother.”
Hellen started to defend herself, then stopped and canted her head slightly. “You’re not my only brother. We have Matty, and we have Ronan.”
“Yeah, but I’m the only twin you got, so I’m the only one that counts.”
“Fine, whatever you say. What happened to Emmalyn?”
“First, she’s okay. Well, she’s not okay, but she will be. She was attacked, and drugged, and beaten and stuffed in your freezer to die a slow miserable death.”
“Oh, my God!” Hellen exclaimed.
“Yeah. Barron and Brandt found her in time, though. They got her out and Bam and Daisy saved her. It’s just a matter of time before she’s fully healed. But she’s going to be okay.”
“What happened? Who attacked her?”
“Some guy that used to work at the agency with her. They were on the same team trying to track down this psycho, and she gradually figured out he was the psycho. He disappeared after she alerted the other agents and they went to his house. He was collecting women like zoo animals and keeping them in cages. They all died in the raid and he blamed Emmalyn. So he stalked her.”
“He must have followed her to my house,” Hellen said.
“No. He was hiding in your garage. Apparently he watched the rest of us while watching her. Figured out your house was empty and was hiding out in your garage when we were all looking for him. She came here and walked right into his hands.”
“When was this?” she asked.
“Three nights ago. She’s healing, she’ll be fine.”
“And I wasn’t here for her.”
“Hell, you know I love you, right?” Havoc asked.
“Of course,” she said.
“Remember that. ‘Cause you haven’t been here for nobody. I understand work and all, but damn. Do you even want to be a part of the family anymore?”
“You know what?! That’s not fair, especially coming from you! You freaking deserted us, deserted me, and you want to pretend like you’ve always been here.”
“Fair enough. But I had to take care of responsibilities. And I had to make sure that I caused my mate as little pain as possible while I did what I had to do, so I had to leave. It wasn’t like I willfully disappeared.”
Hellen scrubbed her hands down her face and sighed audibly. “Yeah, I know.”
“So, you okay? You get into something you need help with? I’m here, Hell, all you got to do is ask, you know?”
“I know,” Hellen said, nodding tiredly. “I just, I have responsibilities, too. And I’m not quite sure I even know whatthey are yet. Just that there’s something I have to see to, and I’m seeing to it. But I heard when everybody called for me, so here I am.”
Havoc stood his ground a few feet away, taking his sister’s measure as he tried to decide if he was going to push anymore for details or allow her to keep her secrets to herself for now. Finally he scowled at her. “You get somebody pregnant, too?” he asked seriously.
