As for myself, I was still trapped by the child safety locks.
I watched in stunned disbelief as the masked female bolted from the vehicle and headednotfor her companion, but in the opposite direction, sprinting toward the nearby woods.
Well, so much for loyalty.
As for Mason, he slammed the driver up against the side of the car, just inches from my face. He hauled back and hit the guy in the dead center of his ski mask.
With my face pressed against the back window, I hollered out, "Willow's not here!"
Mason called back, "I know," just before hitting the guy again, this time in the stomach.
Huh?
By now, the masked car-jacker was babbling and cussing up a storm.And so was I.
Obviously, Mason still wasn't getting it. I scrambled over the center console and dove into the driver's seat. As I did, Mason called out, "What the hell are you doing?"
"I'm trying to get out!"
"Don't," he said. "There's broken glass."
As if I didn't know.
I glanced down at my hands and thanked my lucky stars that I'd worn gloves today, along with my warmest winter coat and sturdy denim jeans. My clothes were thick, and if the shards of glass were cutting me, I sure as heck didn't feel it.
Or maybe I was just too numb to feel anything but desperation.
I needed to stop Mason before he murdered the guy.
I grabbed the front door handle and gave it a hard yank. The door wasn't locked, but when I tried to push open the door, I was met with hard resistance in the form of the guy's backside, which was apparently blocking the door just enough to keep it from swinging open.
I stuck my head out the front window and yelled, "Didn't you hear me? IsaidWillow's not here. She's with Arden."
Now Mason was gripping the guy by his shoulders, holding him firm against the vehicle. Without letting go, he looked to me and said, "And I toldyou, I know."
"Yeah, but—"
"Hang on." And then, almost as an afterthought, he tossed the guy aside, sending him stumbling toward the road. The guy regained his balance for only a moment before slipping and falling hard on his backside.
With a string of curses, he scrambled up and then bolted through the snow, heading in the same direction as his female companion.
I watched for only a moment before I looked back to Mason. As I did, the wind momentarily died down, even as the snow kept falling in big fluffy blobs, lending a Christmas card quality to our surroundings.
The picture would've looked quite serene, if only there weren't two banged-up vehicles and a very ticked-off guy standing just outside the SUV.
Hedidn't look serene.Far from it.
His gaze locked on mine as he said, "I didn't come for Willow. I came foryou."
My breath hitched, and my mouth fell open. I hardly knew what to say. I wasn't even sure what he meant, not for certain.
After all, this wasn't thefirsttime he'd caught me by surprise. It wasn't even the first time he'd come for me, even if thatothertime – just three months ago – had been a whole lot different.
Chapter 2
Cami
Three Months Earlier
