Chapter 21

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

DRAVEN

I run toward my boy, as fast and furious as I can. My heart is in my throat, and it's racing so fast I can feel the blood rushing through my limbs. I shove the budding panic and fear down. I dinnae have time for that shit. I've gotta keep my wits about me. It's been ages since I've been in these passages, and even then, the atrium wasnae a place I spent much time or a place I used the passages for. Nae, I used them to get out of the castle so my parents dinnae ken where I was. So, I dinnae ken if I remembered the way.

When I reach the round room with all the hallways, I remember the plaques on the entrances to each corridor. I rush around the circle, passing the one I need, having to turn back when the words on the sign register several steps past the doorway.

Turning back, I take the passageway, and race towards the other side o' the building through the stone hallways. My footsteps echo. The staccato beat keeps time with my heart and breaths.

A reel o' the past and present plays on repeat in my mind. First, Tavish's face and then Simon's flash like a flickering film projector, showing me all the things I love about them both. The ones o' Simon are bittersweet, tinged with the grief of his loss. Tavish's drenched in fear at losing what I've only just come to accept. The images keep pace with my heartbeats and steps as I both run away from and toward my boy.

The corridor stretches on and on in front of me until I feel as if I made a mistake and took the wrong one. I keep moving forward, pushing the self-doubt and mindfuck away that's telling me to turn around. When the door comes into sight, I barrel toward it.

Kicking it open when I reach it, the latch and hinges on the door rip away from the frame, and the door crashes to the floor of the entryway. I step out of the passage onto the door, lying at my feet. The atrium is just steps away, but I hear Tavish screaming, and it's nae coming from there.

Turning toward the back o' the house that leads out into the gardens behind the manor, I rush to him, jumping over furniture and knocking over things that are probably priceless. I dinnae give a damn about any o' it. Tavish and getting to him in time is all that matters.

As I approach the back door, I see Tavish through the doors, being carted off by Samuel. He's dragging Tavish down from the patio into the gardens. Tavish is struggling in the man's grasp, and it looks like they are both bloody. Tavish has smears of it on him. Samuel does too. I dinnae ken where it's coming from, but the sight o' it enrages me. The sheer force of my anger becomes a physical thing, making pain scream through my body.

Knocking open the French doors that lead to the garden, I plunge into the night. My already frantic, thundering heart pushes blood through my body and head so savagely as I chase after them, my head throbs. The blood rushes through my brain and skull like the "Drums of Drakkar", setting up a beat that is both welcoming and painful.

It's a foot race through the gardens toward the coast that surrounds the castle as I pursue Samuel and Tavish. I push myself through the flora and fauna in the most direct route I can, foregoing the landscaped paths. The hedges and bushes snag my clothes, tearing at them and my skin. The mild stings add fuel to the fire burning in my belly as I keep pushing through the panic that's warring within me. I fight to keep my cool, battling the regret and guilt so I dinnae lose my head.

Tavish is fighting Samuel. He's dragging his feet, pulling and pushing at the hold Samuel has on him. It's slowing them down but nae enough. They're still too fucking far in front o' me. Pulling at every bit o' strength I can find within me, I push harder, faster, refusing to admit defeat.

The landscaping slowly begins giving way to the lawn that sits between the garden and the rocky cliffs that set the house and grounds apart from the shoreline. The grassy area is slippery, but I push and push, faster and faster, racing toward Tavish and away from the panic that feels like a rabid pack o' wolves bearing down on me, as determined to catch me as I am to catch Samuel before Tavish disappears from my life.

As the gardens give way to the rocky outcroppings and cliffs leading down to the sand, I realize I'm fighting a losing battle. I'm not gonna make it in time. There's a boat waiting, and they are hundreds o' steps ahead o' me. Dread and déjà vu and fear combine within me as the hell I went through the last time I dashed through the house looking for someone I care for flashes in my mind.

Pushing the terror o' those thoughts away, I keep going. My feet never stop moving. Even as I watch them toss him into the boat. Even as I listen to Tavish screaming for me. I never stop moving.

"DADDY!"