Page 78 of Envy

My stomach flips. She’s here. She’s really fucking here. Her arm is outstretched, reaching for something or someone inside the building. Another wave of men follows, carrying an unconscious woman with golden blonde hair and bruises along her exposed arms and legs that are visible even from here.

“Don’t lose her,” Evie says, laying her hand over mine. “Not again.”

Never again.

“Hold,” Noctis calls, but I’m already moving.

53

SILAS

“You’re going to get her killed,” Erik growls. He flies past me, tires smoking as he cuts his bike across my path.

“Shit,” I grit out, slamming the break. Evie shrieks, my arm wrapping around her waist to hold her steady in the seat. “Get out of my way, Erik.”

“No, Sie,” he says, flipping up his visor. “We can’t take them here.”

“We’re outnumbered,” Dominic calls, appearing a moment later with Adrian and Bane at his side.

“They’ve clearly scouted this place well in advance,” Erik continues. “Judging by how clean that abduction was, they must’ve been studying their enemy for weeks.”

“Theirenemy,” Mavros says, pointing toward the fake cop cars pulling off the street. “You don’t know if they’re ours.”

“They took her,” I growl, my body tensing as I fight the urge not to run Erik over. “It’s happening again. They’re taking her, and we’re doingnothing.”

“They’re heading toward the fifteen,” Noctis says, and I can hear the shuffling of metal as he packs up his rifle. “Follow them, but don’t let them see you. If we’re lucky, they’ll head for the desert.”

“He’s right, Silas,” Evie says gently. “Morana is safe. We didn’t see them hurt her.”

“Yet,” I mutter, kicking my bike into gear and speeding past Erik.

He curses but falls into line, the six of us catching up to the cop cars quickly. Trailing at a decent distance, we follow as they leave the city. A half hour passes before they turn east onto I-15, following the highway as it snakes through the desert.

“There’s no cover here,” Noctis warns, having just caught up to us.

“There’ll be less once dawn comes,” Erik adds. “Even now, under the cover of the moon with our lights off, they’ve probably already seen us.”

“Agreed,” Mavros says. “This feels like a trap.”

My jaw flexes as I study the black SUV and two cop cars ahead. They’ve kept the same pace since we left. Mavros is right. A team as thorough as theirs, one prepared enough to have false cop cars, matching uniforms, and high-quality weapons, would surely have lookouts for a tail.

“I agree,” Dominic says, as if reading my mind. “Something feels off, and we can’t rescue Morana if we’re dead.”

“What do you suggest?” I ask. Cursing, I ease off the gas, putting more distance between us and my sister. “Letting them get away won’t help.”

“Two tails,” Bane suggests. “Two others fall behind them but within sight in case the tails need backup. The rest pull off and wait. With any luck, we’ll follow them into the city and get a location.”

Another location.Which means more scouting. More planning. And that’s if we don’t fucking lose them entirely.

“We’ll tail,” Evie says, pressing her back against my chest, her way of showing she trusts me. That she understands theseriousness of this and is unafraid. Of course she is. My little fox is fucking incredible.

“Uhhh, guys?” Erik interrupts as the early morning sky turns the darkest shade of purple with the promise of day. “They turned on their flashy lights.”

The cop cars split, leaving the SUV on the road, one veering left and the other swerving right. Clouds of sand and dirt swirl as their wheels blaze through the desert, each making a U-turn.

“Shit,” Noctis mutters as the cop cars switch directions and head straight for us. “They’re surrounding us.”

“Silas,” Evie whispers, pressing further into me. Her voice wavers around my name, and I wish to my fucking core that I could shield her from all that’s to come.