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“I know what I have to do.”
If I were a stronger man, I would have taken care of it years ago. If I had been what Father trained me to be, what he wanted me to be so badly, I could have. Then none of this, absolutely none of it, ever would have happened.
Callista would still be working at the library here in Helena, living her quiet life, completely oblivious to the horrors on Barker Mountain and the demons I carry on my back.
It’s time to end it.
I storm out of the house toward my truck.
Harold clambers to his feet, rushing after me. “Where are you going?”
“To find your daughter.”
“But—”
I whirl to face him, pushing my finger into his chest. “Callista’s in this situation because of you. She doesn’t deserve any of this. She deserves a better father.”
His lip trembles. “You think I don’t know that? You think I don’t regret everything I’ve done that has brought this on us?”
Anyone else might be moved by his words, by the clear anguish in them, but I lost any respect I might have had for this man weeks ago. Any potential scraps of it disappearing the minute I walked into that house and he admitted to letting someone take her.
What kind of father does that?
I would take a bullet to the head to protect Callista one thousand times over, and the only thing that prevents me from driving this axe into his chest right now is the love she still holds for him. “You better think long and hard about how you’re going to make this up to her, if you survive it.”
He blanches and retreats, stumbling onto the street as I climb into my truck and start it up. “Will I ever see her again?”
I slam the door, eying him through the cracked window. “Not if I have anything to say about it.”
Without another look in his direction, I throw it into drive and tear away from the curb, barely missing Harold on the street as I head deeper into the city.
There’s only one place she could be. Only one person who would’ve taken her, who would have any reason to. The last person on this planet I want to see. But as my hands tighten around the wheel again, my knuckles whitening, I know it’s the only thing I can do. The only chance I have of getting her back is to become The Beast fully again.
I weave around cars, honking and swerving, driving like a bat out of hell.
The longer she’s there, the more dangerous this is for her.
For all of us.
And I didn’t prepare her, didn’t warn her.
She has no idea what she’s been drawn into, but if she survives this, if I do, if I get her out, I’ll have to come clean.
I’ll have to tell her everything.
CALLISTA
The incessant pounding in my head finally drags me from sleep so deep that it feels like it has lasted forever. Something lumpy and uncomfortable is stretched out under me, not the opulent bed I share with Weston on the mountain or even my old one at Dad’s house I last remember lying on.
Where the hell am I?
I blink my eyes rapidly, trying to clear away the grogginess and get a sense of my bearings. Try to figure out what the hell happened. But the unfamiliar room offers no explanations or information.
Stark-white walls.
A metal bed frame and mattress set up in the middle of the room.
Nothing else but a single door in the far wall that grants entry into the space.
