~Chapter 2~

*~*Dakota Lee's POV*~*

Her long lashes flutter against her cheek but unfortunately stay closed, preventing me from seeing what could only be beautiful eyes. Her body shutters slightly within my hold, and I bring her even closer as I try to keep her warm. Max's tiny whimper finally forces me to look away from her stunning face and over to him to catch him looking over to the front door of the church.

"What is it, Max?" I carefully stand up with the girl's tiny body curled inside my arms. A growl rumbles from Max's chest, putting me on edge as he positions himself in front of us.

Footsteps echo within the almost empty space and Max's growl becomes more aggressive as he snaps his teeth at the danger.

"Sing Sang Soooong!" A male's voice sings out from the direction of the door causing me to tighten my arms around the girl.

I'm caught off guard when this burning pain races across my mind, causing my vision to fade in and out as I fall to my knees. I slow my decent the best I can to keep from losing my grip on the girl, and try to keep myself from blacking out.

Feeling completely overwhelmed with whatever is mentally attacking me, I use what little energy I can focus on amongst the pain and reach inside of me to latch on to one of the eight spiritual links I have with my brothers.

Guard your mind, Mr. Lee, the stern voice of my family's leader commands from within my own thoughts. I feel his strong energy surrounding me as he fends off the pain so I can quickly build my walls around my mind.

I sigh in relief as the pain fades away, allowing me to catch my breath again as I blink the black dots away from my vision.

"What do we have here?" I hear the man's voice come again, even closer than before. I jerk my head up to find him standing on the other side of the aisle of seats, hiding in the darkness. "Looks like you have something that belongs to me, Boy."

His voice growls in an inhuman way as his head tilts down to the girl wrapped in my arms. I quickly stand and shift to the side to create a shield with my body as he slowly prowls through the shadows around us.

"Hand her over," he demands as he lifts his hand out of the darkness and holds it out to me like I would so easily hand her over.

"Not happening," I tell him as I put more distance between us. A snake-like hiss seeps from his chest as he curls his fingers into his palm.

My muscles tense up when he takes a step out of the shadows, only to stop before the moonlight can touch his face. Another hiss escapes his lips as his head slowly turns in the direction of the entrance of the church.

"Looks like I'll have to wait," he growls before turning to face me again. "Don't get too attached. I'll be back for what's mine." The girl's body shivers within my tight grip. Even unconscious, she can sense the pure evil of his promise, and I bring her closer to me.

"Don't worry," I whisper down to her. "No one will take you from us."

"We'll see about that, Boy." The man's deep laughter fills the silence around us and he moves back into the shadows. His evil aura disappears the moment the front doors slam open.

"KOTA!" A rush of footsteps pulls my attention from the now empty space in front of me to catch a flash of red as my Nathan runs over from the entryway. "What the hell's going on?"

"I don't..." My voice fades out a little as I try collecting my scattered thoughts. "I don't know, but she seems to be in the middle of it." I loosen my bone-crushing hold around the girl and gently lower her from where she was buried against my chest. The moonlight lights up her beautiful face again, and I hear Nathan's breathy gasp as he takes a half step closer.

"Our soul link," he whispers in awe as his hand reaches up towards her. A wide smile stretches across my face as I watch his fingers brush across her cheek, his body shuddering when he feels the rush of electricity I felt when I first touched her. "Holy shit."

Max lets out a tiny whine, pulling us out of our gawking, and I see him pacing in front of us. His intense need to leave this place transfers over to me.

"Let's go." I reposition the girl so most of her body is covered with my jacket before heading outside with Max and Nate. "Call the others. Tell them to meet us at your house."

"On it." Nate already has his phone in his hand as we exit the build. The cold wind howls through the trees at us, causing the girl to shiver. I huddle her as close as I can get her to me and set off in a slow jog into the trees.

As we head down the familiar path, the last couple of minutes are in a continuous loop within my mind, slowly building my fear with each replay.

We finally found our soul link, but whatever that thing was, wants her.

Peeking down at the girl, my heart clinches with the thought that I was seconds away from losing her to him.

No wonder Gabe was freaking out when he called me.

I pick up my pace even more, dodging around the dark trees with the blinding need to get her to safety.

We just found her.

Hell will freeze over before we lose her now.

*~* Sang Sorenson's POV *~*

My head throbs in pain with every beat of my heart, and I groan as I turn to bury my face into my pillow.

I was hijacked again.

Another groan escapes at my own thoughtlessness as I bring my hands up to massage my temples to alleviate my migraine.

I should know better than to lower my guard like that, I chastise myself as I breathe in the calming scent of cypress and leather emanating from my pillow.

Wait?

Cypress and leather?

I jerk up from what I thought was my own pillow to find myself in a dark, unfamiliar room.

Panic surges through my limbs, and I leap out of the large bed. Sparks of pain ignite across the bottoms of my feet when they touch the ground, adding to the throbbing behind my eyes, but I try my best to ignore it all as I scan my surroundings.

A small sliver of light leaks in from under the bedroom door, helped by the moonlight that's coming in from outside the window to my left, gives me just enough light to make out the outline of different things around me.

Slowly, I sneak my way toward the door, making sure not to hit anything on the way, and place one ear next to the tiny crack of space from someone not completely shutting the door when they left.

"...getting here?" I hear a deep unfamiliar man's voice ask. He was speaking low, but thanks to the small opening, I can just make out what he was saying.

"Luke and North just pulled up, and Gabe texted that they're passing the church," another guy answers just as quietly. This one, though, wasn't so unfamiliar.

That's the guy I heard while I was hijacked, I recall as I continue to listen in.

"What about Doc and Mr. B?" the first guy asks. This time the sounds of heavy footsteps accompany the whispering. From the way the sound keeps moving closer then away, my guess is one of them has started to pace. "She was still shivering when we laid her in my bed."

"They'll be here soon." A door slams open then, causing the conversation to be interrupted, and my already racing heart just kicks up more speed as two sets of footsteps storm into the house.

I need to get out of here. It's only a matter of time before my possessed father finds me.

I step away from the door as the newcomers demand to know what's going on. With four of them out there now, it's too risky for me to try and sneak around them. Especially when I don't even know the layout of the house.

That just leaves one other option.

My eyes drift to the window located behind a dark object that looks to be a dresser, and I silently head over to it.

There's a few things decorating the top, so I take each thing one by one and gently place them on the bed to muffle any noise they might make. When there's enough space for me to climb up, I kneel on the surface and unlatch the lock and slowly sliding the window open.

I have it just halfway up when this obnoxious squeaking sound comes from the edges, forcing me to freeze in my progress as I listen for signs that someone heard.

Doesn't sound like it.

I decide not to chance it though and leave the window half open. Peeking my head out first, I find to my great relief that the room I am in is on the ground level.

Quickly, I pull my head back in then swing my legs out from under me, and fit them through the opening. The dresser groans under neither me as I start to turn my body around, making it easier to slide my tiny body out.

My feet just touched down on the cool grass when I make out the sound of footsteps heading closer to the door.

Crap.

I search the darkness to my left, following the silhouette of the house towards what I'm guessing is the backyard. I can make out a smaller structure just a few feet from the main house with a concrete path linking them together. I quickly veto that route when I catch the faint outline of a tall fence jutting out from behind the smaller building.

My attention snaps back into the room when a small creaking sound alerts me to a person standing just outside the door.

Double crap.

I pull away from the still open window as the door slowly swings open. With my heart beating rapidly inside my chest, I press my body close to the cold siding of the house and inch towards the front yard.

"Where do you think you're going?" I physically jump a good foot in the air from the unexpected voice coming from in front of me. I take a step back when a tall figure emerges from the darkness, his long arms crossed in front of his chest. "Already causing trouble, I see."

His movement triggers the motion sensor I didn't notice before, casting us in a harsh light that increases the heavy throbbing happening inside my head. Blinking my eyes in to focus again, the first thing I see is the guy's piercing crystal blue eyes.

Wow.

My poor mind can't seem to create a full thought as I'm captured within his mystical blue eyes.

That is until he takes another step towards me.

I raise my hands up in front of my face then reposition my right foot behind me like the girl on YouTube said to do. Granted, this is mostly for show since I've never actually attempted self-defense against someone else, but this guy doesn't know that.

For all he knows I could be a secret ninja with some pretty amazing butt-kicking skills.

"Whoa, there killer." He uncrosses his arms and holds them up in the air before taking a step away from me. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Like I would believe that, I think to myself as I scan for another way out.

"Please," he says as he tries to soften his deep voice, "just give us a chance to explain..."

"... why you kidnapped me." I finish for him as I shift from one foot to the other, feeling too angsty to stand still.

"We didn't fucking kidnap you," he chuckles at me, "mooore like temporarily relocated you." I just glare at him, not really seeing the joke from his fancy wording of kidnapping. "Just, please, let us explain this whole cluster fuck of a situation and maybe even treat your cut-up feet before you run off."

I go to take another step away from him when I see this whiff of white smoke appear behind his left shoulder. Time starts to slow as I watch it collect itself into a blurry shape of a person.

"Can you... can you see me?" I stay silent as the blurriness fades away, revealing a beautiful woman. Her short, dark blonde hair frames her angular face, making her bright blue eyes that more prominent. Glancing back to the guy that's unknowingly between us, I can see the similarities within their features, especially their matching crystal blue eyes. "Holy shit fuck you can."

With just a blink of an eye, she's now standing in front of me, surrounding my personal space with a bone-chilling cold. I jump away in fright at her unexpected movement, but she doesn't seem to care as she gapes at me in astonishment.

"I can't believe you can fucking see me." Her excitement morphs to worry when she finally notices that I'm seconds away from bolting. "Okay, okay, calm down." She takes in a large breath, seemingly following her own advice with calming down. "I can see how bad this shit looks, but I promise he's right." Her blue eyes darken with a new serious expression as she slowly approaches me. "You're safe here."

Safe?

That's not a feeling I'm familiar with but that tiny voice in the back of my head is telling me to trust her.

To trust them.

"All right," I say out loud as I turn my attention back to the boy behind her. I hide my smile at his confused expression as he looks from me to what he sees as an empty space in front of me. "Ten minutes."

"What?"

"I'll give you ten minutes to explain." I clarify, causing the women to start bouncing on her feet in excitement.

"Ohhhh this is going to be entertaining as fuck to watch." She squeals out as she transforms back to that whiff of white smoke again before retaking her place behind the guy's left shoulder.