My Enemy

Orion~

It was a distraction! A fucking distraction and those bastards have come onto my land, taken down my guards all to get away with stealing my girl. I’ve never known rage like it.

I can’t count how many times I’ve scanned the room as if to find her hiding somewhere as a joke, but it’s useless and I demand to know what happened while I was gone.

“She-she protected us,” Emma’s friend, Delilah stutters from the corner and my stomach turns.

“Protected you from what and how?” My voice is deadly but I don’t care, she needs to tell me what happened and quickly before I blow a gasket.

“He opened the door, and he... he had a key with him. He said Jack and Tony were dead and that we’ll all be the same soon,” She whispers and I watch as the tears fall down her face. “Emma stood in front of us and told him t-to back off... He slapped her.”

I can’t help the groan that escapes from me when hearing this and I accept the fact that it was my fault for interrupting her there. I need to know everything so that I can find her.

“He figured out that she must be the fiancée he’s heard of and said that she’ll do nicely instead. He said if she came quietly he’ll let us live and then she left with him and he locked the door.”

I have to physically close my eyes and talk myself down from ripping this room apart as a way to let out my rage.

But it’s not their fault that she’s been taken, it’s mine and she just sacrificed herself for my people.

What have I done to deserve a woman that cares so much? She didn’t ask for any of this, and now her life is in danger.

“We’ve found tracks heading East,” Donovan reports.

Without saying goodbye or much of anything for that matter, I take off to follow what they must have found and pray to all that is good that I can find her before anything happens. Why are they here, and why do they need her?

The trail I follow is sporadic and all over the place, and it’s clear that he was trying to cover his steps. At one point, it gets so faint that I worry that we’ve lost them, but then I see it.

A cluster of red hairs, shining vibrantly against the green pine needles on the floor, and when I step towards it, I catch onto the trail again. I find more of them as I follow and realize that she must have been leaving them subtly on purpose.

She’s leading me to them, and I thank fate for blessing me with such a smart woman. It angers me to think that she had to pull these from her head, and for every one I find, it will be another blow to her captor before I am through with them.

Surprisingly, the path takes a familiar turn, and I realize that he’s taking her back to our home. How does he know where this is, and why here?

The front door has been left wide open, and I make my steps as quiet as possible when crossing the threshold. Unfortunately, the signs end here, and I have no idea where he’s taken her after. Was this just another distraction to throw me off? Did he leave after entering?

I’m about to turn around when I hear the most painful noise I never wish to be heard again. Emma’s blood-curdling scream echoes around the entry hall, and I now know that he’s taken her up to a bedroom.

I take the stairs two at a time and by the time I enter Emma’s room her cry for help has stopped. Standing there by the window is a familiar-looking man and he’s got a knife to my wife’s throat.

Emma looks weak and pale and appears to be sliding down from his grip as he forces her up. Has he drugged her or something? Why is she unable to hold her own weight?

I take in my enemy with bared teeth and narrowed eyes like the animal I feel. His face is familiar though and for a second I feel as though I’m mistaken because haven’t I been here before?

“Haven’t I killed you before?” I ask, my voice low and rough.

I could have sworn this was the face of the Crawford family’s leader, but I killed him, I distinctly remember killing him after he threatened one of Donovan’s men when doing a job for me.

“My brother, you prick,” The man spits at me and now I realize why he is here. He wants revenge… Well, he can get in line, can’t he?

Just thinking of all the things I’m going to do to him once this is over is all that’s able to keep me going. “I see you’ve lost your senses after your brother… stepped down.” I try to put it lightly.

With Emma here, I don’t want to go into too much detail about my previous exploits. I know she’s disgusted by it all and I’m very much aware of the weapon now causing blood to flow down her neck.

He will pay for this.

“Stepped down?” He roars. Okay, maybe that wasn’t the best approach, but I’m under a lot of pressure here.

“Of course I went mad after you stole our family’s legacy... but not for long. You see Orion, I’m here to take it back. In fact, I’m here for them all and you’re going to give them to me.” He looks pleased with himself, and all I do is clench my teeth.

He wants everything I have, and he’s holding the one thing that would make me give them up. It’s Emma, or my title.