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wanted her bed. She could have stayed at her parents’, but the
thought of camping on their too-short living room couch was just
not appealing. Not when her own bed waited just four miles away.
Jules’ car was still in the driveway when she pulled in, and she
wondered what her friend was doing there at three-thirty in the
morning. The house hadn’t been that messy when Al had
left.
    Maybe Jules had stayed with
Paige? Paige and Mick hadn’t been getting along—everyone had seen
that—so maybe Jules had stuck around to give Paige some support
until Al got home? That was possible.
    Al parked beside Jules and
grabbed her purse from the passenger seat. She’d get inside, send
Jules on her way—or convince her to stay in the spare room since it
was so late—then Al would collapse in her own bed. All she wanted
was her own pillow and blankets.
    She slammed the door closed
and trudged through the snow toward the back door.
    She tripped over a dark
shape three feet from her car. She had been damned lucky not to run
over it. Was it a bag of trash? She looked closer, wishing her
idiot brother had gotten around to changing the security light by
the garage before the party like she’d asked. She’d have done it
herself, but she was eight inches too short.
    The shape moaned, and Al
cursed. She dropped to her knees and grabbed her cell, clicking the
flashlight button. “Paige!”
    “ Help…Mal. Jules…” Paige
fought to sit up, but it was obvious she’d been hit hard by
whatever…Al dialed 911 and gave a quick run-down, requesting PAVAD
assistance, as well as local. Whoever could get there the
fastest.
    “ Mick! Mick! Get your ass
out here now!” Paige had said Jules and Mal. What about her other
brother? Where were Mal and Jules? Al shined the phone in a circle,
looking for a second person. Or a third. Nothing, but there was
blood on the snow, and smeared on Jules’ car hood. What had
happened? Dear God, where were they?
    Mick came running, wearing
jeans and shoes only. “What’s the matter?”
    “ Help me up! We need to
find Mal and Jules.” Paige held out her hand and Mick took it. He
pulled her to her feet, and Al stuck at her friend’s side. Paige’s
knees went out beneath her. Mick got impatient and scooped Paige up
and carried her into the house as the sound of sirens split the
night.
    “ What the fuck happened out
here? Where’s Mal?”
    “ Five men. I heard Jules
yell. They were beating Mal up. I tried to stop them!” Paige
explained what else she remembered. “Al, I scratched at least three
of them. They’ll be DNA.”
    “ We’ll find them.” Al hoped
Mal and Jules would be in better shape than Paige when they did. It
was a miracle Paige was even talking coherently at that point. Her
arm was obviously broken, her forehead was bleeding badly, and Al
suspected there were other injuries that weren’t as obvious. Mick
was holding Paige up, and Al figured he was the only thing keeping
Paige from collapsing. “What the hell is going on here?”
    Who had done this? And
where were Jules and her brother? Were they already dead somewhere?
How were they going to find them?
     
     

Chapter
Thirteen
* * *
    He watched her sleep for
the longest time. Her dark hair stood out against the white of the
hospital bed. The cast on her arm was completely obscene. And it
didn’t belong there.
    Nothing should mar her
skin, certainly not bruises, and casts, and stitches. He resisted
the urge to touch her. She wasn’t ready for that yet.
    She shouldn’t be in that
hospital bed and that mistake would cost the men responsible
dearly. He would see to it.
    “ Is she still sleeping?” A
voice asked from behind him. Alessandra.
    Malachi’s
sister.
    “ Seems to be. I figured I
would stop by; I was next door visiting a patient. I wanted to make
sure she is being taken care of. Have they found your brother and
friend, yet?” Shouldn’t she be out looking for them? Wasn’t that
one of the things she did? He doubted