that day, but I knew I had to catch her. I couldn’t let those hoverbikes get by me.
“Who is he with?” Dev asked.
But Danny and I were already sprinting for the road. Normally my most protective husband would be playing it safe, waiting until we knew more.
It didn’t matter now. If our daughter was about to slip through our hands again, we would risk almost anything to try to catch her, to try to have even one moment with her.
“Hey,” Kelsey yelled as we brushed by her.
Daniel managed to avoid Kelsey’s grasping hand.
We made it to the road as the sleek motorcycle-like vehicles shot past us. There were four of them, one towing a container behind it.
“Summer!” I yelled so loud I knew my throat would hurt later.
Daniel yelled beside me but to no avail. The bikes were gone in a second.
Tears pierced my eyes. “Dean, could you tell if Summer was with them?”
“Marcus would never leave Summer willingly,” Kelsey said.
Dean stared down the path the bikes had taken. “I don’t know. I only caught Marcus, and I got out of his head as fast as I could. It went poorly before.”
I couldn’t lose her again. I couldn’t. I took off running down the path.
It was ridiculous. I couldn’t keep up, but I had to try. I realized in that moment that I would run until I dropped, and then I would get up again and try to follow her.
I ran around the curve in the path.
“Momma?”
The bikes had stopped, and my daughter slipped off the back of the one she’d been riding. She dropped the helmet she’d been wearing to the ground and stared at me for a moment.
The world went watery and infinitely softer and kinder than it had been seconds before.
“Zoey, those men have guns,” Kelsey called out.
“My goddess, we don’t know who she’s with.” Dev had almost caught up to me.
I didn’t care. I raced to my daughter and threw my arms around her.
“Momma?” Summer’s arms tentatively encircled me.
“Summer, I missed you. I missed you so much. Baby, I love you. I never forgot you.” I struggled to speak, but I had to tell her. I didn’t know if we were about to be arrested. I couldn’t be sure someone wasn’t going to pry her out of my arms and take her away again. She had to know. “You’ve been in my heart since the day you were born. Please forgive me for letting you go. I should never have let you go.”
She hugged me tight. “Momma. Momma, I missed you.”
Years of longing burst from me in a wild cry as we wept together. My baby. My first baby. My lost baby.
Found.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Summer
I looked to Marcus as Taggart was handing out gear. I’d been on a hoverbike before so I knew about the helmet and all the tech that would keep our small caravan together. We were at the door to the Refugee plane, and it appeared Taggart had even more pull than Dante did.
“You can change your mind about going with them. I can make sure we get away.” Marcus looked deliciously solid as he loomed over me. Like me, he’d changed into the nanite clothing Taggart had insisted on. It looked like leather but was far stronger and would protect his skin from the high speeds we would be traveling at.
I wanted to run away with him, but how long would it be before one of my enemies caught up with us? How long before I dragged him down with me? Could I even survive in a world where I cost Marcus his life?
“If they know what’s happening, then I need to find out,” I said resolutely.
“Are you sure you don’t want to stop at your home?”
I’d thought a lot about this while we’d made our way here. While Taggart and Dante had bickered endlessly about how to handle my transport, I’d been thinking about what to do with my Fae father and Kelsey. “I think we should go alone. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know if the Seelie kings are planning on talking to me or putting me down.”
Those magnificent fangs of Marcus’s showed up, and he growled low in his throat.
I wish that didn’t do something for me, but it totally did.
“His fangs are bigger than yours.” Kaja had shut down all conversation about staying behind, though a regal-looking consort had shown up with a bunch of bodyguards and whisked Daniela away. I’d been amused when I’d heard