Free Finding Abigail by Carrie Ann Ryan Page B

the damn thing. His eyelids were heavy, as if he’d had a long sleep that didn’t equate into the same amount of energy. With as much fight as he could muster, he opened his eyes and cursed.
    How the hell had he fallen asleep in his living room on the floor? Make that the very hardwood floor. He shifted and groaned at the aches in his not-too-young body. He hadn’t done that since college when he’d drunk too much whiskey, trying to beat his brothers. That hadn’t turned out too well for any of them. None of them drank whiskey anymore, and Jackson still paled at the thought of it.
    Tyler didn’t exactly remember drinking, so that couldn’t be it.
    He swallowed hard, trying to wake up, and winced. Fuck, why did his throat hurt?
    Then it came to him.
    “Abigail,” he croaked out, his throat too sore to do anything else.
    Damn it, that man, Aeneas. He’d choked the hell out of him, forcing Tyler to pass out. And the bastard had Abigail. There was no telling what Aeneas would be doing…
    Or…what if Tyler was too late?
    No, he couldn’t think like that. Aeneas wouldn’t have told him about Abigail if there hadn’t been a chance he could save her. 
    Right? 
    Aeneas had said he’d taken Abigail so Tyler couldn’t have his true love…but that couldn’t mean it was the end.
    It couldn’t.
    If Aeneas hurt her because of him, he’d never forgive himself. She’d done nothing but exist and become the one he could finally see.
    Tyler staggered to his feet and cursed. It wasn’t time for him to have a fucking pity party when his girl was out there, maybe in pain…maybe worse.
    His girl.
    As much as he liked the sound of that, he needed to worry about other things. Like where the hell Aeneas had her and how Tyler was going to get her back. 
    That emotion he’d been hiding or missing or whatever for too long welled up in him and almost made him fall to his knees with the force of the blow.
    Goddamn, he loved that woman. Her smile, her kindness, the way she put everyone first, the way he’d always felt like a better person around her but hadn’t even realized it.
    He’d kill Aeneas for what he’d done.
    Tyler and Abigail had lost so much time because of a curse Aeneas had put on him. But no longer. Tyler would find her and take care of what he had to.
    Then he’d have to convince Abigail that it was the curse that had made him act like an ass, not himself, even though, in reality, he was an ass most of the time even without a curse or whatever the hell it was that had stopped him from seeing her…
    In fact, he didn’t remember much about Abigail and his feelings since he’d gotten home from putting a bandaid on her knee when she’d fallen. And then everything went blurry.
    Fuck, magic complicated everything.
    Tyler went to his safe, pulled out his gun, and made sure it was loaded but also that the safety was still on. He wouldn’t be acting like the sheriff today. No, he’d be on his own. There was no way to explain the magic of Holiday to the others without explaining so much more. There were no exact protocols as to what to do if someone with magic came into town and tried to hurt or kill those they loved.
    The Coopers had learned that the hard way with Jack Frost over Christmas when he’d tried to hurt the town, and then specifically Rina and Justin. The two had used their own magic to stop him, but Tyler didn’t have that. He had only the ability to find a connection between two people…and his gun.
    So he’d use what he needed and then damn the consequences.
    They’d have to find a way to police this in the future, but at the moment, all Tyler wanted was to save Abigail.
    His Abigail.
    Tyler shook his head, trying to clear out the cobwebs that came from being forced to take a nap at the hands of a not-so-good guy and froze. Fuck, that ringing was still going on. 
    And it was the alarm clock in his bedroom, meaning he’d been unconscious throughout the night.
    Fuck.
    He walked to his room and