Page 9 of After Midnight (Skye Druids #7)

Chapter Seven

Sabryn pretended to scroll on her phone, all too aware of Kurt’s arrival.

She fought the urge to leave but couldn’t run out of the kitchen.

She’d already done that. Besides , despite the manor’s size, she would eventually run into him unless she stayed in her room.

Since she’d always detested being confined, that wasn’t an option.

But neither could she remain around him.

Song shoved a chair across from her out with her foot. “ You’ll find sitting down is better,” she told Kurt .

Carlyle glanced her way, but Sabryn disregarded him, too. She was very good at ignoring others. So good, her mother used to constantly nag her about it. It seemed she hadn’t lost her touch. She probably shouldn’t boast about it, but a person needed talents.

Kurt made his way to the table and carefully pulled the chair out more before slowly sinking into it, almost as if he expected someone to yank it out from beneath him. Sabryn might have been contemplating that very thing. It would be delightful to see him fall on his ass.

Goddamn him. She hated being the bitter ex. Why couldn’t she have gotten over him? Why did the hurt still linger? The time heals all wounds adage was nothing but bullshit. It hadn’t. Her wound had festered, each year irritating it more until it was an open sore that would seemingly never mend.

She bit her tongue hard to keep all of that to herself. And kept biting until she tasted blood. Then , she bit harder. She had to forcefully relax her hands because she’d gripped the phone so tightly her knuckles had turned white. All because Kurt had walked into the kitchen.

Couldn’t Balladyn have kept him in the library?

Bitter , ha! She wasn’t resentful. She was furious. Indignant . Fucking piqued.

And vengeful.

Kurt had hurt her like no other. Now that he was back in her life, she wanted her pound of flesh.

To wound as she had been wounded. To have him on his knees, his heart ripped from his chest, and in so many pieces it could never be put back together again.

She needed his world to crumble around him as he blindly reached out to someone, anyone, for help. Only to have no one answer.

The clunk of the wineglass set before her startled Sabryn .

She stared at the red liquid softly swaying in the goblet until it stilled.

She wanted to be that still. To have control over her emotions and reactions.

She had been there once, locking herself away from the world.

It had been the only way she could protect herself and face each new day.

And it might be the only way she could protect herself now.

Another clunk, this one heavier, as a wine bottle landed on the table.

She glanced up at Bronwyn , who released the neck and moved away.

Sabryn hastily returned her eyes to her screen.

When she realized she hadn’t scrolled in a while, she made her thumb move the images, but she wasn’t really seeing anything.

“ This is amazing,” Song said as she looked at her glass of wine.

Bronwyn glanced at her over her shoulder, her brunette locks moving with her head. “ It’s one of my favorites. We found an entire case in the wine cellar, so drink up.”

“ Are you not a drinker, Kurt ?” Song asked.

More blood filled Sabryn’s mouth as she kept herself from issuing a pithy reply.

“ I enjoy a nice glass, but I think I’ll pass this evening,” he replied.

Carlyle turned down the music. “ You look better than you did before you passed out.”

“ I passed out?”

Sabryn couldn’t stop the eye roll at the surprise in his voice. She wasn’t just indignant. She was childish. He hadn’t faked his exhaustion. He had collapsed.

“ Rather awkwardly. On the table,” Bronwyn told him.

He accepted the glass of water she handed him. “ I appreciate you letting me rest.”

“ I don’t think we had much choice,” Carlyle replied with a chuckle.

Finn entered the kitchen with Elias on his heels. Sabryn met Finn’s gaze before he looked at Kurt .

“ What are we talking about?” Elias asked.

Bronwyn handed both Finn and Elias some wine. “ Kurt passing out.”

“ Ah , that,” Finn said and laughed.

Elias pulled out the chair across from her, his own snicker bubbling. “ You should’ve said how tired you were.”

“ I believe I did,” Kurt told them, his voice lighter with every word.

Carlyle shook his head, a smile in his voice when he said, “ I must have missed that.”

Sabryn hated that everyone seemed to accept Kurt as if he hadn’t betrayed them.

Sure , he had helped them for a few years or five, but he had also lied about who he was.

Could she have dug and demanded an answer?

Of course. And the reason she hadn’t didn’t matter now.

What bothered her was that the boys seemed to have forgiven him.

And fuck did that feel like a betrayal.

They were her boys, her family. They should side with her .

And they might very well do that if they knew exactly what Kurt had done. She hadn’t told them, though. Everyone had a past and someone who’d broken their heart. Those people were supposed to stay in the past, not show up in the present and slither their way into a perfectly good life.

Bitter , indignant, and downright caustic. Sabryn did not like this side of her.

“ Well , I appreciate the few hours you granted me,” Kurt said.

There was a beat of silence. Then Finn repeated, “ Hours ? Mate , you’ve been asleep for two days.”

“ What ?”

Surprise flickered in Kurt’s pale blue eyes, and she hated that she’d noticed.

“ You were asleep for fifty hours,” Elias confirmed.

Sabryn’s attention shifted to her left when Bronwyn sat beside her and leaned over to whisper, “ You good?”

It was on the tip of Sabryn’s tongue to say, “ Yep .” Wasn’t that how someone was supposed to answer that question? No one told the truth because no one wanted to hear it. But she wasn’t okay. She was so far from fine that she wasn’t sure she’d ever get back to okay again.

She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t stay and pretend like Kurt was one of them. Because he wasn’t. And he never would be.

Sabryn started to rise when Bronwyn’s hand gently rested atop her arm. Sabryn looked over at the woman who had turned from friend to sister within hours of their meeting. Bronwyn and Song were her girls. They meant as much to her as the boys did—maybe even more.

“ You don’t run from things,” Bronwyn whispered. “ Don’t run from this.”

That wasn’t true at all. Running is exactly what she did.

Sabryn looked up to answer and saw Elias observing her with a worried expression.

And he wasn’t the only one. Song kept Kurt engaged in conversation, allowing Sabryn a few moments with the others.

They were concerned, and their silent looks told her they were still watching out for her.

She lowered her phone to the table and relaxed again in the chair.

Carlyle gave her a wink as he set a plate of food in front of her.

Finn slid into the chair on her other side, bolstering her, while Elias sat at the end of the table next to Bronwyn .

Carlyle was about to take the chair at the other end of the table near Song and Kurt when the kitchen door swung open, and Elodie , Scott , and Filip walked in.

“ Och , that smells delicious,” Filip said, drawing in a deep breath. “ Carlyle , can you cook for me forever?”

Sabryn reached for her fork as Elias greeted his sister and her beau, Scott .

Elodie’s glorious blond hair was in a French braid that hung down to the middle of her back, and her blue eyes held a welcoming smile as she was formally introduced to Kurt .

Scott held out the chair for Elodie to sit before extending his hand to Kurt .

They exchanged pleasantries. Kurt knew everyone, of course, but no one knew him, so introductions were needed.

Scott’s deep blue eyes glanced Sabryn’s way before he turned his head of short, dark hair toward Carlyle , who offered him some food.

Elodie sat on Elias’s other side, with Scott taking the seat to her left.

That left Filip to fill the final chair next to Kurt .

Inevitable small talk kept the conversation moving around the table.

Sabryn didn’t feel like eating, no matter how good it smelled, but she had skipped both lunch and breakfast, and her head had already begun to hurt because of it.

She didn’t need a headache on top of everything else, so she put food in her mouth and forced herself to chew and swallow without really tasting any of it.

“ How does one become a hacker?” Filip asked.

Sabryn stilled, the fork halfway to her mouth.

Filip’s gray gaze darted around the table that had grown quiet. “ I suppose I should no’ have asked that.”

“ It’s fine,” Kurt said as he swallowed a bite of food. “ It’s not something I went out to learn. I had an aptitude for it. I learned most everything on my own, and the more I did, the more I wanted to do. There are two kinds of hackers, though.”

“ That’s right. I know the…um…shite. What’s the name?” Filip asked Scott .

“ There are white hats and black hats,” Kurt offered.

Filip snapped his fingers. “ That’s it. Black hat. I’ve heard of that. I didn’t know about the white. Do you promote your services?”

Sabryn wanted to halt the conversation. She needed to stop it, but she bit her tongue instead.

Kurt cleared his throat and drank some water. “ Not exactly. It’s by referral.”

Referral . That’s right. Carlyle had said he knew of someone who could help.

As if reading her mind, Kurt said, “ Carlyle didn’t know who I was.”

She was sure Kurt was speaking to her but still couldn’t bring herself to look at him.

“ I’m sorry, Sabryn . I should’ve come clean immediately, but I was a coward,” he continued.

“ It was as close to you as I could get, and I took it. Every month, I told myself I’d tell you, but we were doing such good work.

I liked being a part of that. With you. And the rest of the Knights .

If I … I knew once you knew the truth, that would end. ”

Finn’s voice was soft but firm when he said, “ You should’ve told her.”

Kurt set down his fork. “ I’m telling everyone now. It might be late, but I’m here. And I’m going to clean up my mess. I don’t know how Parker found me. I covered my tracks. No one should’ve been able to locate me.”

“ It isn’t your mess. It’s our mess,” Carlyle said.

Scott blew out a breath. “ Could the London Druids be involved?”

“ It’s possible,” Song answered.

Bronwyn folded her hands together on the table. “ Kurt , are you sure your brother is here to take you home? If London is involved, they wouldn’t do that.”

“ They’d just kill him,” Elodie said.

Elias grunted. “ So , maybe it is family.”

“ Like I said, my mess,” Kurt replied.

Sabryn stared at her food, her stomach churning. She wanted to pick up her plate and throw it at Kurt . Instead , she gathered it and walked to the garbage to scrape the contents before rinsing it off and putting it in the dishwasher. The conversation continued, but she wasn’t paying any attention.

She turned and headed out of the kitchen. She loved her family. She loved the manor. But she couldn’t stay there any longer.

“ Sabryn , please. Can we talk?” Kurt called.

But she kept walking. It wouldn’t take her long to pack her bag.