Page 21 of Betrayed

I’m halfway across the grassy courtyard when she stops me with a shout.

“Lucian!”

I turn slowly.

“She didn’t ask for help because she hates the way you two met. She really cares about you. I’m guessing she didn’t want to tell you the truth.”

I stare at her. “She should’ve known better than to go alone.”

Cass shudders at the heat in my voice.

“She belongs to me,” I whisper. “And she needs me.”

I walk away, boots crunching over the gravel path.

It’s like I told Erin, with two fingers deep inside her; I don’t leave my girl, even if she keeps secrets.

Even if she tests my patience.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Erin

It’s so strange to be back here in the cabin. The moors are even quieter than I remember. They alternate between an eerie absence of sound and howling wind.

Last night was my first night here, and it was a long one, filled with fear and dreams. I slept with a knife under my pillow. But I didn’t feel any safer.

The dream was Cass on the floor, a pool of red around her, clutching Ryan in her blood-streaked arms.

And before that, the months Ryan was born…

When I came to their house to help Cass with the baby…

My own helpless, soundless screams. The ones only I could hear—the ones in my head.

Whenever he would come.

When dawn finds the sky, I muster the courage to get out of bed. I quickly dress and put on my coat. I skip building the fire andwarm myself by heating a kettle of water on the gas stove, with my fingers stretched out over the heat.

I sit at the table, tearing open the crinkling wrapper of a granola bar I packed for breakfast. A loud bang, something hitting the window, makes me jump out of my chair so quickly that the chair topples, crashing onto the wooden floor.

I clutch the wooden handle of the knife in my hand as I tiptoe towards the window from which the sound came, careful to stay unseen along the wall.

My heart beats in my throat, my knuckles white as I peer out the window.

Nothing?

I’m alone in the cabin, without Lucian’s protection.

I can’t control what I want.

I want him.

And I want my family to be safe.

I hold the knife at my side, making my way to the front door.

I couldn’t choose between them, so I’ve decided to fight to keep both of them safe. This time, I have to succeed.