Page 63 of Hidden

Damen glanced at me, poised to speak. But the door behind me opened suddenly, cutting off his words.

A familiar presence draped over my shoulders, and Titus pulled me back against him.

I couldn’t see him, so I couldn’t tell his mood from his expression, but his voice was eerily calm when he spoke. “What is going on? I leave for five minutes, and she’s upset.”

“Titus, thank God you’re here.” Julian shifted his attention to the taller man. “I know you’ll agree with me. I can already tell from Miles’s face he doesn’t. And in this instance, Damen doesn’t count.”

Damen frowned at Julian. Miles stepped closer, affronted. “Hey—”

“What am I supposed to agree with?” Titus replied coolly. “The fact that you’re disregarding Bianca’s wishes? Or you’re latching on to the first opportunity you’ve gotten to get to Finn? We all know how long you’ve been waiting for this.”

Julian’s expression darkened further. I glimpsed why people might be so scared of him.

He wasn’t angry—at least in the way that most people would be. His fury was something that remained barely contained under his calm exterior. There was a determination churning in his bright blue eyes that filled me with dread.

There was nothing Julian couldn’t do once he put his mind to it. He was probably scarier than all the others.

“It could kill her!” He pointed at me. “Itiskilling her.”

“It’s not going to kill her within the next few days,” Miles broke in, holding out his hands. “She’s been bonded to them for ten years already.”

“She is not supposed to be bonded to them,” Julian seethed. His attention returned to Damen, who was watching him with a particular expression. “This isyourrule. Why aren’t you doing anything? You’re the one most affected by this!”

Damen’s mouth thinned. “I’m not saying we’re not doing anything. But we should wait—”

“You only want to wait because he’s your brother!” Julian was angrier than I’d ever seen him before. “You’d have killed anyone else already. You two and your entitlements are driving me crazy. You should have let me do something about him three years ago! He was wrong then, and his actions are criminal now.”

Julian’s words broke through my attention. My fingers dug into Titus’s arm.

This was the missing piece—the reason Julian hated Finn.

From his tone, it sounded bad. But there was nothing from three years ago that stood out as significant. Finn had always acted the same around me.

What happened?

“Julian.” Miles closed the distance between them, clasping his hand over Julian’s elbow. “You need to calm down. If you promise to let it drop for now, to listen to the whole story, maybe Bianca will still let you help her. But acting like this, you’re not getting anywhere.”

At the mention of my name, Julian’s posture drooped.

“Julian…” He was a tiny bit calmer now, but still scary. But I wasn’t scared for me.

He ran his fingers through his hair. My heart twisted guiltily; I hated that it was because of me, that he was struggling with his emotions. “Bianca, I—”

Whatever it was he was about to say was interrupted when Finn strode into the room, Anthony on his heels. Both looked confused. But once Finn spotted me, the expression wiped from his face, indifference replacing it.

It made me feel even worse.

“What do you want?” He turned to Damen. “I was only just able to spike Anthony’s coffee with NyQuil when you texted. As you can see, it hasn’t worked yet, and he’s still following me. You’re ruining what could have turned into an otherwise peaceful day.”

“It’s not like I have a choice,” Anthony protested, frowning down into his paper travel cup. He tossed it in the sink, then gestured at Julian. “He told me to.”

“And for good reason!” Julian’s temper was beginning to bubble over once again. “Why do you keep medicating people? Did you really put something into his drink?”

“Finn!” Without a second thought, I’d pushed away from Titus, crossing the room until Finn and I stood toe to toe. I was so nervous, and I wrung my hands in front of me as my mind raced to figure out how to make things right.

But I was lacking any brilliant ideas. “Finn, I didn’t know…”

“You didn’t know what?” Finn’s voice was detached, a defense mechanism he adopted when trying to act brave.