Page 134 of Hurt

Suddenly Noah felt all those stares he had always tried to ignore. The greedy, lingering gazes that watched him like he was bait on a hook. Those insincere stares that wanted the heir.

He said he saw him. Not his blood. Him. Elijah carried him on his back when he didn’t have shoes. Elijah held his hand in front of the bar and told him he could see in the dark.

Mouth clamping shut, he turned on his heel and fled the apartment.

Elijah heard him retreating. He couldn’t watch. The pain in Noah’s eyes was enough to make his knees go weak.

“You didn’t tell him about Kurt and Willow going missing?” Jamie asked as he came back into the kitchen. He was wearing his suit and a shoulder holster.

“No,” Elijah ground out, still not trusting his voice.

Jamie eyed him but didn’t comment on his pained expression. “Owen just texted me. He has a lead on the Cyanide tablets. A manufacturer for tooth caps went missing a few months ago and his credit card was used to purchase questionable quantities of Cyanide just last week.”

Elijah barely heard him. He nodded. “Good.”

Jamie stared at his partner. “Elijah—”

“Don’t.” He hated the pitying expression on his face. Elijah didn’t want his pity.

He had said the one thing he knew would absolutely crush Noah. His vicious blow had been fatal. Whatever relationship between them had fractured beyond all hope of healing with that one strike.

A person like that didn’t deserve pity.

Elijah touched the sheath strapped to his forearm.

“We have work to do.”

24

I DON’T WANT TO BE A MONSTER IN THE MAKING

The overwhelming desire to run made his feet move. But when it came time to put his hand on the doorknob, he found he couldn’t turn it. Again. Opening this door would mean closing another. Stepping out of this apartment would be as good as slamming the door between Elijah and him. Everything left unsaid between them was heavy on his mind.

He had spent his entire life running away from his problems. At best, it had bought him some time. He didn’t want to end things with Elijah. Not like this.

Turning, Noah was about to reenter the kitchen when he heard Jamie’s voice.

“You didn’t tell him about Kurt and Willow going missing?”

Noah stopped just shy of turning the corner. He was so still he felt like he wasn’t breathing.

Missing? What?

He had just gotten an email from Willow yesterday. They were safe in Weaver territory. How could they go missing under the watchful eyes of the Weaver brothers?

No, there was no way they just went missing. Not at a time like this. Not when Kurt was just beginning to heal.

They were taken. There was no other explanation. Not after everything that happened. He felt that in his bones.

Elijah and Jamie’s murmured conversation droned on, but he couldn’t hear anything. His mind was too busy trying to grasp at straws.

It had to be the Vega Cabal. They had come back for Kurt. Whether it was personal or to strike a blow at the Weaver Syndicate, it didn’t matter. Not to Noah. He might be unsure what to say to his aunt and uncle but that didn’t mean he wanted to lose them.

The opposite was true.

He needed them now more than ever.

The muted voices of the assassins carried over, and he picked up on one sentence. Before his brain had processed what it meant, he had turned and fled the apartment.