Page 62 of While She Sleeps (The Hunter and The Thief #1)

CHAPTER SIXTY

EMBER

E verything hurts.

Like, literally everything. There isn’t a single part of my body that doesn’t hurt when I move it, my eyes included.

Parker left earlier, leaving me with some painkillers and an antibiotic for the cuts I’m covered in. He assured Orion that nothing is broken and that I will be fine in a week or so once I’ve had a chance to rest and heal.

Killian also headed out, telling us he’d be back in the morning but to call if we needed anything.

“Are you hungry, Little Flame?” Orion asks. He just carried me into the bedroom and put me to bed wearing nothing but a black T-shirt I’m pretty sure belongs to him. The heat I’ve become accustomed to was missing from his eyes as he helped me change, and his gaze never strayed for a moment.

He probably doesn’t want you anymore now he knows how fucked up your life is.

I try to shake off the thought, but there’s a part of me that’s terrified it’s the truth.

If I were a billionaire with hundreds of supermodels chasing after me, I don’t think I’d choose me either. I bring nothing to this arrangement apart from baggage so heavy it would sink the Titanic.

“Ember?”

I look up at him, my chest tightening at how worried he looks. He cares about me. Despite everything. Despite the fact that I don’t belong in this world. Despite how broken I am. Orion cares about me. “No, I’m not hungry,” I say softly.

He nods before climbing into the bed beside me, immediately wrapping his body around mine with such care that it brings tears to my eyes. “I’m sorry you were hurt today, Little Flame. I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“You can’t protect me from everything, Orion.”

“I can, and I will. You are the light in my eternal darkness, Ember, and I will do anything I have to do to keep you where you belong. With me.”

I sigh and allow my eyes to fall closed, reveling in his warmth on my sore body.

“Get some sleep. I’ll be right here when you wake up.”

And I do just that. The painkillers and exhaustion from the day drag me under, and I don’t fight it. I’m safe in Orion’s arms, where nothing can hurt me.

Three words I have no business saying linger on my lips as I fall into a deep sleep, but I manage to keep them to myself.

For now, at least.

T ravis fidgets in the driver’s seat.

He’s been on edge for the last week. Looking over his shoulder. Checking the locks of our apartment over and over. Even going so far as to put me on lockdown.

But he won’t tell me why. He won’t tell me anything at all, for that matter.

“Travis, what’s going on?” I ask, looking over my shoulder. There’s a black Escalade behind us, but they don’t seem to be doing anything to make me think they’re following us.

“Nothing,” he snaps back, checking the mirrors for what feels like the fiftieth time since we got in the car ten minutes ago.

“Don’t lie to me. If you’re in some kind of trouble, we can work it out.

Together. Just like we always do,” I plead, but I already know his answer.

He’s always been overprotective of me, but the last six months have been to the extreme.

Constantly demanding to know where I am and who I’m with.

But every time I’ve asked him about it, he’s denied doing it at all.

“I don’t need your help.”

The admission burns the backs of my eyes as I try to blink back tears. He never used to be this short with me either, but more and more, his patience has waned, to the point he’s actually scared me a few times.

I look out the passenger window and take in our surroundings. “Why are we in the hills?” I ask. I’ve been too distracted with his behavior that I haven’t been paying any attention to where we’re going.

“You’ll see when we get there.”

My throat closes over as panic settles in my chest. What the hell does that even mean?

The speed ticks higher, and our old car starts to struggle as he pushes it too hard up the hill. If he’s not careful, he’s going to blow the engine, but he doesn’t seem to notice as his eyes flick to the mirrors again.

Travis curses, and I bite down on the inside of my cheek to stop myself from asking what’s going on again. I don’t want to make him any angrier than he already is.

I look behind us again, still finding the SUV behind us, except it seems like there’s less distance now.

Are they getting closer?

I’m about to turn back around when the black bumper of the other car pulls even closer, and a yelp escapes my throat as they ram into the back of our car.

“What the fuck, Travis? Tell me what the fuck is happening.”

“Shut up,” he yells, trying to right the wheel without us spinning out of control.

Another slam of metal on metal has a startled scream escaping my throat. What the fuck is going on? Why are they doing this?

“Motherfucker!” Travis struggles to keep control of the car as he pushes it to its limits, the engine revving loudly.

I catch sight of a sharp bend in front of us, and instinctively, I grip onto the door and my seat. “You need to slow down. The tires are too bald to make it around this corner at this speed.”

“Shut the fuck up, Ember.” The malice in his voice startles me almost as much as the next slam of the SUV to the back of ours.

I press my eyes closed, willing the panic to settle so I can think clearly, but I don’t know what use that’s going to do. I’m just as powerless right now as I have been my whole life, depending on my brother to save me.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” He slams his hands against the steering wheel, and the car drops speed a little, allowing me to pull in a full breath.

But then we’re flying.

The sound of our tires spinning out distracts me until my head slams against my window, making stars dance in my vision.

Our car soars over the edge of the road, and I can’t swallow the scream that forces its way from my lungs. This is how I die. In a fiery car wreck with my brother.

Screeching metal pulls my focus from the blinding agony that envelops me the moment we hit what I can only assume is the ground.

There’s a faint scent of smoke swirling around us, but I’m distracted when I manage to turn my head, and I’m staring into the cold, dead eyes of my brother.

Another scream tears from me as tears fall against my cheeks in rough sobs. “No, Travis. Please, no.”

I move to reach for him, but my seat belt keeps me in place. It’s only then I realize we’re upside down. No wonder the blood is rushing to my sore head.

Footsteps pull my attention from my pain and sorrow, only to add panic back to the mix.

Oh god, are they coming back to finish the job?

Are they going to kill me too?

I reach for the seat belt release, but it doesn’t budge at first, and I tug at it frantically.

The footsteps pause outside the car, and I hold my breath. Should I pretend to be dead? Or at least passed out? Yeah, that’s what I’ll do.

I force all the calm I can manage into my body, pushing away the pain, the panic, and the loss as my fight-or-flight instincts take over.

I allow myself to fall limp against the seat belt, swallowing down the cry at how badly my hip hurts.

There’s rustling for a few moments, followed by hands wrapping gently around my middle a moment before the seat belt gives way, first around the chest, and then around my hips.

Did they just cut me out?

I push down the question and force my body to remain limp as whoever ran us off the road pulls me free of the car so gently I can barely reconcile the fact that they just tried to kill us.

They carry me for a few seconds before setting me down on the ground gently.

Their fingers press to my pulse point, and I swear I hear a sigh of relief when they realize my heart is still beating steadily.

If they wanted to hurt me, surely they would have just left me to die in the car alongside my brother?

Taking a chance, I allow my eyes to flutter open, and my breath catches in my chest as I stare up into the darkest eyes I’ve ever seen. They’re deep, like the depths of the ocean, and solid, like onyx.

The rest of his face is covered by a mask, but I can’t tear my eyes from his to take it in.

Those eyes are going to haunt my nightmares for the rest of my life.

I startle awake, my body trapped beneath a heavy weight as I fight to pull myself out of my dream. For almost a year, my subconscious has been protecting me from what happened after we were run off the road, and a part of me wishes it stayed that way.

“Ember, are you okay?” Orion asks, sitting up enough that he can stare down at me.

My breath catches in my throat as panic hits me.

The eyes from my nightmares are the same ones I’m staring into now.

Because it’s been him all along.

Orion is the Hunter.

Which means Orion killed my brother.