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I OPENED THE DOORto the movie room and Rayne crashed into me. “Whoa, babe.” I wrapped my arm around her trembling body.
What the fuck? I glanced over her shoulder to the shattered glass on the floor then to Anstice and back to Rayne.
I put my hands on her shoulders and gently eased her from my embrace. Fuck, she was pale normally, but she looked even worse now. “What the hell happened?”
“I need to leave,” Rayne murmured, the flats of her palms pushing at my chest. “I have to get out of here.”
“Kilter, maybe we should call Waleron?” Anstice approached.
“No. I will ease her panic,”I said. “She’ll be fine. Go.”
“I don’t think…”I scowled and Anstice stopped. “It had something to do with Ryker being here.”
Anstice hesitated as if she was going to change her mind about leaving me alone with Rayne, but then sighed and brushed by us.
“I want to leave,” Rayne whispered. “Please, I can’t stay here.”
I stroked her hair; the instinct to soothe her too strong to ignore. “You can’t leave. You have no place to go.” Shit, maybe that wasn’t such a soothing thing to say to a woman who felt trapped. I sucked at nice.
But I’d never been one to bullshit, and I wasn’t about to start now, even if the girl needed some bullshit right about now.
“Ryker,” I said. “You avoided touching him when we were in the compound getting the straps off him. Why?” I bent slightly so I could meet her eyes. “What is it, babe?” She tried to escape my arms and I tightened my hold. “Damn it, don’t run from this.”
She went still.
Shit.I paused, hating to bare any part of me, but knew I needed to get her to confide in me. “I left you in that place when it was obvious you needed out.” I paused. “Then I heard you scream and I couldn’t get back. I fuckin’ couldn’t get back.” I closed my eyes for a second. “I don’t make mistakes often, but with you, I did. I won’t make the same mistake. I can’t. It’s against my code.”
Eyes downcast, she said, “I want to be alone.” I reluctantly released her from my arms, but I wasn’t leaving her alone like this. Fuck that.
“Not happening, babe. I leave you alone, you’ll disappear on me.” I saw the indecision in her eyes whether to trust me or not. She pinched the sides of her pants like I’d seen her do in the air duct when I first met her. Someone else did that—Delara.
“Tell me about Ryker?” I urged.
The energy around her rose again and I knew, whatever it was, it would eat her alive with panic. Without asking—because if I did, she’d only refuse—I grabbed her hand and pulled her close again.
It took a good two minutes, which was a hell of a long time when I was impatient as fuck, before she spoke.
“My husband’s men watched the house for months.”
“The Scar house? My house?”
She nodded, keeping her eyes downcast. “He had Roarke—”
“Who’s Roarke?” I interrupted. Fuck, I should just let her speak.
Her body tensed and I knew she was wondering how much she should tell me. Why she needed to protect anyone from that hellhole was beyond me. He’d be dead now anyway. No one survived Quill’s blasts.
“He worked for Anton. I don’t know exactly what he did though.” She took a breath and the trembling eased. “He watched the house for weeks, giving my husband reports on each of you. I don’t know what was in the reports, just that he decided on Ryker.”
“For what?” When she hesitated, I urged, “Ryker? What did they want from him?” Here I was grilling her after giving the others shit for wanting to, but fuck, this was for her, not for me or the Scars.
She shifted her feet. “He drugged Ryker heavily.” She swallowed. “Roarke had notes on Hannah. I had to…” I caressed her back in slow, gentle strokes. “I had to pretend I was her.” Jesus Christ. “They put me in her clothes, did my hair like hers and I learned to talk like her.” A tear escaped from the corner of her eye and landed on my T-shirt. “I made Ryker believe I was Hannah. The love I saw in his drug-filled eyes, his words…” Rayne drew in a ragged breath. “It calmed him when I was her,” she whispered.
“Why did your dickhead husband want you to be Hannah?”
“I made him use his abilities,” she said. Her eyes refused to look at me and her body flinched as she said the words. She was avoiding something. “It felt like I was raping him,” Rayne said. “I hated it. I hated looking at Ryker and seeing his confusion, pain, and then his love for Hannah, and I knew… I knew he’d never see her again.” I’m going to be sick. I hate this.
I tensed as her thoughts filtered into me.
