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Things weren’t supposed to go down like this. I’d hoped Talon would just let me go, but that was wishful thinking, and I’d known it. I’d betrayed not just him, but his syndicate.
So I had an escape plan.
But he wasn’t supposed to be inside my apartment. He was supposed to come to the door first so I could put my plan into action. I had a go-bag in my bedroom with cash and a change of clothes. I’d figured I’d have a few seconds—time enough to grab the bag and escape down the portable fire ladder which was the first thing I’d bought after subletting the apartment.
Run, damn it!
My breath whooshed in. “Okay,” I said, more to say something than because it made sense.
I slid a foot backward.
Talon rounded the kitchen island, all six-feet-plus of him on the prowl. Outwardly calm, but I saw the muscle ticking in his jaw. He was furious with me.
I swallowed dryly. Slid the other foot backward.
My muscles tensed. I readied myself to make a dash for the door.
I couldn’t let him find out about the baby. My loose shirt and thigh-length jacket hid the still-small bump. He’d never know.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rio shift to the left and casually reach behind him, feeling for the knife block on the counter behind him. He was going to try to protect me, and Talon would kill him for it.
My stomach bottomed out.
“It’s okay, Rio,” I said without looking away from Talon. “I know him.”
Rio lowered his brow and dropped his chin, a young, naïve bull about to charge. “He can’t make you go with him. There are laws about that. Treaties.”
Talon was right in front of me now. He had wolf eyes with irises that changed from dark brown at the outer edges to gold as you moved inward until the band around his pupil was almost yellow. They bored into mine.
“Actually, I can,” he said. “Eden signed a contract with my syndicate. Didn’t you?”
I moistened my lips. I’d never felt so much like prey, even in my first few weeks as a syndicate thrall.
“Becky?” asked Rio, clearly upset.
“Eden,” Talon bit out. “Her name is Eden.”
Rio flicked him a look, frowned. To me, he said, “You signed a contract?”
He might be young, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew how these things worked.
Talon was still staring at me. “Tell him,” he said silkily.
His face filled my vision, an implacable mask I couldn’t look away from.
“He’s right,” I told Rio, my voice a thready rasp. I cleared my throat and tried again. “I signed a contract with his syndicate.”
“Which she broke,” Talon explained in those same silky, dangerous tones. “After she conned me and my primus. Spied on us.”
He—Brien—wasn’t the primus at that point. But that was nitpicking. I’d known that what I was doing was wrong, and I’d done it anyway.
“Oh, girl.” I dragged my gaze from Talon in time to see Rio shake his head. “You’re fucked.”
“Yeah.” My laugh held zero humor. “I know.”
Talon leaned closer. I edged backward until my backpack hit the refrigerator.
His dark brows formed an irritated slash. He shoved the canvas shopping bag out of the way with his foot. “Turn around.”
