Tears instantly spring to my eyes, and I blink against the rush of wetness.
“Stop fighting me,” I growl, the edge in my tone sharper than it should be.
She only redoubles her efforts.
When I get her a safe distance from the nearest house, I try a different tactic.
Leaning close, my nose brushes her hair as I murmur into her ear: “I’m here to help, not to hurt you. I’m just asking that you hear me out, and if you don’t like what I have to say, I won’t stop you again.”
She stiffens in my arms, but relief floods me because she’s stopped fighting.
“If I let go, will you promise not to run?”
After a pause, she nods then sags into my embrace. Her back molds against my chest and I can’t help but take note of the way she feels, wrapped in my arms.
She’s small. Delicate. She fits in my arms just like Locklyn used to.
As soon as the thought appears, I shove it from my mind. Of course she feels like Locklyn; they’re sisters. Twins. But I don’t need thoughts like that clouding my judgment.
Removing my hand from her mouth, I slowly release her, stepping back with my hands up to give her some space.
She whips around, her amber gaze wild. The color is so similar to Locklyn’s that it shreds the mental walls I’ve built to keep those thoughts at bay.
“I’ll scream,” she warns.
“You just agreed not to,” I say with my hands still up in the universal “I-mean-no-harm” gesture.
She scoffs, like that hardly matters. She backs up a step, and I worry she’s going to bolt again.
She’s spooked. I get it. I need to calm her down.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” I say again, keeping my voice calm and steady.
“I heard the guy on the phone. You’re trying to kidnap me, and he’s going to go after my parents.”
Thinking back to what Talon said, I wince.
After you get her out of the city, text me the location of her parents. Locklyn and I will take care of them.
“Okay, fair. Taken out of context, that didn’t sound good. But that guy back there . . .” I gesture to the wooded area behind her. “. . . he was trying to hurt you. I’m trying to protect you, and your parents.”
“Who are you? And what do you want with me?”
“My name is Becks,” I say evenly, and then pause.
How do I get her to believe I’m here to help her, not hurt her? If I bring up the Order, she might bolt. There’s a reason she and her parents have been in hiding for so many years, and if I had to guess, I’d say they either blame the Order for what happened to them all those years ago, or at the very least don’t trust them anymore.
The other option is to tell her I know her sister, but I have no idea how that is going to land. She might not even know she has a sister, and if that’s the case, this isn’t the time to drop that bomb on her.
“I know what’s after you. I’ve been searching for you for a while,” I start, but as soon as the words leave my mouth, it’s clear I’ve said the wrong thing, because she starts shaking her head and inching away. She’s a half-second away from running again.
“Just let me go. I need to get to my parents. You don’t have to worry about what I saw. I promise I won’t tell anyone.”
She doesn’t believe me. And I don’t really blame her. All she has is my word to go off of. And that probably doesn’t mean much, because even though I saved her from the possessed dude, when she tried to flee I dragged her back into the woods. It doesn’t look good for me.
I rake a hand through my overgrown hair, and she follows the movement with her eyes before she gives me a full once-over.
When her gaze locks back on mine, her pupils are blown wide, nearly eclipsing the dark amber. Her chest lifts and falls in sharp, frightened breaths.
